The following notes are a series of letters I wrote to a Los Angeles pastor, asking him to withdraw his support for a documentary that sought to disestablish the credibility of the scientific theory of evolution. From a perch high up in Panama's rainforest canopy, I illustrate both my view and the Pastor's views through the natural and human history of the vibrant country of Panama...

10/09/2008

Dear Pastor Paul,

I am writing to you from my room at the Canopy Tower in the Soberanía jungle.  Even this late at night, the sounds from outside are relentless – the rain pounding the leaves, the chorus of frogs.

I’ve lit a single candle by which to read.  Earlier this week, a Panamanian couple had seen my books and said ‘You should be reading about Panama!”  I rattled off the books I’ve read about the country.  I said, “Are there any more?” 

And then I explained that to me, the joy of travel is stowing away the habits that make reading so difficult, and opening up countless hours to read.  When I choose what I should read when I am away, I don’t like to read about the place I’m going.  It sounds like homework.  For a visit to Soberanía, I looked between hardcovers for small, light books.  Tonight I am reading a small book called ‘A Good and Happy Child.’  It is a wonderfully written book about an exorcism in the Southern United States.

The Canopy Tower was once a U.S. military installation.  A tall, circular building, the tower had high-tech communications equipment, and it was cloaked from view by the canopy.  From its perch high on a hill in a valley, the U.S. could observe the canal zone, which it deemed a strategic military asset.

But when the United States handed the canal zone over to Panama, the tower lost its purpose, and a visionary turned it into a sort of eco-lodge for birders and naturalists and nature-series camera crews.