One final walk

Yesterday I walked from Finisterre to Muxia. It was beautiful. We had to "ford a river" - as in the Oregon Trail - and cross a beach. We took the "fun way," as the Ashe family would say . . . which involved following the coast rather than the marked trail . . . and which probably made it a 40 km day. Now I´m definitely ready to stop. It´s been beautiful, exhilirating, and . . . exhausting.

I did a quick mileage total yesterday, and it looks like the official total from St Jean Pied de Port in France to Muxia on the Atlantic is about 900-and-something kilometers. If I add in a few kilometers for getting lost, searching for open food shops on Sundays, and turismo, I think I cap 1000!

Tomorrow: To Barcelona. (By plane.)

Camino de Santiago Photos

Here is the link ( I think) to the photo album I created on Kodak photos. There are no labels or ordering yet - sorry - but maybe you can imagine. (It´s more fun that way, anyway, isn´t it?)

http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLandingSignin.jsp?Uc=18rl5z5e.bzir58sy&Uy=-il3hh&Upost_signin=Slideshow.jsp%3Fmode%3Dfromshare&Ux=0&UV=783889227040_310187172306

I also sent the link by email to a bunch of people, so if this link doesn´t work, and you didn´t get an email, ask me or someone else who knows me to forward the link.

The End of the Road

I´m here in Finisterre, and I feel really good about it. I´m not sure exactly what I was looking for in the Camino, but I´m pretty sure I got "it." It was a great way to change directions - not easy by any means, but then - as usual - that´s what makes it special :) I think I´ve reached my physical limits, and in a good way. Even though the Camino gives you lots of time to think, it also exhausts you in a way that kind of strips everything to its most elemental. When I arrived in Finisterre, I was pretty much at the base of the Maslow pyramid, "driven" mostly by the need to eat and sleep. But that felt good . . . and a few days later, it feels really good.

Besides the crazies and the hippies, everyone on the Camino is an amateur philosopher, so I´ll try to refrain from too much of that and instead pass along a few "randoms" . . .

Official Scents of the Camino: wild fennel, sweaty German men
Official Fruits of the Camino: wild blackberries, figs, and chestnuts
Official Sounds of the Camino: strong winds, the snoring of sweaty German men
Official Author of the Camino: Paolo Coehlo
Best Meals of the Camino: Cocido maragato in Astorga, pulpo in Melides, "fiesta de Luis" in Finisterre
Favorite region: Galicia
Favorite cities: Leon, Santiago
Best items in my pack: earplugs, swiss army knife
Why I loved the Camino: time and space to "be", time and space to think, beautiful landscapes, interesting people, interesting conversations, awesome shared meals, intensity, fatigue, and a window to the "reality" of everything outside "real life".

(Whoops - a bit of amateur philosophy snuck in there at the end. Sorry.) Hasta pronto.

Santiago & Finisterre

Hello everyone!

I have lots to say, but only three minutes . . . Hence:

I´ve arrived in Santiago!
I´ve arrived in Finisterre, and saw the ocean. It´s amazing. I can´t believe I´ve walked across the entire country.
Next I´m headed to Barcelona for the Festival of the Chestnut (I´ve decided: I´m going to do my master´s thesis on the chestnut), and then to France to parler frances.

I promise elaboration and photos soon!

Locos

One "interesting" thing about the Camino de Santiago is the "interesting" collection of people you meet. I´ve met lots of people on my wavelength, lots from - ahem - other wavelengths, and possibly other realities, and a good handful of crazies. Among the more interesting people of recent encounter:
- A man named Tomas who is convinced he is the last Templar. He´s crazy, but sane enough to live just this side of hospitalization. He lives on the top of a mountain and runs a refuge. (Yep, people stay there. I´d stay there. They say that what it lacks in facilities - such as beds, water, or toilets - it makes up for in "character.") He dresses up like a Templar, does a "prayer for peace" while hitting his special bell with his special sword, and talks about how the Apocalypse is coming this November.
- A Lithuanian family, traveling the Camino with a stroller for their 18-month-old, a few cartons of fifty-cent wine, and a little supply of hash. Dad has conspiracy theories about 9/11, and Mom identifies herself as a witch.
- A man named Ferron who instructed me today on the "energy centers" upon which all Catholic churches were secretly built. We walked around a 12th-century church with his two metal sticks, which - obviously - help to find things such as underground rivers, solar energy nets, and faults in the earth´s plates. Priests know where to stand to open up the energy from these natural resources.
See? It really is interesting, this Camino.

Alimentation

As a future scholar of "Alimentation," I think I´ll share with you a bit of my gastronomic "research." I think yoú´ll be impressed! I´ve tried:
- Morcilla. I´m pretty sure this is similar to what the Irish call black pudding and the English call blood sausauge. It´s something that would ordinarily gross me out, but I´ve been trying to do what the Romans do. It is awesome. I stumbled upon a tasting of morcilla, freshly made, off the sizzler, spicy with onions and hot peppers, and man - was it good! One of my Spanish friends said, ¨"See, this alone is reason enough to live in Spain!" This led to a discussion about how exactly morcilla is made. I figured there was blood in it, or it was cow´s meat ALSO with blood, or something like that; but it turns out that it is really just the blood. It can´t be, I said: it´s more or less solid, right? Congealed blood. Congealed. Obviously. And it´s really tasty.
- Mollejos. At least that´s what I think it´s called. And I can´t actually translate it properly, because my dictionary - which I have faithfully carried for hundreds of kilometers while I discarded soap for the sake of a lighter pack - doesn´t issue a translation. As best our conversions could elicit, it seems to be cow thyroid. One of my fellow pilgrims said it was the best dinner he´s ever had. I had to eat some bread and tea afterwards to make the taste go away.
- Cecina. Like jamon (cured pig´s leg or ham), but from a cow. Super-good, especially when eaten as part of the ¨Festival of Tapas¨"!
- "Feos". In addition to my "one rest day every week" rule, I´ve added another rule to my list: "Pasteleria, cada dia." Pastry shop, every day! I discovered "feos" (uglies) in Leon, and they were awesome. A cookie made almost entirely out of almonds.
I think I could go on and on . . . !