I came to the Camino looking for profound experience, and I found it. It met and surpassed all the expectations I had. I have always been an introverted person, a highly self-conscious person, bordering on obsessive. An isolator, a loner. Many people realize and acknowledge I am a personable and easy-going person. By all outward… Read More The Camino de Santiago, A turning point
Arriving Santiago in Santiago de Compostela was an anti-climax. All the pilgrims crowded into the pilgrim office to get their certificate of completion. I paid 3 euros to get some diploma looking thing written in Latin with my name on it that I have probably lost by now. We settled into a hostel that was… Read More Day 22- Arrival in Santiago de Compostela- The cathedral is covered in scaffolding
“I saw my life branching out before me like the green fig tree in the story. From the tip of every branch, like a fat purple fig, a wonderful future beckoned and winked. One fig was a husband and a happy home and children, and another fig was a famous poet and another fig was… Read More Camino de Santiago-Day 18 – The Rollercoaster and the Hamster wheel- Somewhere- Sarria T-minus 100 km to Santiago de Compostela
My group out-walked me today. I am sure I will link up with them again. I craved solitude after walking with a group for a long time and I crave company after being alone for too long. Such is the swinging pendulum of being a contradictory mix of traits on the introvert-extrovert spectrum. I was walking at… Read More Day 14-15 “So what’s the first thing you’ll do when you get home?” ???- Astorga – 18 miles
Today began in cold pre-dawn darkness with a beautiful golden moon gradually sinking below the horizon. We passed the halfway point in distance yesterday and it seems to be getting monotonous. I offered a 12 pill strip of ibuprofen to Peter because he was all out and I had extra. He gave me a chunk of his… Read More Camino Day 12- Italian Hospitality in a log cabin- Calzuela de la Cuenca-??? 20 miles
Today I walked with a five foot tall girl from Michigan that had a shapely, curvy figure. She ran ultra-marathons, the longest being 50 miles. She said her larger figure was a result of an endocrine system imbalance in her insulin levels. We gradually became acquainted through the first few hurdles of small talk. “I thought you… Read More Camino Day 9-“You look ethnic. What are you?” Burgos- Itero de la Vega 38 miles
I awoke at 6:30 am today, which is sleeping in for pilgrims. The day began on a forest trail and gave way to highway walking and then a small pueblo where apparently Hemingway used to recover after his week long drunks in Pamplona at the Running of the Bulls. You will learn when you come… Read More Camino de Santiago-Day Two-Settling in. Roncesvalles- Larrasona- 18 miles
I woke at 6:30 am from the rustling of bags of other pilgrims. The first day of the hike brought with it a constant slide of new people, many French, German and Korean. I passed a lot of people and it was a fun to guess group’s nationalities as I approached and say one of the… Read More Camino Day One- The Pyrenees. St. Jean Pied de Porte-Roncesvalles – 18 miles
The Sober Hombre 