Category Archives: Around the World

Walking the Camino

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This past weekend a group of us walked the Camino Santiago from Thursday – Saturday. We did a total of about 50 miles. It was an excellent trip! Here were some of our objectives:

  • Give our Conversational English group time to practice english
  • Build relationships with our friends here in the valley
  • Read through the Pilgrim’s Progress and discuss it
  • Spent time with other friends from BMM here in Spain
  • See the country side
  • Walk ourselves into the ground
  • Survive a couple nights in the albergues

We accomplished all of them! And I will post a few pictures below to prove it. If you want to see the full size photos and full album, click here.

3 Days on the Camino

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I just bought my credentials for the Camino Santiago. I thought this would be a good time to rehearse some of the packing and traveling tips that I’ve heard along the way.

Pack for the best, buy yourself out of the worst. (Abraham Lincoln)

You can be cold, wet, tired, and miserable. Or, you can be cold, wet, and tired. (Jeff Phillips)

Metal detectors can even pick up pocket knives hidden in umbrella handles. Who knew! (Josh Halloran)

There are two types of people in this world: those who pack light, and those who wish they did. (Forrest)

Pack like a Jr. higher headed to summer camp…then forget your backpack in the bus and enjoy the week! You didn’t need it anyway. (Benjamin Franklin)

Baseball cap. Check. Extra pair of socks. Check. Bible. Check (Liberty Baptist Teen Guys on the Manathons and retreats).

The more you pack – the heavier your load – the more you hurt – the longer you take – the more you need. (Ancient Pirate Proverb)

Take only enough clothes so that, if you were soaking wet and wearing all of your clothes and pedalling, you would remain just about warm enough. If it gets any colder than that you can always head for a cafe or a train station! (Alastair Humphreys)

 

 

Ok. Some of them I paraphrased a little.

 

What am I thinking!?

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This quote from Microadventures: Local Discoveries for Great Escapes by Alastair Humphreys describes much of my life.

“But whenever you think, ‘this is an exciting idea’ and immediately follow that by thinking, ‘this is a very stupid idea’ then you know you are on to a good thing and that you will regret it if you wimp out.”

 

Driving School part 2

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Last week I shared that I passed the first of two tests, narrowly, no thanks to tricky questions about carrying gods in the trunk of my car. This week I would like everyone to know that I passed the second and final test! In the words of our Spanish tutor on her practical test, it was “algo divino.”

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The second test is the practical, the “behind-the-wheel…of-doom”. I did a couple weeks of behind the wheel, and then multiple sessions behind the person behind the wheel. I was the quintessential backseat driver as I listened to the driving instructor walk other newbies through the intricate maneuvers of parallel parking in a spot the size of a tuna can.

Since it was frowned upon to live tweet my experiences through my practical exam, I tried to note a few things down in my journal as I sat behind other drivers, or after I finished my hour behind the wheel. Here are some excerpts from my journal.

___________________________

Taking drivers lessons again is like having someone teach you how to brush your teeth.

  • Faster!
  • SLOWER!
  • Careful.
  • Good job!
  • you are going to hurt yourself.
  • You are a natural
  • What are you doing?!
  • If you don’t do this correctly you are going to regret it.
  • You need more practice.

____________________________

Student driving is the perfect time to practice my combat breathing techniques.

____________________________

The driving exams in Spain are just updates on the Inquisition’s best torture devices.

____________________________

I want to see a movie where Morgan Freeman tries to hijack a car with a student driver.

____________________________

About to take my practical driving test here in Spain. I did this once in the USA about 15 years ago but I still am nervous. I actually just googled, “Volkswagen turn signals” because I forgot which side of the steering wheel they are on. I’m a wreck. Oops. Bad imagery.

____________________________

My driver instructor may or may not have kept up a running conversation with the examiner in order to distract him from the mistakes I was making.

 

The final outcome is that I have my license (well, theoretically. I have to wait for a card) and all those poor chaps that nearly lost their lives on the crosswalks are learning to walk with their heads up.

Cruz de hierro

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Last week we took a quick trip up into the mountains with a friend. We visited the Cruz de Hierro which is the highest point of the Camino Santiago and is very meaningful to many pilgrims. It is there that tens of thousands of peregrinos have laid down a stone at the base. For some it is an act of penance, others an emotional releasing of a burden, and for others a symbolic act of leaving behind the past. 

The gospel tells us that at the foot of the cross of Jesus we find freedom from our sin and guilt. But I fear that most of these pilgrims feel only an emotional release, and nothing more.