A Happy Dog and Her Bodyguard - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

At Bevagna, Italy, I was elated meeting knights in their armors and rubbing shoulders with ladies carrying their bows and arrows. Peering through the thick crowd and narrow streets, my eyes caught the same kind of excitement in a dog’s face.

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In fact, there were more than one dog with the big grin that stretched from one side of the face to the other.

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Interestingly, the same sentiment was not reflected on their bodyguards. I get it, it takes a lot of toughness to protect such an easy-going spirit from all the harms in the world. And that toughness can wear you down, if you do it a lot.

I turned around to confirm that theory on my bodyguard, only to see the amount of energy and love that he still had, after doing his job, for a dog that needed some tender touch.

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That’s the story of a happy dog and her bodyguard.

La fine.

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Coming a Full Circle from Bevagna, Italy - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

Sometimes, I wonder if our lives are just made of various circles. Some so big that took 10 years to complete, like the one for Niagara Falls. Fortunately, many are smaller.

In the Umbrian town of Bevagna, we met a family of four with two lovely girls. The Italian father told us that he had studied in Spain and led groups along a pilgrimage. From him, we were thrilled to learn how the word “conclave” originated in his hometown Viterbo back in the 13th century. Things like this make for the bonuses in our travel memories.

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However, in all honesty, our mind was set on experiencing the Mercato delle Gaite, during which people of Bevagna go back to the Medieval time to hold banquets, processions, and competitions between the four gaite (quarters). And, that’s the only thing we knew about this “hidden gem” in the province of Perugia.

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At the end, we concluded this a satisfying experience, being content on all things Medieval, visual, or taste, until one year later, when our travel brought us to the path way of Camino de Santiago. That’s when I remembered the gentleman’s work with Spanish Steps and the 5-star chicken coop that he built for his wife.

Isn’t life interesting in some ways?

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Am I a Pilgrim? - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

In our last trip to Spain, we somehow strung together a series of cities along the Camino Francés (or French Way, in English) of Camino de Santiago (or Way of St. James, in English), Burgos being one of them. One thing leading to another, I found myself on a mental journey searching for the meaning of pilgrimage.

In my mind, it’s obvious when there’s a church involved, especially done with the safety of many others around you.

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Or, going it alone, even if it means taking a break from the group for the sake of clear air and clear mind, would cut it.

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If we stretch a little and take a liberal interpretation, standing afar and staring into the grandiose monument could provide much-needed enlightenment as well.

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Unfortunately, this belief system came to a halt when I read that a pilgrim is "always in danger of becoming a tourist" by the Christian priest Frank Fahey. He writes in Pilgrims or Tourists? “Pilgrimage … is more about the journey than the destination. This may seem a contradiction to a modern pilgrim who flies off to a distant shrine or holy city, eager to arrive there to see as much as possible”.

All of a sudden, the concept of pilgrimage seem more relevant to me. For someone that doesn’t tally up the number of countries visited and is silly enough to visit certain countries multiple times (what a waste) while skipping certain others, could she be a pilgrim in this life on earth?

As a practitioner of substance over form (thanks to the professional training in my “previous life”), I seem to agree that "a pilgrimage is a journey ... where a person goes in search of new or expanded meaning about their self, others, nature, or a higher good, through the experience." (per Wikipedia)

What do you think? Am I a pilgrim? Are you?

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