Sunset in Portugal

Sunset in Porto, Portugal

It fascinates me how much people around the world gather on a daily basis for sunrises and sunsets.

I admire nature a lot. In fact, I try to walk through the Miami Beach botanical garden at least 3-4 times a week. I get awesome vibes from it and feel stress melt away. I went to a full moon party over a year ago and it felt very primal. People brought drinks, food, lights, candles, drums and lots of anticipation for a day/night sun/moon show. And yet, I don’t actively seek sunrises (not a morning person to begin with) nor sunsets. They’re usually stunning.

One time I got up really early and went to see the sunrise at Red Rock mountains right outside of Las Vegas. Then we hiked. It was a pretty unforgettable experience. But I only went because they were into it. Portugal has access to west views facing the Atlantic. So you’re almost guaranteed that if you’re in Lisbon, Porto or Lagos, you will find a rooftop where you can see sunsets.

This one in Porto was stunning. And it was so interesting to see how so many people gathered to see the sunset. As if it hadn’t happened before or as if it won’t happen again. And that thought made me aware of the present moment. It’s happened before and it will happen again. But I can’t guarantee I will always be able to see it. Beyond the existential thought, sunsets do feel like a free movie from the Universe. The best “reel” or display of the vastness where we exist and a reminder of how small we are in context.

On a technical note, I’m playing with Squarespace to see how I can make the movie display exactly in portrait… how it was shot on my iPhone. This quick edit was done in Capcut, a pretty fun tool to do video editing.