Some pics of my camino thus far… no lipstick or make-up… I´ll do that later when I have the chance… damn I miss my laptop…
More later… it´s painful trying to do this from the alburgue computers!!!
Chris
chris
Camino Day3 – Chris
Well, I managed to quite literally, ´hobble´to Pamplona, and am staying at the ´Jesus e Maria´albergue (7 euro)… bed #5 if you´re looking for me sweetie…
I am really enjoying the journey… walking for the most part in solitude, but chatting to people occasionally along the way, but at the moment, my feet feel like hamburger… blistered and bruised like they´ve never been before… my hiking boots are toast… (hmmmm… hamburger and toast would taste good right now…) 🙂
I tried everything today… changing socks, changing into my hiking sandles… nothing would give me much relief, until I put on the thickest pair of hiking socks, which make everything feel really tight, but they were the lesser of all evils.
Stores here will re-open at 5pm, and I´m going to go looking for a new pair of hiking shoes, and maybe some sort of medical rub…
Pamplona looks like a place I might just stay in for a day… a good place to explore and recuperate a bit… otherwise, I´m not sure if my feet would carry me down the road much further!
Until next time,
Chris
Camino Day2 – Chris
Had a relatively restful sleep last night… the accomodations were great!
Got an early start, I was walking at 6:25am or so… it´s actually nice to start early; it´s cool, and the sun is just coming up, so the lighting for potential pictures is fantastic!
My feet were still a bit sore from yesterday´s walk, and they got progressively worse today. I have blisters on the outside of both of my heels, so I was limping along by the end of the day.
I probably had breakfast at the same place as Christina, a ham and cheese sandwich and coffee, and another sandwich I purchased for lunch. I bought an apple and banana along the way, and stopped briefly for a second coffee.
It was relatively early in the day when I reached the point that Christina says she stopped at… can´t remember the name of the town, but I did stop at the crossroads, where I took of my socks and shoes, and shared my sandwich with a relatively hungry kitten…
From there, it was another 5km to my final destination, a little town called Larrasoana. The accomodations aren´t quite as nice as last night, but for 6 euro, I´m not complaining. The pilgrim dinner will be 11 euro tonight.
Upon arrival, I cleaned up, and did two days worth of really, really stinky laundry… then rested a bit, before sampling a nice big, ice-cold beer.
It´ll be another early night, I hope my feet heal overnight… if they are too sore, I´ll only go as far as Pamplona, a mere 17km or so from here.
Wishing I had brought my laptop… there are internet hotspots which would save paying 2 euro everytime I sit down at the hostél computer, but more importantly, I´d be able to dump my pictures to it, and work my magic with them… pretty hard to get pictures editted and posted with these limited computers… it´ll take me the month of July at Colin & Lynne´s to catch up… I was thinking of their place today… hoping there are a couple of cozy chairs, and a nice big HD TV to watch the Olympics on! 🙂
That´s it for now, dinner is ready in 5min, and I have to see if my laundry is dry yet!
Camino Day1 – Chris
Well, it was tough going at times, but I managed the 27kms to the first stop through the mountains in roughly 7 hours.
Passed Christina at the 7.5 km mark, even though I left a half hour later in a vain attempt to get my hair cut before starting… the barber was closed on Tuesdays.
I took far too many pictures to be sure… and realize it´s going to be hard to limit myself to 40GB spread over 30 days or so!
I´m chaifing a bit between the legs, and my feet or sore… possibly the beginning of blisters…
More later, I´m tired, and hungry, and my euro worth of internet is running out!
Our ‘bucket’ list
It seems that everyone has been putting together their ‘bucket list’ lately… during the last month at Trove farm/vineyard in the Tuscany region of Italy, we’ve had plenty of time to contemplate ours. Here’s hoping you enjoy our very unique ‘bucket list’. Parental guidance is advised; may not be suitable for all audiences, especially those with weak stomachs.
Into the Great Unknown…
Computer… initiate web blog ‘chris’… stardate 2011.09.08…
Hello World! Welcome to my first ever blog posting!
WOW. Did getting to this point in time ever take some work!
The jury is still out on whether or not we’re totally off our rocker for selling our cozy comfy home, selling/storing/giving away our stuff, and embarking on this potentially amazing journey into to great unknown… but I’ve got a feeling the verdict will be favourable!
This process has been a real whirlwind, from the initial stages of contemplating the general idea, allowing ourselves to dream it was possible, to making the big decision and taking the multitude of steps needed to realize this moment… it’s taken a whole lot of work to get here…physically, mentally and emotionally… it’s understandable why most sane people chose not to embark on a path like ours… it’s hard, hard work on multiple levels, and puts you way out of your comfort zone.
It’s not easy deciding to give up the safety and security of your ‘home’, your ‘community’, your ‘life’… and deciding instead to ‘shake things up a little bit’, to ‘dare to dream’… but be forewarned… once you plant that seed, you might be surprised what sprouts up!
I’m not entirely sure what the next little while will bring, however I do know this… I’m greatful to Christina for planting the seed, allowing us to ‘dream’ of the possibilities, and for having the courage (aka ‘cahonas’) to challenge the norm… envisioning something radically different.
Update… September 11th, 2011
Ten years. A DECADE. It’s hard to believe how fast the time has gone by, and it re-affirms the general idea of ‘Carpe Diem’… life is short, life is fragile, and you never know when your time is up! My time could have easily ‘been up’, had my NYC contract NOT ended the Thursday before the towers came down… I more than likely would have gone down with them, as did so many of my former colleagues. My thoughts are with them today… their lives were cut way too short.
We are beginning to get our bearings here in Quito. It’s difficult to get around when you are directionally challenged (as I can be), and your spouse with a ‘keen sense of direction’ does not have a proper map, and, your knowledge of Spanish allows you to confidently order beer and/or eggs, and not much more! Thus, on our first day here, we embarked on a ‘dis-orientation’ tour around our hostel, and ended up exploring a totally different area than anticipated. Images of a bickering couple attempting to navigate their way through some foreign land on ‘The Amazing Race’ comes to mind… mental note… trust my wife’s keen sense of direction… in a past life it’s entirely possible she was a homing pigeon.