Longest Day so far.....

Today our Camino family became smaller. Clara (from Spain) had to leave the family and join her friends. Also Leopoldo and Luciana (Italy) left us yesterday. Gitta and I are left with 2 Brazilians guys and 1 Italian guy.

Today has been the best walking day so far, even for 35kms! We started at 7:30am and arrived into Azofra around 7pm. My first blister formed under my foot, but that does not damper my spirit as we are experiencing many adventures, time and time again.

The past couple of days have been tough for me mentally. I question myself from time to time, why the hell am I doing this? Let me tell you, this walk tests every aspect of the human spirit and body, it´s the weirdest feeling. I wanted to give up yesterday, but I¨m so glad I didn´t, as today was well worth the wait. We had sooo much fun, it really does depends on the company you are with and I´m blessed to have made some gorgeous friendships. These people make me laugh so much and we all support eachother in many beautiful ways.


Tonight we arrived at a refugio (hostel) and found out it was completely full, so we´re sleeping in a classroom..lol.. There´s about 10 of us in the room, the rest are a group of guys from Italy cycling the Camino. It´s the funniest thing to be sleeping under the chalkboards. I feel the need to get up and write something on it, and I did! lol.. You´ll have to wait till I get back to Oz to see the pics.
 Anyways, I best leave it here as my time is running out. Thank you all for your kind wishes it only makes me stronger and helps me continue on. I´ve been thinking of you all and sending out good wishes.


Ciao for now
xxx

Walk, walk, walk

The dream has finally arrrived. (Commenced my pilgrimmage on 21.04.2008)

I´m sitting here in Puenta della Reina typing up this entry. To date, we´ve walked just a little over 90kms through rain, wind, mud, sun. Did I mention mud? Heaps of the stuff...lol

This journey has been unbelievable from the word go. I´ve meet sooo many people from the plane ride to England, from the plane ride to the starting point (SJPP). The guy I met on this particular plane ride is part of the group I´m walking with at the moment. There´s 5 of us walking together. 3 from Italy and 1 from Hungary. The majority of people walking the Camino seem to be French, Germans and Italians. I´ve only met 2 other Aussies, one of them used to live in North Narrabeen. It's a small, small, world. It´s an extremely cheap holiday (roughly around 25 Euros a day).


The Camino is a simple life and I´m loving it!!! We get up around 6:30am pack our bags, head out to a bar to have breakfast, then we walk, then we stop at another bar to eat lunch, and we walk some more. Once we arrive to the refugio (hostel) we wash our clothes and shower, check out the village/city, head to another bar to eat dinner (pilgrim menu), drink, chat and laugh. I write in my journal and head to bed around 10pm. That´s it!!! I could do this for awhile and thank god I have awhile...lol


Yesterday my knee went slightly. I was sooo worried my Camino was going to end there and then! So I went to church and prayed for divine intervention and popped a 600mg anti-inflammatory and waaalllaaaa!!! My knee is right as rain today. I cannot believe in Oz you need a prescription for 50mg, here in Spain, they sell 600mg over the counter, thank the Lord...lol


Apologises for any mistakes, the keyboard is slightly different over here and my money is slowing running out. Truth be told, I couldn´t be bothered to go over this post.. lol
 All in all, I´m going to leave it here and say ´life requires us to take one step at a time, and in good time one will arrive to their destination'. Let´s pray in my case, I arrive into Santiago in great health, as I´m definitely eating alot...lol
 Anyway my dear friends, hope all is well with you all...


Adios for now
xxx

Useful sites to plan your own Camino

If you're planning your own Camino the following sites/forums have been a godsend towards my own preparations. There is alot of useful and practical information. I've been researching as much as I can on the Camino for over a year now, and I'm still learning something different everyday.

http://www.pilgrimage-to-santiago.com/board/

( I find this forum to be extremely informative. The people on here have created a fantastic Camino community)

http://www.caminosantiago.com/

(Another forum which I found to be very useful)

http://groups.msn.com/ElCaminoSantiago/weathercaminofrances.msnw

(I like this forum as it posts different kinds of questions, the other above 2 don't usually have)

http://www.csj.org.uk/

(A fantastic place to purchase Camino DVD's, books, postcards, books etc. Easy to navigate)

http://www.santiago-compostela.net/

(Another great site with lots of useful tools)

Happy preparations!

Thank You Everyone!

I knew this time would come, emotions are starting to stir and beginning to surface. I've been feeling really emotional the past couple of days. It's a mixture of excitement, fear, anticipation, adventure, doubt and so much more.Although the strongest feeling is this overwhelming sense of gratitude.

I'm sooooo grateful to the many many people who have helped me get to this very point. From someone recommending a book, to someone giving me a newspaper clipping, to someone allowing me to use their credit card to pay for my ticket, to people sending me gifts, to people helping me with researching, to people offering encouraging words, to someone counting down the days with me, to people advising where the best foreign exchange rates are, to people helping me start up this blog, to someone giving me a lift, to people sitting patiently listening to my fears and desires, to the many people living this dream with me.

From the bottom of my heart, thank you everyone. I'm sure you all know who you are, I can honestly say without your help, I wouldn't be heading off to live this 11 year dream. You are all in my prayers and I'll be sending out good wishes to you all!

Muchas gracias

What is the Camino?

I believe the best way to understand the Camino is to watch the following clip:
(Mikey and Scotty, this one's for you)


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDOTJHbwRj4
'Thoughts on the Camino'

(to gain the full effect, make sure you wear earphones)

Why?

Why? Why do you feel compelled to walk 800kms and for what?


Because I feel a strong inner pull to do it! Thanks Paulo Coelho.


This is the question people want answered. There are sooo many reasons why I want to do this, the most powerful reason is this inner calling to slip on my hiking boots and walk this ancient road to Santiago... Am I religious? I like to say I'm spiritual. I believe strongly in a higher spirit. Who knows what experiences, challenges, people or miracles I'll come across, but that's what I can't wait to experience.


A couple of weeks ago a close friend asked me this same question and I replied 'I know I won't find all the answers to life or the actual meaning of life, all I want is to experience something new. I'm ready for newness in my life. A new chapter has opened itself up and is calmly awaiting a new story.


In a nutshell these are my reasons:

• Learn to Risk more
• Travel by myself. I've always travelled with someone. I'm inspired by females travelling solo.
• Challenge myself physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually
• Practise Spanish
• Eat, eat, eat....I love Spanish food...Bring on the Tapas
• Hopefully discover what my life's purpose is..Especially in the work arena
• Open myself up to meeting and creating new friendships
• Laugh as much as I possibly can
• Take one day and one step at a time
• Let go
• Give thanks to God for all the blessings in my life
• I'd like to come across healers who can teach me different healing techniques
• I'd also like to give back to other pilgrims by doing reiki on them. It's been awhile
• Send out prayers and good wishes to all the people in my life
• I want to look back in life and say I accomplished something extraordinary
• The majority of people I've spoken to who have completed this walk, seem to go back time and time again, I want to know why?
• I want to experience miracles
• I want to have an adventure of my lifetime
• And ultimately have the time of my life!
  Let the journey begin...

A moment of Inspiration

When I start doubting myself whether I'll make it to the end (Santiago), I watch the following youtube clip.I've watched this clip sooooo many times (hence why I've posted it twice within my blog) and it still manages to give me goose bumps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDOTJHbwRj4

I've been fortunate enough to chat with alot of people whom have completed the distance and the strongest piece of advice shared with me is, 'it's the journey that counts, not the destination'.

Enjoy and who knows, this may inspire you to plan your own Camino!

;)

Under 2 weeks to go

Wow, time seems to be flying soooo quickly these days. The 2 week mark (before take-off) hit yesterday. Yeah!

Last night I attended my last Spanish class which turned out to be alot of fun. Students bought in bottles of wine, donuts, and nibblies. I gotta say, halfway throughout the class I was struggling to stay focused. The Chilean wine was going to my head...lol

When I signed up for the Spanish class, I made a conscious effort to follow it through until the end without skipping a class. I gotta say, I'm proud of myself. I tend to start alot of things/projects and never get round to completing them, until now. *Pat on the back for me*.

People refer to the Camino as a metaphor for life. I'm starting to understand this metaphor and plan on adapting this into my life, like I have by completing my Spanish course. I wonder what the next lesson will be? Maybe it's to complete the walk from start (SJPP) to finish (Santiago). Fingers crossed I'm able to complete this as well.

Stay tuned...