Posted in Photography, tagged Amador's Causeway, Boats, Panama Canal, Panama City, Photographs, Photography, Sailboats, Sailing, Skyline, Tourism on February 18, 2013 | 4 Comments »
Snapshot of a sailing boat on the waters of the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. You can faintly see the modern skyline of Panama City in the background. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Snapshot of a stunning yacht on the waters near Amador’s causeway. The skyline of Panama City in the background is eye-popping, in search of a better word. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in Photography, tagged Boats, Bridge of the Americas, Ferry-Thatcher Bridge, Panama, Panama Canal, Photograph, Photography, Tourism on February 6, 2013 | 3 Comments »
Snapshot of an beaten old wooded boat at the Pacific entrance of the Panama Canal. The Bridge of the Americas, also known as The Ferry-Thatcher Bridge is in the background. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in Photography, tagged Boats, Naval Students, Panama, Panama Nautical School, Photograph, Photography, Tourism, Training on February 5, 2013 | 2 Comments »
Snapshot of an old boat used by the Escuela Náutica de Panama (Panama Nautical School) to train their naval students. It’s no longer in operation. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in Miscellaneous, tagged Boats, Fishing, Fishing Boats, Food, Panama, Panama City, Tourism on October 11, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Snapshot of a small fishing boat docked at the British Pier in Panama City, getting ready for a fishing excursion. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in Photography, tagged Bay of Panama, Boats, Panama, Pelicans, Photograph, Photography, Tourism on September 15, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Snapshot of two old boats with several pelicans on board at the Bay of Panama on the Isthmus of Panama. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in Photography, tagged Boats, Panama, Panama Bay, Photographs, Photography, Tourism on August 2, 2012 | 3 Comments »
Posted in Photography, tagged Boats, Fishing, Occupations, Panama, Panama Bay, Photographs, Photography, Tourism on August 1, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Snapshot of a picturesque pair of humble fishermen on their way to a fishing trip on the Bay of Panama in the Pacific Ocean. Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in Photography, tagged Architecture, Blue Skies, Boats, Churches, Old Shell, Panama Bay, Panama City, San Francisco de Asís Church, Tourism, Tranquil Waters on July 18, 2012 | 1 Comment »
“The way we think is the way we see, and will make better photographs when we spend as much time honing our minds and our hearts as we do memorizing the buttons on the camera.”—David du Chemin, Professional Photographer
In the background you can identify the protuding tower of the majestic San Francisco de Asís Church. This cathedral was one of the original structures of Casco Viejo. It was ravaged by a fire in 1737 and again in 1756. It was restored in 1998, and now is one of the most striking churches in the country. “Que c’st beau” (How beautiful). Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in Photography, tagged Boats, Fishing Boats, Old Shell, Panama, Panama Bay, Photograph, Photography, Tourism on July 17, 2012 | 2 Comments »
Snapshot of several fishing boats gracefully floating in the Bay of Panama one lazy Sunday morning. The buildings in the background belong to the Old Shell of the city also known as Casco Viejo. The white building towards your right is the Presidential Palace. (Click image to enlarge it.) Photo by ©Omar Upegui R.
Posted in Literature, tagged Adventure, Boats, Books, English, Herman Melville, Idioms, Literature, Moby Dick, Stove, Whaling on May 19, 2012 | 6 Comments »
Ever since I started studying English, 59 years ago, I thought a stove was a kitchen appliance which people used to cooked their food. Whenever I read the word stove, my mind associated it with cooking food. Well, yesterday I found out that is not necessarily so. Another definition for stove is: smashed, broke, destroyed or otherwise damage something. This unusual expression is used to indicate extreme damage origin. The expression of stove up is original from downeast Maine. Another meaning is to break a hole in, specially in the hull of a boat.
During the early days of whale fishing, sea-dogs used the idiom, “a dead whale or a stove boat.” The word stove had nothing to do with kitchens or cooking. It meant stoved in, crushed, demolished, by the mighty slapping of a mad harpooned whale’s tail coming down a fragile wooden boat.
Herman Melville used this outdated idiomatic expression in his novel, Moby Dick: or, The White Whale:
“Me thinks that in looking at things spiritual, we are too much like oysters observing the sun through the water, and thinking that thick water the thinnest of air. Me thinks my body is but the lees of my better being. In fact take my body who will, take it I say, it is not me. And therefore three cheers for Nantucket; and come a stove boat and stove body when they will, for stave my soul Jove himself cannot.”
It took me several minutes to digest this paragraph. Words like lees, stove boat, stove body, stave and Jove were driving me crazy. The dictionary came to my rescue and enlightened my head. Now I can appreciate the literary jewels inside Herman Melville’s writing style. As I read the book, I’m removing the dust from these forlorn words, polishing them up, and giving them the luster they had when they were written 161 years ago.
It’s hard work I know, but the discoveries are marvelous. Good Day. For now, I’m calling it a day.
