Panama City in the Distance

A mountain and the skyline of Panama City, Panama, rise in the distance behind the waters of Panama Bay off the Pacific Ocean

A mountain and the skyline of Panama City, Panama, rise in the distance behind the waters of Panama Bay off the Pacific Ocean, as seen during our 2024 Panama trip.

In between our visit to the Panama Canal and Panama Viejo, we stopped at a place along a causeway with a great view of Panama City1. It was fascinating to be able to see the city across the bay, along with all of the boats in the bay, only a few of which are visible here.

If you are wondering (as I was) about the mountain at the left of the photo, that is Cerro Ancón, or Ancón Hill. It is 653 feet tall, which certainly classifies it as a mountain to us flatland West Tennessee folks, but they just call it a hill. It is, however, the highest point in Panama City.

We did not stay there all that long, because there were other things to do. And the rain was coming, as you can tell by the clouds. But it was great to stop off for a few minutes and enjoy the view!

Panama Trip 2024
See more from our Panama 2024 Trip!

The Small Things

Sometimes in our rush to get to all of the big things, we miss the small things, even though the small things can be just as meaningful.

In this case, we could have rushed right from the Panama Canal to Panama Viejo without taking the time to stop here. But we did stop, and it was a blessing.

Life is often the same way. We can rush from one “big” event to the next, but if we do, we might miss out on the small things, which are also blessings.

Take the time to watch a sunset, or get up in time to see a sunrise. Notice the beauty of God’s creation at the changing of the seasons. Go away from the city to enjoy the natural beauty of the earth around us.

Even more importantly, spend time talking to a loved one, and have a real, meaningful conversation. Don’t just ask how the other is doing and then move on. Take some time to really see what is happening in the other person’s life, what they are feeling, what is making them happy, sad, or worried. It might not seem like a big thing, but it will definitely be a blessing to both the other person and to you.

Don’t miss the seemingly small opportunities that are filled with blessings.

The Lord is good to those who wait for him, to the soul who seeks him. - Lamentations 3:25 ESV

Blessings

About the Photo

Yes, the clouds really did look like that, in case you were wondering, but I did use some processing techniques to increase their visibility just a little.

As you may know, cameras try their best to capture a scene, but they end up trying to expose for either the dark parts, which make the light parts way too bright, or for the bright parts, which make the dark parts way too dark. So I created a couple of layers with two different versions from the same original photo, one darker and one lighter. The darker one shows the clouds better, while the light one shows the mountain, er, hill and buildings better. Some layer masks helped me to show which parts of which layers I wanted. You can read more about all that in Steve’s Photography Tips, by the way. I don’t do all of that as much as I used to, but it worked well here.

Photo: A single Raw exposure, processed in Raw Therapee and GIMP.
Camera: Sony Alpha A7 II
Lens: Rokinon 35mm f/1.8
Date: October 10, 2024
Location: Panama City, Panama

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  1. Whenever I say something about Panama City, I feel like I should add, “Panama, not Florida”. But surely you have figured that out by now. ↩︎


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About Burnsland
Burnsland is Steve Burns, with generous help from his lovely wife Laura. Steve is a husband, father, photographer, webmaster, writer, podcaster, artist, Christian. Steve enjoys sharing his photography, art, and stories through Burnsland.com, from the Burnsland World Headquarters in Tennessee.