Category: Processing the experience

The Camino is the community of people, total strangers, who come to look after and care for one another as they all move toward Santiago. One way this was manifest was the Camino grapevine. People talked about one another, never maliciously (in my experience), but out of concern and curiosity. Remarkable and funny stories about fellow travelers were traded like currency. To get someone’s story was a treasure.

The whole lot of us met up in Burgos – Marisela, Katrin, Muriel, Lies (leese), Meg, and me – mostly by happy coincidence. We shared a fun dinner in the plaza with a view of the huge cathedral as our backdrop. Wine and tapas and paella were passed around. We were honoring both Marisela and Lies who were both leaving the Camino for various reasons (both hoped to return). It felt like a warm sorority of women from all over the world and I adored being a part of it.

Continue reading “Grapevines” →

I think I’d walk another 500 miles for a bowl of sopa de ajo.

http://www.tienda.com/recipes/castiliangarlic.html

One of the finest meals I ate… And the simplest.

In some Native religions, God isn’t called the Father like he is in Christianity, but Grandfather.

I feel some holy envy of this designation because we all know our fathers to be fallible creatures. I think this sometimes makes people wobble in their trust of the Divine. Pray to my Dad? Mmm… no.

Grandfather, though… Somehow this extra generation, combined with how the later years add wisdom, reflectiveness, and stability, creates a warmer, more complete image of God that I can wrap my heart around.

Continue reading “Little old Spanish men” →

Maybe I was hungry. Maybe I was tired. Maybe I was just ready to have some space from the 3 musketeers we’d been since the beginning in St Jean.

I just know I felt angry.

The scenery and weather couldn’t have been more glorious. It was a breezy day, with the sun playing between the clouds. We’d stopped at the wine fountain at the Irache monastery which made us grin with the sheer generosity and silliness of it.

Continue reading “Drinking from the well” →

This one’s a propos given what I posted yesterday.

Desperado has been one of my heart songs for a long time — probably since college. Since I reached 40, it seems even more poignant.

I only had this song in mind once on the whole Camino. It was mid-morning, the sun was shining warmly on my back and leaving long shadows on the wide, dusty road ahead. I was walking with Muriel, but we weren’t together at that moment. I was enjoying the cool morning breeze, the stately poplars that lined the path, and the newly-plowed fields ready to spring to life.

Continue reading “The Camino through Song: Desperado” →

When you follow enough pilgrims around all day, you start wondering what’s IN that pack they’re carrying. Want to know?

Here’s what I packed for the Camino de Santiago

Pack:

• Deuter Women’s Futura Vario 45L+10

Sleeping gear:

• Sea2Summit pyrethrin-treated sleeping bag liner (I know)
• Homemade blanket of silk fabric and Primaloft

Clothes:

• 1 quick-dry sports bra
• 4 pair quick-dry underwear
• 1 pair silk leggings
• 1 pair very thick Lorpen wool socks
• 2 pair medium weight REI wool socks
• 1 pair Injinji liner toe socks
• 2 lightweight quick-dry running t-shirts
• 1 black cotton t-shirt for evenings and bedtime
• 2 REI running pants
• 1 REI teal zip fleece
• 1 Rick Steves rain poncho with hood
• 1 Patagonia Nano-Puff jacket
• 1 wool hat
• 1 REI sun hat
• 1 fleece gator (mostly used as an eyemask, but good for warmth)
• 1 pair micro gloves
• 1 pr Brooks Cascadia trail runners
• 1 pr black Crocks

Documents

• Printed email confirmation (arrival and departure) for RyanAir and AerLingus
• Passport
• Photocopy of passport, ID, and bank cards
• Driver’s license
• Compostella (pilgrim passport)
• Scallop shell
• Camino de Santiago book
• Cash
• 2 credit/bank cards

Handy stuff/first aid

• Utility tool with awesome scissors (lost this – sad!)
• Keychain REI temperature gauge (in F and C) with mini compass
• Keychain LED squeeze light (didn’t need anything brighter)
• 1 16oz Nalgene bottle
• 1 32oz collapsible Platypus bottle
• Reusable fabric sack for groceries, laundry, and my carry on
• 1 gallon Ziploc bag for first aid supplies
• Antiseptic cream (small)
• 3 sewing needles and case
• Bandaids
• Mefix blister wrap (awesome!!)
• Ibuprofen (50ct)
• Immodium (3ct)
• Allergy pills (for sleeping) (30ct)
• Calms Forte (100ct)
• Cranberry pills (30ct)
• Acidophilus pills (50ct)
• Wellness formula (20ct)
• Night guard and case
• 10 pairs of earplugs
• 6 feminine pads (bought more on the way)
• Bandana (I wore this a lot, used as a towel, and almost cried when I lost it)
• 15ft of line & 4 clothespins and 10 safety pins

Shower bag

• 1 gal baggie for shower stuff
• Washcloth-sized chamois for washing and drying my bod
• Mini hair brush
• 3 ponytail holders
• Small shampoo/soap (picked up more at hotels)
• Tiny “rock” deodorant
• Small toothpaste
• Toothbrush and flosser
• Pink scrubbie (lost this en route — so sad!!)
• 2 disposable razors

For the Spirit

• 100-page art journal with:
  • List of emergency contact numbers
  • Friends’ addresses for post cards
  • 1 Pilot V5 black pen (THE BEST!)
  • Pentel ICY .7mm mechanical pencil
• St. Christopher’s medal
• Scallop shell necklace from Mom

What I chucked en route or sent home

I did discover that I didn’t need everything I thought I did. Humbling. The list below is what I gave away, tossed, or sent home:

• long sleeve cotton t-shirt (too heavy and took too long to dry)
• 1 pair thin wicking socks (didn’t use them as much as the toe socks)
• 1 pr of thick wool socks (they were too thick for my swollen feet)
• Fabric money belt (too awkward to use and it got all sweaty and gross)
• Disposable camera (too heavy and didn’t use)
• Sunglasses (the sunhat was cuter and worked fine keeping the sun out)
• Powdered sunblock (a good idea that didn’t work)
• Night guard case (my night guard got crushed on the way home – $400)
• Silk long underwear top (too hot and too see-through)
• Sucky, pain-inducing shoe inserts (my arches needed WAY more support)

What I wish I’d brought

Hindsight. 20/20. Hope this list helps future pilgrims. I wish I’d brought…

• An Altus poncho/rainjacket. They’re sold in the pilgrim shop in Saint Jean. It’s like they’re made for the Camino
• Crocks *with* holes (the no-holed variety Ibought made for sweaty feet – yuck)
• Quick-dry sarong as a shower wrap/towel/skirt (I bought one in St Jean)
• A small tube of decent 45+spf sunblock (bought some at the farmacia)
• A few chewable antacids (some of those spaghetti dinners stayed with me too long)
• A few more plastic clothespins
• More Wellness Formula (I wish I’d taken one every day while walking. I might not have gotten so sick)
• A lighter-weight wool sock (I found a great Lorpen pair in Carrion de los Condes and wore them the rest of the trip)
• A second pair of Injinji toe socks (I think they’re why I had so little trouble with toe blisters)
• Better shoe inserts (I thankfully found a winning solution at a farmacia in Burgos made by Dr Scholls. I might have had to stop walking otherwise).

It weighed HOW much?!

Since the contents varied from day to day depending on water and snacks (and what I’d recently lost), I never had an official weight. On average, it came in roughly around 15lbs without water or the clothes I was wearing. Not bad!

Want to see my updated list for my 2016 return pilgrimage?

Thoughts?

You may not realize it, but I’ve been writing about these songs in the same order that they popped up along the Way.

I’m Free has been one of my favorites for a long time. Secada’s career (as far as I know) has come and gone, but this song will always be one of the anthems of my life. It reminds me that I can always choose to be bummed out by difficulties — but more importantly I can also choose gratitude, love, and joy instead.

This ability to choose is freedom.

Continue reading “The Camino through song: I’m Free” →

I was rereading Buen Camino by Natasha and Peter Murtagh last night (love that book!). At the end, a German friend of theirs sums up his Camino insights in four bullet points.

I briefly considered writing them down, but then I thought, “There are more. There’s got to be.” So I grabbed my journal and wrote my own.

Enjoy!

Continue reading “11 steps to contentment: My key insights from the Camino” →

When I walked in silence for hours at a time, songs come came up that I haven’t thought about in years as unbidden messengers from the Divine. When songs showed up, I pondered their significance in the way you would a dream. Why is this song showing up? What is happening in my life that reflects the message? What does this song want to tell me?

The next three songs had no deep mystical meaning for me, so I’m putting them together into one post.

Everybody Hurts (REM)

Continue reading “The Camino through song: a three-fer” →