I'm back!

Hi everyone! Thanks for the all the get-well wishes. I'm fully recovered from the malaria and back at work again. Not counting the day I spent going to the hospital and getting malaria drugs, I took only 1 day off from work. I can't believe I've already been here at BFMS for a month now. I've realized that I have a LOT of work to do in the next 2 months so I gotta get my butt in gear - sick or not!

Pascale should be back in Calgary now. And in less than 2 weeks, Yehudi, one of my field assistants should be here. And then the fun begins, i.e. tree climbing, etc. There's a nice build-up of processed dried plant samples in my room which is very reassuring. Now that we've flushed out the processing methods, it feels like I've got a manageable project. My little mobile lab has completely taken over the summer hut! All the tourists and BFMS locals have been relegated to 1 table while I take the other 2 tables for all my equipment. My coffee grinder bit the dust like all my other electronic equipment out here so now we're grinding samples manually! It could have been so much worse but the Ghanaian mortar and pestle I picked up in Nkoranza for less than 1 Cdn dollar has done its job.

Thanks to everyone who has sent me letters so far! Souvenirs for all of you! Keep the letters and the gossip coming. Now, it's time for my weekly call to Geoff. It's 6:30 am in Calgary so hopefully I don't wake up all his roommates too!