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Yesterday I drove to Pittsburgh to visit my daughter. She’s borrowing my backpack and in a couple of weeks she’s going to hike to Patagonia. It was exciting to talk with her about the Camino and her upcoming adventure. Today driving home (4.5 hours) I was bombarded by the sight of so many trees alongContinue reading “DAY 3 POST CAMINO”

I’m getting dressed this morning to go to Sunday school and I went to get one of the two tee-shirts I bought in Santiago as a souvenir of my pilgrimage. I chose these shirts because they aren’t your typical touristy shirts. You know, the kind of shirt that says “I walked 790 km” and hasContinue reading “POST CAMINO 2”

How am I supposed to put something away that never had a home? Seriously I have a stack of clothes (albeit a small stack) that have never lived any place other than my backpack or on my body. There’s no spot in any of my drawers or closet for them. I’m not saying that myContinue reading “Post Camino 1”

On the last day walking in to Santiago I didn’t know what to expect. I was told by other pilgrims that it is an emotional experience to arrival into Santiago after journeying from St. Jean Pied de Port. Even pilgrims who walked just the last 100 km said it was a big deal. All dayContinue reading “DAY 40 THE MELTDOWN”

My Camino friend Viv bought herself a beautiful silver ring to commemorate her Camino journey. It’s lovely and has all the Camino symbols around it: shell, arrow, even an umbrella for those rainy days. It was so beautiful that I decided to get one also. When I looked I picked one out with all theContinue reading “DAY 39 ULTREIA”

Only two more days of walking. Tomorrow I will reach Santiago late in the day. I don’t know how I will feel. It seems that the closer Santiago gets (or rather the closer I get to Santiago) reality crowds out the imaginings and leaves me with…something undefinable. I look around the breakfast room this morning.Continue reading “DAY 38 TWO MORE DAYS”

Today I’m going to stand on my soapbox and make a statement about energy consumption. I just got done doing some laundry. In my broken Spanish and the manager’s broken English I managed to find out where the hotel washer and dryer are. The washer is next door at the albergue (hostal) and the dryerContinue reading “DAY 37 KEEP IT CLEAN”

Yesterday we walked to Palas de Rei on the Camino but were unable to get accommodations so we taxied off the Camino to a b&b with the intention of taxiing back in the morning to pick up where we left off. As it happened the b&b was located right on the Camino Primitivo. It isContinue reading “DAY 36 THE PRIMITIVO”

When you spend an evening with friends that you’ve known for a long time your conversation is comfortable and dwells on the every day bits and pieces of lives: your children, your grandchildren, shopping, a new recipe, what’s going on at work and then sometimes just to spice it up a little bit you’ll hitContinue reading “DAY 35 TABLE FOR FIVE”

Once again the air is filled with the sound of foreign voices. They’re excited, they want to talk. Sometimes they ask where I’ve started. When I say St. Jean I hear a little sucking in of the breath and then a low “Wow, you’re doing the whole thing.” And I say to myself, “I haveContinue reading “DAY 34 LEAVING SARRIA”