it has been a wonderful day and so i kept walking. i had planned to go 22, but walked 27k today. i remember so clearly now the first time i walked and i am struck by the differences both in me and the land. me- i am confident, free to come and go when i like, happy to be back, and familiar with the process of checking into the albergue,knowing where to put my boots and poles, finding the showers, the washing area for my clothes, the clothes line. it is all automatic now.
bed bugs- i arrived at the bedbug town at only 11:30am so i kept walking. i ended up at Granon, a small town with it´s albergue connected to the church. we slept on mats on the floor in an attic area. there were only 30 people, and we cooked and ate together. the local priest has a pilgrims mass every night and after a pilgrims blessing. i have been to a few of these blessings and they were disappointing. automatic, given by a bored priest. this time was the exact opposite. the priest was totally present with us.in the blessing he said that he was honored to be with us not because we were brave to take on this challenge of walking so far, but because we were brave to be on a spiritual journey. he said we would have three encounters along the way. the first with ourselves. and when we came to know ourselves, we would have the courage to open oursleves to others, even all of our enemies- the person who turns on the lights at 5 am and the person who snores next to us. all people. and when we open to loving others, we would encounter god. he said even if we don´t believe, we will meet god. it was really beautiful. we stood in complete silence, drawn by his sincerity and confidence. there were few dry eyes.
last night was just as good for me. i stayed at the albergue where i said goodbye to the dominiques last time and where i began walking alone. i felt like i had come full circle. it was great. the same man who is the host at the albergue was there again. he kissed my cheeks and said welcome home. ´
and today i am in atapuerca, i am in the home of lucy, the 800,000 year old homo antecessor, and some of the best preserved human remains ever found. it is an unesco site and work is still being done in the area.
oh, about the difference in spain. i loved this landscape when i was here in the fall of 2007, and i love it even more today. in the fall everything has a finished look to it. an ending. everything harvested and the world waiting for winter. today it seems that someone painted over the land with water-colors. how many shades of green can there be? or gold? it is just gorgeous. there is field after field of wheat, and barley and something else, i don´t know. i feel so lucky to be here before harvest or any cutting, the see the tall plants. the sunflowers are taller now, but still without flowers.
ok good bye. i am off to dinner.
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Thursday, June 25, 2009
najera
we have settled into a small cluster of people it seems. there are the father and son from korea, a man named goerge who has walked all of the way from stuttgart ( he has been walking since april 19), there is a man from eastern canada, a danish man named lucas, and the three italiansand a couple from france. there is a lso a group from quebec. have i mentioned them? there are three priests and about 15 or 20 young people. the priests walk in their white robes ( they are dominicans) and it is surrealistic to see them in the fields, their white robes flowing. there is a young woman with the voice of an angel with them and if you are lucky you end up taking a shower at the same time she does. (the girl with the violin has fallen behind, her violin is heavy and she is so little. )
everynight the italians and i eat together, antonia still doing all of the cooking and gabriella and i clean up. massimo makes the salad and sets the table. i love this time with them. they laugh all the time.
yesterday was the first day i have seen storks. there was a guide to the cathedral in logrono and while he was taking we noticed the storks in the bell tower. we totally stopped listening to him and watched the storks. he should find a different place to stand an talk. he is no competition to the storks. they are beautiful, a soft pale pink it seemed. lovely.
ok time is almost out. tomorrow is santa domingo, the place i got bed-bugs last time. wish me luck.
love
mary
everynight the italians and i eat together, antonia still doing all of the cooking and gabriella and i clean up. massimo makes the salad and sets the table. i love this time with them. they laugh all the time.
yesterday was the first day i have seen storks. there was a guide to the cathedral in logrono and while he was taking we noticed the storks in the bell tower. we totally stopped listening to him and watched the storks. he should find a different place to stand an talk. he is no competition to the storks. they are beautiful, a soft pale pink it seemed. lovely.
ok time is almost out. tomorrow is santa domingo, the place i got bed-bugs last time. wish me luck.
love
mary
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
butterflies and wild flowers
last night i staying in estella. i stayed in an albergue that hires impaired people, both mentally and physically. it was a welcoming place and i was happy to be there. until about 11. my italian friends were there too and we had a great dinner, again pasta and wine, but without the violin. they are very funny people and i enjoy being a part of their group. massimo even told me my italian was getting great, more words and longer sentances etc. nice. but last night, oh my god, the snoring was horrible. i picked up my yoga mat and sleeping bag at about midnight and went to the reception area and slept on the tile floor.
then there was massimo, all dressed and with his back pack. i asked him what time it was, he said something and mezzo. i assumed 5 and mezzo, 5:30. i thought great, i´ll get up and we can go. then i checked my ipod clock. it was 4 and mezzo! 4:30. in my new great italian i said "you are crazy pilgrims." they are also slow pilgrims when it comes to leaving in the morning. they were in and out and whispering and laughing until about 6 when i decided to get up and get going. i was thankful i asked where they were staying today so i could stay someplace else. i need a little sleep.
today was gorgeous. spanish gorgeous. to me that means a wide open world, soft hills, golden fields, olive trees, wildflowers, butterflies, and blue sky. i am in los arcos and am going to go take a nap now. buenos tardes.
nonna
ps i just heard a man speak basque and it reminded me of a little happening. a quick story. i was in a post office in a town called trinity de los terre or something like that ( another disappoiting package is coming home, only discards from my backpack. sorry) anyway, a woman came in and i felt like she was critical of something that had to do with me. she was talking loud and people were embarrassed and looking at me. then she said something to me. i said in my little spanish " excuse me, i don´t speak spanish." then she really went off, and said she didn´t speak spanish either and then i remembered that i was in basque land. i just said in english, i am so sorry. she looked at me and held out her hand. i took it. she pulled me toward her and kissed both of my cheeks and said something about santiago. holy cow, this can be intense sometimes. one minute i am the enemy and the next i am loved.
then there was massimo, all dressed and with his back pack. i asked him what time it was, he said something and mezzo. i assumed 5 and mezzo, 5:30. i thought great, i´ll get up and we can go. then i checked my ipod clock. it was 4 and mezzo! 4:30. in my new great italian i said "you are crazy pilgrims." they are also slow pilgrims when it comes to leaving in the morning. they were in and out and whispering and laughing until about 6 when i decided to get up and get going. i was thankful i asked where they were staying today so i could stay someplace else. i need a little sleep.
today was gorgeous. spanish gorgeous. to me that means a wide open world, soft hills, golden fields, olive trees, wildflowers, butterflies, and blue sky. i am in los arcos and am going to go take a nap now. buenos tardes.
nonna
ps i just heard a man speak basque and it reminded me of a little happening. a quick story. i was in a post office in a town called trinity de los terre or something like that ( another disappoiting package is coming home, only discards from my backpack. sorry) anyway, a woman came in and i felt like she was critical of something that had to do with me. she was talking loud and people were embarrassed and looking at me. then she said something to me. i said in my little spanish " excuse me, i don´t speak spanish." then she really went off, and said she didn´t speak spanish either and then i remembered that i was in basque land. i just said in english, i am so sorry. she looked at me and held out her hand. i took it. she pulled me toward her and kissed both of my cheeks and said something about santiago. holy cow, this can be intense sometimes. one minute i am the enemy and the next i am loved.
Sunday, June 21, 2009
puenta la reina
now that i am in spain, i can write almost every day, it seems, but i won´t.
i am now walking on the same paths that i walked on 18 months ago. i am also staying in the same albergue in puenta la reina. what i remember from the first time is that i got no sleep because there was so much snoring. i remember that i wrote an entry at 9 pm and again at 4 or so. i am sure that this won´t happen tonight because now i am a pro.
i took a detour from the camino to visit a chuch i loved last time, santa maria de eunate. it is set out by itself in a field. it is six sided and plain and has amazing and strange carvings of faces on the outside. in the inside the light is warm and diffuse and low because the windows are made of thin marble, not glass. i could sit in there for hours. i am so happy i had a chance to see it again.
life is good, walking is beautiful, i am getting a little cluster of new friends and the weather has been sunny and cool. what more could a pilgrim want. i´ll be back again soon.
mary
i am now walking on the same paths that i walked on 18 months ago. i am also staying in the same albergue in puenta la reina. what i remember from the first time is that i got no sleep because there was so much snoring. i remember that i wrote an entry at 9 pm and again at 4 or so. i am sure that this won´t happen tonight because now i am a pro.
i took a detour from the camino to visit a chuch i loved last time, santa maria de eunate. it is set out by itself in a field. it is six sided and plain and has amazing and strange carvings of faces on the outside. in the inside the light is warm and diffuse and low because the windows are made of thin marble, not glass. i could sit in there for hours. i am so happy i had a chance to see it again.
life is good, walking is beautiful, i am getting a little cluster of new friends and the weather has been sunny and cool. what more could a pilgrim want. i´ll be back again soon.
mary
Friday, June 19, 2009
spain
i am in a little town in spain, my first day saying hola and my first day walking alone. at first i was feeling sorry for myself, and then the grown up me reminded me that it was what i had planned originally. i am crazy sometimes.
anyway the day was great, in spite of the fact that i slipped in the mud on a slippery surface and scared three young irish girls who came running over to help me up. i was pretty muddy but not the least bit hurt. but they stayed right with me until we were down the steep part. it was like skiing in hiking boots. it had rained all night and the dirt is clay or something really slick. it was funny being treated like i was 95 but they were really kind.
a few hours later a bull walked out of his barn and stood right on the path. i stoppped and though how long do we stay like this and then two men on mountain bikes rode up and approached the bull very slowly and the bull moved a lit to let them through and me behind them. i love this, there is something new every day.
but before i go on about today, yesterday was the most beautiful day of all of my camino days, this year and last time. it was the day we walked over the pyrenees. we started up the mountain the night before staying at a little town 500m up. all night there was an awesome powerful storm, lots of thunder and lightening. in the morning we couldn´t see 5 feet in front of us. we started walking, staying on the trial was easier than we expected. it was amazing to be walking in the fog, hearing sheep and cow bells, seeing nothing. after an hour or so the sun started to shine through the fog and we could faintly see the sheep. then up and up we went all day with fog in the valleys, vultures flying overhead and hundreds of sheep on the hillsides. (there is a crazy virgin mary statue up on some rocks. poor thing looks like someone forgot her there. )
we cross the border into spain and down into roncevalles, another tiny town with a big beautiful
abbey. as we walked into town, i was wandering around looking for the gite and a car stopped to set me cross the road and i waved thanks and tom o´connor, kathleen´s husband, said "no problem mary!" he had arrived at exactly the same time as kathleen and i.
the sad part was saying goodbye to annie and bernard hache and then kathleen. we spent 5 weeks walking together, not every hour of every day, but most days and every night in the same gite. we became good friends with annie and bernard in spite of not speaking the same language. what good people they are. helping us. every morning annie put a small stone at the first cross she saw, today i did that for her.
kathleen, tom and i had a goodbye dinner last night and this morning tom walked me out to the path for the start of my day. ( i stopped by their room to take the last of kathleens peanut butter, her backpack cover, extra plastic bags and her last can of tuna. all essential pilgrim needs.
so that´s it. me, spain, a new language and new people to meet. my next door bunk mate speaks italian. she, her husband and his friend are going to santiago. tonight i get to listen to italian.
bye.
mary
5 hours later:
my italian neighbors invited me to dinner-pasta made by antonio and massimo. gabriella made the salad. a korean "family" was making something of chicken that smelled fabulous. we all wait in the communal kitchen for the korean meal to end and the italian one to begin. while waiting i find out that the korean people, a man with his son and two young women only met yesterday but today they walk together and cook a meal together. the italian woman did not know the italian men until this morning and they walked together and fix a meal together. while talking, me the translater for the italians, we learn that one young woman is carrying her violin on the camino. while we eat our pasta she plays the violin and the others listen. then antonio starts singing italian songs and she plays along. we all sing songs from naples, o sole mio , santa lucia, besseme muchu, etc. then two people from holland come into the kitchen because they can hear the music from outside. this is the camino. if anyone wondered why i would do this again, you now know, and so do i. goodnight.
xoxox
anyway the day was great, in spite of the fact that i slipped in the mud on a slippery surface and scared three young irish girls who came running over to help me up. i was pretty muddy but not the least bit hurt. but they stayed right with me until we were down the steep part. it was like skiing in hiking boots. it had rained all night and the dirt is clay or something really slick. it was funny being treated like i was 95 but they were really kind.
a few hours later a bull walked out of his barn and stood right on the path. i stoppped and though how long do we stay like this and then two men on mountain bikes rode up and approached the bull very slowly and the bull moved a lit to let them through and me behind them. i love this, there is something new every day.
but before i go on about today, yesterday was the most beautiful day of all of my camino days, this year and last time. it was the day we walked over the pyrenees. we started up the mountain the night before staying at a little town 500m up. all night there was an awesome powerful storm, lots of thunder and lightening. in the morning we couldn´t see 5 feet in front of us. we started walking, staying on the trial was easier than we expected. it was amazing to be walking in the fog, hearing sheep and cow bells, seeing nothing. after an hour or so the sun started to shine through the fog and we could faintly see the sheep. then up and up we went all day with fog in the valleys, vultures flying overhead and hundreds of sheep on the hillsides. (there is a crazy virgin mary statue up on some rocks. poor thing looks like someone forgot her there. )
we cross the border into spain and down into roncevalles, another tiny town with a big beautiful
abbey. as we walked into town, i was wandering around looking for the gite and a car stopped to set me cross the road and i waved thanks and tom o´connor, kathleen´s husband, said "no problem mary!" he had arrived at exactly the same time as kathleen and i.
the sad part was saying goodbye to annie and bernard hache and then kathleen. we spent 5 weeks walking together, not every hour of every day, but most days and every night in the same gite. we became good friends with annie and bernard in spite of not speaking the same language. what good people they are. helping us. every morning annie put a small stone at the first cross she saw, today i did that for her.
kathleen, tom and i had a goodbye dinner last night and this morning tom walked me out to the path for the start of my day. ( i stopped by their room to take the last of kathleens peanut butter, her backpack cover, extra plastic bags and her last can of tuna. all essential pilgrim needs.
so that´s it. me, spain, a new language and new people to meet. my next door bunk mate speaks italian. she, her husband and his friend are going to santiago. tonight i get to listen to italian.
bye.
mary
5 hours later:
my italian neighbors invited me to dinner-pasta made by antonio and massimo. gabriella made the salad. a korean "family" was making something of chicken that smelled fabulous. we all wait in the communal kitchen for the korean meal to end and the italian one to begin. while waiting i find out that the korean people, a man with his son and two young women only met yesterday but today they walk together and cook a meal together. the italian woman did not know the italian men until this morning and they walked together and fix a meal together. while talking, me the translater for the italians, we learn that one young woman is carrying her violin on the camino. while we eat our pasta she plays the violin and the others listen. then antonio starts singing italian songs and she plays along. we all sing songs from naples, o sole mio , santa lucia, besseme muchu, etc. then two people from holland come into the kitchen because they can hear the music from outside. this is the camino. if anyone wondered why i would do this again, you now know, and so do i. goodnight.
xoxox
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
ostablat
hi everyone
we are in basque region now and it is unbelievable beautiful. there are rolling hills and white farmhouse with red shutters scattered all around the hills. add cows, sheep, a chuch here and there and you know what my last two days have been like: it is so peaceful and beautiful. tomorrow we will be at the foot of the pyrenees at hontos and then we walk over. the great thing is that bernard and annie have decided to go to the spanish side with us. also another woman who has often been with us. our little group has been together for weeks really and the day after tomorrow it breaks up. the french people are all going home. kathleen's husband is coming to roncevalles to get her. he is also bringing me new socks. isn,t that crazy?. so in two days i will be by myself. it is a little sad because i have been enjoying everyone: always someone to have dinner with, to laugh with, to get help from and walk with if we want to. it has been fun being with kathleen. but her heart is not into this now when she gets sore every afternoon. plus, she has walked 500 miles, not feeling that great a lot of the time. she is incredibly strong.
it has been very cloudy so we really haven't seen the mountains in their splender for the last few days. a few days ago, i realized that in the haze and clouds the mountains look like ocean waves: now when i see them, that is all i can see. i think we are only seeing a small bit of them. i don't know really.
anyway the next time i write i will be in spain, walking by myself meeting knew people, trying to speak a little spanish. the time has gone fast for me.
(i spoke with oscar a few days ago and he sounded so old. at the end he said- well, it's been good talking with you. what a boy. )
ok bye from france.
love,
nonna; mom; mary
we are in basque region now and it is unbelievable beautiful. there are rolling hills and white farmhouse with red shutters scattered all around the hills. add cows, sheep, a chuch here and there and you know what my last two days have been like: it is so peaceful and beautiful. tomorrow we will be at the foot of the pyrenees at hontos and then we walk over. the great thing is that bernard and annie have decided to go to the spanish side with us. also another woman who has often been with us. our little group has been together for weeks really and the day after tomorrow it breaks up. the french people are all going home. kathleen's husband is coming to roncevalles to get her. he is also bringing me new socks. isn,t that crazy?. so in two days i will be by myself. it is a little sad because i have been enjoying everyone: always someone to have dinner with, to laugh with, to get help from and walk with if we want to. it has been fun being with kathleen. but her heart is not into this now when she gets sore every afternoon. plus, she has walked 500 miles, not feeling that great a lot of the time. she is incredibly strong.
it has been very cloudy so we really haven't seen the mountains in their splender for the last few days. a few days ago, i realized that in the haze and clouds the mountains look like ocean waves: now when i see them, that is all i can see. i think we are only seeing a small bit of them. i don't know really.
anyway the next time i write i will be in spain, walking by myself meeting knew people, trying to speak a little spanish. the time has gone fast for me.
(i spoke with oscar a few days ago and he sounded so old. at the end he said- well, it's been good talking with you. what a boy. )
ok bye from france.
love,
nonna; mom; mary
Thursday, June 11, 2009
arzacq
hi my friends,
i have seen the pyrenees and they are bigger than i remember and more beautiful. actually, because they are still snow covered the contours are more visible and that makes them more dramatic;and they are really close. holy cow.
i am also seeing flowering lavendar now and yellow arrows showing the way. both exciting things for ,e. the yellow arrows are used in spain and seeing them makes me realize spain is possible.
kathleen has decided to go home. her husband is coming to spain and picking her up somewhere along the way. he's renting a car and i picture him drivning by and swooping her up. i will miss her but look forward to walking by myself at the same time. so i am happy.
ok. there is a line for this computer so i have to go.
bye.
love
mary
i have seen the pyrenees and they are bigger than i remember and more beautiful. actually, because they are still snow covered the contours are more visible and that makes them more dramatic;and they are really close. holy cow.
i am also seeing flowering lavendar now and yellow arrows showing the way. both exciting things for ,e. the yellow arrows are used in spain and seeing them makes me realize spain is possible.
kathleen has decided to go home. her husband is coming to spain and picking her up somewhere along the way. he's renting a car and i picture him drivning by and swooping her up. i will miss her but look forward to walking by myself at the same time. so i am happy.
ok. there is a line for this computer so i have to go.
bye.
love
mary
Monday, June 8, 2009
nogaro
hi everyone
it seems like a long time since i wrote. I will start where i left off with kathleen going to the doctor.
we went to the hospital in mosiac and there a very attractive. boy-doctor basically told her - what is the surprise? you have been walking 25-30 km a day with a pack in the heat. you have to stop for 4 days and take an anti-inflammatory. then see. so she stayed in the hotel watching cnn and i left with annie and bernard.
the night befor i left her at the hotel was crazy. we wanted to stay in a hotel so we could rest- however, the hotel was on a busy main street and by the park where fireworks ended the weekend celebration: we went up on the hotel roof with the other guests and watched. guess what? it was the identical ooh and ahh and wow. that was great, but the rest of the night was so loud, there was no sleeping.
i walked out of town on the canal midi, i also walked along the canal midi the first ti,e i walked the ca,ino. i am very close to the towns i walked in the first time i was here. the first group of people iwe talked with have left, most fro, injuries or soreness. the heat has taken it's toll. remaining are herve and joseph and annie and bernard. actually we may have lost joseph and herve because they are walking faster.
anyway i walked and kathleen stqyed back. i walked through beatutiful medieal towns which have been beautifdully reconstructed: they qre so lovey: one town had a covered area in the center for a market. you could see written on the inside of various sections of the market maise, millet, and grains i didn't recognise. it was a grain market, like our grain exchange i think. For the three days that kathleen stayed back i walked through rolling hills of sunflowers (now only 5 inches tall- they will be stunning later( the landscape is like a picture, big rolling hills, patchwork of colors of grains and fields some just plowed some hay being cut. all beautiful. the weather was hot and sunny, then it became windy and changed to cool and rainey.
kathleen is walking again. we are going slower and walking fewer kms in a day. the first day back we walked through a really dark woods and down a muddy track to a pond that was so noisy with frogs we just stood there and laughed: i have never heard such noise. then we walked another 50 meters and were on top of a roman bridge. these are the times i shake my head in disbelief at how lucky i am to be here. what a fabulous life. that afternoon we stopped at a roman villa excavation. the villa was from the 4th century and had heated water floing under the floors in the winter and cool water in the summer. it had a spring feed pool with heated water: but the best thing it had were mosaics, beautiful beautiful mosaics:
yesterday and today was walking through vineyards: this is armagnac region, kand they grow lots of grapes (i almost said bunches...)
annie and bernard- i don't know how ,uch i have said about them so i will now. we have known them from the second day, bernard helped me wioth a phone call when i lost my way in the conversation. at first we just kept running into them and now we plan to be together, for the night or for dinner or for a day of walking. i love being with them. annie is 70, bernard 71. they are tall and willowy, fast, and so happy. bernard laughs all the time and annie loves it. they are kind and gentle with each other. they have 5 daughters and 20 grandchildren. they are always on the phone with one or the other child. annie speaks so,e english and loves teaching me, coaching me, encouraging me to speak french. bernard and i have a similar sense of humor. even though he doesn't speak english; he understands my jokes and i his. they have been the best part of my walk so far. it is getting a little sad though because they are finishing soon, and we may even loose track of them before we hit the spanish border. we never know. it is be one of those happy- sad wonderful things. now when we part, we kiss cheeks knowing what is coming.
today annie and bernard saw the pyrenees! it was cloudy most of the day, but when i wasn't looking the pyrenees poked through the clouds: they said there is lots of snow on them. i am so excited to see them. kathleen and i will be in spain in about 10 days. it's impossible. the time has gone so fast. kathleen is uncertain how far she will go. she misses her husband and he her, and she isn't certain about her feet, so we will see. i feel great, i was made for long walks with a big pack on my back. i love eating tuna along the road, i love hearing people speak words i don't understand, i love trying to talk french and searching for words to make sentances. ( it is surprising how much you can say with about 15 verbs; all present tense, and maybe 30 nouns, plus 3 or 4 adverbs.) i love looking for the marks on the trees that show our way, i love meeting people along the way who do tiny acts of kindness ( like the woman who hollered across a parking lot to me that my earring wasn't fastened.) i love sharing food, clothes pins, soap, duct tape etc: with other pilgrims. i am happy, thankful, and excited to continue.
the only stupid thing is my equipment. things aren't made as well as they were two years ago. i have worn through the vibram on one shoe, have a hole in one of my favorite smart wool socks and have repaired the inside of one boot with duct tape. and my shoe laces are frayed. what the heck. i still have miles to go! i will be in tatters when i am walking in spain.
ok this has been really long, but for a change no one is waiting for the computer, and it is nice and light in here, but i'll stop now.
take good care of yourselves.
mary
it seems like a long time since i wrote. I will start where i left off with kathleen going to the doctor.
we went to the hospital in mosiac and there a very attractive. boy-doctor basically told her - what is the surprise? you have been walking 25-30 km a day with a pack in the heat. you have to stop for 4 days and take an anti-inflammatory. then see. so she stayed in the hotel watching cnn and i left with annie and bernard.
the night befor i left her at the hotel was crazy. we wanted to stay in a hotel so we could rest- however, the hotel was on a busy main street and by the park where fireworks ended the weekend celebration: we went up on the hotel roof with the other guests and watched. guess what? it was the identical ooh and ahh and wow. that was great, but the rest of the night was so loud, there was no sleeping.
i walked out of town on the canal midi, i also walked along the canal midi the first ti,e i walked the ca,ino. i am very close to the towns i walked in the first time i was here. the first group of people iwe talked with have left, most fro, injuries or soreness. the heat has taken it's toll. remaining are herve and joseph and annie and bernard. actually we may have lost joseph and herve because they are walking faster.
anyway i walked and kathleen stqyed back. i walked through beatutiful medieal towns which have been beautifdully reconstructed: they qre so lovey: one town had a covered area in the center for a market. you could see written on the inside of various sections of the market maise, millet, and grains i didn't recognise. it was a grain market, like our grain exchange i think. For the three days that kathleen stayed back i walked through rolling hills of sunflowers (now only 5 inches tall- they will be stunning later( the landscape is like a picture, big rolling hills, patchwork of colors of grains and fields some just plowed some hay being cut. all beautiful. the weather was hot and sunny, then it became windy and changed to cool and rainey.
kathleen is walking again. we are going slower and walking fewer kms in a day. the first day back we walked through a really dark woods and down a muddy track to a pond that was so noisy with frogs we just stood there and laughed: i have never heard such noise. then we walked another 50 meters and were on top of a roman bridge. these are the times i shake my head in disbelief at how lucky i am to be here. what a fabulous life. that afternoon we stopped at a roman villa excavation. the villa was from the 4th century and had heated water floing under the floors in the winter and cool water in the summer. it had a spring feed pool with heated water: but the best thing it had were mosaics, beautiful beautiful mosaics:
yesterday and today was walking through vineyards: this is armagnac region, kand they grow lots of grapes (i almost said bunches...)
annie and bernard- i don't know how ,uch i have said about them so i will now. we have known them from the second day, bernard helped me wioth a phone call when i lost my way in the conversation. at first we just kept running into them and now we plan to be together, for the night or for dinner or for a day of walking. i love being with them. annie is 70, bernard 71. they are tall and willowy, fast, and so happy. bernard laughs all the time and annie loves it. they are kind and gentle with each other. they have 5 daughters and 20 grandchildren. they are always on the phone with one or the other child. annie speaks so,e english and loves teaching me, coaching me, encouraging me to speak french. bernard and i have a similar sense of humor. even though he doesn't speak english; he understands my jokes and i his. they have been the best part of my walk so far. it is getting a little sad though because they are finishing soon, and we may even loose track of them before we hit the spanish border. we never know. it is be one of those happy- sad wonderful things. now when we part, we kiss cheeks knowing what is coming.
today annie and bernard saw the pyrenees! it was cloudy most of the day, but when i wasn't looking the pyrenees poked through the clouds: they said there is lots of snow on them. i am so excited to see them. kathleen and i will be in spain in about 10 days. it's impossible. the time has gone so fast. kathleen is uncertain how far she will go. she misses her husband and he her, and she isn't certain about her feet, so we will see. i feel great, i was made for long walks with a big pack on my back. i love eating tuna along the road, i love hearing people speak words i don't understand, i love trying to talk french and searching for words to make sentances. ( it is surprising how much you can say with about 15 verbs; all present tense, and maybe 30 nouns, plus 3 or 4 adverbs.) i love looking for the marks on the trees that show our way, i love meeting people along the way who do tiny acts of kindness ( like the woman who hollered across a parking lot to me that my earring wasn't fastened.) i love sharing food, clothes pins, soap, duct tape etc: with other pilgrims. i am happy, thankful, and excited to continue.
the only stupid thing is my equipment. things aren't made as well as they were two years ago. i have worn through the vibram on one shoe, have a hole in one of my favorite smart wool socks and have repaired the inside of one boot with duct tape. and my shoe laces are frayed. what the heck. i still have miles to go! i will be in tatters when i am walking in spain.
ok this has been really long, but for a change no one is waiting for the computer, and it is nice and light in here, but i'll stop now.
take good care of yourselves.
mary
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