I discovered that our Catherine and Dana were here… already baptised as pilgrims…!!!!

Dear Caminoheads,

Following Ryck’s, I closed my eyes and pointed to a year, and 2015 came up. I looked at the 21st post, and… here it was this lovely gift… A sweet memory is always a gift… and memories from the Camino, and especially when they come like images from the early foggy mornings, the shared meals, and the sounds of conversations we had, they are not just a gift, but the best gift ever!

This is what Catherine sent to Phil 7 years ago, and what Phil shared with us… I feel privileged to be able to repost it again!

Thank you Catherine and Dana!!! We LOVE you!!!

Pilgrims loves,

Cris

Posted by Phil/Felipe/The Boss/The General, reposted by Cris

Here are some Meseta pics fresh in from the gals:

The miles roll by. I write you every day as I walk but when we get somewhere with “wee fee” the vino comes out, conversations start, and well, you know how it is. All wonderous. Covered over 200 miles of amazing country and great souls. Good humans and one fine dog. Think of you every day. Buen Camino!
Dana and Catherine

Dear Caminoheads,

Phil/Felipe/The Boss/The General wrote the post below… (I have pictures from William also, sent on the same date he sent these ones to Phil 2 years ago and I was going to post them today… but then it got late here -just got off the phone for a work call- and Phil has been in my mind the whole day (Rebecca’s fault!!! She said Phil had a present for me and that is all I could think about!!!!) and so I went to see what Phil had posted on a day like today…

And it was a present…

I don’t know about you, but I needed to remind the below… Thank you Phil! You keep doing it!!!

Everywhere loves,

Cris

The below was written by Phil/Felipe/The Boss/The General; pictures by William, our Canadian Bureau Chief; reposted by Cris

One of my original nurses at the Institute whose idea it was for me to write a blog sent in a comment on yesterday’s post. It was calling for more moments of beauty in her life to push aside the “intrusion” even if just temporarily. And as synchronistically as possible William our CCBC picks today to send in a bunch of wildflower pics. I think I will just put them up and call things good.

Thank you Bonnie for expressing a need and thank you William for doing what you do just naturally. We can buoy each other.

happy Monday loves, Felipé.

Dear Caminoheads,

Thank you all for the stoicism! What a cool thing to post after so long and get comments! You made my day!!!

I had something interesting to share with you from my vacation time; maybe you already knew it, but to me, it was an unknown fact although it is a pretty obvious thing when stopping a minute to think about it. There is a phenomenon called “Calima”, it is a meteorological phenomenon characterised by the presence of sand, dust and clay and at times also ashes in the atmosphere  and the environment becomes “opaque”.

Here in Spain, and mostly in the south, it is the product of a storm in the Sahara. When on vacation in Granada, in addition to experience rain to no end, we experienced a Calima. At first, I thought the soil in Granada was clay like and the red color everywhere was coming from it, but I had been in Granada before and the red clay soil was not a memory I had. We stayed in Granada 3 days and the 3 days we complained about the red-dirt in our shoes and trousers, but what was odd was that our jackets, raincoats and our hair too had red spots… Then, the last day, walking under the rain in search of a gluten-free bakery for my friend to get some goodies, the mystery was solved: we stopped in a newspaper shop to shelter from the rain and the cover of the newspaper was announcing: “El Sahara en España” (The Sahara in Spain) and I kept reading the news and then it was when I learned that with a dust storm in Africa and a Southern wind, the Sahara sky relocates to Spain.

It was a cool thing to see, and to think about; it made me realize how close I am from places I was so far away before, and it also makes me think how interconnected we are, how true it is that the minimal event in one place affects all the rest of the world… People in Granada were not happy… the owners of white cars and houses painted in white were the most unhappiest of all! In my case, it was helpful to make the decision that my Nike shoes needed a replacement. And definitely, it made me realize that nature is way more smart than any filters…

Orange loves,

Cris

Dear Caminoheads,

Thank you all for your patience while this blog has been literally unattended by this Caminoheads Bureau Chief… I feel terrible for not posting as Phil used to, but also, I feel I am not betraying his trust because Phil knew about my move to Spain, he was so happy when I told him, and he was the one suggesting me to take a “Sprain break” (not sure if that is what he thought the word should be written, but makes sense as it was all about a “Spring break as I moved to Spain” despite the medical meaning!)

The reality also is that I needed time for myself; I stayed away from social media, have stayed away from the phone for instant messengers and chats as much as I could, and have tried to focus on exploring how is that I feel doing this transition… With a very busy job (and some changes that have made things more complicated than what they already were), I have not been successful at exploring that question… yet, there are a few things that I can already tell: life has a different pace here, it is slower, maybe it is slower because Spain has mostly aged population and low birth rate, whatever is the reason, this pace goes more with my personality… I cannot do things fast; I am a walker, not a runner. And talking about walking, here all is walking distance if you have the time. It is lovely to see the older people walking at “their” pace… which not only is the result of “physical limitations”… it is who they are too…

But, there is a time for everything under the sun, and today sounded like a good time to resume my duties here as the working week starts after the Easter extended Bank Holiday (we have had off Thursday, Friday and Monday) and after these, there are no more BH until June, and let me tell you: if I should grade Spanish people attitude to have fun and make the most of the days off work, 95% of them got a 10/10 (or A+++++++)… there are certainly lots of tradition around the religious celebration, but also, there is a sense of family and friends gathering that I love… like being back in time when my grandparents, my uncle and aunt, some of those distant relatives they were friends with, would come for Easter and the days used to be like this: religious, tradition and gathering around the table… Likely, it is also true that there was a moment for that under the sun and these days, it is time for something else…

Well, I guess I will figure as I go, right? Just have to follow the yellow arrows!

Hope you had a nice Easter wherever you are and plans were! Thank you for being here!

Buen Camino loves (in Spanish!)

Cris