I remember the Dutch albergue at the top of the hill. It was a hard day - I had fallen AGAIN, and this time in mud.

Viana I had gotten in very late... but the next leg would have taken me through Logroño... on to Navarette...


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Man, these girls have already made it through to Cizur Mayor. AND they've had the funny sensation of walking in boots filled with water.

I remember walking right past Pamplona.... "Where is Pamplona? It's a city, I should see it by now..."

hee.





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My Aunt and cousin have started walking their camino!

It's been one year since I left home to start the camino. One year to this day.

I remember that for a full two months before this day, I had visited MEC endlessly to purchase & exchange gear that I believed I would need on this trek. I remember how I had researched as much as I could in detail about how to get from London to Biarritz to St. Jean Pied-de-Port. I remember printing out dozens of maps and being very concerned about how I would arrive at London Gatwick airport in the morning and somehow need to make it to Stansted by the end of the day.

I can remember getting to the airport with nothing else than a carefully measured and routinely packed 18 lb. backpack and being ready - eager and nervous, but ready.

I can't say that I'm the same person. But today, in a quiet moment, I re-read my post from the last day I walked, the day I entered Santiago de Compostela, and I was shocked at who that person was and what incredible clarity I had that day and the days before it leading up to it.

It is very difficult to know whether I will be able to regain that clarity. I think we go through an infinite amount of distraction through our daily lives, self-made or otherwise, that can be nothing but the blur we see everyday.

But today, I believe that I need this. I need to feel the same driving force, the ability to bare down to the essentials and then some. Unfortunately, it seems beyond difficult to achieve it physically, especially when it comes to our daily routine and responsibility.

Still, I hope, no, I am determined to begin the journey again - just in a different way.

Stick around, mi amigos, there's more to come. And buen camino to the peregrinos, those who are just beginning, those who have arrived, and those who are still searching wherever they are: Ultrea!

I took a week off from work and drove to Minneapolis then flew to Pittsburgh to see my bro for Thanksgiving.  Feeling much better, as the journey was exactly what I needed to clear my mind and rejuvenate my spirit. I think these "mini-caminos" along the way might be exactly what is needed to take a step back and look at the bigger picture. I'm itching already for my next adventure.  It's been brewing on my morning walks and on the nice long drives...

Also, today, I celebrated my 10 year anniversary of working part time at the video store. I can't tell you what a milestone like this means to me. Even though some people think it may be odd that being a video-store clerk when you don't need the job or the silliness of working retail, I am PROUD to say that I have worked at the store for a decade.

I realize that my continued love for this store, with all the transient employees and trials that the store goes through as time goes on, may be due to the fact that I do not work there full time, but only once a week.  Perhaps if I were to depend on it for income or for a rewarding career choice, I may not actually love it so much.

But, there is a reason that I vowed to work there as long as I lived  in this city, and I have not broken that promise.  I believe working for the same place for 10 years and still feeling passionate about it enough to continue for at least another 10 is an achievement.