Cuango to Palmira

A two day hikking trip...

Aun hay lugares con hermosas playas, aguas cristalinas, aire puro, atardeceres de postal y gente buena que te abren su casa y te reciben con arroz con coco y pulpo guisado aunque no te conozcan, donde los niños juegan desnudos, un tronco que flota es su juguete y todos sonríen solo por que salio el sol.

Hay lugares que ni las fotos ni mil palabras pueden hacerle justicia y ese es el caso del paraíso que recorrí mochileando y acampando con algunos amigos este fin de semana. Hay que estar ahí para sentir la brisa de aire puro, el calor humanos de los aldeanos donde aun no llegan las carreteras, el agua tibia que ha calentado el sol al pasar por los arrecifes coralinos que acarician la superficie.

Ninguna de estas fotos les puede describir el dulce sabor del agua de pipa que nos tomamos mientras el sol se derretía en la tarde al hacer contacto con el horizonte, hay que estar ahí, hay que vivirlo.

Miguel A. Esquivel Klein



Collage assembly and photos by Miguel Esquivel.

Now some pictures I took.
Me...


Our private nude beach (but none actualy wandered arround naked)




Hikkers


Sunset...


Sunrise.










Aerial photos (gezz I am tall)[Actually I improvised using a 5 metters stick].


Again.


We made it to Palmira.

Raining night.

Another raining night.
This time, I attempted to take some snapshots of the thunder lights.
The camera shutter lag and the unpredictability of the lighting, made the task quite elusive, I had to shot 90 pictures, before I could get two acceptable ones.
I would have never done this with a film camera. I love digital technology.

Driving into the ocean.

Still learning how to use this toy.
Today as I was driving donw the Balboa Avenue, I noticed that acording to the GPS unit, I was driving over the water.

Asorted images.

Tuesday 1, 2005 6:36pm.
This other one, is taken from my apartment balcony.
Sometimes there is no need to go too far away, to apreciate a beautifull sunset.


Tuesday 8, 2005 7:35pm.
Another view of my home. I just love my home.


Sunday 12, 2005 8:21pm
This is a view of Paitilla.
Not far from where I live (less than 2km away).
The long street seeing, is the Balboa Avenue.
The sky was quite clouded, a storm was coming.


Tuesday 14, 2005 5:03pm.
Abdiel lend my his GPS, so I was GPSing arround.


Tuesday 14, 2005 5:42pm.
The Ripper is comming!!!



Tuesday 14, 2005 1:28am
The night was mystic.


Wednesday 15, 2005 5:14pm
I was coming back from Tocumen, and checking the sunset as I drove.
I saw a construction of a bridge, and the thought of this picture crossed my mind, so I quickly slowed down, and got into the construction site. I am glad I did.


Wednesday 15, 2005 5:17pm
The same concept, diferent place. Still on my way back home.

Wide view.

Snapshot of the livingroom using the door view finder.


Cool ha?

Luck

Tonight as I was coming back from jogging, I was thinking about “luck”. What is it?

Well, let's consider that I do not buy lottery tickets, will I get lucky? Definitively not.

Or that I do not start a business, will I get lucky on business?, neither.

So then luck is a two parts process. I have to put one part [my action] and luck will put the other [the one I have no control over].

So I went back on my head, thinking of the moments I have been lucky, and came up with a few.

The most memorable was a set of pictures I took on October 2004, two months after I bought a digital camera. Those pictures came out “spectacular”. The sunrise was superb, and I felt so lucky to have taken them.

Now, let's take a more complete analysis of the preceding events.

1. I searched the net, for a digital camera. Invested hours reading characteristics and trying to figure out the best choice for “my lifestyle”.



2. Took the risk of ordering a $400.00 camera over the Internet to be shipped overseas (forget warranty), just because the model I wanted was not available locally.



3. Felt the desire to go out, and take some sunrise pictures, to try out the camera on the outdoors.



4. Plan to wake up early, at 3am, so I could drive and get to the beach just in time for the sunrise.



5. Actually followed the plan next morning, when the alarm clock beeped. (this was a thought one)



6. Got to the beach, and saw an spectacular sunrise. There was no way I could have known how it was going to be, where the clouds would be, what colors will be showing off.



7. Took lots of shots. Even got in the water (being still dress) to take better shots.

Out of all this events, the actual luck was in point 6, where the sunrise was spectacular.

It would still have been spectacular, even if I did not followed any of the previous five points. But I would have missed (would not even know about it).

This leads me to conclude, that luck is a two parts process. One part is my action, and the other is the luck. Luck itself, does not exist.

I find this thought, inspiring. Is in it? [or maybe I am still high on the endorphins, from jogging an hour]

There was no way I could have known how it was going to be, where the clouds would be, what colors will be showing off.

Sky analysis.

Tonight I am doing some "sky analysis".

This time I am not particularly looking for the stars.

I have invested a couple of hours already figuring out, how to determine the exact position and state of the moon at any time. It is great that at we have this information so easily available, and without having to spend years studding the moon and the planets.[I am using a freeware software named Cartes du Ciel]

After reading a couple of tables (planets calendar), and learning about the moon culmination times (the moon comes out 50 minutes later every day ), I thought, mmmm, this means that the sun should catch the moon every month or so. That means twelve eclipses a year.

All right, this is not right, I guess it is not that simple. So I start a sky simulation, near the time where I have calculated the sun will catch the moon, and this is when I realize that the orbits are not aligned. The sun passes by the moon side, not behind it.

What a fun way to learn about the planets.

Anyways, now I have a forecast of the sky six days from now, with the sunset next to the moon.
Maye that would do a nice picture. Or maybe the sun will be so bright, that I won't be able to see the moon. Whatever happens, I want to check it out, this feels fun.



I kept thinking after I posted.

If the moon is next the sun, it actually means that is receiving light from behind (what is called the dark side of the moon). Meaning, it should be black when seeing it from earth. Mmmm, so I check back on the objects calendar, and it confirms it, it is new moon day.



So I guess I will not see anything.

Maybe I will be able to see Mercury, Venus and Saturn? [the aligned planets on top of the sun]
They are probably to distant (dim) to be seeing during a sunset.