One of the highlights of the recent Travel on a Shoestring Expo at SM City BF Parañaque was A Traveler’s Diary Photo Exhibit, which featured the collection of Italian world traveler Enrico Lanza.
Lanza has seen 82 countries in more than two decades of backpacking. He documented his travel with his point-and-shoot camera, and now has 3,000 photos in his collection.
Apart from the exhibit, Lanza shared snippets of his adventures – the many unconventional methods of traveling, the beautiful sunrise and sunsets in different hemispheres, the rich cultures and traditions that survived centuries of modernization, the food of the world, nature’s wonders, and most importantly, the kindness of the people he met along the way.
Some of the featured photos include a throwback at Afghanistan in 1977 where the Volkswagen Kombi, also named the Hippie Van, was a popular transportation for travelers. Lanza shared that he traveled 17,000 kilometers from Italy to Afghanistan over land using this vehicle.
In 1995 in the Himalayas, Lanza was literally on top of the world when he climbed the peak of Mount Everest on the Nepalese side, “looking straight into these mountains with the eyes like that of a child.” In Namibia in 2001, he witnessed how the five-million-year-old dunes in the Namib Desert became red on sunrise, and how the Himba, the last nomadic people in Namibia, covered themselves with a red rich cosmetic mixture of butter fat and ochre pigment to cleanse and protect their skin.
In 2016, one of the highlights of his trip to Hungary was the iron shoes memorial on Danube Bank in Budapest built to honor the Jewish people killed during World War II.
The joys of traveling, he adds, are the special moments you get in every destination. “These open your eyes; you’ll start to look at society with a different perspective. You get to experience the real world, and discover more about yourself.”
Lanza now enjoys living in the Philippines between his travels. Part of the reason, he reveals, are the smiling people, the relaxing surroundings and its beauty.
A Traveler’s Diary Photo Exhibit is one of the many exciting events at SM City BF Parañaque. It will be on display at SM City Bicutan this month.