A celebration of travel

My good friend Anjie Ureta celebrated another milestone in her life with the launching of her first book, A Pilgrim’s Diary: Passages and Inner Landscapes at the Zen Garden of the Asian Institute of Management. The event happened at the most auspicious time because it was the Feast of the Assumption and Anjie happened to turn 40 just two weeks before the launch. Anjie’s friends from the media came in full force to celebrate the event with the author. Among those who came were her Brat Pack buddies, Ivy Mendoza, Leah Salterio, Shirley Pizarro, Vlad Bunoan, Francine Medina, Alex Vergara; her former college professor at DLSU, Nestor Cuartero who is also Tempo editor, Teresa Reyes Tunay, Anjie’s idol who also wrote the foreword to the book; AIM professors led by Cecile Manikan, director of the Managing the Arts Program, Celeste Legaspi; environmentalist and actor Roy Alvarez, among others.

The program started with a musical invocation by Fr. Nicolas Sengson, SVD, with the participation of Fr. Raul Caga, SVD and Chin-Chin Gutierrez and flutist Tony Maigue. Adding magic and sparkle to the evening were performances by some of Anjie’s closest friends, including Ballet Manila’s prima ballerina Lisa Macuja-Elizalde who rendered a breathtaking performance together with principal dancer Osias Barroso who choreographed the number of Anjie’s favorite song, What a Wonderful World, Chin Chin Gutierrez, who sang a scintillating version of Ili-ili from her Uyayi album with Dona Tumacder, Wawi Navarroza (of the late Isabel) and Cat Juan providing rhythmic movement and dance; internationally acclaimed flutist Antonio Maigue; Indian singer and composer Punnu Wasu with Sing India; writer Carla Casanova who read passages from the book, and stage actor Ku Aquino who hosted the program.

Truly a child of the universe, Anjie has embarked on an extraordinary travel to quaint and colorful destinations all over the world. From a 25-hour ride through the remote regions of Siberia to sitting with the Dalai Lama for 10 days, Anjie shares her spirit for adventure in the book, A Pilgrim’s Diary: Passages and Inner Landscapes.

Published by Treehouse Creative Village, the book is a collection of 30 travel essays rich in detail and full of innate musings. Anjie journeys through Nepal where she discovers Buddhism, explores the haunted castles and tunnels in Scotland, pays homage of the historic Taj Mahal, and Stonehenge, takes a muddy trek around Cornwall and takes a boat ride in the alligator-infested swamps of New Orleans. She also participates in the sacred rituals of the Kankana-eys in Sagada, and records the vanishing folk songs of Ivatans in Batanes, discovers the beauty of the deep at the Great Barrier Reef, walks through the dreamer’s paradise that is Montemarte, and investigates the Baker Street residence of the "real" Sherlock Holmes. These are but some of Anjie’s escapades recorded in the book.

Also included is a rare interview with Brazilian novelist and icon Paulo Coelho (whom she met in London in 1997), as well as encounters with French marine archaeologist Franck Goddio who discovered the San Diego Galleon wreckage, and American photographer A. Victor Goodpasture who recounted his expedition to Antartica.

Anjie, who admits most of her personal trips were taken alone, says, "Traveling for me is a never-ending source of unfamiliar joy and this book is its celebration.

"Traveling alone gives you a different perspective in life. There is magic in solitude. When I travel by myself to a distant place, I realize that discovery and transformation are indistinguishable gifts that always come in pairs."

A journalist by profession, Anjie Ureta spent 12 years as executive producer and writer for the ABS-CBN Current Affairs Department, where she specialized in newsmagazines, talk shows, lifestyle programs and documentaries. She was also a lifestyle editor for the Manila Times and continues to contribute feature articles to newspaper and magazines. She is currently production consultant and artist manager.

A Communication Arts graduate of De La Salle University in Manila, she was an American Studies fellow of the World Press Institute in Macalester College, St. Paul, Minnesota in 1997 and was a visiting scholar in the masters program for Television Documentary and Features Production at the University of Salford in Manchester, England under a British Chevening scholarship that same year. Last April, she completed the Managing the Arts Program at the AIM.

Designed by Ige Ramos and edited by Susan de Guzman and Giselle Kasilag, who are likewise MAP alumni, advance copies of A Pilgrim’s Diary: Passages and Inner Landscapes are available at all branches of Mag: Net, and Mag: net Plus, Popular Bookstore, Filipinas Heritage Library, the Ayala Museum, the CCP Gift Shop, Bound, Greens Vegetarian Restaurant, Bliss Café in Baguio. You can also get copies of the book via web shopping at Divisoria.Com.

Congratulations, Anjie!