pix of my camino

Here are my low tech efforts, at capturing some of the moments on my camino:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=56974&l=507aa&id=657825405

here are some photos sent to me by camino friends:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=60860&l=ecf28&id=657825405

Remember to visit Fernando's blog if you want more proper pictures! (link at left)

still on the road, sort of

So I'm not walking anymore, which makes me sad but makes the balls of my feet happy. However my travels are not over. June 12-16 I'll be visiting Quebec City with a friend from Winnipeg. June 24-28 my sister and her family are coming for a visit (from Switzerland) on their way to BC. June 30 to July 19 I'll be in BC visiting family and helping my dear parents-in-law celebrate 50 years of marriage. July 20-27 I'll be in Quebec City again for the convention of the International Federation of French Teachers. It'll be fun to see three dear colleagues again, and to share that week. Then I'll be home, slowly getting back into my work head.

Over the year I've had a bit of contact with some colleagues, and have checked my work e-mail only enough to pass on what needed to be passed on and ignore the rest. It's been very good to get away. I've also missed the thrill of shared learning and interesting conversations with students and colleagues. I'll be ready to go back.

camino people

Now that I'm home, I've been going back over my camino log, checking the place names where I slept, checking the kilometers, remembering what happened and how I felt.

I really like to know the names of the people I'm talking to, and I wrote most of them down. So I thought I'd make a little litany of place names and people names, just for fun:

train to Bayonne, taxi to St-Jean-Pied-de-Port
Bruno from Freiburg, CH; Giuseppe from Italy; Gudrun from Munich

1. St-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Roncesvalles: 27 km
Gabe, Giuseppe, Claude, Christian, Renate, Kim

2. Roncesvalles to Zubiri: 20 km
Giuseppe, Bruno, Renate, Gerda, José, Elsa, Mariaje, Pachi, Kim, Inma, Jacqueline, Nicole

3. Zubiri to Cizur Mayor: 30 km
Elisabeth, Inma, Giorgio, Gastone, Pietro, Umberto, Annie & Claude

4. Cizur Mayor to Puente la Reina: 20 km
Giorgio, Gastone, Pietro, Umberto, Di, John the van coffee guy, Inma, Jacqueline, Annie & Claude, Jill, Elisabeth & Maria Eugenia, Wolfgang, Kay, Fernando

5. Puente La Reina to Estella: 22 km
Raymond, Monique & Jean-Louis, Maria Eugenia, Elisabeth, Inma, Jill, Gary, Annette, Gabe, Di, François & Jean-Pierre, three Albertans

6. Estella to Los Arcos: 22 km
Di, Monique, Wolfgang, Kai, Fernando, Elisabeth, Maria Eugenia, Elsa, José, Jacqueline, Nicole

7. Los Arcos to Logroño: 28 km
three Albertans, Jill, Lydia, Kay, Fernando, Wolfgang, Oscar, Giorgio, Umberto, Gastone, Pietro, Günther and the Frankish male quartet, Inma, Rosa, Ricardo

8. Logroño to Nájera: 29 km
Wolfgang, Kay, Fernando, Oscar, Monique & Jean-Louis, Inma, Rosa, Ricardo, Gerda, Tony & Johanna, Chantal

9. Nájera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada: 21 km
Wolfgang, Kay, Fernando, Oscar; Ismael Gomez Sacristan (wine saint in Cirueña)

10. Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado: 23 km
my camino brothers (Wolfgang, Kay, Fernando, Oscar); Elsa & José, Vanna, Marcella, Belen (hospitalera)

11. Belorado to Altapuerca: 30 km
camino brothers, Nathalie, Eduardo from Villafranca (pure water at the Montes de Oca), Inma, Rosa, Ricardo, Maria Eugenia, Elsa, José, Danielle & Michel, Edelgart

12. Altapuerca to Burgos: 20 km
camino brothers, Nathalie, Christian & Claude, Annie & Claude, Donald

13. Burgos to Hornillos del Camino: 20 km
Wolfgang, Josefa, Rosa, Lucy, Nathalie, 3 Albertans

14. Hornillos del Camino to Itero de la Vega: 31 km
Wolfgang, Gerda, Nathalie, Edeltraut (74 yrs old!), Nanna, Anne, Mary, Nina, 2 Quebeckers

15. Itero de la Vega, Carrion de los Condes: 34 km
Bernie, Nanna, Lim & Jean (Korea), Kay, Fernando, Oscar,
compañeros of Ricardos paella: Inma, Rosa, Ricardo, Abby, Alessandro, Felipe, José, Elsa, Santiago

16. Carrion de los Condes to Sahagun: 38 km
Oscar, Kay, Fernando; Chantal (Quebec), Daniel

17. Sahagun to Mansilla de la Mulas and Villarente: 37 + 6 km
Oscar, Kay, Fernando; Daniel
I started getting nervous about asking people's names when one person started winking at me and sitting too close to me after we introduced ourselves. So there are fewer names from here on.

18. Villarente to Leon: 14 km
Oscar, Kay, Fernando

19. Leon to Hospital de Órbigo: 31 km
Kay, Fernando, Oscar, angel from Vienna, Amadito, Michel & Danielle, hospitalera in San Martin del Camino, Fernando from La Rioja

20. Hostpital de Órbigo to El Ganso: 30 km
Astorgan guy with visions; Kate, Ange

21. El Ganso to Riego de Ambrós: 27 km
Kay, Fernando, Oscar, Kate, Michel & Danielle,

22. Riego de Ambrós to Cacabelos: 28 km
Kate, Ange, Stefan, Bernie, Christophe the Breton and his pals

23. Cacabelos to Trabadelo over Pradelo (camino duro): 20 km?
Kate, Ange, Christophe, two German women, Richard, HeJo, 4 Barcelona women

24. Trabedlo to O Biduedo (over O Cebreiro): 30 km
HeJo, Richard, 2 Australian women, blond Breton smoker, Ange (in bar at H. de Condesa), Sabine (Freiburg), Wolfgang (Köln), Jean-Marie


25. O Biduedo to Samos: 16 km
2 short French smokers, Nanna, K, F, O, Ange, Wolfgang and Sabine, Jean-Marie, John, Alison

26. Samos to Portomarin: 34 km
K,F,O, Edelgard, Nanna, Helga

27. Portomarin to Palas del Rey: 24 km
K,F,O

28. Palas del Rey to Árzua: 30 km
K,F,O, Edelgard; San Xulian hospitalero of 4 beds and Bach; Nanna, Alice

29. Árzua to Monte de Gozo: 35 km
K,F,O, Edelgard, Michel & Danielle, Christophe

30. Monte de Gozo to Catedral de Santiago de Compostela: 5 km
K,F,O, Edelgard
Reunion with the compañeros of Ricardo's paella (Carrion de los Condes) and many other pilgrims I met on the way.

in my end is my beginning

I wasn't expecting anything much from the arrival, since it was all about the walk for me. I was arriving with my camino brothers to share in their experience, because it was important to them. And then we were walking down the hill before light, with the city lights below us. And then we saw the back of the cathedral, walked through a portal and saw the almost empty square in the early morning. We just stood there for a long time.

It was a day of meeting camino friends again, and we ate together in a big crowd in the afternoon, and because no one wants it to end, went for coffee in view of the cathedral afterward. Many tears were shed before we finally parted ways.

For me the most emotional moment happened in the first reading during the mass, from Deuteronomy. The text talked about choosing your camino, and reminded me of our wedding text, Deuteronomy 30:11-16, and that's when I turned into a water fountain. I thought about this choice between life and death which God asked them to make on that day, and thought that probably there are some choices I need to make every day rather than rely on that one choice ages ago. Choosing life in my thoughts, attitudes, interactions is part of what I'm taking with me from my camino, echoing what we took along into our marriage, renewing it somehow.

Today Fernando gave us each a puzzle, because life is full of puzzle pieces that we put together as best we can. This puzzle has a pilgrim on it, and it says "Por una vida llena de flechas", wishing us signposts to show us our way, echoing the blessing of the Augustinian nuns in Carrion de los Condes, who encouraged us to look for the arrows in our life as we look for them on the camino.