Chris Anderson - Earth Train Panama
Week 8

            You’ve just forded the third river in a week and the strain is starting to show on your companion’s faces.  Morale is low.  If things don’t improve soon you might be demoted.  In a quiet moment you reflect as to why you were here.  Times were hard back home, nothing seemed to go your way, so you decided to brave the unknown and start anew.  Without hesitation you left the trappings of civilization.  You bought everything you needed, you gathered the right people, and looked for advice in places both high and low.  Your mighty Winchester was single handedly responsible for laying low entire herds of buffalo.  And now, despite even the constant fording and low morale, it looks like you’re going to make it.  Soon you’ll reach the last fort before the endless and unforgiving desert and it is here that—

            “You have died of dysentery” Flashes across the computer screen in bold green lettering, seemingly from nowhere.

            All of that hard work and careful planning for nothing, ruined by rotten luck!  You weren’t even killed by anything cool like fording a river.  Instead you were struck down in your prime by some esoteric and unpleasant sounding disease you can barely read properly (what kind of word has two “y”s anyway?).  Grudgingly you load a saved game.  You will conquer the Oregon Trail, if only the school librarian would stay preoccupied with re-shelving books for a little longer…

            The afore described scenario should be familiar to any self respecting child growing up in the 90’s and going to an American elementary school.  Playing The Oregon Trail for hours on end rather than actually performing research or whatever else asked to do on the computer are fond memories held by an entire generation.  Yes, even those completely unexpected bouts of fatal dysentery are fondly remembered. Despite this previous experience to dysentery, recent experiences have made me realize how little I knew of this disease. I wish I had stayed in ignorance.

            After a week of being very tired and showing other similarly unpleasant symptoms I shall not mention here, I decided to visit a doctor who after an examination concluded that I most likely have amoebas. 

            “Oh wonderful,” I thought to myself while thinking back to that green, black and ominous computer screen. 

            Dysentery is usually caused by the amoeba known as Entamoeba histolytica and because of my (Oregon Trail) education I knew it to be the leading cause of unexpected and unforeseeable death before river fording and hunting accidents.  Thankfully, the amoebas most likely causing my symptoms are not near as nasty as E. histolytica (which itself is very treatable) and even more thankfully, with a final, pending test notwithstanding, all of my tests have come back as negative for amoebas.

            In addition to contemplation of the Oregon Trail the last few weeks have been fairly busy.  The most exciting occurrence was a four-day kayaking trip from the Continental Divide to the Atlantic Ocean upon which I will expand in great detail in a future update.   Mapping has gone forward with a GPS walkabout of a 100 acre property that Earth Train owns near the San Jose river and during the present trip to Panama City a plan is moving forward to partner with the Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute (STRI) that could allow for possible intern exchanges.  This is something that I’m personally very excited about as it could open avenues for possible intern stints at the research island of Barro Colorado.  Another concurrent project is the artistic renovation of Earth Train’s headquarters in Panama City, Casa Arias, former home to a founder of the republic, Tomas Arias.  The future here at Earth Train is looking bright and the next few months are sure to be full of adventure, science, art, and countless Oregon Trail references.