Lessons from the Jungle

Hello again friends. I have returned from Panama without too much damage, and much to tell. What follows in this and some other posts are excerpts from my trip, please forgive the fact that I'm not a writer.


Just off of Dog Island in San Blas there is an old sunken ship. The coral has grown over it to the point where it looks like a bizarre alien craft, with large organic structures whose functions remain a mystery. Was that a radar dish or two ton piece of living rock? Diving down I notice a wide entrance to a chute that leads straight back up to the surface. The chute ends a few inches below the surface, so this new area I am in is effectively cut off from the outside. I float for a while, listening to the deafening crackle of the coral and watching fish dart in and out of the ship below. The isolation makes me feel like a disembodied observer watching a world untouched by mankind. At the same time the huge presence of the ship asserts itself, making me aware that this whole little world is shaped by the man-made monstrosity surrounding me. The cognitive dissonance of these two thoughts is unsettling, and after a time I dive back down to make my escape.