This Happened to Me The First Time in My Travels - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

It took some investigating at the bus station to make sure we got on the right bus.  After all, the bus ride that goes into the mountainous area takes four hours and we'd prefer getting off at the planned location when it made the final stop. :-)

At a place where we don't speak Spanish and they don't speak (much, if at all) English, it's back to sign language and basic expressions.  People were really nice and tried to help.  At times, we thought they were going to the same place as we were and tried to have us follow suit.  But there was no way to be sure, until we met a duo of sister and brother.  The sister took a look at our tickets and made a clear enough gesture to let us know we can follow them.  

They carried school backpacks and looked like they were going home for the weekend.  Turned out, their seats were right in front of us, which allowed the younger brother to peek back in between the seats from time to time.  Yes, we look very different from what they have seen in their young lives. :-)  

The way we plan our travels made sure all trips provide visual feasts.  However, a weekend spent in this remote town did something I did not realize until the day we left.  When the bus destined for city took off, I felt something wet rolling down my cheeks.  This had never happened before in my travels.  I only had it happen again when leaving a small town on top of a mountain in the Umbria area of Italy recently. 

Senior-Lady-in-Traditional-Costume-Buying-Cala-Lilies-in-Sunday-Market-of-Cuetzalan-Mexico-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

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Look What You've Done in Cuetzalan, Mexico - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

From time to time, I feel that some images are calling me, like this one of the tea ceremony that I made in Japan.  So I had to stop the stream of the work that I had been doing and processed it for you.

Lately, it's Cuetzalan,  a small town high up in the hills of the north of the state of Puebla in Mexico.  It's truly a place where the past lives on and the best time to appreciate it is its Weekend markets where indigenous people (Nahuatl) from surrounding villages gather in the small town center, selling goods that they carried on their back here. 

I was in photography/culture heaven and having a blast maneuvering the narrow lanes and steep steps, so much so that I did not notice the "stink eyes", twice, until later.  Hahaha!

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Parma is Not Only Prosciutto - Los Angeles Travel Photographer

To be honest, I first tasted prosciutto (prosciutto crudo di Parma in Italian) before the name Parma even hit my ears.  My love for food, combined with curiosity on anything, led me to the realization that the dry-cured ham is one of the two famous types of Italian prosciutto crudo and earned itself the D.O.P. designation (Denominazione di Origine Protetta), which literally means Protected Designations of Origin in English.

I followed my nose and taste buds to the Emilia-Romagna area.  While the food (more than) satisfied my quest for authentic gourmet food that's prepared in ways that show respect to the food itself, its history and art amazed me.  Had you followed me around, you'd hear me "wowing" me way through the region, one of the locations being the Palazzo della Pilotta in Parma.     

The complex of edifices was originally built for the family of then Duke Ottavio Farnese between 1583 and 1622, including the breath-taking Teatro Farnese (Farnese Theater).  Sharing the same fate with many Italian historical sites, the complex was heavily bombed in WWII and the Theater was almost completely destroyed.  

Today, when I stand in the corridor of this repaired/restructured complex, I do not see the pain and damage brought about by the war.  I see elegance, age, and then, I see a child, in all his well-deserved fun-seeking manner, swishing right by in front of us.

Child-on-Scooter-Swishing-through-Arches-of-War-Damaged-Palazzo-della-Pilotta-Parma-Italy-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

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