Saga of the Salmon

There once was some salmon. They were born in Alaska (or maybe Canada) and swam all over the ocean. One day, they were caught, cut up, and canned. Now they are tasty.

There was a man, living in Panama and working in Peace Corps, who wanted to eat these fish. His wife and another PCV were also interested in eating them. The man requested his friends from Alaska who were planning on visiting to bring these fish down to Panama so that he could eat them. He also wanted some wood bowls from the Great Alaskan Bowl Company.

The friends arrived on Christmas Day 2008, but they were not planning on visiting the man and his wife for many days. They asked where they could put the fish and bowls because the fish needed to be kept cool. The man´s boss suggested the office of the Peace Corps headquarters in Panama City where the friends´plane landed.

The friends tried to go to the office, but when they got out of the cab and saw the building, an armed guard began quizzing them about their activities. Not knowing Spanish, the language of the guard, the friends had trouble communicating this strange task of leaving fish and bowls at the office. The guard decided to get help and an Italian passing by offered to help. He translated for the friends. In the end he offered to hold onto the fish and bowls until the man from Peace Corps Panama could come pick them up. The friends took his name and phone number.

During their travels around Panama, the friends lost the phone number, but remember the Italian´s name. They let the man know the problem, and the man asked his boss for help again. This time, all the boss could offer was to look for the Italian where he was last found, walking passed the office. The man, his wife, and the other PCV were heartbroken about the loss of the fish and the bowls, but such is life.

The friends had their visit to the man´s site and left the next day. They had a good time and the man and his wife enjoyed their visit very much. Their only regret was that it was so short a time for a visit because the friends wanted to see more of Panama and the man and his wife had meetings and work to do. They knew that the kind Italian would enjoy the fish and bowls and that these things would not go to waste.

The day the friends were to board their plane to go back to Alaska, one decided that they should look for the Italian. Another considered this a bad idea and a waste of time. How would they ever find this Italian again? Nevertheless, they returned to the office...and immediately saw the Italian walking down the street! He welcomed them back and gave them back the fish and the bowls that he was still keeping for them. He was a very nice Italian.

The friends were overjoyed. They called the man and spread the joy to the man, his wife, and the other PCV. They were all happy to hear that the fish and bowls would be theirs again. The friends dropped off the fish and bowls at the office with notes to say who they were to go to. The friends then returned to Alaska on their plane.

The other PCV went to Panama City a short time later for work that she had to do. She wanted to pick up the fish and the bowls for the man and his wife, and for herself too. Unfortunately, she could not because she got too sick to leave her hotel room except for her necessary work. She could not go to the office. The fish and the bowls had to stay at the office a little while longer.

An office staffer came out to the regional meeting of the man, his wife, and the other PCV. He could have brought the fish and the bowls, but he did not. Still the fish and the bowls are at the office. The man and his wife have begun to wonder if these fish and bowls were ever really intended for them or if fate has some other purpose for them. The man and his wife have begun to wonder if the fish and the bowls every really existed at all.

(Stay turned for the continuation of the Saga of the Salmon)