a few photos

here are a few of my favorite things. friends, sunrise, toast, fog, blue skies and all things roman.
also grey cows, cows with huge horns, sheep, local red wine, ear plugs, beds without any bedbugs, tapas, and the time to enjoy them all.
today is michaels last day. he is really sad. last night anna gave me a bracelet she was wearing for good luck. in the night i remembered how much they liked my obama pin and so michael and i ran to the bus station to give it to her and fabio. i was so happy we did to say ciao one more time.
that is all that is on my mind now. i´´ll be back another day.
i hope you have a good day too.
a dios.
mom, mary, nonna

hi again,
i am in a really dark internet place, so please excuse the typing. here is what we have been up to.
we are now in zamora. we have walked 20k from salamanca not in rain as we feared but on a cool windy day, sunny i think. we arrived at the alberque at 1 or so. there were 4 bunkbeds in a very small room, i got one closest to the door so that i would have fresh air. buy evening we had a full house, a man from venezuela, 4 from france, a girl from itay and michael and i. what a forlorn town, lots of wind, nothing open really bleak. the next morning we started out at sunrise (8am) and it was beautiful. we walked 20 km alongside a highway. the path was comfortable but not my favorite for walking. we actually walked by a hhigh security prison with many announcements. that was a break in the monotomy. we arrived in another dusty town called el cubo de terre de vino. but never saw a grape vine. we were crabby, the town a bit strange. there were a bunch of dogs running around, and two men talking, one with a voice box that was so loud we heard it a block away from him, then we walked by a tall thin woman in red and white flowered pajamas, standing in front of her house talking on the phone. the first bar we tried was closed, there was a second at the far end of town. we went in there and sat.  maybe 20 men inside drinking, playing cards, loud and happy. the whole thing was a sensual overload, especially aflter 5 hours of nothing.it seemed like a pedro almodovar movie.
 i was sitting staring i think, and then a woman walked up and touched me on the shoulder. she smiled and spoke rapid spanish about the camino and wished me buen camino. it broke the spell i was in. suddenly things changed. michael and i got our coffree, the man at the bar gave us a delicious tapa and all was good. by the time we started walking again we were laughing. we walked anouther 13km that we both said was the most beautiful of the whole via de la plata.
we stayed in villanueva campean, in an empty albergue. we slept so well, and walked into zamora today, about 22 km i think.
anna and fabio are here, we will have dinner in a minute. in the moring they leave and the next morning michael leaves and i begin this adventure on my own. really, there are no pilgrims here. i will have lots of tiem to think and be lonesome i am sure. i am not the least bit nervouse about it. i feel strong and i love the walking, a little less along side a highway, but i still love it.
there is very little chance to write on this way.i will whenever i can.
 tomorrow i will bring my camera to the internet cafe and see if i can download some photos.
it´s time for the going away party. adios
love,
mom

good morning everyone,
it is 8 am, michael and i are in salamanca now. we have walked 120 miles now. it feels like so long ago that i last talked with you here, but really i guess it´s not. it´s just that i have seen so much in these days.
this way on the camino for southern to northern spain is very hard. very very hard. it is hot hot hot and empty. that means that you definately can´t carry enough water. well, i have, but i don´t like it. water is really heavy, so instead of having a backpack with 18 pounds holding all the water i need for the day, mine has been 22 or 23 with barely enough water. we never even think about eating until we arrive in our next albergue.
this way is also extraordinary. first, there are roman ruins laying all about. some in piles and some still standing. i even sdaw one pillar that was used to hold an upper porch of a more modern (1800's) home. some have inscriptions that you can read, dates. i saw one that was dated 143 and another 127. there was one very large and famous arch called arco de caparra. we saw it just at sunrise, it was a brillant red. i have to touch them all. i can´t get over the fact that 2000 years ago someone carved this rock and now i can put my hands on this some piece. i think of the people living and walking on the same stones and i am in awe.

this way also has beautiful landscape. at first rolling hills dotted with small holm oak and cork trees. under them are sheep and cows looking for a little shade. there has been a nice breeze, temperatures i think is the high 80´s the sky is bright blue, the fields golden tan. the last fews days we have walked in fields of grain and sunflowers, but the grains and sunflowers have been harvested and so they too are empty. we have crossed one mountain range. and even there it was dry. i have seen postcards where these fields are filled with wildflowers. it´s a choice a pilgrim has- walk in the rain and see flowers or walk in the sun and avoid falling into an arroyo.
there have been four days where we walked more than 6 hours without a village. michael and i have walked alone every day. we are really lucky. we walk at the same pace, laugh at the same things, and love to stop to take photos. he takes 3 to every one of mine. but because of that i see things that i could easily miss. we both oversleep almost every day. we are the last to leave the albergues but arrive at the next albergue shortly after the early people because they often wander about in the dark trying to find the way.. the sun rises after 8 and we both hate walking in the dark.
our family of pilgrims consists of fabio and anna from padua, italy, two brothers from donegal ireland, a german couple, and michael and i. we spend lots of time with fabio and anna. they have the best energy and are simply lovely. i am finding a bit of italian and anna is very helpful to me. the irish brothers are in there 60´s maybe and they haven´t been together for 40 years. they are having a great time. they are going on to sanitago also, so hopefully i will continue to spend evenings with them. anna, fabio and michael are leaving in 4 days. i will really miss them.
here is the bad news. there is an infestation of bed bugs. in the last two towns the pilgrim albergues are closed because of them. the albergue in salamanca will be closed for two months. one evening there was a poor girl from australia who came to the albergue with bites all over her arms and legs. she couldn´t go inside. she had to sit outside while the woman who ran the albergue sprayed everything in her pack. still, she slept outside in her little tent. now when we arrive, there is someone who looks us over for bites. it is as if the bedbugs are making a pilgrimage to santiago. i imagine them with there little shells, clueless to the havoc they are causing. for me, i will wait and see and maybe stay in hotels...
its time to go for coffee now and a walk around town. í think of yu all during these last long walks, and especially love the photos i have gotten of oscar, jude and arthur. and there voices.
love,
mary

you can´t have enough water...

hi everyone,
well, here i am again, in spain, walking the via de la plata.
most amazing, really, is that i am walking with michael. he is the man that barb and i met along with his son last year when we walked. last night we sat in the same bar where we all watched a soccer match, drinking beer and eating tapas.  we stayed in the same hotel run by a very helpful family, with the same noisy happy crowd outside the window until 4 am. we both miss paul and barb and talked about them all day.
let me back up a bit though. ever since i left home, i have had the best luck. at least that´s how i think of it.  there is a lot of talk on the camino about angels appearing and helping in some way just when you need them, even if you don´t know you need them. i don´t know what to think .i don´t believe in angels, but who are these people who just show up when you need them? maybe they are aroung us all the time but we are too busy to notice them, right there, off on the edge of our periphery. maybe when we stop for just a moment we see them.  so here are my people. the young woman from northern spain who sat next to me on the plane, who told me which bus to take from the airport to the hotel, which tapas bars to vist in madrid, and suggested a walking tour of madrid so i would see the most hidden places. and the little woman ( often a tiny little woman will take your arm and help if you let her) who walked with me for two blocks to help me find my hotel. and the man who looked for me in the bus station to give me my hiking poles that i left resting against a wall. and the three new friends i made in the prado, three interesting lively people from new york. i don´t think i´ve every had a more thoughtful, personal, and challenging converstion with anyone within 5 minutes of meeting them. and jane offered to mail cards i bought in the gift shop so i don´t crush them in my pack. these good people are all over the place.
today michael and i walked for 6 hours in open treeless fields, fields with no homes, towns, bars, nothing. . that was why our guidebook said ,you cant take enough water. we just barely had two drops a piece when we arrived at the albergue. we were hot, tired and dirty. but after a shower, a beer, and a little nap all i can say is what a great day. i hope i can show you the sheep and cows  we walked with.
i am going to say goodbye now, and see if there is someone just off in the edge of my life that can help me download a photo.
love,
mary nonna mom