I'm nearing the halfway point of the Camino! This really surprises me, since I wasn't even sure if I'd make it 100 km. I'm not sure I'm nearing the halfway-point of the non-physical journey, though I'm definitely going somewhere.
Today I took a rest day in Castrojeriz, pretty much right in the center of northern Spain. I climbed to the town castle - imagine, if you could just regularly climb to the "town castle"! - and read my book to the sun rising over the valley village. The other day I ended up walking at night, as there wasn't any space in the pilgrim albergues (refuges) for several towns. It turned out to be awesome: there was a full moon, there were all the colors of the "magic light" that come with dusk, it was windy, and I had good company. I love that I'm outside so much: so much of my experience becomes a kind of walking meditation. Even when nothing profound happens, when I don't think anything, I "experience" so much more than I can when I'm inside: there's something important that I get out of feeling the wind sting my face, hearing my shoes crunch the path I'm walking, seeing that "magic light" every day at sunrise and sunset.
I haven't been well-connected to the internet, so I probably won't have any photos for you until I'm finished. Everything is going really nicely, though. Hasta luego.
Thursday, September 27, 2007
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Caminando, Caminando
I'm well into the Camino rhythm.
(Also, sorry for the lack of literary quality here . . . speed, Spanish keyboards, and, uh . . . not really caring . . . are rather impeding the quality of prose. Throw in little hand-waving, bewilderment, and some cumin, and then maybe you can kind of imagine a real Leah Ashe story. If you don´t have those ingredients easily accessible, i guess you´ll have to settle for a second-rate piece of writing. i'd add the imagination if i were you.)
Right, so I´m well into the Camino rhythm. I stay every night with other pilgrims at alguergues or refuges. Tonight I´m staying at one in Logrono. I´m taking a rest day so that I can go see a bullfight. I eat cows, so I figured that I might as well at least check out cow-torture sport. Also, the matadors look pretty good.
In a few minutes, I'm going back to the albuergue to cook the midday meal with the hospitalero-priest. Tomorrow should be another walking day. I'm surprised how quickly I´ve acclimated. I did 20 km yesterday and it felt like nothing. I did a 33-km mountain-climbing day a few days ago; that felt like something, let me tell you, but it also felt really satisfying. I´m pretty sure it wouldn´t be on Dr Snyder´s list of recommended activities, but then, i think, neither would be surfing, skiing, or traversing concrete surfaces without a helmet. I´m liking it, and I´m feeling good.
Until next time!
(Also, sorry for the lack of literary quality here . . . speed, Spanish keyboards, and, uh . . . not really caring . . . are rather impeding the quality of prose. Throw in little hand-waving, bewilderment, and some cumin, and then maybe you can kind of imagine a real Leah Ashe story. If you don´t have those ingredients easily accessible, i guess you´ll have to settle for a second-rate piece of writing. i'd add the imagination if i were you.)
Right, so I´m well into the Camino rhythm. I stay every night with other pilgrims at alguergues or refuges. Tonight I´m staying at one in Logrono. I´m taking a rest day so that I can go see a bullfight. I eat cows, so I figured that I might as well at least check out cow-torture sport. Also, the matadors look pretty good.
In a few minutes, I'm going back to the albuergue to cook the midday meal with the hospitalero-priest. Tomorrow should be another walking day. I'm surprised how quickly I´ve acclimated. I did 20 km yesterday and it felt like nothing. I did a 33-km mountain-climbing day a few days ago; that felt like something, let me tell you, but it also felt really satisfying. I´m pretty sure it wouldn´t be on Dr Snyder´s list of recommended activities, but then, i think, neither would be surfing, skiing, or traversing concrete surfaces without a helmet. I´m liking it, and I´m feeling good.
Until next time!
Friday, September 14, 2007
100 Kilometers
The Camino de Santiago is . . . (Mrs. Schwert?) phenomenal! Amazing. Incredible. I can´t believe I´ve only five days into it. I´ll apologize right off the bat: I´ve been more inspired to enjoy the beautiful walking, companionship, history, and scenery than I have to seek out an internet connection, so I have been and likely will continue to be pretty out of touch. (And I kind of like that.)
I started in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, and have made it just Pamplona to Puente la Reina, Spain, where two of the old routes to Santiago come together. I´ve crossed the Pyrenees and the Alto de Perdon (though not on my nears, nor barefoot). My pack weighs more than I thought it would (nearly 20 pounds with food and water and sleeping bag), but the buenas rollas (good vibes) are also more inspiring than I thought they would be. I´ve been traveling with an awesome group: Two Spaniards, a German, an Italian, a German, and me, and cooking every night in the pilgrim refuge with a big group. It was my turn last night, and we made a guisado, a stew straight from the Leah Ashe kitchen!
I´ll rest today in Puente la Reina - and then we´ll see.
Buen Camino :)
More to come.
I started in St. Jean Pied de Port, France, and have made it just Pamplona to Puente la Reina, Spain, where two of the old routes to Santiago come together. I´ve crossed the Pyrenees and the Alto de Perdon (though not on my nears, nor barefoot). My pack weighs more than I thought it would (nearly 20 pounds with food and water and sleeping bag), but the buenas rollas (good vibes) are also more inspiring than I thought they would be. I´ve been traveling with an awesome group: Two Spaniards, a German, an Italian, a German, and me, and cooking every night in the pilgrim refuge with a big group. It was my turn last night, and we made a guisado, a stew straight from the Leah Ashe kitchen!
I´ll rest today in Puente la Reina - and then we´ll see.
Buen Camino :)
More to come.
Monday, September 10, 2007
Beach Tour
"I missed the train to Lourdes, so I went surfing instead."
Ever heard that before? When the credit card machine at the train station rejected my credit card transaction and I missed the train, I figured that was my sign: Tomatelo tranquilo, take it easy. So, I did what any Crystal Beach Bum would: I went to the beach. It's Biarritz in southern France, and it turns out that it's one of the surf centers of Europe. I was walking along the beach, ran into a surf school, and signed up for a class. It was totally rad, dude! I totally want to become a surfer girl. Can someone find out where the phrase "Hang ten" comes from?
Today I start the Camino in St. Jean Pied de Port, France. I like it already, and I haven't even taken a step in the direction of Santiago. All part of the Camino, I think.
And - Mark - France is awesome!
Ever heard that before? When the credit card machine at the train station rejected my credit card transaction and I missed the train, I figured that was my sign: Tomatelo tranquilo, take it easy. So, I did what any Crystal Beach Bum would: I went to the beach. It's Biarritz in southern France, and it turns out that it's one of the surf centers of Europe. I was walking along the beach, ran into a surf school, and signed up for a class. It was totally rad, dude! I totally want to become a surfer girl. Can someone find out where the phrase "Hang ten" comes from?
Today I start the Camino in St. Jean Pied de Port, France. I like it already, and I haven't even taken a step in the direction of Santiago. All part of the Camino, I think.
And - Mark - France is awesome!
Saturday, August 25, 2007
Character Preview
If you followed my last trip, you know I ran into my share of “characters.” And I’m glad I did. I like it that way. (What would Crystal Beach be without the Thong Man?) I hope I run into lots more this time around.
But I guess I didn’t need to travel to ferret out the characters; I just needed to get away from my cubicle. I’ve met a few good ones in the past few weeks. So, although I haven’t hit the road yet, I think we could all use a good “character warm-up” . . .
Preview #1:
To start off, we have Dr. Tahid, who I think counts – Geeta, hope you don’t mind the plagiarism :) – as one of the “Indian doctor friends.”
Since I’m leaving, my car had to go, too. I put an ad in the paper, and both Mary Jo Altobello (wearing a napoletano charm and coming from Niagara Falls, naturally) and Dr. Tahid (from New Delhi, just starting his residency at Mercy hospital down the street) called me the next day. Mary Jo liked the car and bought it right away; the catch is that we won’t make the actual trade-off until September 2nd, which does leave a little bit of a risk for both of us. So I let Dr. Tahid know that the car was sold, but that, if he’d like, I’d be happy to keep his number and give him a call if the deal fell through. He asked to come over and test the drive “anyway,” – and I said sure, why not. Why not, indeed . . .
So, Dr. Tahid came to test drive my just-sold car. He started down Salem Street, came literally inches from sideswiping all the parked cars on the right side of the street, and came to a complete stop . . . a good fifteen feet before the stop sign. Now, the Salem-onto-Abbott turn can be a bit difficult because the parked cars on Abbott block the view of oncoming traffic. So you have to inch your way up – peak – inch – peak – anyone coming? – No? No? – Ok, go! That’s what you have to do. What Dr. Tahid did, instead, was gun the car, from his complete stop fifteen feet before the stop sign, directly into a right turn. Do not pass go, do not look both ways at the intersection, do not collect your “my child is safe driver of the month at Franklinville Driver Ed” sticker. Fortunately there was no oncoming traffic, and we reached Abbott safely. All that, and we’d made it about fifty feet from my house.
So I thought it might be wise to stick to the side streets. I directed Dr. Tahid to turn right on Athol, which he did. Like this: He came to a complete stop in the middle of Abbott Road, veered out to the left into oncoming traffic, and finally maneuvered the car to the right and onto Athol, whence we nearly sideswiped all the cars on Athol. Now, had Dr. Tahid been on the Orchard Park Little League Royals, and had he been trying to stretch a single into a double, and – most importantly – had he not been DRIVING MY CAR!!! – this would have been great form, a perfect banana turn. As it was, however, it was NOT great form, and it was making me, ah, “a bit nervous.” (You know that line in “Speed,” which I’m embarrassed to admit having watched, where the nerdy guy on the bus has to “translate” from Keanu Reeves, fiddling with a bomb underneath the bus, to the bus driver? And he translates one phrase as “Uh . . . . Oh darn!” You can similarly translate here for “a bit nervous.”)
So, trying to be as polite as I could, I asked Dr. Tahid, “You, ah . . .you do have your license, right?”
“Oh yes,” he assured me. “In fact, I just got it,” he added, as though this were an entirely uninteresting sidenote.
“Today.”
He smiled. I smiled (somewhat less enthusiastically). We drove right home.
Preview #2:
I also had to sell my bike rack. Some guy named John bought it, and he must have called me fifteen times to clarify precisely when he was coming to my house to pick it up. His last phone call came from my neighbor’s driveway, where he was parked, having confused the number 27 with the number 25.
So we went to my basement, I showed him how the bike rack worked, that was that, and we were ready to go. You’d think it would have been easy from there, right? Nope.
John picked up the bike rack – well, actually he more thrust it toward the ceiling. KAZAM! (Imagine you’re in a 1950s Batman cartoon – the sound effects are worthwhile.) Right into the heating duct! Whoa. What was that?! Better look around . . . BAM! Right into the concrete pillar! Whoa, again! Now what was that?! Better turn around and have another look . . . WHAMMO! Right into a pile of boxes. I kept looking around for Curly and Moe.
Anyway, John was a nice guy. We had a few more encounters with basement impediments but eventually made it outside. I couldn’t believe this guy was going to drive home, much less hop on his bicycle when he got there. I hope he wears a helmet. And I hope Dr. Tahid isn’t motoring around his neighborhood.
But I guess I didn’t need to travel to ferret out the characters; I just needed to get away from my cubicle. I’ve met a few good ones in the past few weeks. So, although I haven’t hit the road yet, I think we could all use a good “character warm-up” . . .
Preview #1:
To start off, we have Dr. Tahid, who I think counts – Geeta, hope you don’t mind the plagiarism :) – as one of the “Indian doctor friends.”
Since I’m leaving, my car had to go, too. I put an ad in the paper, and both Mary Jo Altobello (wearing a napoletano charm and coming from Niagara Falls, naturally) and Dr. Tahid (from New Delhi, just starting his residency at Mercy hospital down the street) called me the next day. Mary Jo liked the car and bought it right away; the catch is that we won’t make the actual trade-off until September 2nd, which does leave a little bit of a risk for both of us. So I let Dr. Tahid know that the car was sold, but that, if he’d like, I’d be happy to keep his number and give him a call if the deal fell through. He asked to come over and test the drive “anyway,” – and I said sure, why not. Why not, indeed . . .
So, Dr. Tahid came to test drive my just-sold car. He started down Salem Street, came literally inches from sideswiping all the parked cars on the right side of the street, and came to a complete stop . . . a good fifteen feet before the stop sign. Now, the Salem-onto-Abbott turn can be a bit difficult because the parked cars on Abbott block the view of oncoming traffic. So you have to inch your way up – peak – inch – peak – anyone coming? – No? No? – Ok, go! That’s what you have to do. What Dr. Tahid did, instead, was gun the car, from his complete stop fifteen feet before the stop sign, directly into a right turn. Do not pass go, do not look both ways at the intersection, do not collect your “my child is safe driver of the month at Franklinville Driver Ed” sticker. Fortunately there was no oncoming traffic, and we reached Abbott safely. All that, and we’d made it about fifty feet from my house.
So I thought it might be wise to stick to the side streets. I directed Dr. Tahid to turn right on Athol, which he did. Like this: He came to a complete stop in the middle of Abbott Road, veered out to the left into oncoming traffic, and finally maneuvered the car to the right and onto Athol, whence we nearly sideswiped all the cars on Athol. Now, had Dr. Tahid been on the Orchard Park Little League Royals, and had he been trying to stretch a single into a double, and – most importantly – had he not been DRIVING MY CAR!!! – this would have been great form, a perfect banana turn. As it was, however, it was NOT great form, and it was making me, ah, “a bit nervous.” (You know that line in “Speed,” which I’m embarrassed to admit having watched, where the nerdy guy on the bus has to “translate” from Keanu Reeves, fiddling with a bomb underneath the bus, to the bus driver? And he translates one phrase as “Uh . . . . Oh darn!” You can similarly translate here for “a bit nervous.”)
So, trying to be as polite as I could, I asked Dr. Tahid, “You, ah . . .you do have your license, right?”
“Oh yes,” he assured me. “In fact, I just got it,” he added, as though this were an entirely uninteresting sidenote.
“Today.”
He smiled. I smiled (somewhat less enthusiastically). We drove right home.
Preview #2:
I also had to sell my bike rack. Some guy named John bought it, and he must have called me fifteen times to clarify precisely when he was coming to my house to pick it up. His last phone call came from my neighbor’s driveway, where he was parked, having confused the number 27 with the number 25.
So we went to my basement, I showed him how the bike rack worked, that was that, and we were ready to go. You’d think it would have been easy from there, right? Nope.
John picked up the bike rack – well, actually he more thrust it toward the ceiling. KAZAM! (Imagine you’re in a 1950s Batman cartoon – the sound effects are worthwhile.) Right into the heating duct! Whoa. What was that?! Better look around . . . BAM! Right into the concrete pillar! Whoa, again! Now what was that?! Better turn around and have another look . . . WHAMMO! Right into a pile of boxes. I kept looking around for Curly and Moe.
Anyway, John was a nice guy. We had a few more encounters with basement impediments but eventually made it outside. I couldn’t believe this guy was going to drive home, much less hop on his bicycle when he got there. I hope he wears a helmet. And I hope Dr. Tahid isn’t motoring around his neighborhood.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
View My Travel Map
I just figured out how Google My Maps works - it's awesome, and you should definitely give it a try yourself! I made up a map of my planned travels. You can see where I'm heading, and - if I manage to keep on top of it - where I've been and where I am now. By clicking on each destination marker, you can see the photos, videos, and links I've posted. The preliminary pictures are ones I've found on the internet - though I wouldn't have posted them if I didn't think they were good. (Especially the video of the Camino de Santiago that I posted in St. Jean Pied de Port - that's awesome, check it out for sure!) I hope to post my own photos and videos as I go along. I'll also put a link to this map in the sidebar, but here it is, straight away: Leah's Travel Map
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