Camino Week 2

I normally don´t condone graffiti, but I´m glad someone took the time to do this.

Hello Again!

More from the Camino. 

It is day 19 of walking since I started on July 11 and have gone about 490 km (around 315 miles) and have about 300 km to go. I am now in a little city just beyond Leon (B on the map) and will walk to Santiago, which although is not pictured is relatively close to the northwestern city of A Coruna.

The walking for the past week of so has been tough ... not so much physically although there has been a lot of sun and little shade, but rather mentally. The landscape is monotonous with seemingly endless wheat fields - it is called the meseta. I was talking with an Englishman at dinner tonight and we were exchanging stories of how people have unexpectedly walked up on us to pass while we were singing or talking to ourselves.... no I haven´t lost my mind.

But friends help lighten the load.

This night we decided to make our own dinner instead of going out. Pretty good, right?

Everyday in the meseta, though, I cannot say that haven´t I learned a little lesson or came upon something that made me think. ¨Words that come from the heart arrive at the heart.¨

Nick and I arrived in Leon on Friday morning - a major city along the Camino.

There is an impressive cathedral there.

Most notable for its stained glass. According to the audioguide it, along with the Chartres cathedral in France, has the most stained glass in the world.

Myself and some walking buddies decided that Leon would be a good place to take a rest day. It was fun: seeing the city sites, eating at good restaurants and even seeing Spiderman in Spanish (although here it is pronouned Speederman). This is picture of the hostel where we stayed. We had planned on making it a one day rest, but a disagreeable seafood pasta changed my plans. 

I got to know this room real well. But 1000 mg of Ciproflaxin, 3 IB profen and 2 days later, I am back on the road and feeling better. The people ¨hospitaleros¨ were extremely good to me while I was sick. If there is one thing I have learned so far it is that people are very good to each other on the Camino.

Now that we are getting closer to the end more people are joining the Camino (not everyone has a whole month to take off for the full walk). The other night I met a 75 year old woman from Japan and this is a picture of a family walking with the (I´m guessing) 10 year old son.

I should be in Santiago on the 8th of August.

Hasta Luego!

El Camino de Santiago - Week 1

Hello World Again! It has been a little over a year since we spoke last and it is good to be out and about again. As I have told many of you, I have decided to do the Camino de Santiago (the Way of St. James) - an ancient pilgrimage from the northeast of Spain, in the Pyrenees Mts., to the northwestern city of Santiago de Compostela, where supposedly the remains of St. James were discovered and buried. It is about 800 kilometers or 500 miles and will take about 1 month. In short, the idea of a physical challenge in a Spanish speaking country that also acted as a way to personally and spiritually grow is what drew me to do the Camino.... and after one week I am far from disappointed in my decision. Here are a few pics. to give you a taste of how things are going.

arrival in the Madrid airport

It didn´t sink in at a gut level how big of an undertaking this would be until I arrived at my starting town of Roncevalles. I´m smiling here, but questioning inside. On top of this, before I even got to my starting town while changing from plane to bus to bus, I had already met 3 three people who had experienced setbacks to their Spain experiences: a stolen bag, food sickness and a broken ankle from the Camino. I felt lucky to have arrived at Roncevalles without any problems and quickly realized that completing this walk is not to be assumed.

however, having a sense of humor goes a long way

The countryside is beautiful. My favorite time to walk is in the morning when it is cool and the sun is rising to your back.

As this graffiti shows though, with walking comes foot (and other bodypart) pain. We are averaging about 25 km per day (16 miles). It is funny that you can tell who the pilgrims are in the evenings when walking around town - they are the ones limping everywhere!

But with walking comes benefits, like seeing old churches.

Some of these have left me without words.

Maybe most valuable though has been the time to simply sit with my thoughts and as someone smarter than me said, ¨read the books inside of you that your never have time to read.¨

It has not all been solitude and contemplation however. Luck would have it that the festivities of San Fermines were happening in Pamplona the same week I passed through it. This is a week-long party where everyone dresses up in white and red, drinks, parades, watches fireworks, etc. It might be alikened to going to New Orleans for Mardigras. 

These festivals are most know for, however, the ¨running of the bulls.¨

Myself and some other travelers I was with were advised to go to the stadium to best view the action. It felt like I would imagine the Roman Coloseum to be.

and those bulls were no joke

other pilgims quickly become friends

and the end of the days when the walking is over and it is time to eat, socialize and rest is probably one of my favorite parts of this experience so far

although I came alone, as many others did, the short week I have been here has reminded me that this world is a very amicable place

Although I don´t have pictures of these things, this trip has been a deeply moving experience so far due to its simplicity, difficutly, the camaraderie of others, the hospitality of the Spanish, the ancientness of what we are witnessing and the time to reflect. I´ll end this entry with a quote from John, an Irishman, who I was chatting with after a long days walk, ¨It makes me want to challenge myself and be a better person when I get back home.¨

More to come later...