Karin's Camino

Emilio Estevez y mi Mochilla!

2012-01-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

I may have made a comment about hardly watching TV these days, but movies, well that's another story. Or maybe it's just the same old story. The Camino, or The Way of St. James. On Youtube, I'm forever perusing other peoples videos. Or as I've often said to other pilgrims on their blogs, peaking over their shoulders. It's a little like slipping yourself into their backpacks, for a mile or so and getting to view the road perhaps from a slightly different vantage point than you might otherwise have done.

In a few weeks, at long last, the granddaddy of Camino videos will be available on DVD! By this I mean the movie, The Way, by Emilio Estevez, starring Martin Sheen. Of course I have a preorder in place! There are other Camino movies in the works, most especially The Camino Documentary by Lydia B. Smith. More about that one in another post.

The Way. Long awaited by many of us Caminoholics. For a number of years, we knew this one was in the works. We waited. We chatted on the Camino Forum. We blogged. We waited. The longest wait seemed to be for the release of the film here in the States. I remember fellow pilgrims from England and Ireland, who'd gotten to see it before they came over and walked last summer. So lucky. Or so I thought at the time. It wouldn't be available in any way shape or form for quite some time after I got home.

Home, yeah, coming home and trying to get settled. Trying to feel at home again. Missing the daily walk to, well, where ever fate and feet would take me. Missing the openness of the days, never really knowing who you might meet. It's quite an adjustment after nearly a month and a half of living that way. Living simply. Living out of my pack. Living so small and yet larger than my life has probably ever been before. Heartfelt sigh here!

So, back to the movie, The Way. What a gift to have it released and previewed close to where I live. Not one of the lucky ones who got a ticket for the preview, I went to the theater anyhow. A few friends stopped by too, a former co-worker and his wife. We waited outside for while, knowing that Estevez and Sheen were supposed to be there for a Q & A afterwards. While they choose to go home early, since it really didn't look like we could get in, I simply couldn't tear myself away. Well, I'm too often saying to others that there is always more than one way to skin a cat. And so there is!

Walking myself back to the theater my plan was to wait in the lobby. I thought perhaps I'd simply get someone to take a picture of me, pack on my back, Camino shoes on my feet, next to a poster of the movie. Then I'd buy tickets for when it actually opened at this theater at the end of the week. That's all. If I spotted either of the movie makers, great, but lets be realistic, the odds weren't good. Sigh. Such is life.

Inside I asked a woman next to me, looking at the flyers and promotional materials on the table, would she use my camera to take a picture, since I wasn't going to be able to get to see the movie on this particular evening. She looked at me and said "Lets see if we can't get you in with my husband and me." She promptly grabbed the young man in charge of the list of attendees, and asked him if there were any no shows. He said yes, he still had quite a few tickets left and simply handed me one. Wow. Ask and ye shall receive!

Me, mi mochilla (backpack) and my incredibly dingy Camino shoes walked into the theatre almost in a daze. There were seats in the front rows. The first two rows, you know the ones we adults avoid, 'cause they give you a crick in the neck! I happily sat myself down, propped my feet on the arm of the seat in front of me and got comfortable for the next hour and a half.

Sitting so close actually turned out to be wonderfully overwhelming. It made it feel as though I was in the film, back on the Camino. The Pyrenees, the Meseta, the bars and oh yeah, the bunk beds! I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, and roared with laughter, as did other former pilgrims in the audience, when the main characters were twirling their bourdons or hiking sticks. Ahh the memories. So seeing it post Camino was more of a blessing than it would have been seeing it pre-pilgrimage.

Immediately after, from the back of the theater came, Estevez, Sheen and a host of others who were responsible for this lovely film. My only quibble, such as it is, was the film school that was present. They rather took over some of the question and answer period. I never got to ask my burning question! I still, to this day, don't know if any of the filming crew or cast got blisters on the Camino.

As the Q & A drew to a close, assistants began to herd the movie folk out a side exit. Down in the front. Right by those two front rows, that no adult wants to sit in. Where I was. So, happy that I'd listened to a friend who'd quipped, I should get one of them to sign my backpack, I whipped out a permanent marker and asked Emilio, "?Escribe en mi Mochilla, por favor?" Ok, so that 'taint perfect Espanol, but he knew what I wanted! So below, my now two Camino backpack has become a priceless heirloom! Nah, still a tatty old back filled with the most wonderful memories and still with miles to go before I put it to sleep for good!

"Buen Camino, Emilio Estevez"

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T14:46:00.000-08:00

It's difficult to believe that this year is actually coming to a close. It's been quite spectacular and will rank as one of the most special in my life. So far! Two beautiful granddaughters. One Camino Frances done and done! So many wonderful new friends. Just as many lovely old ones too. I am filled to the brim with blessings this year, as it draws to a sweet close. Truly the words, my cup runneth over, have never felt so true.

Where the road will lead in this coming year I can't quite say. If the past is anything to measure by, it could be truly amazing. In fact I know it will be. So to all who have stopped by here, blessings be upon you. Blessings on all in your life. Peace and joy be yours in the up coming New Year!

Now after a long days hiking in the Pine Barrens, I'm off to slay some opponents at Scrabble!!

Buen Camino all!

Watershed Moment?

2011-11-05T12:33:00.000-07:00

Left or right? Yes or No? High road or low road? There come moments in all of our lives when there is a shift or a line that gets crossed. A change. A choice that gets made, and everything that comes after will be different. Sometimes it's obvious and clear for anyone to see. Sometimes the changes can be so subtle. I think sometimes those quiet ones may have the most lasting effect.

I knew the Camino, this Camino, was important for me. I knew I would have time to think, uninterrupted. Time to just be, completely removed from all the "things" that make up my so called life. No distractions. To the point I lost all track of the days of the week! The most obvious and funny one was sitting in Hontanas as the bells began to peal, looking at another pilgrim and wondering why. It was it turns out, Sunday morning!

I find myself viewing a lot of my life as before and after the Camino. There were immediate and obvious changes, like the 16+ lbs left behind in the Pyrenees and the mountains of Galicia. There are others, quiet ones that aren't as easy to define. And I don't think El Camino is done with me yet!! Seeing where this all leads is going to be interesting. Probably almost as interesting as the Camino was. Interesting for me at least...I do realize that for others, it might be as exciting as watching grass grow or paint dry

Strange, but I have been told by a few people that while they can't put a finger on it...they think I've changed. I don't know that I thought any of this to be obvious to anyone outside my family. A friend from the gym, had no idea where I'd gone or what I'd done, stopped me and asked what was up, why did I seem different. I think maybe the changes are a little like what happened to my hiking shoes. When I left home they were green and grey. Each day that went by they grew a little more worn (and a little more cofortable too!). When I got to Santiago, they were nearly unrecognizable. I have similar pair of Keens here at home that have seen way fewer miles and still resemble their original color and shape. And, while at times it felt like I'd worn my feet 'n legs down to mere nubs, here too is proof that the feet came thru in one piece too!

Just a few thoughts and samples of little things that have changed:

Writting - constantly. Which is funny, 'cause I didn't write a journal 'cept for this blog while actually on the Camino! Then I just wanted to in the moment.
Trying poetry even! Ok, so haven't exactly gone public with any, but I get immense satisfaction out of it.
Watch very little TV, some times nothing for days on end.
Really making space and time for all the good people in my life. Only the good...the others, I just don't sweat anymore. I don't specifically push them away, I just don't make room for them.
Haven't set foot in a shopping mall since my return, and very few other retail establishments outside of the grocery store. Now FYI, I live only a few miles from the first ever modern indoor shopping mall. It all started here in NJ! Sheesh!
Do more things completely independently. So I want to go hike in Wharton State Forest. No one to go with, no problem. Tell the rangers and head out. Simple as that.
Have not bought a single article of clothing since the scarf I bought in Santiago de Compostella. My last job was in a clothing store so this is pretty funny, and I like it!
Finally got the courage to paint and I don't mean change the color of a room! I drew a sketch for a particular space below the stairs in our house ten years ago. Now I finally have the courage to put it on the wall! Great art? No, but very satisfying!

So on a note of absolute bravery...for me...here is that sketch made 10 years ago...soon to be

on the wall it was drawn for:

Last but in no way least, perhaps one of the greatest changes is the acceptance of things that are simply, unchangeable. Myself or rather the body I inhabit. For all that I lost weight walking the Camino Frances, I've learned that this is a sturdy strong body that I live in. Size is not important. Being healthy is. Being comfortable and confident in my own skin is. Accepting who I am at 55 is. And that, as the ole Master Card commercials say, is priceless!

Memories of a Museo

2011-10-29T17:52:00.000-07:00

Museums. I think if this word was to be in a word association "test", most, if not many would answer dust! Or perhaps in a kinder moment, simply old or perhaps boring. I don't know why but it's never been that way for me. Maybe because they've been a part of my life for nearly as long as I can remember.

As children we were taken (yes some days dragged!) to museums of all sorts. A favorite was the Trolley Museum in Connecticut. The Trolley Museum meant being able to climb all over the machinery. There were trips to other museums with my stateside grandparents. They lived just outside Philadelphia. We kids would get to stay for a week, all by ourselves, reveling in being the center of attention. I remember Omi asking me where I wanted to go each time I was with them. The answer was rarely anything but the Philadelphia Museum of Art. One of my all time favorite rooms has a lovely reflecting pool in the center of the gallery. Sometimes it was hard not to want to play in the water! Just sitting on the marble bench swinging my feet, next to my Opa, that was fun too.

So I guess, me finding my way into museums in Santiago was just natural. I wandered thru parts of the Cathedral Museum with Hunter prior to our taking the trip up to the roof. On my final day in Santiago, as I continued to struggle finding tokens of rememberance for the family back home, I found my feet unerringly leading me to the Museum of Pilgrimage. It is actually incredibly close to the Cathedral and to where I was staying at the Seminario.
The entry fee isn't much. As a perigrina, with credencial or Compostella even that small fee is waived! Doesn't get much better than that does it!

The first few rooms were dedicated to pilgrimage in general. There were examples of different pilgrimages around the world. In one of those rooms I found this lovely mandala.

In one of the halls, these tiles were on the ceiling. I would have loved to have had copies of them. The beautiful green and the soft ochre tones of the shells...very restful, I think. Almost like looking at them underwater.

My fascination with columns and capitals continued here in the museum where they were wonderfully displayed where someone like me can truly examine them up close and personal. This was like a dream come true for me, getting to see them so close and no ladders! Both my feet firmly on the floor.

Now mind you there was a lot more to be seen there besides capital! There were arches!!

As beautiful as this is now...worn and weathered, imagine how stunning it must have looked like when the velvet was new!


I had to fight the urge to touch these...so I zoomed in with the camera to compensate!

This is one of the most beautiful paintings, in my opinion! An absolute jewel.

So, next time your in Santiago de Compostella, and looking for something to do, wander round the corner and have a look see at this lovely little gem of museum. The staff are very welcoming, although the ones working that day didn't speak much English, they could not have been nicer or more helpful. I'm including a link to their website so you can find them even more easily. They absolutely should be on everyone's visit list!

www.mdperegrinacions.com

I'm also including the link to the cathedral, and the information about the museum there and the hours are included.

http://www.catedraldesantiago.es/ing/webcatedral.html

It was in the museum that I finally found things to bring home that felt right. I bought a cd called Canto de Ultreia. If I was more talented on the computer, I might even be able to include some of the haunting music from this CD, which is playing as I type here. I also bought three tiny blue and white plates with a scallop shell on them, one for each household. Supporting the museum by making these purchases also just felt right to me at this particular time. They didn't feel like just purchases for the sake of buying something. They were tangible reminders of my journey, and a way of sharing it with family back home. Another friend bought rosaries along the way. Again, a lovely way to bring a piece of the Camino home. Funny, still haven't been able to go into a mall since I've been back! Not once. Several museums...no malls!

Up on the Roof!!

2011-10-17T15:07:00.000-07:00

The days I spent in Santiago were desperately needed. They were very special in their own way. Talking with other pilgrims in Santiago, I found I wasn't alone in that feeling.   To grab a flight straight home seemed simply unimaginable, and in a way wrong. Even now, months later, I'm really just starting to feel like my feet are on the ground here at home. As much as they ever may be again! But then...they weren't exactly on the ground all the time I was Santiago either!

The last time I'd been in Santiago, in '08, I hadn't even known there was a roof top tour.    The tour is currently running at 8 Euros, and is worth every bit of it. I had the good fortune to get to share my experience with Hunter a terrific young man, a great pilgrim, from Florida. We'd met on the trail a while back and bumped into each other again, as pilgrims do, in Santiago. We both enjoy church architecture and art, so sharing it with him was great.

The our actual tour began a 7:00pm with a flight of ancient stairs.   We nearly had to run up those stairs, because I was late! One wrong turn while trying to shop for family and I ended up several blocks over from where I shoulda been. Not an auspiscious beginning for a tour with lots and lots of stairs. That however turned out to be the only off moment!

The guide took us up to one of the rooms of the Cathedral Museum, and showed us what would have been a banquet room and gave wonderful explanations of the various carvings and colors that would have filled the room. Even ceilings weren't left alone. There is a whole other language being used, a kind of shorthand, that many of us are unaware of these days. Just as we speak in sometimes unintelligible shorthand while texting, in a way so did the builders and artists who made the cathedral and surrounding buildings. We may use the phrase IMHO (In my humble opinion!) or LOL (laughing out loud). When these buildings were being mapped out, you might have been told your "place" in someone's humble opinion by a simple glance around you. Look up and see plain and few ornaments in your little part of the universe and you didn't need to wonder where you fitted into the larger picture. Then all of this would have been painted too. While our current sensibilities are accustomed to the tans, taupes, grays and browns, in their time much of the rooms as well as the cathedral proper would have been beautifully painted. Add then banners of all sorts, tapestries and the rich colored robes and the place would have been a riot of color. So very different from what we see today, cool and calm and monochromatic.

From these rooms our guide, Andy, took us up yet another flight of steps which brought us to the gallery in the Cathedral itself. Amazing things to be seen and discovered here, many completely unexpected. In it's hey day this gallery running around the cathedral would have been where pilgrims spent the night. All of a sudden the botafumeri clearly is much more than a show stopping ornamental incense burner. It's essentially a giant room deodorizer!

This pic was taken in '08

Look at the thickness of those ropes!!

Can you imagine waking up in the morning...looking down and seeing this in the cool light of dawn!

Here we also got an incredible up close view of what was once a rose window in the original facade of the cathedral. So sad, at least to me, to see what was once someones beautiful masterpiece pushed aside by a change in fashion. But that still goes on today, doesn't it, out with the old and in with the new?

This area is off limits unless your on the tour, or one of the lucky people who are working on restorations up here. This is also turns out to be the attic area of the cathedral.

Imagine this as your workspace!! Ahh one can dream!

These giant figures are used during feistas! We were told the represent in a humorous
way pilgrims from around the world.

This is how it rests on the person carrying it!
Somehow it looks like the ultimate headache.

Now it was onward and upward to the roof itself. I had no real idea what it might be like up there. It was amazing. The one and only complaint, was of myself, for being silly enough not to inquire about footwear. I had my crocs on, which were ok, but my hiking shoes would have been much more secure. Especially for someone who doesn't like heights all that much.

Andy our intrepid guide who patiently answered all our questions.

As you come out of the stair case this is the view that greets you straight ahead. In clearer weather it must be unbelievable. Although this cloud cover gave us nice even lighting.

Looking left this is what you'll see. It was funny to see how comfortable some people were up here. Funnier still how uncomfortable some us were!

Get really brave and start wandering about anywhere...even the ridge line!

Looking down at the Plaza where I'd had a glass of champange
with Arlene the day before, celebrating our arrival in Santiago.

This curved door completely intriuged me.

Look around the city, heck look anywhere in Galicia and you'll see mosses, lichens, flowers and ferns popping out of crevices and clinging to walls. While I found them beautiful to look at, they worried me. I was concerned they might be causing damage to the buildings. Andy our guide assured me that they don't. In fact he said one of them and I'm not sure which color it was, actually acts in a protective manner for the stone face. You can see at least three colors of lichens, one moss, and two different flowers just on this one piece of ornamentation!

While looking at the building was fun...looking in was almost as much! Being able to view parts of the great gilded altar from the roof top windows was amazing. Someone needs to tell housekeeping they missed a spot!

Interesting and understandable, to see how the gold is only on the parts that show!


Ok...so I don't like doing windows either.

This tour was terrific and I truly recommend it to any and all going to Santiago! But now it's time for a beer, a reward for climbing so high and getting clamy hands and feet!! I'm off from there...humming me a little James Taylor.!!

Since my friends and family know how much I don't like heights...I had to have this picture taken up there as proof positive! See I didn't just send my camera up with Hunter!

Homecoming

2011-09-23T08:02:00.000-07:00

I first heard about the Camino at least 20 years ago. There was an immediate deep visceral response. I knew in every fiber of my being I wanted to do this thing, walk across the North of Spain. This isn't a surprise if you really know me. Or, it shouldn't be!

Growing up my first heroes/heroines were adventurers.  I remember getting lost reading an entire series of biographies in the elementary school library for young readers. Bios of people like Lief Erikson, Kit Carson, Lewis and Clark. My bedtime reads often included old (I mean 1915!) copies of National Geographic, often all black and white. Someday, I will go to the Gobi Desert and be surprised that it doesn't smell like old books, that delicious dry, ever so slightly moldy dusty aroma of ancient paper. Ahhh... the dream of travel.

So, now I'm all grown up (lol) and been married for 33 years. A lifetime! Married to someone whose idea of vacations is a polar opposite. Not wrong, just undeniably different.  It can be fun to go to the same shore spot year in and year out. To see how things change. Or not. Measuring yourself against things seen only once each year. However, for someone whose earliest memories are airplanes, airports and autobahns, this can feel at times like an almost imperceptible dying, unless well seasoned with periodic adventures.

An amusing example of our differences is simply in the expectations of where people live after marriage. His family all tried, at least initially to stay as close as possible. Five miles was good. Same neighborhood, even better. Next county, well that was seriously pushing the envelope.   I pushed the envelope. My envelope always was bigger to start with. Thousands of miles bigger. My childhood impressions of marriage were, you married and moved. Far. My maternal grandparents married in Germany and moved to England. My paternal great grandparents married in Germany, and moved to America. And then back to Germany, to fulfill military obligations during the WW I. My parents, my uncle and aunt either married and then moved to the US or vice versa. So if you'd ever asked me as a youngster, what I thought would happen when I married, the answer would have been simple. Marry and move to the west coast! Finding myself living within a few miles of where I went to high school, essentially wedded (or is that welded?) to the state university via marriage to a tenured professor, is, well - a shock!

Even something as benign or boring sounding, like visiting grandparents was a little different. I remember looks of pity when I told other kids I was going to my grandparents for vacation. I just neglected to mention they lived in another country. On another continent.   I learned early on to fly alone to Germany. Then to negotiate the train from Frankfurt to Nurnberg and then finding my Opa at the Hauptbanhof. Even at thirteen and fourteen. So traveling, even on my own has been in my blood and a habit for as long as I can remember.

So I've often felt a little out of sync. It really began to hit me how much my version of travel and "normal" weren't, aren't exactly that. There have been many times when I've expressed my interest in visiting places that don't show up on shiny travel brochures and gotten such strained smiles. Comments like "that's not safe" or "we aren't that kind of people" or "not a woman, certainly not alone...". A kind of loneliness became normal. Quiet. I simply learned to be quiet.

That doesn't mean I gave up dreaming. Plotting some might call it. Watching, waiting, a little praying too. Somehow I knew I couldn't possibly be the only one. Oh, I knew I wasn't, but it sure felt that way sometimes.

Then the Camino. Here were people who quite literally stepped out of "normal" and into another way. Men, women, young, old, people who weren't afraid to meet the world full on. To live in ways, many, at least here in the US couldn't (or perhaps I should say wouldn't) conceive of doing.

Finally, I found home or could I say I found my tribal lands. We are tribe of nomads on the Camino. For more than five weeks I slept in a different bed nearly every single night. Most of the time, I and my compadres on the road, weren't even sure where we might be sleeping for the night. I ate in different towns, with different people. Yet in it's own lovely way it finally felt, well, like a home. Even now, more than two months out, I find a comfort, knowing there are pilgrims out there.  On the road. Pilgrims who will pick up in a few hours and walk forward. Where to exactly doesn't matter. Exactly with whom doesn't matter. They will get to know still more people. Tomorrow, on the road. The tribe will continue.

I'm beginning to realize too, how many other pilgrims moved with me when I was on the road. Other pilgrims were invested in me and my pilgrimage, without ever meeting. Every day in Santiago at Mass, prayers of thanksgiving are said for those at the cathedral. And prayers are said for those still on their way. How many pilgrims at home, were remembering, as I do now, their days on the road and pray for those currently walking. How many pilgrims, lurk on Internet forums and wonder about those walking. Wonder will it would be like? And perhaps pray for those walking. How many of us say prayers of thanksgiving for advice we've received from those who walked before us and shared their knowledge. How many feet have trodden those routes over the years?

I almost wonder how much of the dust we breathe in on that road is partly dust of those who've gone before us, the dust of our pilgrim tribe. Perhaps in a way that was part of what I smelled, all those years ago in my attic bedroom.  Reading my ancient National Geographics under the covers with bedside lamps or flashlights or however I could manage it on that night. My nose already knew, the familiar smell of the dust of the road. The smell of homecoming.

Monastery Bells

2011-07-31T18:38:00.000-07:00

Well, sort of! This poem was shared by a friend and I think of it every time I look at this picture, which is now my wallpaper on the computer.

The temple bell stopped

but the sound kept coming

from the flowers

- Matsuo Basho, 17th century Japanese Zen-Haiku poet

The Road Not Taken

2011-07-31T09:15:00.000-07:00

My first thought as I came to this particular intersection as of Frost...and the road not taken...So I thought I 'd share them together with you...

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

What the heck...is **

2011-06-30T09:20:00.000-07:00

Ok in an effort to make things manageable for those who are interested...as well as myself in editing...any entries with the apparent cursing going on, ** are new entries with pics and captions only! Hope this is helpful. Looks like only a day or a two at time. The upload process ain't exactly greased lightening. Oh that's right a pilgrim is always grateful...but then I ain't in pilg mode anymore... I am home!! (insert evil witchy laugh here!)

Pictures...at last!

2011-06-29T07:12:00.000-07:00

Ok....have begun inserting pics in the chronologically appropriate places...but not 100% sure if this is a good idea...or should I just start a second section of pics...in order? Will take advice or opinions from one and all....no offense taken...just excited as all get out to be able to share them with you all at last.

Ahhhh...that's right..breathe, just breathe!

Today is her day!

2011-06-26T03:23:00.000-07:00

Today is my beautiful granddaughter Anna Karina's baptism. Today is the day that made me hurry a little more than I might have liked, across the north of Spain.

My dearest and darling little one, I hope you will know how much I missed you! Someday maybe you'll realize how many people know this is your day! People in S. Africa, Germany, England, Ireland, France, Brasil, Italy...they all knew why I had this intense look some days, the look of someone with a goal. A goal beyond just Santiago de Compostella! So as I sit and write this with the sun coming up over my shoulder, I lift my cafe con leche to you my little one!

So Anna, and Clare Grace, my other beloved, still waiting in the wings....Omi is home!

Anna Karin Samulis (and her Omi!)

God is so good to us!

2011-06-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

As much as I dreaded the reentry, it is going so much better so far than I'd ever expected. Now this is coming from a woman who only laid her head on her own pillow about 8 hours ago!

My last day in Santiago was a bit of a whirlwind that allowed me not to have too many meltdowns! I meet and enjoyed my time with so many people that day, including Joachim and Hanna, who walked from Burgos or was it Pamplona, to celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary! Awesome couple and so much fun to spend time with. We decided to meet for a final dinner as I had the night train to catch. This left me now with an afternoon to fill. One last afternoon in my Emerald City, what to do? I had to do some shopping but was just having the worst time buying "things". I just couldn't. Yet, I wanted some small thing to share with my loved ones at home. So, putting all things in the hands of someone larger I went off, knowing I had to meet dear people in front of the Cathedral at 6pm
.
Wandering the streets I saw some lovely things, and yet none of them spoke to me. At all. Well, one pair of earrings did, that were very very modern and looked like cherries in a silvery/pewter/gold fabrication. But that would have been for me, a memory of cherries shared along the road, wild and those given to me by a local couple harvesting from their own front yard tree. No earrings. I wanted to check out the Convento and the church attached, but siesta intervened. Hmmmm...continue wandering the streets, starting to feeling the slightest anxiety that I wouldn't have any "thing" to share. When what to my wondering eyes should appear...one of my all time favorite things...a museum.

Now my poor family knows, if there is one thing I am liable to dive into anywhere anytime, it is a museum. Once again, the Camino provided. It was the Museum of Pilgrimage. It was free. It was terrific. It also allowed me to get something of remembrance without feeling overwhelmed by the commercial. I was still in a small way supporting both the museum and the local economy. So a few small items, some music and I was free to finish and meet my friends.

Our final dinner was in a small restaurant, frequented by locals only as it turned out. And the food was excellent. I simply indulged in my last Ensalada Mixta and last Tortilla Espana. Followed of course by Tarte de Santiago. We wandered around a bit after eating and found ourselves once again standing before the Cathedral in the Praza de Obradorio. All was well till I realized this was truly my last goodbye in this wonderful journey and with a quick hug to all, I fled. Grabbed my bag, had the concierge at the Seminario call a taxi, and headed for the train station.

I was, I believe the first pilg to show for the train. Got my ticket, on the cheap, a seat not a berth which would have been more than double, at 120 euros. So for 50 I had a comfy seat. Or so I thought.

Getting into my seat 2A on Coach 6, I discover myself sitting across from a man about 6' 5"! At first he didn't say a word as we four tried to settle ourselves. After a few moments, he realized I spoke English and lit up. Apparently hadn't heard a word for two days! Turns out to be ex British military, heading down to visit a sister in the south of Spain. His dad was also there and at 97, not doing well, so he was doing whatever and where ever to get there ASAP. And of course as cheap as possible. The flight, last minute would have been 600E ! So anyhow, we chat abit and decide to head for a coffee, which actually turned out to be a beer (smarter option if you wanna try and sleep upright I think).

Back in our spot on the train we struggle to get comfortable as possible, and Matt and the other pilg next to him said I should put my feet up on the seat between them. I looked at them in complete horror, as they were bare feet, Camino feet with healed blisters that are starting to peel and really look, well, disgusting! They insisted it was ok, so, lets not be stupid, I did! We all nod off as well as we can, with Matt doing like my friend Joe here, instant coma! Somewhere during the night I feel something on my legs. Ummm. Ok. Turns out Matt noticed my capris, and my cold legs, and was tucking me in with a shirt from his pack. Now tell me the Camino doesn't provide the most amazing angels along the way. Nasty slightly dirty camino feet and he tucks me in so gently I almost didn't notice. We parted with a hug and a kiss on the cheek in Madrid. I know I will never see him again, but neither will I ever forget him and his kindness. Matt, I hope it goes well with your Dad.

Back home after a long set of flights with all kinds of delays and near misses, I realize I have to call home. I am too late for any trains. So much for wanting to walk the last 2k to the house under my own steam. My phone had gone dead, and yet one last time, Camino Angels appear. The girl at the counter for the limos, hands me her phone (unasked for) and says to call my husband. Another girl waiting for her pick up hands me a phone to double check that he is heading to the right stop at Newark Airport. This is Jersey folks. This is highly populated, urban, busy, hectic and yet, people are good.

So now here I sit, having made my own caffe con leche and eaten a bit trying to think of what to do. I do know I need to go outside. I haven't been in a building this long in nearly six weeks. I need to walk. I need to go see my granddaughter. Oh GOD, that means I need to drive. Oh this should be interesting!

Tick, Tick, TICK!

2011-06-22T01:52:00.000-07:00

I´m down to hours in Santiago. Just as the city begins to feel home like, it´s time to leave. It really is. I´m ready, or as much as any of us is after a fairly long walk, to reenter my real world. Reenter without scaring the hell out of my family and friends. In my own weird way, I think after finally arriving in the City, I felt maybe a little like Moses did when he came down from the mountain, and people couldn´t look at him. I just wasn´t ready to have "regular" conversations. I wasn´t ready to think about daily tasks. Tasks that weren´t walking, washing laundry by hand, and eating something before sleeping again. Tasks that were anything but being, praying and enjoying the world as a whole.

OH....more tears here in the Emerald City! Sitting here typing, Rita, with whom I literally began my walk, appeared! We set our feet on the path to Santiago, together, on May 13th just before the gate in St. Jean Pied du Port. Today on my very last day, she is here with me again! Some how, it seems to round things out, complete and close a chapter. Beautifully. I think as of now there is only one friend I haven´t been able to say a proper goodbye to. And in it´s own way that is ok too.

Here´s to small quiet voices

2011-06-21T05:22:00.000-07:00

This morning, the dawn of midsummer, I woke up thinking I´d take the bus to Finisterre. My tummy felt a tiny bit wobbly, so I figured breakfast was in order. I wandered down to the dining hall, where the Seminario has a fantastic breakfast buffet. I ate. I drank coffee con leche. I sipped juice. I still felt just the tiniest bit off. So I wandered off to the cathedral.

The cathedral at roughly a few minutes after 8am is delightful. Quiet. Truly peaceful. I could really enjoy the silence, the polychrome pillars, the infinite variety of the chapels, the old and the new all living side by side. I watched quietly from a pew as some priests did their divine office, and then mass. I knew I wasn´t going to make Finisterre today and that was fine. I walked around the Portico del Gloria, admiring the work and looking a the restoration in progress over the next few years.

Needing more fresh air I went out the main steps and stood looking out over the Praza. A pilgrim sitting with his bag at the bottom smiled back as I mouthed "Hola". Then I saw why I´d had a wobbly stomach. Renate! Renate Gunther! I think the world of this young woman, and haven´t seen her since Leon. We spent the morning catching eachother up on all the happenings, and various folk from our Camino Families. I´d forgotten that she and Hunter were also good friends.

So I´ve been given once again the gift of friendship and time with good people. Tonight Hunter and I have reservations to look at the roof of the Cathedral. Not a bad spot to toast midsummer ! Wonder who else I might run into in the process! So here´s to those small quiet voices gently pulling you back from a plan that looked so promising at first light.

"Last" day...or where to now?

2011-06-20T18:44:00.000-07:00

How do you put into words, this last day, walking ... It rather reminds me of the line in a song from the movie "To Sir with Love" where she says "how do you thank someone who's taken you from crayons to perfume?" Well, I may not have been quite that young...but... How do you quantify, measure or even begin to know how much you've changed over these days and weeks and actually months? For the now, thank you Santiago, for the place, Gracias, Espana and all my fellow Perigrinos, for everything...Gracias, Danke. Thank you all the angels I met along this way... I am so grateful and happy to say I am not the woman who began this trip...whoever she was. I can also say, who I am still becoming..don't quite know, but thank you for that too!

Yes, it was this dark when I started walking! this was probably the only day I left this early.

It took a lot of manipulating to get this picture to show...but the hayloft was so lovely in the near dark, I wanted to crawl up there and wait...for the sun and the rest of the world...

Finally the sun, as always decided to show his face and help me along the way.

At long last, enough light to seen the yellow arrows...and the boots sitting on top of the stele..

So long awaited and now actually dreaded. This is it, city of my dreams.

A little humor always helps too! And another one of those tiny notes, which always leave one with that bittersweet wondering, did they meet...did they reconnect?

The equally long awaited words...Monto de Gozo, Mount of Joy. From there pilgrims can see the actual Cathedral for the first time. Now mind you, I've been there before, so I wasn't thinking it would hit me....

Well, Duh!! Of course it did...I was trying so damn hard to smile, which only made me cry more!! Of course I can laugh at it now...The Dutch pair who took this for me, and I of them, wound up sitting in the same corner at Mass! It was a mother being helped by her son...who was only a bit younger than me. Lovely to see them together.

There they are..smack dab in the middle between the trees, the misty spires of Santiago! What can I say, the mist matched my eyes this Sunday morning in Santiago.

The road into downtown was amazingly crowded, and it was here I lost the two ladies from Sweden!

I almost thought the boot was part of the sign. The couple walking by, in the background, they thought I forgot it!! He chased me down, and I had to explain in my pitiful Espanol, No mi Zappato and pointing at my feet and my now nasty looking Keens, Mi solo Zappatos. It was incredibly sweet of him to try and do this...I kinda felt bad...but even for the last 3km, I wasn't carrying another thing!!

When I said on my earlier post about Santiago, about my sitting in a corner and I couldn't believe Enzo and Pepy actually found me sitting here, my pack tucked into the corner between the sign and the wall, me, as you saw above, all in black! Apparently the angels were hard at work again.

Stepping into my room at the Monastery, that Enzo and Pepy steered me into, this was what greeted me outside my window!! My angels...still at it, day and night.

Bliss, aka Room 401. Those are real cotton sheets and comforter...and a door...that only I can lock or open! and a bathroom..all to myself! and breakfast too, all for 23 Euros!!! Ahhhhhh!

Angel of God,
My guardian dear,
To whom His love
Commits me here;
Ever this nightBe at my side,
To light and guard,
To rule and guide.
Amen.

Sleep tight pilgrims everywhere...don't let the bed bugs bite!!

:-)

Santiago!!

2011-06-20T08:59:00.000-07:00

Ok ya´ll, I have a date with a young man from Florida in about 45 minutes...and the computer has only about 25 minutes left, at the moment...so...ya gets what ya gets!!

Where to begin...ok, maybe back in Santa Irene would be great idea? Made that tiny village late on Saturday, along with my beautiful friends from Sweden. Ingmarie and Evelille (spelling?) started in Sarria, the last major outpost for those "only" doing the last 100km. As much as I tried or wanted to look down my weary and old pilgrim nose at this, their joy and delight at being on the road together was infectious! We enjoyed walking sorta together and then meeting up to find an alburgue or hostel.

In Santa Irene, we tried really hard to find the private alburgue, and failed. Too tired, as we´d just completed a bit over 30km for the day. So we stayed in the public one we´d stumbled too, and were rewarded with a room to ourselves. Joy of Joys! NO Supermercado or anything else, so back up the hill and into one of three restaurants there. We´ll St. James was looking out for us as it was one of the best meals I´ve had. The girls ate ensalad mixta, I had a lovely veg soup. We all agreed to fish, so it came family style. And oh what style! No Pomme Frites for us.... Real chunks of potatoes, with olive oil, and three kinds of grilled fish! Salmon, Hake and Calimari! Evelile finally tried calimari and declared it good. For Postres, we had fruit macerated in orange juice. Peaches and plums etc. Absolute perfection..all at the staggering price of 9€.

The girls had also given me another gift, for helping them along the way (that´s a laugh with my un poco Espanol!) But it was one of the most precious gifts, especially to a woman living out of a bag for more than a month. It was a tiny bottle of conditioner. I can comb my hair properly using the small brush that Emmanuel from Stuttgart gave me (lightening his pack and making me feel like a girl again!)

So..anyhow...At five in the morning, with my miners lamp firmly on my head, I left, hell bent on making my way into Santiago in time for the noon pilgrims mass. It was dark. Really dark. However the sky was clear, the moon was out and I simply had to take my time. So, happily I can report I made it thru the forest without a faceplant and any other untoward happenings. Didn´t even scream in the one town where the motion detector sign that talks to you began to greet me in the dark!! Very proud of myself for that one!

Now my family will find this hard to believe, but I walked nearly 12km before I had a cuppa coffee (con Leche of course!) But I did it and have to pinch myself from the shock of it. After this one lonely cup, I pushed on, and to all of Santiago, Mea Culpa! That had to have been one grim faced perigrina that passed you all on a Sunday morning.

Make it in time for Mass? You bet I did! Found me a padded seat on a confessional, huddled my now cramping legs and bawled (family, are you surprised?) It was a lovely mass, especially when I looked up and Pepy from Italy was standing over me smiling and telling me he and Enzo had spotted me!

So after Mass, they steered me to a place another friend from the Camino Forum had recommended (thank you Ian!). I knew it existed but by this point was too tired to even figure out how to find it. Turns out they were all staying there! So Enzo, my lovely heart transplant friend, literally took me by the pack and gently shoved me over there. Pepy and he shortened and stashed my poles. They made sure I got the Alburgue floor which is only 23€ including a fantastic breakfast buffet. So now I too can heartily and joyfully recommend the Semenario Menor (?). Beautiful, clean, friendly, and.....a room all my own, with a bath of my VERY OWN!! I can stay neeked for more than thirty seconds! I have white sheets...and a fluffy towel!!

Ok...time for my date with Hunter, touring the Cathedral roof and such!

Tomorrow...Finisterre per Autobus!! Midsummer on the beach...looking at home and thinking of all of you, at home and all of you elswhere...I love you all very much!!

Melide

2011-06-18T18:33:00.000-07:00

Left Ligonde quietly in the near dark...alone again. It felt better than the previous days, and suddenly it began to really hit me..I was days from Santiago. My epic was nearly over. Or so I thought at the time. Journeys like this...they stay with you, in you forever. Rather like having a child, you are never ever quite the same.

I was still meeting new and wonderful people. Some of them long timers..some really new to the road. It took an effort to remain open to new encounters, but it was worth the effort. There were the girls from Sweden, Johann from Germany and many others, esp. the cyclist, who really just fly thru our lives.

Making it into Melide I was dragging a little, but feeling fairly contented with my journey. Just needed to find the Alburgue. No sooner was the thought clear in my head when another pilgrim, neatly scrubbed and ready to see the town, grabs me and points me in the direction, telling me to hurry, but there are still beds! Well thank you! I found it, although with a little more direction. New, large, possibly a little sterile and with a bathroom shower area..designed by a man! No curtains, no doors..rather like being in gym class all over again. Although at this stage, I quite frankly didn't give a damn! The only concession was that the bathrooms were not co-ed!

There was internet in the area..but not in our Alburgue, rather at the little hostel next door. It took a bit of waiting and standing around to get my hands on one but I was glad I did. Not only did I get to blog, as you can see by the entry sans pics! I juiced up my iPod nano! I had completely resisted the urge to listen to music the entire time. I felt, for me, that I'd rather be completly aware of everything around me when I was walking. People are less likely to talk to you if they see earbuds and wires dangling down the sides of your face. So for the last five plus weeks I had completely given myself to being present to what ever was. The last few kilometers loomed, I thought a little help might be in order.

Melide was also the site of my Alburgue break IN. While happily blogging, a fellow pilgrim and I suddenly realized....it's past 10pm. Like 5 minutes past. So we scrambled, grabbing our electronic gear and other stuff and bolted out the door like a pair of kids who are about to get grounded by their parents. We get to the front door. It's locked. We ring the bell. No answer. We ring again. No answer. So at this point he goes around the corner...and after one more ring I follow. We find a window to the dining area. There are several people, including a "slightly" inebriated Frenchman who is sitting right at the window. He tells us the doors are locked. Very perceptive! It takes us about 10 minutes to convince him to close the window, one of those with variable openings...it was open at the top only...and swing the damn thing open so we could climb in. After we finally achieving this and get ourselves in (I needed a leg up cause of laughing way to much!) what does he do...he jumps out the window himself..to check his laundry. Not quite sure how he clambered in as I was still laughing too hard and simply headed up to bed.

More and more, people were leaving notes along the side of the road. Some were fresh..others left you wondering, rather sadly, had they been able to get together again...would they?

And then the reminders that time is precious and sweet for each of us.

A small dose of humor never hurts! Noticed a lot of these had funny faces on them.

A Camino version of "no pain, no gain!"

Okay, my mojo is back...flowers everywhere and I am seeing them all and loving them!

Church in Melide...where we never did find out what the correct time for Mass was!

We'd come into this rather swanky restaurant...hoping to eat before the Mass (which we never found!) and had planned on being frugal..till the waitress delivered this to the table next to us. MEAT...real meat that you need a knife for...with lovely peppercorn sauce..ahhhh!!!

Another of countless roadside shrines.

Dinner...4 k back up and I do mean UP the road. It turned out to be one of the best dinners. The soup and salad were great, the entree...wonderful. Three kinds of fish, potatoes with olive oil and bread. For Postre...fruit macerated in orange juice. The grilled calamari were the best! These are the two ladies from Sweden who made my last days such a pleasure.

Mangolia!! Mojo back!!!

Hydrangea....I can hear one friend telling me "this is not a botany lesson!" :-)

A fixer upper....loads of charm though! Just needs the right person to tame those grapes!

El Acebo moment!

2011-06-17T12:41:00.000-07:00

Ahhhh stories!! I told you all earlier about the Naked Pilgrim...well, stories do travel up and down the pilgrim path...sometimes with amazing speed! I mentioned the story to someone else and they said, "Oh yes, we´ve heard about the naked pilgrim!". At this point I nearly had an accident! I had to let her know it was a story I´d made up to keep a friend and myself laughing along the way when it got too hot or just too! Too funny!

So, now for the second coming! Yes, ya´ll read right. El Acebo is a lovely quiet village up in the mountains with the most amazing views and a number of wonderful spots to stop and have a drink, or stay the night. I choose both. The Parochial Alburgue was very very nice, our hospitelero, Pedro was wonderful and was there without ever being intrusive. We had a fabulous dinner of pasta, cooked up by two fellow pilgrims from Italy. Everyone had more than enough to eat, followed by a bowl of the most lovely green apples for dessert.

Now for those of you who have been in El Acebo, you may remember the cross in the park at the end of the village? Well, it is "the" spot to watch the sun go down over the mountains and view a bit of your next days walk down into the valley of Astorga. I found the spot, alone, and unintruded upon. This in itself can be quite a feat somedays of the walk, so I was really enjoying the absolute quiet and the sun slowly setting. After a while, I got more than a little chilled, so I chugged on back to the Alburgue, grabbed the blanket off my bunk (top bunk with the pillow arranged so I could look out the window at the amazing view!) and toddled off to the cross again.

Now here I should explain a bit. The cross is rather large. It sits on a three tiered platform of stones. My blanket was exactly the colors of the stones. I had on a tan/brown jacket with a hood. I can sit really really really still. For a long time might I add. So there I was, listening to nothing more than the beautiful birds, the breeze and my own thoughts. Till. The dogs at the house behind to my right began to bark with a vengance. They were really going to town. So I thinks to myself, what the heck, others are coming, I have had nearly an hour to myself, so take this as a sign to go to sleep!

So up I stand, and start back towards the Alburgue. There is this sudden commotion. There are two guys there with cameras...jabbering away at each other. WTF! Ok girl, keep your eyes down. Just DON´T make any eye contact, these two are whacked. And so hood still pulled up, blanket wrapped around me, I kept silently walking. They keep dancing around taking pics..nut jobs! Till I come even with them and one asks do I speak English? Uh...yeah!

So now it´s my turn to be shocked. He shows me from his view point, what happened. They were walking towards the cross at a few minutes before sunset. There is the cross up ahead. Suddenly from the base of the cross a figure rises. All in silhouette mind you! Wrapped in a "robe" with a hood. Looking for all the world like something (someone!!) rising from the dead. Or maybe Mary sitting at the foot of the cross...but anyhow, the laugh was totally on me in the end! I haven´t seen them again. So...if ya ever see a pic of El Acebo and the second coming....you know who it really is. And my advice would be .... RUN! Cause I was a tired Perigrina, in need of a bed to sleep and not in a great mood at that moment!!

Melide!

2011-06-17T10:14:00.000-07:00

Ok...in the Pulpo capital...and having a hard time deciding between stuffing my face with Pulpo or going to church in thanksgiving for everything! If I try to write too much here, they´re gonna look at me funny, cause I´m gonna cry!

This trip has been so much more than I ever expected. There are so many kind people. So many beautiful sights. I´m desperate to put my pics in here but at the moment, still haven´t mastered the art of getting them off my camera on a public computer. (Of which there are very few here in Melide!)

A quick note...we took the route from Triacastella to Samos as we´d heard it´s praises from many along the way. It was an incredible piece of walking that I´m so happy we all got to share. Funny thing was, there was another pilgrim....apparently Spanish, who did everything in his power to disuade us. "It´s along the road, many trucks, not pretty etc" Well the first two or so were exactly that. And then it all changed! I was quiet, green green green! There was a lovely little river running thru it all, we found a place to soak the feet and just had a fabulous last day walking together! Mike and Helena were planning to stay on in Samos, Robert was/is in a hurry to get to Santiago, to meet his girlfriend and so on the following morning, I pushed off into the darkness, alone. It made for a rather lonely day, but I am in the groove of walking alone again and enjoying it completely.

Sarria, for my money..sucked. I just didn´t care for the vibe and pushed thru in a hurry. Turns out I wasn´t alone...most of us long timers feld the same. However, I´ve met a few who were just starting and suddenly saw the excitement in their eyes, the raw newness of walking each day and it made me smile. SJPdP seems a lifetime ago. That uncertainty...the touch of anxiety...the fear of blisters! When I get more time...I will have to finish filling in some of the blanks...but right now I´m doing wonderfully well, and hoping to make around 30km tomorrow, with the hope of Sunday Mass in Santiago! I think the current going rate for that distance, for me at least, will be two more new small blisters a price I´ve learned to pay easily and right now...gladly!

Family...I may try and delay my flight by a day...so don´´t freak...ok! Just want a few more hours in the city after all this work to get there....and maybe a quick day trip to Finisterre to wave at everyone!!

Quiet time

2011-06-16T17:00:00.000-07:00


A new dawn...and yes it's true a good nights sleep makes such a difference.

The "kids" fro St. Xaviers and I were both fascinated by these boots topping off the fence posts.

The bridge at Portomarin. And the nearly empty resevoir, that moved an entire town!

These steps nearly made my knees buckle...just thinking of climbing them...actually weren't that bad once you got going!! This entire town was ups and downs though...and what little I saw...was worth it!

This church was moved from the valley floor below. Each stone was marked and then taken down and put back in place high above it's original home. The result is a new old church, clean sharp and still beautiful. There is an air in this one of being used, where some of the others you sense are rarely used or on their way out..as are the villages they are a part of. Loved the contras here of the modern tree candelabra (which reminds me of many a menorah I've seen!) and the fragile attenuated looking Christ. The Spanish have a special knack for making the crucifixion powerful and real.

I have to be honest, I actually started to laugh when I saw this one. My first thought was ...barbecued ribs! Really not sure what he's holding and has his teeth on, but it certainly made me think...of food!

So little of the polychrome left, but what is was beautifully displayed.

The canopy.

Once again, gotta be brutally honest...I'm not 100% sure this Madonna was in the Portomarin church....but she moved me like few others did in her incredible simplicity. The only comparable ones for me was one on the wall in Burgos and the one in O' Cebreiro.....with the flash photo incident! All the others were...as I refer to these kinds of things...too "pink and fluffy" aka, girly for my sensibilities. These are so serene, gentle and approachable.

So you thought coming in to town was interesting...this bridge over the ravine was quite interesting too, especially for those who aren't the greatest fans of heights!! But I'd watched four cyclist barrel across so I knew it would hold, at least as long as my nerves would!!

My theory, a form of stile to get up to the next area quickly...not quite sure why, perhaps grazing animals??

The purple school room. Yeah this deserves a moment more than some of the others! The group from St. Xaviers, well they kinda took over most of the space in the little village before Ligonde. So, when Lille Marie, Evalille and I got there, the word was "nada" as far as a place to lay our heads! So, after a little help from one of their group, who had perfect Spanish, we determined there were rooms in Ligonde. But only 7 places remaining! This meant we had a minimum of 4 km to do in less than an hour, at least as far as we could determine. You can't imagine how funny we must have looked, darn near running down hill to the next village. When we got there...no one was taking our money, no one was stamping our passports, no one was concerned at all. There were open beds everywhere, so we plopped our stuff down and got ourselves all cleaned up. Long before the hospitelera showed. So all was good, we had a place to sleep in what was once a school house. Very basic, very clean and very comfy!

Now below are two very interesting pictures. We had to convince the young men in the restaurant to allow us to order and eat outside. It was glorious weather...so we did prevail! As a result, we got to watch the traffic, or what passes for rush hour traffic. First the cows heading in for milking. Then came the Caballeros, heading out before any other pilgrims...gotta beat the morning rush. Oh wait, they were actually putting on more miles before the sun went down!

This one was taken a bit earlier in the day. I was on my own, and decided it was time for a little pause, a little meditation and some lunch. So I park myself in a field, taking off my lovely red pack and settle into some bread, cheese and fruit. Behind me I suddenly hear familiar sounds and grab for my camera. As I spin around to snap a picture of Caballeros on Camino, I realize I must have looked "picturesque" too, 'cause the head Caballero was snapping a picture of me at the same time! We both laughed and waved.... I have to say, Spanish horses are beautiful (the men on them weren't half bad either!)

Apparently my mojo was returning too, as I was beginning to notice the flowers again. This is a combo of white spirea and I believe the pink are a type of honeysuckle! Ahh...life is good.

Samos to Ferreiros

2011-06-16T04:21:00.000-07:00

Such mixed feelings...leaving behind some of the most memorable walking days and walking companions. And yet... so much still ahead...such goodness, so many angels!

I immediately thought of Munsch's painting, "The Scream" when I saw this piece. It completely matched my mood at the moment, and actually made me laugh! And cry.

Trying to stay focused, on what was new in my day, what was being given to me...although these blooms seemed so paltry compared to so many seen on previous days!


Had to laugh at this one, which resulted in singing that wonderful Dead song, Touch of Grey....which after this many weeks on Camino...certainly applied to me!! Thank you Jerry Garcia or is that Gracias Garcia!

Of course Spain continued to be beautiful, even if I wasn't really in the mood to see it.

A road side shrine.

Housing the first of many angels I'd meet along the way this particular day.

First encounter! I'd heard about yet another school group, this one from St. Xavier's in Louisville, Kentucky. Wasn't sure what they'd be like, so I hurried on to get ahead. They turned out to be amazing, wonderful, fun and some of the best young ambassadors I met the entire time. My hat is off to them and their chaperones.

Church in Sarria. Loved the use of natural stones...hated the way the new portico cuts into the arch over the door! What were they thinking??

Looking into the cloister. There is a school here, and you could hear childrens voices ...very lovely!

My Waterloo! I was so hot, tired and cranky, I forgot there were finally some others within earshot...and muttered about this stretch being really sucky...at which point... they surrounded me...and walked with me! They were so encouraging and helpful, needless to say... I cried!! Duh! I didn't realize I was sick until then either. Gunther turned, looked at me and said if I wasn't at the Alburge, which was 1.5 Km, in a half an hour he was coming back to get me. Apparently my anemia, was literally showing. They all told me later I was almost white.

So here, from Santiago is my hero, Gunther! This was again, one of those moments, your with people, talking about someone you met and saying you wished you could see them again to say thank you....and they walk around the corner of the Cathedral!

Back in Ferreiros he also wound up spending the night sleeping out on the porch of alburgue in protest when the hospitelera wouldn't allow one more pilgrim, Helena, to stay when she was really in a bad way. His repayment...he got to watch the lunar eclipse in his toasty sleeping bag! Gunther...I will always have a very special place in my heart for you! Vielen Dank!

Samos and such

2011-06-15T12:47:00.000-07:00

Triacastele....from a meadow above.

We had been warned, dire warnings of how ugly the road to Samos would be. For a brief moment..we thought there might be something to it. But only briefly.

This is what most of the road there was like...and better!

And more...

These slate roofs fascinated me...especially the fishtail ridges. Beautiful.

The kind of gnarly old tree that leads you to singing strange songs..or telling fantastical tales.

Ok...not every step was pure delight...but even this industrial tunnel..gave us a few moments of cool shade. Samos is just up the rise and round the bend.

At last!

A very lovely and special place.

Nearly magical.

Unicorns???

And then that bleak, dark morning when I set forth. Alone again. Everyone else stayed. I felt about like this picture.

Very slowly thru the mountains!

2011-06-14T05:46:00.000-07:00

Strangely...I have relatively few photo's of O Cebriero... not entirely sure why. Something seemed to talking louder to me than my need to "preserve" my memories. Here are a few...this was also the place I nearly did in a tourist...who took a flash pic, as I stood facing Our Lady, with eyes closed rather lost in a prayer! Thank you Lord I will never know who it actually was... or perhaps they should be thanking the Lord...I as armed (walking sticks!!) and dangerous! Ahh well...

Just about the loveliest garden I have ever seen. The road was so quiet here.

WILD STRAWBERRIES!

Oh...they were soooo good!

Good enough that two of us sat and cleared the patch!! As other pilgrims would pass, we'd give them handfuls!

The freshest chicken I've ever seen...

Caves for elves and trolls!

Cabins for Goldilocks.

Enchanted glades!

Ya gotta read this...The English is a scream!

Wild cherries!!

Ok...the asthma was really starting to kick in...Thank God for friends who will hang out with you...anywhere...even the side of the road with a guard rail for putting up of feet! Thanks Mike!

Weary little yellow feet heading up to La Faba!

So steep...and then around the corner comes...Helena!!!

Can you see the face in the hill side here?

Ahh...if I could have put my feet in!!

The birds were always perching on the ends of tall grasses...

A fairy sprite I met along the way....Helena!!

Wobert!! This is a terrible pic...sorry kid, but he actually asked for the flowers...so I made him a crown too!

One of the "traditional" buildings. We wound up staying in one at Fonfria.

The ceiling!

One of the most comfy beds in an otherwise dismal Alburgue! We had fun, because we made it fun!

On the way to Fonfria...the most beautiful rooster I've ever seen. Hope he doesn't wind up in the pot like those others!

O´Cebreiro and the Asthmatic!

2011-06-13T01:20:00.000-07:00

Well I have found humility ! It comes one tortise like step at a time! Thank God for my current Camino Angels, Mike from S. Africa, Helena from the Checz R. and Robert from England...they check on me, walk with me and wait when I just cant go on! I am truly blessed. Will write more later...gotta coffee waiting and need to shove off again. Love you all. Karin

Villafranca del Bierzo et al

2011-06-10T14:28:00.000-07:00

Ave Phoenix, small looking, huge on heart!

Ok, so I'd heard this place was kinda special. I'd heard that a fair bit. But, being me...I approached with caution. In addition to having had a seriously bad day walking..heat, heat and a bit more heat. Then getting slightly off the track, feeling like I was late for something...just a bad day that was about to get... Incredible! So...for example...

And the vineyards kept rolling on....

Shortly before I got into town, I'd been sitting on a rock by the side of the road...alone. Eating my lunch and to be brutally honest...having a good old fashioned cry in my beer. I had some seriously odd dreams the night before, and was tired. Very tired. I pull my self together...look down the road and who should I see but Emmanuel, who walks up to me and says " I have a gift for you" whereupon he hands me a hairbrush! Now this might not sound like much, but I started to cry again. No I wasn't insulted, far far from it. I, good pilg that I was, had weighed everything in my pack and decided to bring a comb instead of a brush. Said comb was lost about four days back. I've got wavy hair....so finger combing will get me thru in a pinch. But when your tired, and feeling completely neutered and genderless, this can be a bit rough on the ego. So having a friend handing me a brush and say keep it was wonderful. I promptly sat there combing my sweaty hair and feeling girlier than I'd felt in days. Emmanuel, happy to be rid of something he wasn't using...at all! Win win! That boy is an angel, who now floated down the road, having rid himself of a small weight in his backpack.

Shortly before town.

On the road again, my pack didn't feel heavier, but I was still having a dicey time breathing. Heat and my asthma are an ugly combo especially going up hills. As I struggled up one in particular, I hear voices coming from behind and suddenly on either side of me. Two fellow pilgrims, whom I'd never seen before or ever saw again, grabbed my pack on either side and took the weight all the way up the hill and then walked on laughing and waving....Blessed yet again.

and off they go, never to be forgotten...

As I finally enter the town of Villafranca del Bierzo, I was weary. And what to my wondering eyes should appear but a friendly face from South Africa. Sil was helping a group of pilgrims with their journey, as well as walking herself. She's got quite a bit of experience (to put it politely!) so of course I, weary, sweaty and tired, looked at her and asked where she would recommend. Without a seconds hesitation, she simply pointed behind her to Ave Phoenix and said I absolutely had to stay there. Settled.

Ok, more baldfaced truth again. I was so tired and worn that day, that I just kept crying...every kindness, essentially left me bawling. Sheesh...messy day! The hospitelero, essentially tucked me into a bunk, put his hand on my forehead and said a prayer for me. I was so worn though, that when he tried to massage my aching feet, I nearly screamed. I think nearly every pilgrim has one of "those" days and this one was mine. I had a two hour nap...easily! Later another pilgrim, gave me that foot massage and I was able to actually tolerate the feet being touched...that beer may have helped...but the nearly Lamaze like breathing didn't hurt either!! Who'd a thunk it, walking with a pack and whatever else your carrying that day, would be like childbirth!

The afternoon and evening wasn't over yet..by a long shot. There were many pilgrims with talents this night. One brought an Indian flute, one a didgeridoo (pics to follow!) another group had bagpipes and juggled. In fact the jugglers were from a Catholic high school in Scranton, PA! These boys had started in France, were riding bikes and had to earn their way to Santiago, busking...performing! So now, without further ado...the promised pics from my most wonderful day on the Camino! Damn...I could nearly cry all over just thinking about it! If you were a part of this day and I didn't name you...know that I love you none the less...or as my favorite green girl in the world, Elphaba, the Witch, from the play Wicked, says, "you'll be with me like a handprint on my heart" and "because I knew you, I have been changed...for good!"

This thing is remarkably light for it's size! Oh...and that is my beer! :-)

Everyone gathering...

This isn't normally part of their routine, in open settings it's too dangerous. But for us, pilgrims all together...pull out all the stops!

Sorry bout the quality of the video above but it was twilight after all! Can't seem to fix the size either...at least not with my skills..so there we have it!

This one just a lovely and surprising duet. So this one is for my friends, Simone, Laurena, Emmanuel and Mike. To memories!

Whispers of O' Cebriero

2011-06-09T13:18:00.000-07:00

Sunset...El Acebo..shortly before my "resurrection"!

On the way to Molineseca....had to wonder how long it would take to walk to this town across the valley!

I believe one of these tents belongs to Robert, aka Wobert...from England...who will appear later....

I wanna move right in...just the little addition thank you.

Fighting the urge to start singing things from Fiddler on the Roof!

Ok...so here you can start singing...the Beatles...stuck in the middle, Hills to the left of me...

Brush to the right of me....stuck in the middle again....

One of a grove of beautiful trees, some of the biggest I've seen. If not for people waiting on me, I coulda spent the day there...easily....

Monlineseca...at last!

A first...advertising on the arm of a cross!! Wow!

My beloved Jean-Louis and Genvieve, aka the Camino Express people!

This town had beautiful views...everywhere...and a Japanese film crew working the area with a comedian...hmm where have I heard that before!

So wanted to pick him up and take him with me!

A beautiful couple, pruning and harvesting from their cherry tree. I had been a good girl and resisted any and all along the way that looked like they belonged to someone or were "cared" for. These two blessed me with a large cluster, completely unasked for...

All the sweeter because they were such an unexpected gift!!

Galicia....I swear if you stuck a twig in the ground here...it would grow!


Ponferrada

Chapel at the municipal Alburge...time for bed...

Time to get outta Dodge...and slowly make my way upwards...to see what life has in store...

Heading up to Cruz de Ferro

2011-06-08T20:50:00.000-07:00

It's funny to wander thru these photos as this section is so incredibly alive for me!

Espana...stop breaking my heart...

I could move in here...easy!

With a view like this...what's not to love!

Even the rocks sprout gardens!

Site of the loveliest, peaceful prayer service in Rabanal.

Subtle hint...time to head towards home for the evening.


Cruz de Ferro, June 8, 2011 at around 11:00. Exactly a year to the day and the hour of my kidney donation surgery! I could not have planned it to work out that way if I tried too! So for Ken, Vicki, and Joe my partners in swapping out of body parts...this one is for you! Love you guys!! http://piecesandpartsofme.blogspot.com/

My piece of green "beach" glass. The wrist band reads, in Espanol, Done Vida...Donate Life!

Amen!

Astorga or a culturally poor day !

2011-06-08T08:43:00.002-07:00

" Follow the yellow brick road!!! "

Ok Poppi, this one is for you, oh Harald Augustus Gunther Herman!!

This poor boy was trying SO hard to attract the attention of a female flying in the area...who went off to look for insects in a neighboring field!! So sad and soo funny to watch.

Gaudi Museum, house...I don't know...it was closed, or as the hospitilero said.."It's Monday, a culturally poor day in Astora." Sheesh!

Yeah this is about all I saw of the Cathedral....for the above mentioned reason!! This really frosted me. It's a church people....a CHURCH!!

My new bike store! I used arm warmers instead of wearing a fleece, as I run rather hot most of the time when walking. Till I lost'em, or someone else picked 'em up, in St. Martin del Camino. Fortunately Astorga was awesome in this regard. Three sporting good stores and three bike shops. This guy was great! So now they are a very special souviner to remember my trip...just waiting for cooler weather here at home...it's going to be 95F today !

Love the use of the logs as beams.

A little cramped!

Lest you think they never build any new churches in Spain! Leaving on a chilly rainy morning

Spain, you break my heart all the time!

One of the jousters...from Hospital de Orbigo, heading home. Apparently he'd ridden outta town in full regalia, and then here changed out...and went on his merry way!

Rabanal, Cruz de Ferro, Accebo!

2011-06-08T08:43:00.001-07:00

Ok...three minutes left on my dime, so I am going for a trifecta! Rabanal, with the Gregorian Chant etc was wonderful. So was looking up at my Alburgue and seeing a woman walk up that I have chatted with for a few years, all online. Sil from the Forum is acting as a facilitator for a group, mostly from South Africa. It was quite the moment to get to meet her and talk for an hour or so!

Cruz de Ferro! Could NOT have planned it but I walked up to Cruz de Ferro at exactly the moment that one year earlier...to the hour, I went into surgery to donate my kidney! Amazing moment and a real personal high point!

Tonight I sleep in El Acebo.

St. Martin, Astorga etc

2011-06-08T08:42:00.001-07:00

As much as some bemoan the commercialization of the Camino Frances...the spirit lives on.

If it weren't for the sign...this could be Illinois or Kansas!

One of those moments, when you are glad you decided to call it a day a little early!!

The ladies who made my delicious dinner possible in St. Martin del Camino.

And my salad as fresh as fresh can be!

Ok...what is with Spain and a sky that screams to be photographed at every turn?

See what I mean!

And again...breathtaking!

Cleaning up after a medieval fair! While I heard it was fab, glad I missed the crowds that were also unreal!

So...got the prettiness without the crowds! The shadow is Enzo, the guy with the heart transplant!! We crossed paths regularly till he went home to Italy! Truly an inspiration.

Donativo! A place to rest on the way to Astorga, offering coffee, tea, juices etc...as well as words of encouragement!

Rocking Time in Leon part 3

2011-06-08T08:42:00.000-07:00

I liked Leon...can ya tell! Getting there wasn't easy, and the people you came across...interesting!

At one point, Pilgrims actually had to get across this four lane highway....without the bridge!

Wonder how much for the cart! The contrast between the old and the new was astounding.

On his way back from Santiago to Germany.

A painful reminder of Spain's 20% unemployement.

One of the beautiful fountains.

The main entrance to the Cathedral. Loved the Blessed Mother here, She is so regal.

Details to keep you occupied by the hour, including hints of the original coloring.

There really was a hushed sort of reverence...till that choir from Madrid showed up! And then it was "Make a joyful noise unto the Lord!"

Nothing to say .... just ahhhhh!

Ahhh!

Flowers in place, the choir as warming up...the wedding would begin soon.

Ahhh! One bas relief that all pilgrims can relate to only too well!

Rocking Time in Leon part 2

2011-06-08T08:41:00.000-07:00

OMG! It's taken me forever, to figure out how to share just a snippet of what went on in the Leon Cathedral that lovely evening. Patience wins! The quality, well it's simply what my little camera will provide..but you get the flavor. These guys were awesome!

Rocking time in Leon!

2011-06-08T08:40:00.000-07:00

Funny someone just turned up the radio here in Acebo, as I started typing this...and it´s swing music...Rockin again!

So back at Leon, in the lovely ethereal Cathedral, walking quietly thru the church I was having a lovely time. Quietly. Taking respectful photos. Whispering to my friend Christina from Toulouse (sic). And then. She spots a man in a tux. Her curiosity piqued, she went over to inquire. Apparently he was with a choir from Madrid. They were in town for a wedding. That night at six. So...not being shy, she asked if it was possible to stay. It was totally allowed.

So, two totally inappropriately dressed Perigrinas (beggers at the feast) sat tucked in a corner right next to the choir area. The practice began and the rest of the stunningly dressed choir arrived. Lovely songs. Lovely gospel songs. Lovely rockin gospel songs! The did "Swing Low Sweet Chariot", a totally hip arrangement of "Ave Maria". They then went into "O Happy Day". I felt my head turning almost on it´s own, rather like something from Exorcist. Ratcheting it´s way around. I locked eyes with one of the men in the choir, who looked rather puzzled. When practice was over, grinning like a fool, I pointed to my self and said in my best Espanol, Los Estados Unidos, and gave him two thumbs up. He started to laugh too!

For all the formality and for all that we were in a cathedral where most of the others were wearing evening clothes, this was the most rocking wedding I have ever ever ever been to! The recessional was "O Happy Day"! After the bride and groom exited stage left, the choir continued singing, with the pilgrims who´d hung in snapping fingers, clapping hands and singing along. The choir totally loved the feed back too!

Over a dinner of paella, the two of us simply could´t stop grinning and pinching ourselves. Christina is now walking her way to Oviedo as some of the crowding is too much for her. She´ll then make her way to Santiago from there. I will miss her company. But I will never forget our Saturday night in Leon.

The best laid plans....oft go awry!

2011-06-04T04:26:00.000-07:00

Well the original plan was to take a bus into the center of Leon. Small problem, its Saturday. The buses aren´t running so often. As a result I wound up walking with Joseph from Berlin, and we got a little lost or rather off the track for a bit. Right now I am in the Municipal Alburque and need to decide whether or not to push on to Virgen del Camino. Another friend said there was a place reserved for her and I was welcome too it. Gotta think about it as it is currently 1:00 and I´d need to make a connection to get there and then take the bus back to see the city. Decisions decisions! Again I need to remember if this is my biggest complaint on the journey...life ain´t really that tough.

This mornings walk was really not that hard or that far, barely 20k, but just not pretty. It parrallels the highway and even with a bit of rerouting for saftey´s sake, it just ain´t nuthin to write home about. Oh wait...that is exactly what I´m doing! Ah well.

The Cathedral popped up around the corner as we crossed the second bridge over the highway (can NOT believe people used to do that stretch without those bridges!) and looks lovely, even from a distance. It is strange suddenly being in the midst of a real city again. It feels like I´m a real stranger, truly forgein. I just feel so comfortable in the coutry now. Here we become sort of a side show.

Fromista

2011-06-04T04:25:00.000-07:00

Or...how this could be called my capital affair...or crime...you pick! And keep ya minds outta the gutta! I know...these are columns. My affair began in high school. I had the most wonderful teacher, Ms. Shannon. She allowed me to take her class, when I was supposed to have had lunch. This meant I didn't get to eat during the day, as I left straight from school to go to work. So, as we sat in the dark with a glowing screen filled with images of the most beautiful art in the world...there would come a crunch or a snap. That was me, eating carrots and apples. On occasion, God love her, she'd ask me to hold off on the next bite while she explained something!! A wonder wonderful woman, to whom I owe so much joy. Ms. Shannon, from Moorestown High School, this one is for you!

Ok...so these aren't capitals or columns, they're corbels...and fantastic ones....every single one is different.

In this church each and every capital is different.

and beautiful in it's own way!

Some look to have had some repair work.

Some just take your breath away with their details

I'm telling you .... this church left me weak in the knees!

I need to go back...I didn't get them all...

One more for the road...

and then there are windows...and light...

Oh...and him too! I need me a trip to Spain....Now!

Meseta!

2011-06-04T04:24:00.000-07:00

Windy, very very windy! Wearing, damn near everything...it was cold. But still smiling...by the end of the day...not so much!! 35km before I would sleep!

Leaving Sahagun, racing the coming of the light....fear living in my heart...Alburgue Anxiety has begun!

The Meseta goes on, and on and on!

On the outskirts of Sahagun if memory serves...The Roman road.

Little House on the Praire, Spanish style!

One of the Alburgues in El Burgo de Raniero...and a perfect example of Alburgue Anxiety...it was still fairly early..and my bag is second in line! Of course I'd gotten wiser, and was sitting having una Cervesa!

And then there are those moments. The ones where you think you might be halucinating....but no, those really are Teepees.... Rosalie and Arlene stayed the night here...I wandered on another 4km as it was too early, even for me.

But then, maybe I shoulda stayed!! A little Marley, a little beer, some shots....Nahhhhh!

For my money, one of my all time favorites, a hidden jewel, Mansilla Municipal Alburgue!

With a jewel of a Hospitilero...who took such excellent care of all her flock! Even the one she said she hated...ME! 'Cause, she said, she never knew which language to speak to me in cause I kept switching...depending on whom I was talking too! Fine thing coming from someone fluent in at least four languages!! Laura...love you!

Oh shit...she's coming for me now!

Or was it my 35 km blisters!! This is a day later...and starting to heal already...again, Laura I love you for tending to the "family of blisters living down here" as she laughingly said...breaking them with a gentleness...only a Veterinarian could have! Which, she is!!

The things some people do!

2011-06-03T13:04:00.001-07:00

Hmmm, Onward Christian Soldiers...Into battle...with the hills ahead?? This is leaving Castrojeriz

'scusa me...what does that sign say...12% grade...is it too late to turn back?

But then there are those views from the top! That is in fact Castrojeriz in the distance!

You make the most unusual acquaintances along the way. Here we have a transplant donor, moi, a heart transplant recipient, Enzo, and a nurse, Rosalie! Perfect combo for a climb! Enzo is 2 years post surgery and the poster child for what can be done!! The sweetest man!!

All of this joy together doesn't preclude some really strange pilgrim rituals including climbing into ICE cold water...feet loved it...calves and thighs...not so much...look at Rosealie's face!!

More strange pilgrim rituals! Inhale something at the end of a long breathless climb...even if it's a cigarette!

Right...now back down! This is the Meseta after all !

This is the type of coffee cup that needs to be made mandatory!

Yeah almost worth walking 9km before we got to eat...almost!!

The only other time I saw the dark blue poppy, in a garden this time.

This needs sound...of frogs and bees!

Ok...so the rain in Spain does in fact fall mainly on these plains!! Luckily not on me this day!

Leon in the air!

2011-06-03T13:04:00.000-07:00

Some of you Camino friends guessed perfectly where I am today!! I am in Mansanilla de las Mulas...hope I spelled that right! A fantastic little town.

Catherine (England you are so well represented by this daughter of yours!) and shoved off shortly after 6 this morning, being a tad concerned about the possible heat on the last stretch of the Meseta. There was a brief discussion of whether to take the 2 or 3 extra km to get to the old Roman Road from our current digs or not. The final decision was to simply push forward, as her Mum is not doing well (tendons) and was waiting for us ahead.

There were actually an amazing number of benches spaced out along the route which were great for readjusting the pack or tying (retying!) shoelaces as the morning progressed. Although at this point I´ve got a bit of a confession. I´ve been wearing my Crocs for the last two days. I mean wearing them with my full pack on, boots tucked inside. That 34km day gave me some seriously nasty blisters and bruising, and the Crocs give plenty of room to breathe and move and cushioning.

So...back to the road. Watching the sun rise over the Meseta was special. Seeing the mountains (Pyrenees?) looming far far in the distance made you feel so amazingly small. The weather has been absolutely amazing. Clear and cold in the early morning, cool to just warm the rest of the day. The air is clear and crisp and you can see quite frankly forever. Some people have said they find the Meseta boring. If it weren´t for my feet I could keep on for days. Or perhaps thats just because I´m nearly done with it now!

Wandering into the next tiny village all the usual cast of characters were pulling into the bar for a real coffee. Now for my family, this may come as the biggest shock ever, but I had no real coffee for nearly two hours perhaps more, and only after walking something like 12km. Made it taste all that much better. Just don´t ask me to do that at home, ain´t gonna happen.

Another long stretch walking into Mansanilla was spent talking to a gentleman from South Africa. The people you meet along the way are so varied, both in occupations and locations. Tonight we´ve got South Africa, England, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Austria and USA...and this time the USA ain´t just me! There is Hunter from Florida, making his second Camino.

As long as I´m into confessions here, I may as well spill some more beans. There are quite a few Pilgrim Tourist groups around now. They drop off their people in the villages with lovely prepacked lunches, little day packs. They´re all freshly scrubbed and well fed looking too. Like they´ve just finished a nice brunch before they set out for a stroll.

The ones I´ve encountered so far, also make reservations in town for their folk, so they aren´t cluttering up beds in the Alburgues. However. This doesn´t make it easy when you´ve just literally stumbled into town, and your looking for your first cuppa and they´re all standing there so squeeky clean you can nearly smell the soap on them. They stare at us and quite frankly we stare back. Rather rudely I might add. I don´t know what the conversation on the other side of the street is like but the things being murmured on my side aren´t the best the Camino has to offer. Not the prettiest aspect of the Camino, Pilgrim charity and all that, but the truth. I also suspect, that after having Laura, the hospitilera here, work on my feet, that if you lined us up, barefoot, you could pick out the "real" pilgrims just by our feet. Swollen feet and ankles. Blisters in every imaginable place and of every size. Or as Laura says, "you have a whole family living here on this foot!" I don´t think Turo Pilgrims get blisters like that. I don´t think they would opt for a short day of walking (19k) if they had these kind of blisters. But then, maybe we are the crazy ones.

So...love you all, and tomorrow LEON!!

San Anton...or falling in love..with a place

2011-06-02T08:40:00.000-07:00

This entry requires a little explanation...this is a love story in pictures. I'd heard of San Anton. I had some small idea what it was, why it was etc. Nothing however prepared me for being there. Nothing prepared me for how I'd feel about it, or the evening I spent there. Or walking afterwards... Perhaps only pilgrims who have walked thru here, stayed here, experienced this place will fully understand. I hope these few pictures can share the joy that I found at San Anton. Peace.

Only a few more steps before the first sighting!

The pilgrim route, the road itself, goes directly under that arch. To the left is what remains of the beautiful church, and to the right the outbuildiings, including a dovecote. Oddly, saw more pigeons here, flocks, than anywhere else...Even the birds remember this place as special!

This arch was covered giving Pilgrims arriving too late a place to sleep. There are two niches on the right hand side, directly across from the church doors, that are to this day supplied with bread and wine. No pilgrim passing by after the gates are closed for the night, has to go hungry.

Alicia, our beloved hospitalero and Christine preparing to leave the bread and fresh wine. There are prayers left by Pilgrims passing thru during the day.

No one's needs left uncared for. Food, drink and prayers free for all. The prayers are collected each evening and read by those staying for the night. We then each have the opportunity to pray for them that evening as well as to carry the prayers with us until we reach Santiago. I have never felt such a responsibility to my fellow Pilgrims. It made you wonder, as you walked forward, whose prayer am I carrying. Who is carrying my prayer? A rare privilege and honor.

Difficult to realize how many passed thru these doors before the were bricked up!


This small area is all the remains in current use. It provides shelter for 12, the same number as the Apostles. It is directly behind that beautiful arched entry. The door to the left is the sleeping area, the right the kitchen. There is no electricity, no hot water, yet I spent one of my most peaceful and even comfortable nights there. In the picture are from left to right, Anna (Belguim) Alicia (Espana) Sheila (San Francisco, USA) and Helmut (Deutschland). People I had the great honor of meeting and sharing this time with.

As sunny as those first pictures are...this was how the afternoon progressed. That is my Kindle lying on the green bench. I'd been lying reading end then simply watching the clouds float by. Have you ever watched a cloud form and then even dissolve away....felt like I was five years old again. And then I got up and looked back....

This is what was beginning to roll in towards us, blown on heavy gusty winds.

Within minutes this was the last of the sun. One of my first thoughts was how happy I was to be here, in the storm. Then, realizing with a start, someone else was probably still out there. Walking in all that wind. That heavy air just ready to let loose. We all kind of said a prayer for those still out there, stories of which we heard over and over on the following days.

And then the rains came!

As well as a fellow Pilgrim! He'd walked about 3km in it and was completely soaked thru even thru his pack. The guys there grabbed him and took him into the bedroom area and stripped him down and dried and redressed him, some of the rest of us made hot tea for him. His walk began in Lourdes going to Santiago and would continue till he reached Fatima! If memory serves this is Johannes. We crossed paths over and over for the next few weeks.

San Anton as it will always live in my memory and heart! The following morning 9 of those who stayed the night, walked to the Convento in Castojeriz and celebrated Mass together. Not a dry eye in the house. I know each of us carried the joy of this place forward and will continue to do so.

Alicia and San Anton, Thank You!

Hornillos, Hontanas and ...

2011-06-02T08:38:00.000-07:00

Looking back at Hornillos, around the back of the church.

There was a show years back, with a theme song about the bluest skies being in Seattle. I think the north of Spain, if your lucky, can beat nearly any sky any where.

Fancy digs! Actually very comfy cots, bathrooms and certainly no lack of space!!

On towards Hontanas.

Hontanas, right after Mass and a fainting Pilgrim. The "miracle" here, and it really was odd, all the pilgrims who stayed for Mass this Sunday morning, spoke English. So when this couple needed comfort...it was there in spades.

Heading towards San Bol. Yup it's that early and our shadows prove it! That large clump of trees, that's San Bol.

Coming around the corner of the tiny Alburgue, peace immediately washed over you.

It literally embraced you from the ground up.

The only sound here was birds, wind and insects. Pure peace.

This is the spring that is reputed to heal pilgrim feet. I'm always a bit of a sceptic, but a cool soak is not something I will ever refuse, so of course I partook. By evening my blisters were all dried up. Really.

Bliss!

Not sure what this tree is but it left "snow" along the sides of all the roads!

Leaving a small piece of heaven.

Speaking with the ancient ones

2011-06-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

I´ve finally got the chance here to tell you alittle bit about an incredible couple of places I´ve visited.

San Anton. The words will always have a very special ring for me. Nearly magical. There was an order that at one time, took care of pilgrims and those suffering from St. Vitus, which is a result of wheat with a certain fungus. They were once a huge order with an amazing location along the pilgrimage route. The road today actually passes thru the ancient arch. The rest of the place has gone to complete rack and ruin.

A few years back, someone began to make an Alburge there. It has no electricity. Only cold water. There are only 12 beds. It is wonderful. The hospitelero, Alicia, plays incredible guitar, has a wonderful voice and took the most amazing care of us. We felt so blessed to be there.

After a huge thunderstorm blew thru and also blew a frozen pilgrim to our door, the sky cleared. We shared a wonderful dinner, more music (Alicia writes her own too!) We had a brief prayer service of sorts. There were prayers and wishes from the pilgrims the previous evening. We each had the opportunity to take one of the written prayer requests with us to Santiago. So I now carry with me as a special mission, a prayer from a pilgrim I don´t know, who was only one day ahead of me, and may even be near me tonight. I feel especially privileged. Someone else is now carrying my prayer forward.

During the night I had the, I hesitate here to use this term, opportunity to go take a pee. I say opportunity, because to walk out the doors to go down the hall, all outside mind you, meant I got to look up. I saw the stars so clearly. And the ancient walls of a church nearly gone. It was cool, not too cold, so I stood a while longer than needed, just thinking of all the other pilgrims, who´ve stayed in the lovely place being loved, cared for, fed and sent forward with a prayer. One of the most moving nights ever.

San Bol. Just past Castjeriz, is a tiny Alburgue called San Bol. There is a spring in this location that is reputed to have a special healing effect on the feet of pilgrims who immerse their feet. Rosalie and I decided to take that .5km walk off the main path just to have another look see.

The hospitelero must have heard us coming, as it´s that quiet in this lovely grove. She meet us at the door and offered us bread, butter, quince jam and herbal tea. There was a sign saying this was a special refuge and too please respect the silence. Easy to do as the breeze, the birds just captivated us. As did the spring. We took enough time to soak our feet, and doubter that I am, I was amazed that every one of my old blisters were dried up by evening. I truly wasn´t expecting anything, just happy to have been able to visit and enjoy the silence. Left the place wondering how many other feet had bathed in that water, enjoyed that silence and come away ready to do the road.

Heaven!

2011-06-02T08:21:00.000-07:00

Or a varation on it!! I´m in a really small farming town still out on the Meseta. The name is El Burgo Ranero. It´s "only" 19k from Sahagun, but a world away from yesterday. I´m currently on the local free (YES FREE) internet. Guess there was some kind of government grant and they literally have an entire room full of lovely coomputers...a guy to help with problems...and no charge!! Awesome. It´s been costing me anywhere from one to two euros to write on here each time.

So...where was I...somewhere out there, beneath the pale moon light...walking and walking and walking..trying to get out of Carrion and get out on to what I knew would be a tough stretch on the Meseta (Plains). It was a short walk from where I´d been, Villacazar into Carrion. I completely loved the quite, the sun coming up behind, the brisk chill in the air.

Entering Carrion, I came upon another Santa Clara Convento, so had to stop in to visit quickly before making my way thru town. Lovely church, cloisetered nuns quietly praying as I sat there enjoying the complete peace of the place. Then I left. And forgot which arrows to follow. It took me a bit of time to find my way out of town and just as I began to panic a bit, a lovely lady stopped me and managed to tell me in very simple phrases that I was going "Mal" aka...wrong way lady!! It wasn´t long before I did find my way out of Dodge, but I´d lost my shot at a Caffee con Leche and a good breakfast now. Kept right on walking and as I passed truck stop, figured, oh what the hell, and in I went. The guys were nice, got my coffee, some chorizo and nuts and a cookie before I headed off...into the great unknown.

The Meseta is everything I´d heard it could be and then some. It goes on. And on. And on. So does the wind. The wind blew at easily 25 or better for most of the day, and at a slight angle, from behind. This meant you were bracing yourself to stay upright for most of the day! Great Ab workout. Till you changed direction slightly and nearly fell over.

There are no villages for nearly 17km. There are a few enterprising folk, who make a living I guess, selling drinks to pilgrims scurrying towards Santiago. Don´t know how much was sold yesterday as it was too cool for sodas, at least in my opinion.

Calzadilla should have been my next port of call, but as it was actually only 1 o´clock when Jessica and I rolled into town, we decided to push on. Next place, Ledigo was only a bit more than 4km away with about 50plus beds. Sounded good, especially when you took into account that the next place after that was only 2.5 more. All this sounds so reasonable. Possible. Almost intelligent. ´Cept for the fact that by the time I was done, I´d walked nearly 34km and didn´t have a bed.

After turning on my heels and walking away from the probably exhausted and as a result, crabby owner of the local Alburgue, tried for Templarios (?). Also Completo. The young man there called ahead. San Bruno Alburge in Moritanos...Completo. And no way to reach Rebekah who writes the most wonderful blog and lives there. So after a few tears (yeah I was that tired), he called a taxi (13€ or approximately one euro per km) to Sahagun, booked me into one of the Red Alburges at a whopping 7€ for the night. So 20€ I was a happy, blistered, and totally exhausted pilgrim. So todays decision to only,"only" do 19km was easy. My feet are learning to talk back to me. Big time if they have to.

Once again this also lead to Camino "magic" I´d already reconnected with most of my Camino friends and family which has been really lovely. Just missing Spencer who was such a great help earlier. As I trudged, blisters and all, wearing my Crocs instead of my boots today, I entered another small village after nearly 9km. As I glanced down a side street looking for a bar, who walks out of the door at that moment. Spencer! Good thing he ran over to me cause running ain´t on the books today! We had a quick breakfast, a coffee and walked on to where I am sitting at the moment. He´s gone on, as he had more energy, to the next town, Religios which is anywhere from 11 to nearly 13km further. More than my feet should do today. We expect to meet again in Leon on Saturday, God willing and the creek don´t rise.

Sahagun!

2011-06-01T09:37:00.001-07:00

about to get booted from the coomputer....made it here ! 34km today..and the last bit by taxi...all were completo! Ouch! But have my Camino Family again...so I am a happy camper...now the blisters!

Ok...trying more...4 minutes to go! Walked with Rosalie and Arlene from Rhode Island ...Shelia from San Francisco too, on Sunday. Stefan from Montreal (movie producer!) and had a great day. Wow...just realizing how much I have to fill in here....boggles the mind. But ...most important...did a 17km stretch of the Meseta...alone! Stiff fierce wind up to 30 plus mph! Blowing from behind (thank God) and at an angle too (WTF!) which meant when you finally hit a windbreak you nearly fell over!

Walked from Villacazar to Calzadilla....and decided to push on to Ledigos. Crabby ass guy at the Alburge there yelled at me for showing up late!! Idiot...would bought diner before moving on...so his loss in the end. Besides me bad mouthing him forever! so on to the next place...finally taxi to Sahagun!

Burgos

2011-05-27T13:00:00.000-07:00

A city I love and hate!

This is the city that thru no fault of her own...held me captive for a day before releasing me to walk the rest of the way. Maybe that was so I would intersect with some of the wonderful pilgrims I would later meet...who knows...But next time...I gonna reserve more time to inspect her properly, not thu the lens of a no money panic!

On the way to Burgos, after leaving Atapuerca.

Damn...machine was totally empty! Wasn't for lack of trying either....

Spencer!!!

Our Bar owner...a delightful woman, who had her finger patched up by Rosalie...on the edge of the photo. She was so thrilled that she brought out cakes for each of us, and then sent us on our way with a bag full of Nutella sandwiches...which we joyfully consumed sitting near the airport. I know she thought we were great...we thought she was an angel!

Ok...this was way later than we wanted to be arriving!

I think I'd have to back up about a mile to get the whole thing in!

Ornamentation in every way shape and form

It was all I could do not to lay down on the floor to really enjoy this! Somehow I think some folk would have had an issue with that! Ahh well, used a bench to steady myself....next time, I'm laying down, hands folded and let 'em think it's a dead pilg!

The most exquisite ceiling!

But....for all the gold, all the tracery, all the jewels, she moved me more than anything else in the Cathedral.

Burgos...all day long!

2011-05-27T12:59:00.000-07:00

Well, it started out great. Really great. We spent the night in Hostal Acacia, after deciding amongst the three of us, Spencer, Rosalie and myself that we deserved it after walking 30km in one day. The reception guy, even got my laundry back to us early, cause I asked nicely in badly butchered Spanish (and used the eyelashes a bit...hell I needed any help I could get at this point!) So...we thought we (Spence and I) were off for the day and Rosalie would stay to finish some shopping etc.

After a quick coffee, we hit the bank to make sure we had enough as we enter the Meseta (Spanish plains) today and tomorrow. Meseta...flat...hot...sparsely populated etc. Good idea to have a little extra cash in a country that truly operates by cash and coin. Good idea until the machine eats my card. Then the guy inside tells me the bank at home recalled my card! WTF!! I called for a few days before to make sure these chumps realized I would be in Espana...that I would need to have cash ready...but no...they pulled the card back.

SO, today became a real learning experience in using phones, finding phones, Western Union, etc etc. End result is...Rosalie and I leave Burgos tomorrow, Spence and the others are a day or so ahead. But...I´ve meet some amazing people and wouldn´t have missed spending this time with them. God is good and so are people! Ray...thanks for the cheer it meant a lot to hear your voice. Enjoy the weekend kayak trip, sans kayaking.. Love you all

San Juan de Ortega

2011-05-26T20:23:00.000-07:00

View from a window in the Alburgue.


Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Oh...and Jesus too!

Restoration...at it's best.

Look UP!!

With my passion for columns and capitals....I could just do an entry on them! Love the green here.

Reliquary altar.

Works in progress.

God Bless those who do that restoration work.

Paint strokes, lovingly done by unkown hands.

So much left to be done...so much..

So very much.

Welcome and peace to all who enter.

Belorado Area!

2011-05-25T08:30:00.000-07:00

Can't remember exactly where some of these were take! Ok...this is what comes of relying on memory!! At my age it begins to fail you...or at least bits and pieces fall away. Perhaps they aren't the important part...the core, the vital part...I've got that where it will always be with me, in my heart.

What could be better early in the morning...oh, yeah, a cafe con leche...and this!

And he sent them out two by two.

This is why I NEED to go back to Spain. So much unfinished business!

This was so incredibly cold it almost hurt! Great way to take down the swelling in hot tired pilgrim feet!

Hmmm, afraid to ask what the heck that is, and then as we round the corner...the smell told us!

Ok, Buff's weren't meant to act as air filtration, but in a pinch, it'll do!

These next few, I'm very sorry to say, I don't remember the name of the church! The light here was incredible, as was the peace. Could have sat for hours!

A reminder why I need to get home, a Baptism is awaiting in my future!! Anna!

This climb up and over to San Juan de Ortega, it began so innocently, so green and soft!

Then came the top of the mountain, and the war memorial, and the unrelenting sun. It was 33 or 34 c that day.

Wind mills working away, and picnic tables in the hot sun.

Other pilgs trying to show they were surviving...... wonder if they made it?

Now this is Pilgrim work, making sure others can find the way. Or pointing ahead so they can capture OUR water bottles!! One hot and thirsty day.

Rarely have I been so happy to reach the edge of a town!

Up Up and Away we go! Or the never ending hill to San Juan de Ortega!

2011-05-25T08:22:00.000-07:00

Honestly have to say that to day was as hard, if not harder than the Pyrenees! There were several reasons, but towards the end...water, plain and simple.

The weather here has been lovely, but really hot! They said it was around 30 degrees centigrade, which is hot...really hot. The only clouds in the sky are decorative only...no chance of rain to cool our hot and sweaty faces. At a lovely overview high high above a small village, we stopped to admire the incredible view and look at a large display show all the peaks around us. Rosalie paused too and put down the large water bottle we were bringing along. And there it remains. Not knowing how much further we weren´t too alarmed. Maybe we should have been, but sometimes ignorance really is good.

About another two hours later, after a quick break and later a lunch on the side of the road, we began to panic quietly. They say the road provides and it did. Another trio of Germans and Americans walked by and had more than enough water to share. God Bless ém cause they really were life savers.

Suddenly after one of our breaks I realize...my sunglasses are missing. I think I must have let them slip when we sat down and rested. I will miss them. I thought for a split second about going back and decided not to. Spencer saw the look on my face, and bless him, actually took off his pack and went back to see if he could find them. They weren´t to be found, but the effort, offer, meant a lot. Talk about a Camino Angel! Complete with tattoos to boot! Spence I owe ya!

The road went on. And on. And on! Suddenly far in the distance we see a white car...and wonder if the local police are doing a sweep of the road. Turns out to be a Canadian pilgrim, taking a taxi at 35plus euros, searching for her camera. We told her we hadn´t seen it, and they went on back up the hill. When they finally made their way back to us, we blocked their path, I guess rather startling them. After making it clear that we came in peace (!) we asked how much further and did they have any more water to spare. Fortune was with us and we had only 2 more km to to go and the driver had a half bottle of water! Life is good again!

So now we are in San Juan de Ortega, and will be dining in as we can´t (won´t) put out the money for a taxi to go grocery shopping. Tonight we will splurge. After our adventure (misadventure perhaps!) we deserve a little.

The Naked Pilgrim

2011-05-24T07:51:00.000-07:00

Figured this would get everyones attention! Pervs!

Ok, the story actually begins back in Roncesvalles. As Silvie and I walked along, about a km or more, we spot a jacket hanging on the gate of a field. This isn´t just any old worn jacket. It was a nice red Gortex hiking jacket! Figured someone put it down to take a pic and forgot it.

A day later, we see a pair of gray pants on a bush. Hmmmmm?

Next day, what to my wondering eyes should appear but a pair of shoes or were they hiking boots, on a wire high high above the road.

By this time the theory of the Naked Pilgrim had evolved and was a source of endless entertainment as we struggled up and down the hills. The clincher came when we found a small pack on the edge of a medieval bridge coming out of Ciraque!

Apparently the Naked Pilgrim, load completely lightened, is now streaking towards Santiago de Compostella. Wonder if he remembered to keep his Credencial in hand to prove that he´d actually made the journed? Sure hope so.

Santo Domingo de la Calzada

2011-05-24T07:45:00.000-07:00


Sometimes other pilgrims are the surprise on the road, ie this couople from Japan in traditional garb!

Yes...it does feel that endless sometimes! Move it Spence....we still got miles to go before we sleep!

Home for another night....with the Sisters this time.

Our room...with Simone for Milan lounging in the grass outside.

Yes, the nuns did lock us in too!

This was the beginning of the end of our afternoon of napping and resting up...there was an arrow...so... we followed!

Round the corner and under these two arches...

Upstair cases that went around and around, until we were on the battlements and looking into the church...very unusual!

Was this what James Taylor had in mind when he sang the words, Up on the Roof?

"Side" altar!

Back of the organ or choir area, showing scenes from the life of St. Domingo.

Oh look...another chapel...

A closer peak was called for... apparently the tomb of a Bishop Guillen de Holanda.

Stunning is such an over used, and here, inadequate word. This was the work of Damian Forment.

The best I could do with my zoom....

However...thanks to modern technology and touch pads, this display allowed you to take long lingering looks at details you only sensed were up there. Wonderful!

No 'ahm not really sitting .. or just barely.

Detail from the choir area.

Guess he got tired and thirsty from the lengthy pieces?

Spencer looking at the chickens...

One of the actual chickens!

The Baroque bell/clock tower, which is actually separate from the church.

View from the tower...Look towards tomorrows walk.

Storks, taking over!

Only part way up the tower stairs, which were quite the challenge.

Incentive not to linger too long...no it's not a torture device, it's the clock workings for the bells. After Spence and I had been up there about 10 minutes, we suddenly realized we had five minutes to get our butts back down the stairs, or go deaf! Damn near ran!!!

Add caption

This last pic requires a tiny bit more explanation. Spence knew I had the camera. He knew I was snapping pics left and right. So he knows this photo exists. And so his privacy wasn't being invaded, as happened to me in O Cebriero, when I had a tour group snap flash photos, in my face, as I stood in front of the Blessed Mother with my eyes closed, and tears running. I kept them closed then, as I might have used my sticks to smack the living daylights out of whom ever...clenching the sticks then, with white knuckles. So clarification here! Seconds later, Spencer left me in tears and I had to turn away, as he swung around and said to me "He did that for us?" with the most stunned look on his face. This was one of those moments I will remember for the rest of my life. More real faith than I've seen in a long long time. Spencer you are amazing. Love you and thanks for being my friend.

Santa Domingo de la Calzada and Belarado

2011-05-24T07:44:00.000-07:00

Ok...Still missing bits and bobs here and there, as the internet isn´t always as available as I´d like.

Yesterday was about a 21km day into St. Domingo ... an amazing city. St. Domingo is a city sitting in a wide bowl like valley of fields. It´s claim to fame is having a cage with chickens in the cathedral. Why? Apparently to commemorate a miracle of a young man, falsely accused and hung, being resurrected. The mayor refused to believe that he´d been brought back to life, and said it was as likely as the roast chicken on his plate getting up and living on. So, needless to say...that is exactly what happened. So now there are always two chickens kept in the back in a rather large cage. They are also supposedly changed out every two weeks, guess so they can walk the Camino.

While this seems to be the thing that everyone makes note of, the actual church/cathedral is one of the most interesting ones I´ve ever seen. Spencer and I were walking back from a beer, while Rosalie went in search of her bag, when I saw an arrow pointing towards the entrace of the cathedral. Now after day in and day out following arrows, I guess rather like Pavlovs dogs, we went in. We found another world. I´ve never seen fortifications in a church. Or amazing giant sized Ipad like touch screen displays that allow you to look at an altar piece that soars above your head nearly 40 feet! Needless to say when I can finally put up pics, you´ll see what I mean. We´d all intended to go take naps and then cook something for dinner (cheaper and more fun)but wound up spending nearly 2 to 2.5 hours wandering thru the church and also up the bell tower.

The bell tower is a completely separate building. The wide stone staircase simply goes on forever, especially if you are a road weary pilgrim. The top was worth every single calorie and minute it took me to climb up to it. From there you can see miles and miles behind you, and the same in all directions. We could see the rolling hills we´d be walking thru today. It makes it easy to see what a great defensive spot this was.

Dinner at our Alburge in the Convent was fun, as Renee from Nebraska joined us, as well as Colum and Jane from Ireland. At the end, Hugo, I think from France also joined us for dessert as it turned out we´d all bought desserts without telling the others. I´d made a sort of Bolognese sauce with spirals. Renee prepped a lovely fresh salad. Someone got a bottle of wine, we had bread with olive oil for dipping and some Dorito chips too. For after Spencer had bought strawberries and ice cream. I´d grabbed Flan at the SuperMercado, and Renee got lovely chicken like pastries that are a local specialty, filled with apricot jam.

I guess I should be thankful we actually did have to walk 24km today to get to Belorado...just to burn off the calories!

Clocks ticking so quickly, todays walk was different, the hills were more rolling than steep. There were clouds hovering just above the hills off to the south. The hills were softer and beautifully covered with the greenest wheat. There were also fields of light lavender poppies! Every so often we´d pass thru fields of potatoes, well on their way. Ummmm makes me think of the wonderful tortillas here.

Tortillas here in Spain aren´t the thin flat breads we think of in the US. They are the most delicous potatoe and onion filled omlettes. Sometimes they have jamon or chorizo too. They are so soul satisfying to a tired and hungry pilgrim. They are also ofen quite cheap. Yesterday in the Super Mercado, we discovered jarred prepped potatoes, in olive oil! This means we may be able to make our own tortilla without the work! Again, thank God for walking, or I ´d be buying a second plane ticket to come home.

On the topic of weight, I am definitely loosing weight and toning everything up! The pants I left with are loose and have the waist buttons as tight as they will go. The capris will need work soon or I´m in danger of becoming the naked or nearly naked pilgrim.

Love you all...miss you all and still would not miss this for the world!

Into Navarette and Najerra and Santo Domingo de la Calzada

2011-05-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

Dear God these are some terrific memories! Each of these towns was really special. There is also a piece of video that I can't quite figure out how to attach...but when I do...Spence, Hats off to you my friend!

Jean-Louis & Genvieve as they rapidly head off to Logrono! They began in Le Puy, and we saw each other nearly daily till Santiago!

This is what happens when you arrive before the Alburgue opens! The arch in the background is the Alburgue, and so...there we sat, our packs lined up at the door, us comfortably ensconced...started with Cafe con Leche, ending in beers or shandy's!! Nice way to spend an early afternoon!

Navarrette was full of surprises! .

Sometimes the ancient buildings need a little help. Dinner was actually to be had in this tired look passage way! In fact a very good dinner at a very nice hotel with one of her entrances in this passage.

Love this one, cause it shows the cars...yes folks, these are streets not sidewalks!

Walking by moonlight.

I found one last look back in the early dawn to be worth it so very many times.

Ciruena aka the Ghost Town on the Camino. Guess the housing bust hit here too!

These aren't even finished. We were all very seriously creeped out by it, and were happy to shake the dust of it from our feet. Onwards to Najera!

Fashion on the Camino, my way! Thin Injinji socks with one of my older REI wool socks with the toe area cut off. This allowed for toe wiggle room and at this point reduced heel friction...which is why I also had the powder out and was adding another light dusting. Surprised Spence didn't faint when I took the shoe off!


And this is Spencer...one of the kindest, gentlest gentlemen I ever had the pleasure of walking a week with! 'Cept he made me laugh so much I had perpetual stomach aches!

This was one of the sweetest things, a quilt made by some of the local ladies reading: Pilgrim when you are in Najera, you are Najerino., one of us! Apparently no one in Najera uses toilet seats, as this was one of a few where none of the toilets had seats!

Spencer, playing with a small boy in the Plaza Mayor.

On the outskirts of Najera, on the way to Azofra at around 6:20 am.

This climb was rough, first thing in the morning, but again a glance back made every difficult step worth it...totally worth it!

Mostly Viana

2011-05-23T20:00:00.000-07:00


Little toe....the first of many! I didn't quite recognize the signs, but between and the first and second were warnings...storm clouds if you will!

Just another of those moments that make those blisters nothing. Nothing at all!

Now some towns, they wait to show you all the splendor and wonders. This one especially so!

A right turn down this little street....

And this is it...the perfect resting spot for two new friends on the road. We snagged nearly the last two beds in town just before a storm hit! With a kitchen, and a washer! That balcony is off the kitchen..that's my shirt drying!

This is San Pedro, or what is left of it. It's actually a city "park" now. It's also attached to the Alburgue, with it's triple tiered bunks, that we just so narrowly missed having!! :-) God is good!!!

This is all that is left of San Pedro's glory days.

Not the first time I would do this, and sure as heck not the last! There was a grille or gate, closing this all off. SO, using the gifts the good Lord gave me (monkey arms) I simply held the camera as far thru as possible...and snapped happily away.

Fortuitous moment for a shot!

Stone lace everywhere.

This is for Kevin, who plays the organ for my choir at home!! Purty ain't she!

Just a little closer!

Always, always...look UP!

Reliquaries...not sure of whom.

A favorite picture. Especially as this was another I was told not to bother with! :-)

Karin's Camino

Emilio Estevez y mi Mochilla!

Happy New Year!

Watershed Moment?

Memories of a Museo

Up on the Roof!!

Homecoming

** Monastery Bells **

** The Road Not Taken **

What the heck...is **

Pictures...at last!

Today is her day!

God is so good to us!

Tick, Tick, TICK!

Here´s to small quiet voices

** "Last" day...or where to now? **

Santiago!!

** Melide **

El Acebo moment!

Melide!

** Quiet time **

** Samos to Ferreiros **

** Samos and such **

** Very slowly thru the mountains! **

O´Cebreiro and the Asthmatic!

** Villafranca del Bierzo et al **

** Whispers of O' Cebriero **

** Heading up to Cruz de Ferro **

** Astorga or a culturally poor day ! **