I got a kitty. Isn't she cute?? Her name is Fantasma, the Spanish word for "ghost", which really freaks out some people in my town, especially since she has one blue eye and the other grey-green. When she's not scratching up my legs by trying to climb me, she's a great companion and source of entertainment. Plus, it gives the neighbor kids something to do on their daily visits.

As I was popping open a can of kitty-formulated tuna the other day, I got to wondering what exactly was in the tuna that made it especially for gatos y gatitos. (What are they feeding you?) The ingredients list didn't give any clues, and judging by the price it's the same as any ordinary can of tuna. I'm guessing they took all the parts that people don't eat and canned them up to sell to people like me who think that they're feeding their pet a nutritious meal. The kitty seemed to like it.

On the subject of food, the book The Omnivore's Dilemma: a natural history of four meals, by Michael Pollan, provides an in-depth examination into the American psyche of eating. Pollan tracks the elements of four meals back to their agricultural roots, a journey that at times is surprisingly long and complex. Pollan takes the reader to Iowa corn fields, the birth of baby greens in California, a self-sustaining Virginia farm and hunting for wild boar, in order to answer oft-ignored questions. If you are what you eat, do you really know what you're eating and where it came from? How much oil got burned to churn that corn into a ready-to-eat processed delight, shipped to be picked up from your nearest McDonald's? What does organic really mean and is it good enough? Pollan calls America out on it's "national eating disorder" and engages the reader with his witty stories and writing style, leaving no choice but to think harder about the impact our food choices make on the health of ourselves and the environment.

So while you're out doing your latest civic duty at the local Whole Foods, I encourage you to swing by the book store on the way home if you want to know what's really for dinner. If you dare.

Kitty couldn't care less.

From a cloud forest surrounding Volcan Baru to a sponge garden overtaking a wreck in the Caribbean, 2006 progressed into 2007 not uneventfully. After a brief stop in Panama City, Chan and I made our way across the country, where we met up with friends to celebrate Christmas in Cerro Punta, a mountain town surrounded by lush cloud forests. Christmas dinner was prepared in a dark cabin, sin electricidad, and after a few struggles with gas lanterns and Panamanian-style free-range chicken, our dinner turned out to be quite delicious. The coolness of the area added to the holiday atmosphere.

A five hour hike down the backside of the volcano led us to Boquete, where we enjoyed an excellent coffee tour at Kotowa coffee estates, of course complete with a tasting of their delicious shade-grown coffees. Evidently, the cloud forest in the area provides enough shade for the coffee trees that they fall in the category of shade-grown, although they do not grow directly beneath other shade-providing trees.

Grudgingly, I left the cool mountains and returned to my site in Los Pocitos for a couple of days. We spent an afternoon lounging on the Pacific beach before I put Chan to work making a table and doing other household chores.

A trip back over the mountains brought us to the Caribbean Sea and Bocas del Toro. We enjoyed a wreck dive off the coast of Isla Colón. The wreck was surrounded by a range of colorful sponges and corals, and our guide managed to point out a nurse shark resting under the helm of the sunken ship.

Finally, after two long bus trips we arrived back in Panama City, from which we spent a couple days in the sun on Isla Taboga, snorkeling, swimming and hiking. Although of course too short, I enjoyed showing off the wonderful diversity and beauty of Panama.