Ana from Panama : Ballet dancing, long-distance romance and an epic journey to Tasmania

All that most Australians know about Panama are the Panama hats and the Panama Canal, and probably some have a vague idea that they speak Spanish.Ana grew up in the heart of Panama City, which lies on the Pacific coast of the country, the most southerly nation in Central America.Ana started dancing ballet when she was 5. She had bad as asthma as a child and she found it was one type of exercise she could do without issues. She continued dancing almost every day through her childhood and teens. She'd eventually go to study dance in Cuba, where she was for 5 years, and it there that in 2012 she met Elias, her future husband, who lived in Tasmania. But romance was to come much much later, as they started as friends, he went back to Australia and they stayed predominantly long-distance friends for years after. When things got serious between them, so did the state of the world, with the world-wide pandemic throwing some serious obstacles on Elias's route to get to Panama to propose, and then even further, after they married when Ana had to make an epically long journey to get to Australia.Ana also talks about getting pregnant not long after arriving in Tasmania and dealing with being a new mother in a new country and it's rewards and challenges.