Mtskheta moment

Irreplicable moment of the day: I’m in a taxi with two Japanese travellers I met atop an abandoned ruin in Mtskheta (just outside of Tbilisi) in order to split the cost of a cab to an ancient church atop a mountain. Our driver is a big, burly Georgian with tattoos of a dagger piercing through a heart, a scorpion, and Georgian characters on his knuckles. Out of nowhere, we hear “Love you like a love song” by Selena Gomez. It’s not the radio, but the driver’s ring tone! He tries to get the phone out of his pocket while negotiating a blind bend up the mountain. I make the sign of the cross with as much fervour as do the Georgians, and somehow all is well as we got to the top and saw views like these:

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And this one (I’ll leave it to you to make your own commentary):
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Perhaps I’ll go into more detail about my day trip to Mtskheta, but I just wanted to share this weird moment with you. Never forget to appreciate the random things that come your way! Happy travels!

Short reflections on the Camino de Santiago

El camino que camino es el mío – The path that I walk is my own

I filmed a few short videos while walking on the Camino de Santiago in May and June of 2013. In general, they show the amazing landscape that my eyes bore witness to, and the emotions and sentiments that I felt on the trails. I hope to go into more detail at some point, but I thought that I’d share these videos now (some are over 2 months old already!), lest they remain mere digital footprints on my iPhone that are left unshared. This, frankly, would be a shame – the Camino for me was an incredible, restorative 800-km journey buscando un poco más de la verdad: searching for a little more of the truth – my truth – what compelled me to walk such a large distance in a month’s time, to leave everything familiar and comforting to me behind, to put my faith in the unknown, to question how and why and humbly attempt to find answers, to trust and seek companionship in people who were just strangers before embarking on this pilgrimage…

I don’t pretend to have all the answers or speak of my experience as authoritative, but being an experience all the same, maybe there will be those who will want to seek out answers and search for their truth, and will be compelled to learn more about the ancient pilgrimage route that grows ever more popular in a world of increasing disillusion…

Camino de Santiago, Day 2

Camino de Santiago, Day 2, part 2

Camino de Santiago, Day 3

Camino de Santiago, Day 4

Camino de Santiago, Day 6