“Suddenly I came out of my thoughts and noticed everything around me again, as though I was seeing it all for the very first time – the catkins on the willows, the lapping of the river on the reed-thronged banks below the bridge’s smoothed-out concrete, the leafy patterns of the shadows resting lightly across the […]
I eventually made it to the small dusty town of Itera de la Vega, where I reconnected with fellow pilgrim Erin (who I had first met and with whom I had shared a lovely dinner back in the hostel at Ages). She was just finishing up her lunch when I arrived and I sat with […]
“And so it is in the rawness of travel – especially travel taken as a pilgrimage; the way it laid you open to the clear blue nerves. You find yourself walking & walking & walking, until you suddenly fully embody your five senses – pouring yourself down an unknown trail, you become the slap of […]
This day proved to be exceptionally hot and exceptionally dry and exceptionally dusty; all conditions that made for a quite tired arrival into the town of Boadilla. The pathside bars and hostel cafes here were already filled with dozens of pilgrims by the time I arrived; pilgrims who had not walked as far, and yet […]
“The paths ever provided breath-taking views. There really is something special – almost sacred – about an empty road going on and on and on to the horizon; where the sun burns the world away into a dancing, shimmering heat-haze that reflects the crystal blue sky, blurring the line between heaven & earth, and disintegrating […]
I was getting quite weary in the latter parts of that afternoon, and had set my mind on trudging all the way to the larger town of Fromista, where I was sure I would be able to to find lodging for the night. And yet while that city was eventually entered, and while its larger […]
“None of us are born to just live until we die, and none of us are born to give up. No, we are all born to make ways and carve paths, to stand up against injustice and right wrongs, to reach out to the lonely and give to the poor. And we are all born […]
I flowed quite smoothly into Poblacion and found the Municipal Gite completely empty. I had been told to check in with Carmen (the same hospitalera who had told Gabriel back in Fromista that I would be welcome here) at the nearby hotel but she was not in, so I headed back up to the hostel […]
I knew it was over 10km (just over 6 miles) to the next donativo (where I wasn’t even sure I’d receive a bed) and it was already 7:30 pm when heading out, so it was looking more & more like I would be spending the night on a park bench or even somewhere alongside the […]
The way was straight and flat and smooth that night, which allowed me to easily cover the 10km in just under two hours, arriving in Villalcazar at 9:30pm, with just 30 minutes to spare before the local donativo hostel* closed. I couldn’t help but flash back to my 2008 Camino when the very same hostel […]
I whisper -chatted with a fellow pilgrim far into the night, and then – after everyone else had fallen fast asleep – I snuck my bedding out the hostels’ sleeping quarters and humbly hunkered down on the kitchen floor for the night; partly to keep my fellow pilgrims from suffering through my potential snoring, and […]
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