We're leaving for Nicaragua sometime around 6 tomorrow morning, and I'm still up packing. That's really saying something, considering that I am only taking 1 carry-on. But there are always so many last-minute details. With any luck, in 24 hours we should be in Granada with Leda (long story).

Life is full of hellos and goodbyes. I'm just notoriously bad at the latter. My friend Mt is leaving for Argentina this Saturday, not just to visit this time, but for good. I don't think I could have gotten through the proposal-writing process without him. The world is going to seem a lot bigger with him being thousands of miles away. This is an occupational hazard in my field I suppose. You become friends with people, share the best of times and worst of times with them, and then at some point, you go your separate ways. I'm hopeful that we'll meet again someday.

And speaking of meeting again, there are a lot of people (and monkeys) I hope to find back in Nicaragua. I'm trying to stay calm about it all, but I must admit that I'm a little bit stressed. We probably won't have much for internet while we're there, but I'll post when/if I can.

For the moment, I need to finish packing and get some beauty rest for the big trip ahead. Thanks for reading.