Things you think about when you’re walking 18 kilometers in one day:

Sounds: I can hear my friends’ poles ticking in the gravel, my feet crunching there too, birdsong, and distant church bells.

Sights: Is this too much sun? Should I put on more sunblock? I can see how far we’ve come. I think I can see the next town. I look at flowers along the path and try to idenitfy them. I scan the sky for clouds.

Sensations: I’m hungry. I’m thirsty. I’m hot. I think I feel a new blister. My backpack is to tight/loose. My underwear is creeping up.

Tastes: Pure water from the mountains. Bocadillos with egg and cheese and ham. Vino tinto. Fresh bread and sheep’s milk cheese.

Smells: Cow pasture, city busses, mountain thyme, rapeseed flowers (fields of them!), mud, my own body after a day of sweating in the sun.

Thoughts: How much I think depends on how rough the terrain is. Believe it or not, descent from a mountain is harder than you think and requires tremendous concentration on loose gravel. Other times, I’m surprised by songs I haven’t heard in years or long-lost memories from childhood. I think about the people I love and those who sponsored be (often both) I have two great traveling companions and our conversations are amusing, thoughtful and there’s also lots of amicable silence.

This trip is changing me into a more observant, peaceful person. I´m learning to be peaceful with every step.

If you think of me, send a prayer. I promise, I’m already doing the same with you.

So much love,
Jen