Sexagenarian Walks the Camino Prep and 500ml walk

What if ????? And the questions go on and on!

2014-08-29T11:16:00.000-06:00

Can you imagine yourself walking down this road? Can you feel what it would be like to have a backpack on and walk everyday for 5 or 6 weeks? How about meeting new people and making friends every single day? What would you feel like if you didn't know where you were going to sleep tonight? And furthermore if you could even get to a place where there is a bed?

These and many more things haunt my mind as I think that next year at this time I will be walking the Camino. When I am out walking alone I try to think myself there and imagine what I am seeing and how I am feeling. Most of the time it feels good but every so often fear and I mean real fear edges it's way in. What if no one understands English. I have never been that good at languages, maybe it is really the having to remember all those new words. OOOOOOO! so scary. I try to use a foreign language now and then and find myself whispering because I am so unsure of my self and fear no one will understand me or they will tell me I have it all wrong. And it took me so long to just get what I managed to remember.

I have allowed myself to free flow with my thoughts in hopes that I will be able to move them along and discover a whole new set of thoughts. Preferable happier more confident ones. :) This practice of letting go of all my negative thoughts and judgments has been very enlightening. It is amazing how we learn to be judgmental or critical even when we are trying not to be. It is like there is a little devil, you know like the one you used to see in movies on your left shoulder when you are about to get into trouble, in me that is hell bent to keep me from being and expressing from my heart only. Hummmm! maybe he is real after all. :)

Then there is the thought of this happening, since I am walking in September and October. I have spent time thinking on when to walk, what time of year would be best for me? How will I fair being out in the world day in and day out? What does it feel like to walk in the rain for hours? What if it snows? Am I prepared for both heat and cold? How good am I at suffering in the elements? Do I even know how to survive?

Each picture brings up more and more questions. Each picture has stopped the energy of preparation from moving forward while I try to solve all these thoughts. Sometimes I laugh at myself and remind myself that millions have walked this path just fine and I will too, that is if I can keep my mind out of it. :))))))))

WOW Walking and Lungs working

2014-03-21T14:16:00.003-06:00

Amazing how quickly the lungs can repair after a heavy chest cold. I went out this week (last 5 days) to try and build my lungs back up. It happened faster than I would have thought. By Thursday I went hill walking with my 6 year old grand daughter and I am happy to say I did not lose my breath. No running or fast walking but I made it to the top of 3 hills without any stress. Yeaaaaa

The hills were kinda like this one, only this one is in Spain. I look at the pics various people put on the net and then try to find something like them locally so I can practice. OOOOOOOOOO to be in my 20s again and just be able to go without all this work. After 30 years behind a desk it has taken it's toll.

This is a nice pic tho isn't it. Stop and just imagine what it would be like to just saunter up this hill, looking around at this great earth and taking in all the wonderfulness. And not have anything you have to do but arrive at your destination for the day. I am excited and scared, and it is all bringing great anticipation to me.
My grand daughter asked if she could go with me. I explained that she is not quite ready for this big a trip but when she gets older if she still wants to do it then I will go again with her. :)))

I have been diligently recording my exercise, food consumption and weight on an excel sheet. This is not something that I am usually good at but this time I believe I must do this to stay focused and make my trip happen.

Tomorrow I am supposed to attend a Camino group's Shell Ceremony but it is threatening to snow up to 7 inches. Crumb! I have been looking for a group within a reasonable distance from me for several years. I finally find one and now snow is threatening my chance to meet them all. Maybe I will get lucky. :))))

I will try to get a good pic if I make it and share it with all of you along with a full explanation of what a Shell Ceremony is.

Buren Camino
b

And The Training has Begun - D-Day Sept 2015

2014-03-16T16:36:00.000-06:00

Today I finally put together my training for the next 18 months. That does sound like a lot doesn't it. Well, I take care of 4 kids and have discovered that they tend to take over my whole life. I get up at 5:30am and return back home about 6:30 pm. In the winter it gets dark so early I don't get to go out much. But wonder of wonders, the time changed, and the sun is out past 6pm. Yea!

So today I headed out for a good long walk. I am getting over a chest cold that has left me still coughing up goo . Yup that favorite part of a chest cold. The walk was designed to clean me out as much as possible. I discovered that I really got behind being in-door bound for 3 months.

I walked for 4.7 miles with a backpack. The trip home was a push. I just put one foot in front of the other till I reached my apartment. The trip out was a bit easier and I was thinking about starting my new routine, getting the old excel sheet going to keep track of my walks and my food. I use Strava to keep track of my hikes/walks. It is great. I am thinking of using it when I walk across Spain, if they have it in their files.

Half way out I stopped and had coffee, bagel and read from one of my current books. I am reading everything I find about hiking. Those books written by the hikers about their experiences. Right now I am reading a book on the PCT (Pacific Coast Trail). This is my second book about the trail. Neither has swayed me to have any interest in walking it. Interesting but definitely a trail for a masochist. At least in my opinion.

I first read about the Appalachian Trail (AT) a couple years ago. It was the story of two sisters that walked it barefoot. Yes I did say barefoot. The books were called "Northbound" and "Southbound" The Barefoot Walkers. Both good reads and actually started a slight desire to walk it, if I had a very knowledgeable hiker with me to show me the ropes.

I find these books informational and intriguing. I feel like this reading is preparing me for my walk. Not that they are at all the same but in the fact that I read about their preps and daily activities and how they deal with difficulties. Of course, they all take place in a country where they speak the language. Nothing yet about what it is like to be in a country where I don't speak the language. I must learn Spanish.

So, I now have my excel sheet started. I have my training schedule typed in and started the details with today's food and today's exercise. I found a training schedule on line. It was designed for a 3 month train but I worked it out for the 18 months. The first four weeks I will be doing until July of this year. Then the next month will be for the rest of this year. The last month will take me through to summer of 2015. The summer of 2015 will be doing the last two weeks of the schedule. By then I should be in great shape and much smaller.

Therefore, I am back writing here. I will find more pics to share and tell you all about the wonderful aches and pains of working out.

Thanks for reading. It gives me a sense of friends that are sharing this with me as all the people I know think I am crazy and do not care to talk about this. Hummmmm

Next Saturday 3/22 I will get to meet my first pilgrinos. I am going to a special meeting of a Denver chapter of Camino Walkers. The ones walking this year will go through a ceremony and receive their first Pilgrims Passport. Just think, next year I will be one of the ones getting the Passport. Yea!

Buen Camino
b

I thought I would share what has been keeping me so busy

2013-09-29T22:02:00.000-06:00

What a great world I live in. I have the greatest of luck. My grandchildren keep me very busy, filled with love and grateful for my life. I take care of them plus two others. They have kept me very busy and pushed me to my limits and then created new limits. One of my readers said I am doing my Camino right now with all my preparation and she sure is correct.

One of the reasons I wanted to do this walk is because I have never done anything like this in my life. I have never been as physical as the Camino will make me be. I honestly don't have any idea if I can do it. From one moment to the next I swing back and forth between I can and I can't. In fact I work out and walk and begin to build my strength and longevity, then suddenly something happens that keeps me from going out and walking. I fall behind and have to start all over again. By now I had expected to be able to walk for at least 8 to 10 miles everyday. But I was not able to walk all summer long. Behind again.

So I have set another goal for accomplishing my walking goals. I have just 2 years left to lose another 50lbs and be used to walking everyday for at least 10 to 15 miles. The other big thing is to be able to walk up a mountain without severe panting as well as be able to get over the Pyrenees in one day.

I guess I am walking a Camino right now but this one has so many interruptions and crazy changes I can't wait to walk the Camino in Spain and just do the same thing everyday without all the crazy schedules I have right now. My days start at 5:30am and ends between 6:30pm and 8pm. I get home so tired and hungry I never make it back out to workout as I need a full 8 hours of sleep to keep up the pace.

Hummmmmmmmmm and I thought it would be easy to be able to work out if I didn't have a desk job and was out everyday with kids. Wrong!!

Anyway, I keep going and keep trying and keep believing I can.

The four keep me quite busy and force me to be very creative to keep them all happy, at lease most of the time.

I am choosing to believe that this winter will be better than this summer.

Over the summer we had 4 weeks of summing lessons, 3 weeks of golf lessons, 3 weeks of pottery lessons and the oldest got his gokart license and did an archery class. Sometimes it just felt like I was going from one thing to the next. If being able to be flexible and be able to just push on is a trait I need then I can say I got that one down.

We had a very big fire in the mountains last year that kept us from being able to walk during the spring, because of all the smoke. This year we had lots of heat and then a very severe flood, more like the Katrina Hurricane, with all the damage. So mother nature has been putting this area through a lot in the last year or so. I am beginning to think the world is on it's own Camino with all that has been going on. Is it time for our world to rise up to a better place!?

Hope your "Camino" is going well and you are wading through your life with great success and if not, then may the hand of good fortune push you on :)))

Buen Camino
b

Life Has So many Twists and Turns

2013-03-10T12:42:00.000-06:00

I cannot begin to tell you all the things that have been happening to me since my last post. It seems that at every turn another pile gets added to my life. Just the thought of going on this trip puts up new and bigger walls to overcome. Life doesn't seem to cut many breaks right now. I am finding my way around, over and through each of these events. I even had strep throat and walking pneumonia, I am not usually sick except for small colds but this year has been a winner. So right now, I am rebuilding my lungs AGAIN. I haven't lost any weight lately as all this illness has me overeating. On a light note, my daughter has lost 80 lbs since last September and looks awesome. My turn now.

I am reading a book written by Cheri Powell called Seven Tips to Make the Most of the Camino de Santiago. I love her tips, they help me to feel like I am beginning to know what to do here. I am like the Goldy Hawn movie where she falls off her yacht and ends up as a 'mother' to a brood of country kids. She is completely lost but eventually figures things out and ends up staying in her new life and leaving her past life style. Cheri's book is helping me to figure out what to bring and how to do things and where to go to get them and what I should expect when I get to the store. Awesome, I now have my boots. It took two trips to the store 3 months apart, returning the first pair as they did not fit correctly and finding a much better pair for my feet. I have been wearing them around for the last couple of months and they are very comfortable. One thing done and many, many more to go.

It is very interesting to watch myself. In my younger years I just did things. They got done even if I didn't know how. I was busy but life got figured out. Now that I am more mature I find myself in the biggest quandary of my life. I am suddenly having problems with figuring out how to get things done and when I decide a way the road seems to disappear. It is difficult to keep in the positive sometimes. BUT, conversely, I am also manifesting in new ways. These small successes have given me great hope for the future.

My time for the walk has changed, yet again. I will be taking care of my grandson until he is 3 and goes into the Goddard Preschool Program. This puts my time out to fall of 2015. I am trying to find an inexpensive place to live so I can keep my money for the trip socked away. That is a huge feat here in Ft Collins where rent has doubled.

I am going out for my first long walk, since I got over pneumonia, this afternoon. I am going to take a small trail and do a bit of uphill. You all might hear me breathing all the way around the world, chuckle chuckle!

I would like to use this post for a shameless promotion of a great childrens book written by a friend of mine:

Awesome book. Received it, opened the package and my grand daughter asked me to read it to her right away. She was completely focused on the story and when done she said she loved it. A real winner for kids starting school as well as moving. My grand daughter will leave her preschool and friends, moving to her elementary school without her friends, of the last 3 years, and starting a new school this fall. I recommend this book for all kids as all kids experience changes throughout life. It is a great story as well as a great mentor. Thanks Stacey for writing a book that is well needed in this mobile world of today.

I am on my way out now and look forward to talking on here more often. Thanks for hanging around and reading this. I still expect to write my experience here when I walk and of course, as I continue my training to share my experiences.

Buen Camino

Been Working 7 days a week for last 2 months

2012-12-12T09:37:00.000-07:00

I have had a major shift in my time. I have been working 7 days a week most weeks since the beginning of October. It is almost over. Next week is my last 7 day a week work schedule. Needless to say I have been very tired. Let's just face it people, working 7 days a week at 64 is the pits. But maybe there is a bit of a golden lining here. Since walking the Camino is a 7 day a week event I am choosing to see this as practice. Also one of my jobs has me on my feet for up to 10 hours straight. Again good for Camino walking.

So although this sounds yuck, it is really a gift. At least that is what I am telling myself to get through this time. :)

I have been out walking and found some new trails and enjoyed some evening walking in the dark. I really don't like walking in the dark but since many start walking in the dark of the AM I decided I would get some practice. So far I haven't had to use a flashlight, I am able to see the walk clearly.

I have been reading my two favorite blogs:

"Camino de Santiago de Compostela" <ivar@caminodesantiago.me>

and

"Santiagobis@yahoogroups.com" <Santiagobis@yahoogroups.com>

There is a lot of information on these two blogs. Recently someone put together a 'Kit List' of what he is taking on the trail. It was a good jumping off point for a lot of conversation in preparedness. I am noticing that as time passes I seem to be entering a place of very low carbon foot print. I didn't even realize how much getting ready for walking the Camino was changing me. I am using less and less stuff and am therefore learning to be what I need to walk. I have not had to look at my usage or quantity. I have a new roommate that has a large carbon foot print. She has actually shown me how small mine has become. Yea! Thanks!

I am now beginning to think about how to put together all the money I will need for the trip. I have been working 3 jobs and will give up one after the holidays. But, I am getting better and better on the debt thing and will be out of debt in 2013. Then it is all about savings. I am planning on $5000 for tickets and walking. I am planning on being gone from 6 to 8 weeks. I want to stay in each big city for a day or two to really get to know it and experience it. I decided if I am going to do this then I am going to experience Spain from more than the walking but all the art and architecture, history and people. I am hoping to meet locals and get to eat with them so I can learn what it really means to be a Spaniard

I have a new thing I am going to try during the Christmas holiday as I will be off of work in my main job. I am going to try 'couchsurfing'. I am thinking that this will be a lot like walking the Camino. I want to visit Santa Fe. I hope to couchsurf. I will tell you all about it. It has been interesting reading the couchsurfing info on line and reading about my potential hosts. You really should check this out, just for the experience.

I wish all of you the very best of the holidays in what ever way you celebrate them. It is a special time for all. I keep the visualization of peace on earth, that means we learn how to get along and stop fighting. I so look forward to living in an adult world and leaving all the junior high fighting we live with in this world. There is room for everyone and a place for all.

buen camino
b

USA Numbers on the Camino Increasing

2012-10-01T20:26:00.000-06:00

Here is some information I just got from one of my Facebook friends. The Camino is becoming more and more popular. It will be two years before I get to go. I wish I had the numbers for the rest of the world. But it is exciting to see the growth of Americans on the trail.

I have been walking more and more and am about to start a trial run in two weeks. I am going to drive my self up to a great place to park here in Ft Collins and start walking. I am going to start at 8am, as if I was on the trail. I will walk, hopefully, till 2 or 3 pm, ending back at my car. Then I will go home, shower and go to bed. :)))). Then I am going to try to do it the next day. This is just to see how many miles I can walk in that time and what I feel like after it is over. This will be all level walking and easy walking.

I have no idea how well I will do. I may not get as far as I need but if I can do it and still work on Monday then I will know that I am getting somewhere. Still lots of weight to lose.

More pics and walks to share soon.

Pilgrims requesting Compostelas in Santiago for the period 1 January 2012 – 30 September 2012, comparing to former years, the same period.

USA:
2009 -> 2,145
2010 -> 2,693
2011 -> 3,111

2012 -> 5,546
Growth 2011-2012 = 78%

Canada:2009 -> 1,649
2010 -> 1,414
2011 -> 1,762
2012 -> 2,119
Growth 2011-2012 = 20%

Some Awesome Pics of a Camino Walk

2012-09-04T09:03:00.003-06:00

Hi Everyone

I just posted yesterday but today I found the pics of Lee Standsteads' walk of the Camino del Norte. They went from Le Puy, France to Santiago, Spain. They took 12,000 pics. I don't think they are all on this site but there are many beautiful pics. I also like the way he put them on the page. Very easy to quickly go thru them and enjoy their walk. I thought I would share for those of you that would like to see what you would see if you walked the same path.

http://www.sandstead.com/camino_2012/

Enjoy

buen Camino
b

First Hike with Poles

2012-09-03T20:14:00.003-06:00

WOW! I never would have thought that my first year here in Colorado would have been as it was. Most of it I felt like Murphy's Law. I have never been so low as this past year. Not just emotionally but physically and financially. At one point I was living off of soup as that was all I could afford. Afford isn't really the word. It was what I thought would go the farthest as I over spent my credit card praying somehow I would be able to repay it.

IT WORKED! Somehow, I have popped out of my poison sack and become a free, living entity all over again. I am working again. YEA! Love it. It is a 2 year job and by then I will be ready to walk the Camino. It is exciting as well as fretful. I see it happening but so many things have been tough for so long I don't want to get too excited.

I am physically changing. Getting smaller and working on strengthening all the parts of my body that need it. An old skiing accident reared it's head. Surprising me. I didn't expect it. My right leg was all messed up many years ago. I didn't break anything, it would have been better if I had. Instead I twisted my leg around on itself. You know, foot facing backwards. It took a chiropractor 3 months of 3 times a week to fix it. It has been strong and reliable for decades. Suddenly the muscles around my knee weakened and I was having a hard time walking. So what do I do? I started using Arnica Montana cream and worked on keeping my leg straight. After a week of that I purchased this real neat knee bracey thingy, with metal side supports and headed out on the trails. I took my poles and walked with them for the first time. It was slow but awesome. At the end I had hiked 7 miles and knew I could do another 7. Between the poles and the brace I was home free. I loved every minute I was out there.

Of course Murphy came back again and I caught Bronchitis. After being down for a week I am back. Amazing, as it used to put me down for 3 to 4 weeks. I am improving, YEA! Funny what we think of as excitement in life. Well, anyway, I am back and feeling wonderful. I am doing this thing called Mindful Eating and it is great. I have never been in such a great place. The weight is dropping and the energy is growing.

This next week I will be back out walking again. This will be the week to get my lungs back in shape again. It can be a bitch getting older. In my younger days I just returned to where I was before. Now I have to rebuild again. Bummer. It is one of those forwarder I go, backer I slide things.

So I am back in the race again after a year of &%^*$. I will begin to take pics again to share. I want to show you so many of the pretty mountains of Colorado. The front range is beautiful. I am starting to learn the mountains. There are so many to learn. I now know Palisades Mtn, Round Mtn, and Horsetooth Mtn. I can pick them out of the range. Maybe I should find a book about the Front Range and learn more about them. The mountains have brought new experiences for me, snakes, bears, panthers etc. I really don't know what to do with them so I am thinking I will hike more in the snow so I don't have to deal with them :))))))

This posting was delayed. Since I typed it I have been out on an 11 mile bike ride and swimming. Tomorrow I will go out and walk some trails before going to work. Yea, consistence at last.

Happy Week,

Buen Camino
b

Walkabout

2012-07-17T14:45:00.000-06:00

The term Walkabout comes from the Australian Aboriginal. The idea is that a person can get so caught up in one's work, obligations and duties that the truly important parts of one's self become lost. From there it is a downward spiral as one gets farther and farther from the true self. A crisis situation usually develops that awakens the wayward to the absent true self. It is at this time that one must go on walkabout. All possessions are left behind (except for essential items) and one starts walking. Metaphorically speaking, the journey goes on until you meet yourself. Once you find yourself, you sit down and have a long talk about what one has learned, felt and done in each other's absence. One talks until there is nothing left to say -- the truly important things cannot be said. If one is lucky, after everything has been said and unsaid, one looks up and sees only one person instead of the previous two.

-Source Unknown

One day I will be able to get out form under my expenses and then I will begin my walkabout. I read books and dream about this adventure. It keeps my dream alive. It helps to make sure my dream will come true. It is almost a formidable desire. I have been thinking about this for sometime now. More like a decade +. I was close once. But now I feel so far away from my dream. Right now it is about keeping it alive in me and KNOWING that one day I will get to do this.

I am undertaking a new adventure that I hope will help me prepare for this walk. I have tried to get back into the accounting world since I was laid off in the 2008 down turn without success. So I have taken a nanny job. This certainly will help me to get into shape. I will have a 7 year old and a 4 year old. I have this job for 2 years until the children are in school all day. During this time I will work on writing my book, getting into shape and selling my home and paying off my debts.

THEN I am leaving for Spain. I will go with at least a 3 month visa so I can really do a true walkabout, with no constraints.

Buen Camino

It's beginning to Rain in Colorado

2012-07-05T17:31:00.000-06:00

In various places around the state the rain has finally started. It should hit Ft Collins soon. We are all looking forward to it. I am thinking of going out and dancing in the rain.

But first, we had an outstanding 4th of July this year

The kids getting ready to show off their decorating skills

Water ballons flying

Lots of water balloons

Yesterday we danced from the water balloons flying all around. It was great fun and we all got soaked. We have an unusual way to celebrate the 4th around here. The kids get to decorate their bikes and themselves, then they proudly bike around the cul d sac showing their skills and decorations. Lots of clapping and cheers, then all the kids have their sweet snacks. Then out came the buckets of water balloons. Little ones shooting at your feet, the next size up goes for your body but it gets really fun when the older kids start. That's when you really get soaked. Lots of water down the heads and over the bodies. Of course the best fun is getting them back.

My grand daughters entry

And more water balloons

After lots of laughing and water we ran out of balloons and out comes the cups to dip in the buckets and really soak your foe. We headed home for some lunch, a nap and then more water balloons. My grand daughter thought it was such fun that she wanted to' do it more'. After a quick trip to Walmart we had a new supply of water balloons. We played toss games and just flat out soaked each other. A little bit later and once again I needed a change of clothes.

We had planned on taking in the fireworks south of here but the wind changed and the smoke from the fires rolled in. We decided to stay home as my daughter is pregnant and she is not able to breathe all that smoke. We set up a real neat 4th of July in our living room. We made a typical picnic dinner of hot dogs, brats, mac. salad and special 4th of July cupcakes that my 4 year old grand daughter helped to make.

She decorated then in red, white an blue sprinkles. Then we put out a fake fire in the middle of the living room floor, closed the curtains and got out all our light wands. When the Macy's 4th of July fireworks began, my grand daughter danced to the music and we saw some awesome firework. Since we were home we got to see a 2nd set of fireworks from Boston.

We went outside after and found that the winds had changed, the smoke had moved out. We were further gifted with the last big set of fireworks from the ones we had intended to attend. My grand daughter sat on my shoulders and cheered them. It was a great end to the day we had to create because of the smoke from the fires.

I forgot to take pics of the fireworks so added last years photo here. I hope your 4th of July was great fun and for you that do not have a 4th of July celebration I wish you a happy time for your next celebration.

Something has shifted in me and dieting and exercise have become primary for me. I have several days now of reduced food consumption and walking in the evening. Soon, the temps are going down, I will be back out hiking again. I have decided to sell my house next spring and do the Camino next summer.

buen camino
b

I want to share with you a great article I found

2012-07-03T07:52:00.000-06:00

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Pilgrim Blogger

Mani Feniger

Stretching Beyond My Comfort Zone

Posted on June 29, 2012 by Pilgrim Blogger

In May 2009 I packed my bag and flew to Madrid to join the crew of The Camino Documentary. Nothing could have seemed less plausible to me. Just a few months earlier, I had turned sixty-four, I was not in great physical shape, I did not like to fly long distances, I rarely went on a trip without the companionship of my husband, and I had spent the last year tracking my daughter’s blood counts and diet as she recovered from a serious health issue.

But when co-producer Theresa Tollini told me she was going to Spain to work on a documentary about the people who walk the Camino de Santiago, and she would like my support, I immediately said “Yes!”

My daughter was healthy and planning a June wedding, and I was eager to go on with my life. But I carried the stress from the prior months of worrying and watching and I couldn’t turn the corner to my own new beginning. I had an insight that the Camino would lead me back to myself. Little did I know that the greatest lesson I would learn from the Camino was the blessing that comes from being uncomfortable.

I had expected to help in any way I could, especially interviewing participants, a role I had played in two other documentary films. But assisting the producers of a film like The Camino Documentary meant being ready to do whatever is needed – finding places to eat, keeping track of pilgrims, carrying equipment, taking notes, handling money, washing dishes, buying sweatshirts when the weather became unexpectedly cold and a thousand other tasks, big and small. And the truth is, I was in an unfamiliar place, didn’t know Spanish, and had never worked on an international film crew before. I was used to being a competent therapist and writer with a successful career. I was not used to being a beginner, and I often felt very insecure—which restaurant would suit a crew of people from several different countries? How do I find my way back to the film location? This pack is too heavy. I am too slow.

The experience was humbling and profound. You can stay in your familiar environment where you feel in control but that is not where you grow and savor life. I was not always comfortable during the three weeks I spent with the film crew, but I felt tenderly alive, vulnerable in a way I was not accustomed to. Maybe that is what the Zen Buddhists mean by Beginner’s Mind.

I remember a day when the fog rolled in near the top of the Pyrenees and the world around me felt still and peaceful. I remember a day when the film crew walked on ahead with the pilgrim they were filming, and I let myself fall behind and walk by myself for hours. The layers of tension and worry fell away as I watched the tall grasses blow in the breeze and felt the solid earth beneath my feet. The days of walking and sharing loosened tight places in me and made me feel fresh and alive.

When I returned to California, I discovered that my heart had opened and I looked at all aspects of my life as a pilgrimage. My daughter and her husband got married a few weeks later in a beautiful garden overlooking the Santa Ynez Mountains, and as they walked back down the path hand in hand, I silently whispered to them, “Buen Camino.”

Pilgrim/The Camino Documentary Staffer Mani Feniger
Author of The Woman in the Photograph
USA
www.manifeniger.com
Walked parts of the Camino during the production phase of The Camino Documentary in 2009.

Reprinted with permission of The Camino Documentary blog Moderator 07/3/12

Paulo Coelho Shares a way to Travel Differently

2012-07-02T20:24:00.001-06:00

Travelling differently

by Paulo Coelho

I realised very early on that, for me, travelling was the best way of learning. I still have a pilgrim soul, and I thought that I would use this column to pass on some of the lessons I have learned, in the hope that they might prove useful to other pilgrims like me.

1. Avoid museums. This might seem to be absurd advice, but let's just think about it a little: if you are in a foreign city, isn't it far more interesting to go in search of the present than of the past? It's just that people feel obliged to go to museums because they learned as children that travelling was about seeking out that kind of culture. Obviously museums are important, but they require time and objectivity - you need to know what you want to see there, otherwise you will leave with a sense of having seen a few really fundamental things, except that you can't remember what they were.

2. Hang out in bars. Bars are the places where life in the city reveals itself, not in museums. By bars I don't mean nightclubs, but the places where ordinary people go, have a drink, ponder the weather, and are always ready for a chat. Buy a newspaper and enjoy the ebb and flow of people. If someone strikes up a conversation, however silly, join in: you cannot judge the beauty of a particular path just by looking at the gate.

3. Be open. The best tour guide is someone who lives in the place, knows everything about it, is proud of his or her city, but does not work for any agency. Go out into the street, choose the person you want to talk to, and ask them something (Where is the cathedral? Where is the post office?). If nothing comes of it, try someone else - I guarantee that at the end of the day you will have found yourself an excellent companion.

4. Try to travel alone or - if you are married - with your spouse. It will be harder work, no one will be there taking care of you, but only in this way can you truly leave your own country behind. Traveling with a group is a way of being in a foreign country while speaking your mother tongue, doing whatever the leader of the flock tells you to do, and taking more interest in group gossip than in the place you are visiting.

5. Don't compare. Don't compare anything - prices, standards of hygiene, quality of life, means of transport, nothing! You are not traveling in order to prove that you have a better life than other people - your aim is to find out how other people live, what they can teach you, how they deal with reality and with the extraordinary.

6. Understand that everyone understands you. Even if you don't speak the language, don't be afraid: I've been in lots of places where I could not communicate with words at all, and I always found support, guidance, useful advice, and even girlfriends. Some people think that if they travel alone, they will set off down the street and be lost for ever. Just make sure you have the hotel card in your pocket and - if the worst comes to the worst - flag down a taxi and show the card to the driver.

7. Don't buy too much. Spend your money on things you won't need to carry: tickets to a good play, restaurants, trips. Nowadays, with the global economy and the Internet, you can buy anything you want without having to pay excess baggage.

8. Don't try to see the world in a month. It is far better to stay in a city for four or five days than to visit five cities in a week. A city is like a capricious woman: she takes time to be seduced and to reveal herself completely.

9. A journey is an adventure. Henry Miller used to say that it is far more important to discover a church that no one else has ever heard of than to go to Rome and feel obliged to visit the Sistine Chapel with two hundred thousand other tourists bellowing in your ear. By all means go to the Sistine Chapel, but wander the streets too, explore alleyways, experience the freedom of looking for something - quite what you don't know - but which, if you find it, will - you can be sure - change your life.

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Yesterday the temp on my car thermometer was 111

2012-06-23T11:52:00.000-06:00

How funny life can be. I moved to Colorado to get out of the intense heat so I could enjoy my walking/hiking more. So what happens, we have a dryer and hotter season. Today they are saying it will be 100+. Yesterday I was out for some errands and the thermometer on my car said it was 111 in the sun. Today who knows how high it will get. This is more like Arizona than Colorado. I haven't been walking as much as I had hoped I would. For some reason I have not been able to stabilize my life and all the stress from this has me down and out. I tend to not move much now. I want to do the Camino but I can't do it without getting in better shape and losing some weight. So my up beat attitude is wavering. I still dream of walking the Camino. Today I went on a Camino site and looked around to stimulate me. Then I found this great Camino patch that I can sew on to my backpack and wear when I walk. I ordered it. It felt like I was committing myself, preparing for the trip, keeping it alive.

By the way, the fire has now burned over 80,000 Acres.

Buen Camino
b

And The Fires Have Come to Enrich the Land

2012-06-13T17:12:00.000-06:00

So Mother Nature has decided we need to clean the land here. She sent lightening, let it smolder for a few days and then 6am Saturday 6/9/12 it erupted. Since then the fire has burned over 47,000 acres and is on its way to the largest fire in this area. I am watching the pictures on the TV right now. They are showing it from the sky. It currently is many, many miles long devouring a beetle kill area. I see the flames rising high in the sky, some look over 100 feet tall. It is volcanic like in it's consumption. The smoke makes billowous feel like a trickle. The film is shocking as it fills the screen. Knowing what it looks like from a plane, everything so small, this fire is enormous.


This is day one.

http://photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter/2012/06/reader-photos-high-park-fire-burning-west-of-fort-collins/37367/#name%20here

Here is a link to more pictures of what is happening around my home. This is my first fire and it is teaching me how small I am. I have walked where there has been a fire and it is something to see. A lot of stems in the air and on the ground but nothing else. Then, you will pass a small flower coming up through all the destruction reminding you that life continues. One day I will be hiking where this fire is, maybe not till next year as they are saying the fire might not be contained and out till fall.

Enjoy the pictures and may this not happen in your area.

buen camino

2012-05-25T10:07:00.000-06:00

I have been getting out more, suddenly. Last Sunday I was out walking with a new friend and managed to complete 6 miles. It was a neat walk. We walked around a lake and then walked into a neighborhood and walked all over it. There were some gentle ups and downs. We were talking so much I didn't even notice where I was walking. I tried last night to find the place and found it by chance. I parked at Monmouth Park and walked over the hill and Wa La there it was, the lake. I headed out over the hill but as I got to the lake it got real cold and I didn't have anything with me. This was a real impromptu walk. I tried to push through it but decided I was getting too cold and headed back. I only got in a couple of miles. But now I know where I was. There is a shorter way to get there and I will try to find that one this week end.

I will be doing new work starting next week. I will be working at home. Not the best for exercise. Therefore, I will have to create new ways to get in some exercise during the day. I started an Insanity exercise routine yesterday as well. We will see how well I do with that. If it is too rough I decided I will just do what I can and not worry about being perfect. The biggest challenge I have is doing exercise. That is one of the reasons I want to walk the Camino. My problem is I don't like doing it alone therefore I talk myself out of it easily. But, I want to have the experience of the walk, see the country, learn some Spanish, meet people and just be out there walking every day with nothing else to do but forced walking. I have no idea how far I will get or even if I have what it takes to finish it. I have been so stuck in my home most of my life by circumstances that I am not sure what will happen. BUT, I might just make it all the way and I might just have an amazing time, and I might just make some new friends and I might...... It is all these' mights' that keep me interested.

Life is a funny thing. The more I learn the less I know. I keep thinking 'I got it'. I turn around to apply it and crap, I don't have it yet so off I go to learn more. I am getting to the place where I am surrendering again and just deciding that I will never have what I want. I have been trying for 64 years and it just hasn't worked. I have had the money to do this trip twice and both times things happened that kept me from going. So now I am trying again. I do know the let go and it will come to you but don't really believe that statement any more, I have tried it too many times and failed. The things that matter to me just don't seem to be in my life, it is like the universe says tough shit B you can't have it no matter how much you try. Then I say I'll show you and head out to make it happen, only to be defeated again. So much for my soap box.

I was thinking the other day as the weather switched from the 80s to the 50s, how much I hated this when I lived in Vermont. I was happy to move to Florida and see the sun every day. Then the day finally came when the heat and humidity got to me. I headed west and have been enjoying the cooler, dryer weather. And, I have found joy in the weather changes. Maybe because I like to bundle up in warm clothes and snuggle so this cold weather feels good to me now. I am finding the hot weather is not the hot of North Carolina. It doesn't seem to bother me the same. It is not as intense nor as long. Of course, August will probably be more like North Carolina. I am waiting to see how my first summer in Colorado goes. When I visited last summer the pool was freezing for me but maybe this year it will be better.

Time for my insanity work out and then take the grand dog out. Later everyone.

Buen Camino
b

Dealing with Challenges of Life

2012-05-06T11:39:00.000-06:00


Part of the view from the viewing deck at Sky Ranch in Sedona Arizona

It has been such an interesting thing moving to Colorado so I could get out in the country to hike and get ready for my new body. Make it happen. But there seems to have been one thing after another that has kept me from as much exercise as I anticipated. From having such a sever blood loss that my arms and legs didn't work because there wasn't enough blood to work them. Interesting thing about that. The Doctor gave me no indication that this would happen and gave me no advise. Now with hind sight I am wondering how come he didn't address this. Could it be because I didn't have insurance? Hum! It does make one wonder. I had to figure it out, figure out how to heal it and do it myself. Thanks Doc.

Well, the long and short of it is I was in recovery for a long time and then I had to go to work because the hospital and doctor bills wiped out my savings. This brought about a new adventure. I worked on the top floor and walked up 4 flights to get there. I went up and down anywhere from 3 to 9 times a day, that's 24 to 72 flights half up and half down. My mind had to learn a whole new system and get back into working after many years out of work. I was exhausted at the end of the day, both mentally and physically. Then I had to move. I ended up in an interesting living arrangement, I am a long way form walking paths and the shortness of income kept me from driving around to find paths or trials. If I was a negative thinker I would think the world was conspiring against me, but alas it is just life.

The weather has changed and spring is coming in with a bang, heat and all. So I am about to learn how to hike in the dry heat. I feel a lot better and am inwardly inspiring myself. Now all I have to do is get beyond my mind and get my legs moving.

Things have changed a lot as I have gotten older. I don't have any disease and am pretty healthy. No colds this winter. But some aches and pains that I keep pushing through. It is amazing to me that my mind is in one place and my body is in another. I am trying to get them to get together again. Maybe it is because I carry more weight then I should. But whatever it is I have decided to keep pushing on and believing that if I just don't quit it will all work out and I will accomplish my goals.

If you want to visit a great place take this little town in Arizona called Sedona.

This is where I stay when I am there "Sky Ranch"

The top picture is part of the view from the motel. It was a bit foggy so the picture wasn't as bright as I would have preferred. Here are a few more pics:

I haven't been writing as I did in the past as this move did not bring what I had anticipated. I have found myself limited by health first and then time. The place where I now live has further limited me. I tried with all I had to get a rental in town so I could be out on my bike and walking daily but it didn't work and I am stuck out of town just off a main highway and the walking is severely limited here (there is no place to put my bike so it isn't here it is being stored). My jobs are temporary and my income goes up and down, sometimes by 1/3, again limiting me. So here I am today finally talking about this knowing full well all you successful people will be saying to yourselves things like "just go do it", 'She's just quitting" etc etc. But when you are in the middle of the country with only major highways around that bring more health problems then they solve with all that exhaust and your income in so low that you can only afford enough gas to get back and forth to work, life creates a new set of obstacles to overcome.

I dream of a place in town, a permanent job with enough income so I can do something other than just go to work. Until then I continue with what I am able to do.

Buen Camino
b

A Little Bit of Everything Lately

2012-03-25T21:30:00.000-06:00

It has been a bit of this and that for exercising lately. More like, what is happening or where can I go in this short time. My job is on the 3rd floor and it has 4 flights of stairs to get there. I make sure I go up and down a min. of 4 times a day, 32 trips. AND I have started to lightly run up the stairs. I play Chariots of Fire in my head as I ascend. I make it up 3 flights before my panting is just too much. I stand on the stairs panting hoping no one comes out and sees me. And hoping my heart is getting stronger and stronger.

Then I did a 5K about a week ago that turned into 6 miles for the day. It was a gorgeous day and I just didn't want to go inside. My grand daughter and her parents joined me for a crazy time walking and running. There must have been 4000 people there. Wall to wall people running, walking with strollers and walking with dogs. What a mixture. It was a great place for learning to be versatile while running a race.

I have taken to parking my car on one end of town and walking to my destination. Tomorrow morning I am having a work breakfast. I will drop my car at the office. Go up the 4 flights of stairs to drop off my belongings. Then walk to the restaurant several blocks away.

Today I was determined to find a place to park my car and go for a bike ride on one of the many great paths around here. I hit the 777 on the machine and had a big payoff. The trail I found (Spring Creek Trail) was awesome. It was so cool. It rambled up and down, across bridges and twisted and turned. It was great to get back in the swing again. I biked out for a while and then came upon a picnic area. Had a sandwich and orange then took off to explore another trail. I discovered it would take me several miles toward home.

Then back to my car. I really noticed the ride and knew it was the first of the season. I must tell you pumping up my tires was an experience. It took forever. I pumped and pumped until it finally reached 60psi. I decided that would be good enough. Maybe I should invest in a plug in pump and just use the car battery to do this.

All in all, I am tired but a good tired and loved my first day back on the trails on my bike. I am hoping to do more miles next time and I will start taking pics again. I got real close to the mountains today and it was awesome. I am thinking I need a new phone so I can take better pics. Maybe it is time for a smart phone. I will probably do something about it this year.

Suddenly I seem to be dreaming about ways to exercise. Planning levels of exercise. I know I want to really create an awesome body but I do have a problem with application of the dreams. I am applying but not enough to make the changes I want to make. Sometimes I think I am slow at this because there are things going on inside me that have to be finished before I can go full force. I hope these aren't all excuses but me tuning into my body. I am practicing my visualization and changing my belief systems. It has taken so long to get to this place that sometimes I wonder if I have taken too long and this body is not capable of doing what I want it to do. Then other times I poo paw that is garbage and I can do it. I just hope that real positive part of me becomes the inner leader of my life.

I just reread this. Quite a rambling mess. Not so author like. But sometimes I just feel like I want to speak the way I think. Ops, maybe I shouldn't have revealed just how jumbled my thoughts can be.

Buen Camino
b

It is time to get my camera out again and start taking pics of where I am walking.

2012-03-12T18:23:00.000-06:00

I have moved into a room in someone else's home. It is a very different experience. I am sharing the kitchen and bathroom with total strangers. Maybe this is preparation for my Camino walk. I have lived alone for several years now and not had to share space. Now I am sharing almost as much as I will be on the walk. Here at least I have my own bedroom. I am getting used to it and finding myself rather enjoying this new adventure. We couldn't be more farther apart as people but I have been understanding all encompassing love in deeper ways. Acceptance is a very difficult lesson. Even if we think we are accepting of others, just bring in something like maybe drinking and smoking and you don't do either. Try living in love in that situation. We are all such unique and wonderful people but even when we share many samenesses (my made up word), we still have a hard time living together. So when we are polar opposites it is a whole new game.

I am further out from all the trails so I am finding ways of walking from the house. Often going in circles to avoid the highway. On the week ends I have taken to driving into town and parking my car on the north side, then walking to the south side and back. Today I was given a few places I can go and park my car and get on trails. I see a map of trails but don't see anywhere to stop and park my car. After my conversation with a co worker, I understand a lot of the park and walk areas are on the north side of town. I am on the south side.

This coming week end I am going to do a 5K and see how I feel after. I was thinking I would try to do a bit of running, a bit of jogging and probably lots more walking. The last one I did was Thanksgiving and that went well even though I carried my 4 year old grand daughter on my shoulders for just over half of the 4 miles we did. Tis the season of 5Ks and 10Ks, I will be hunting them out. I found out the mountain trails won't be dry enough to walk till about July. Creativity will be the name of my walking till then.

I have a new job. My office is on the third floor. I have to walk up 4 flights of stairs to get to it. I average between 8 and 12 flights of stairs a day. This will surly help the old lungs. Some times I stop once and other times it is twice but one day I am going to run up these stairs, just like Rocky in the movie. I remember watching that movie and wanting to run up the stairs like he did. Of course the music 'Chariots of Fire' really helped in the stimulation market. Maybe I should find it on my iPod and play it when I go up and down at work. Speaking of iPods, we are allowed to wear them when we are at work. This place is so cool. I can even wear blue jeans to work and I heard the other day that shorts in the summer are ok if they are long. Probably down to peddle pushers or today they call them Capris. How cute we are, recycle the old and call it some fancy new name so people think they are buying something new.

My walking is increasing as spring is beginning to come to the Rockies. I hear that we are supposed to get, on average, 11 inches of snow in March. It is 3/12 and we have had none. In fact this week it is in the 70's. Can you imagine that, the Rockie mountains in the 70's in March. Well, I am taking advantage of this great weather and getting started again. My walking around the city is part of the preparation, as we all know that walking on pavement is hard on our feet. I am toughening up this old bod.

I was thinking of going out to coyote ridge again but found out that this is matting season and they are very hungry. Not such a good idea, I'll wait for a bit. This is like bear season in Vermont. I hated having to stay out of the woods when I was a kid. I loved to sneak around and see how many animals I could find. Once I saw a black panther. It was a big, very big, field. I was near the south side of it laying on a boulder under a tree. I looked up and saw him crossing the field on the far north side. I quietly laid there until he entered the woods. Then I hightailed it out of there. I will never forget the feeling of seeing a black panther in the wild. I have seen all the usual animals, deer, elk, moose but a black panther was a real thrill.

buen camino
b

It has been a While Since I Blogged

2012-01-13T10:18:00.000-07:00

Happy New Year to the world and may this year be the year that we all open our hearts and learn to accept our differences as well as our similarities.

Here is Ceanna my grand daughter, just turned 4, trying to find a balance with these new things on her feet. They use plastic trash buckets here to start skating and finding their balance. This is her first trip to a skating rink. She had a very hard time the first time around and spent more time on her bottom than on her skates.

By the end of the first day, actually within 2 hours, she tried skating by herself. She found her balance. WOW! What a great kid. She will be walking the hills of the world one day.

Then it was off sledding in the beautiful snow we had for Christmas. The hills around the neighborhood are great. I flew down one and ended up in a marsh that wasn't totally frozen. A bit wet but great fun and I went back and did it again.

It has been a very interesting move. With the extreme blood loss when I arrived I discovered that the older the body the longer it takes to replace all that blood. It is also very painful but alas I believe I have overcome it all. Now I am building my core muscles and my lungs. We will see how long that takes. I thought I was going to come here and continue where I left on in Charlotte. No! No way, I am completely rebuilding my body and it is taking some time. Things got away from me for a bit during Christmas but I am finally back into the flow. I have started a gym class called Fit2 Be Me. It is designed for women after child birth. It is core rebuilding, finding limits and moving them further, Zumba and several other classes. Let's just say, they know what they are doing and the aching of my abs prove it. So instead of out climbing mountains I am walking and taking classes to rebuild my core. I am thinking that by spring I will be back in the mountains, contending with mud by then. I will have to get some different boots to hike in mud.

I was having lunch the other day at Cracker Barrel and met an older couple. She was walking with a cane but the brightness in her eyes was almost blinding. She and I started talking about The Camino and walking it. She asked about the book I was reading, Aleph by Paulo Coehlo. I explained him by describing his book, The Pilgrimage, about his walk across northern Spain. She had heard about the walk and had seen the movie "The Way" and knew all about Martin Sheen and Emilio Estevez making the movie and walking the path. We had a very spirited conversation about the walk and she looked like she would like to do it. In fact when I told her that the biggest age groups are those just out of college and retired people she was amazed. We parted talking about meeting on the trail. I love it when someone around my age gets excited about walking.

So, to sum it all up, I am still training but not like I thought I would be. I am looking forward to an even greater health. I am a mixture of lazy and energized so I get lots done and I get nothing done. But I have come to realize that I became the lazy me out of over doing. As a much younger adult I over did all the time. I didn't have much choice at the time but it was certainly wrong and I am paying for it now. Breaking the laziness that developed out of exhaustion has not been easy for me but I am getting better all the time. I also have noticed since I lost this 40lbs that I am desiring to be more active. I am wanting to be more fit. I am dreaming about me as a fit athletic person. This month I am working on regaining my momentum in exercising and better eating habits after great holidays. I am also learning that omitting food groups isn't the same for me at this age as it was when I was younger and the seasons make a difference as well. Therefore my winter diet has more non vegetable carbs than my summer diet does. To keep me warm.

Before I sign off there is one more thing I want to learn about and it is how to do such a great walk and eat to support the walk but not to mess up my body again. I know it can be so easy to over eat and return continuing that behavior. So I am look for ways to keep my body fueled during the walk but yet not need to continue to eat at the same level when I return. If anyone has any ideas please share. Right now I am thinking maybe eating a very small amount every 2 hours with as big a breakfast as I can get and as small a dinner I can find.

Buen Camino
b

Bright and Early Thanksgiving Morning We Headed Out...

2011-12-05T09:59:00.001-07:00

This year we reunited with an event we participated in when we lived in Florida, so many years ago. Back in those days my son was getting into a healthy life style, working out and building a power body. He really got us all started with his 5Ks. I would go to support him, you know that motherly thing - be there for your kids. I began to feel all the energy of the races. It was awesome and I came alive walking around watching everyone else. The problem I had was creating this energy so I could get myself out to walk or run during everyday moments. At that time I did a better job than I do now. The longer I go without a job the harder life seems to be getting and the stress levels are through the roof. These factors seem to keep me tagged to a chair. I am one of those feeling people. What a bummer, it means my entire life moves by the energy I am in. I have tried different jobs, different homes etc etc but have not succeeded to create the atmosphere that best fits me as a person. Maybe that is why I want to walk the Camino.

Anyway back to the story, for several years we would walk the Turkey Trot in our local area and then head home to enjoy our Thanksgiving meal. It felt good to do something for others before giving ourselves a gift. It was an accomplishment of giving and on a perfect day. I wondered why more people didn't do the walk. It is not hard and all types are there so everyone fits in somewhere in the vast field of human bodies. I would start in the front because I knew I would finish near the end and I figured this would delay my inevitable decline to the back of the pack and allow me to walk over the finish line with others. Of course the others were there because they started there, it did not reflect a lack of physical fitness, just a choice of crowd they walked within. And now, now I start 15 minutes before everyone else hoping I will finish before the end of the pack. Hummmm!

This year we decided to return to the Turkey Trot (to earn our meal as we put it) and my 3 year old grand daughter came with us. We as a family have been working all year on healthy eating and weight reduction. Bright and early we rose to eggs and bacon, a good protein boost, Lord knows we have enough stored carbs, no need to stock up on them. Off we went, my grand daughter was all excited to run the race. She said she was going to win and that she was faster than anyone and she would beat them all. God bless her, she was riding on my shoulders before we completed the first of the four miles. She has a bit of her grand mother in her, that bit that thinks' I can do anything' and then reality sets in to slap me up the side of the face to let me know that I think bigger than my abilities. Chuckle Chuckle

So, with some coaxing she managed to walk about 2+ miles, here and there and rode on my shoulders the rest of the 4 miles. It was a long walk. All the coaxing took time as she would sit and mope. The long and the short is we took one hour and 40 minutes to walk 4 miles. WOW! That was a slow trip but we got it done and she finished the walk. Next year we will try it again and I am sure she will do much better. She is beginning to learn that she has to work at things to become good at them.

My daughter had a super trip, she has been working out with a personal trainer for about 4 weeks. She finished in 58 minutes. So awesome, go girl. My son in law finished a bit later and then came back to meet us stragglers. Truth be told he was ready for some good Thanksgiving food and it was home in the oven warming up.

As a side bar: I used to do this in 45 minutes, what a change. I would like to get back to this. Maybe next year. I hope to meet all of you out on the road turkey trotting one day. Hurray for us all!

Happy Holidays to one and all
buen camino
b

It is Holiday time once Again

2011-11-29T15:10:00.001-07:00

... and I would like to wish everyone the best of holidays. This is a season of joy and tears all mixed up in the hurriedness of shopping, cooking, wrapping etc. So much emotion all packed into a couple of months. Maybe we are so busy not feeling the rest of the year that we have to get it all out in a short piece of time. What ever the reason, it is here and we are zooming through it with the speed of light or we are sloughing through it wishing we didn't have to do this. What ever is the result know that if you decide to take on a thing like walking the Camino, this too will be your experience. This walk is a place to reflect on our natural ways. Maybe even try to make some changes, but alas that is up to you.

For me, I am looking for the time to clean up the last parts of my 'house'. Then I desire to replace the old mind/house with a new one. IN this new one I am soft yet strong, wise with no need to let anyone know this, kind, considerate, able to SEE why people do things therefore in my compassion I help if it is requested and walk on for those not ready. Understand joy and be joy, understand laughter and be laughter, understand all-encompassing love and be all-encompassing love and last but not least be grateful in all of life's many happenings.

Douglas Everett sums it up very nicely:
There are some people who live in a dream world, and there are some who face reality; and then there are those who turn one into the other.

Happy Holidays to one and all and may your dreams and reality unite into one world.

Barbara

Coyote Ridge Hike - A surprise at the top

2011-11-15T12:52:00.001-07:00

Part of the view on top of Coyote Ridge

I have been getting on meetup.com a lot to find groups to connect with as well as places to hike. For those of you that have not connected with Meet Up, it is a wonderful site on the web that gives you lists of various types of local groups. Pick the one or ones you wold like to interact with and click on them. You usually have to join. Easy thing. They will email you events and gatherings.

As I searched for upcoming activities, with new groups,I found a site that is a group of hikers. O! How I would love to do this, and will when I am a bit faster. These people have been hiking for a long time. My measly shuffle would leave me behind in a matter of minutes. BUT! They had scheduled a night time hike.

This intrigued me. I wasn't sure if I was up for a hike in the dark so I decided to head out in the day time and check out the trail. My research brought good news. The hike is a straight line from the back of our home, across some prairie. Driving directions took me around the prairie and another development. In a matter of minutes I was at the trail head. Just what I have wanted, easy quick access.


This is the reverse view from the top of Coyote Ridge - my car is back near the homes and there are 3 ridges and 3 valleys to go over to get to the top of Coyote Ridge

I stepped out of my car, looked across the prairie and said, "I can do that." Attaching my car keys to my waist loop, grabbing my water bottle and slipping on my back pack, out I headed. I had on shorts, t-shirt and a sweat shirt. It wasn't long before I was taking the sweat shirt off. I think Colorado is a big, no huge projection on the earth. Why? You ask. Because it is November, the temps are in the 40's and sometimes the 50's and I am hot. The sun beats down so strongly here that even in winter temps you can hike in shorts and a t-shirt. For a person who was born and brought up in Vermont I am finding this a bit weird. I leave the house with all my cold gear, just in case (the reason for the back pack). Alas, I never seem to use it unless I am still out when the sun goes down.

In school I read about the prairie and the desert. They kept saying it was hot in the day and cold at night. I would repeat this bit of information with great gusto, feeling like I knew what I was talking about. I never had a hint as to the actual truth. I had no idea what it was truly like. I could only relate it to my life in Vermont and Florida. Never shall the twain meet, their is no resemblance in any way, shape or manner.

Lugging my winter clothes off I went. Today it is in the low 40's. My first adventure was a field full of Prairie Dogs. They are so cute. Here is a pic:


Prairie Dogs Ft Collins, CO

They were everywhere. Their cute little bodies pretending they are a pile of sand, standing as still as a statue waiting for you to walk on by. As soon as you leave their sight they begin to talk to each other. It is so cute. One would speak, silence and then another would answer. This kept going for the duration of my travel across the FIRST prairie. Yes, the first prairie, You read that correctly. I was in for a surprise as I continued. The ground began to loop up and I thought, "This was an easy walk, I can do this in the dark." Such an innocent I am.

I crested the first ridge to find another valley and another ridge. 'O, okay, I need to cross this valley and go up there.' I thought as I walked along the first ridge. I had met several people coming back from the walk, never thinking I should ask questions. Being the 'seasoned' hiker I was, I headed down the trail confident I can do this. Across the valley, I found myself in the yard of a home. Hummnm, with an outdoor privy. I guess I'll just borrow that for a moment. Slipping quietly in the door giving thanks that I didn't have to pee on the prairie, once again I was ready to hike on. No one was around so I just walked on through the yard and up the trail I found behind the house. It was getting a bit steeper.

Then it turned sharply to the left and walked up and around the corner of the ridge straight into a big mud pit.

Remnants of my forerunners, bike ruts as deep as my ankles are tall, foot prints showing suction holes, and snow. Yes, it snowed a couple of weeks ago and it was still on this trail. I hadn't thought of mud or snow and was in my sneakers, not my boots. For the first time I experienced the feel of huge clumps of mud adhered to my shoes. I felt like Frankenstein with his thick soled boots. The added weight made me clumsy, sharpening my nerves as I slipped along the trail with a wall of stone on my left and a cliff on my right. One 'ophs' and I would be sliding down a raven. The stories of lost hikers flew through my brain as I realized I hadn't told anyone where I was going.

Just then a policeman came along on his bike and all thoughts of tragedy disappeared. We chatted about the trail and how safe it was for me to walk by myself anywhere around here. I only had to watch out for the bears and rattlesnakes. Now, I don't know about you, but which would you rather have a hoodlum or a bear or a rattlesnake? I am thinking I might fair better with the hoodlum. Hummmm!

I did ask him about the trail. I had to go around the ridge, cross another valley and climb the last ridge. The last ridge had a long switchback. This part was pure rock, yes rocks not boulders or big things but little ones that like to turn your ankles and see if they can scratch them all up at the same time. I missed a lot of the view in this part as I dared not take my eyes off the trail, that's how I bumped into, or almost, a man on a bike, would you believe, riding down these rocks. Yes, riding down this steep trail filled with rocks on a bike. That must be why his hair was white, he scared all the color out of it. Smile

Shortly after that a little lady with hiking poles walked past me. She was no where to be seen and suddenly she was passing me. I looked incredulously at her. She smiled and said she hikes this area a lot. She had on a shirt that had a circle with a big 75 in it. Apparently she is 75 or older and the member of a hiking group for those 75 and older. I wanted to hang my head down and bury it between my legs. I was so ashamed of my lack of athleticism. She shook my hand. I have never felt such power in a hand before, not from a male or a female. This woman is who I would want around if I got in trouble. She was a good example for me and I will keep her in my mind to remember where I want to be.


That is ridge 2, I am standing on ridge 1


Looking out from Coyote Ridge across the next valley and beginning to see the Rockies in the distance.

The trip was a bit longer than I had anticipated but well worth it. I look forward to walking this trail again, with my boots this time. Also, next time I don't want to be short of time. I want to stay on the top of the ridge for a while and just take in the beauty. A city girl gone wild, before long I will be riding horses and roping cattle. Chuckle! Chuckle!.

Ultreya buen camino
b

An Interview of Paulo Coehlo about the Camino

2011-11-11T12:08:00.001-07:00


The Spanish Camino on the left and the French Camino on the Right

As you can see their are many paths to complete the Camino in France. They all join with the original Camino in Spain. Today, the many roads traveled in Spain to get to the Camino, are now Camino walks all in themselves. They come from the north, south and west or Portugal. Many have reverted to these trails, once used as a way to the Camino, for their Camino, as there are less people traveling them. The Camino Frances or the Original goes over the Pyrenees from St Jean Pied de Port, into Spain and across northern Spain to Santiago de Compestella. It is said to be the burial place of the Apostle St James, son of Zebedee, one of Jesus' first disciples

Here is an interview with Paulo Coehlo from Newsweek:

The City: Santiago de Compostela

Nov 6, 2011 10:00 AM EST

Paulo Coelho undertakes a pilgrimage to a sacred, starlit Spanish site.

Yes, today we have many wondrous means of transportation. Airplane tickets are cheaper than ever, while driving Europe’s new highways can be a delight. But of all the cities in the world I know, Santiago de Compostela is the only one where the most agreeable way to arrive is…on foot.

Just as each Muslim is required, at least once in his life, to retrace the Prophet Muhammad’s footsteps from Mecca to Medina, first-millennium Christians knew that blessings and indulgences awaited those who made at least one of the three sacred pilgrimages of the faith. The first led to Saint Peter’s grave in Rome, by which travelers—or Romeros—bore the symbol of the cross. On the second route, worshipers took palm fronds to Christ’s tomb in Jerusalem, just as the ancients did nearly two millennia ago to greet Jesus as he arrived in the holy city. Finally, there was the road to the grave of Saint Tiago—known in English as Saint James—whose mortal remains were said to be buried in the Iberian Peninsula on the night that a shepherd envisioned a field under brilliant starlight.

Not just Tiago but also the Virgin Mary were believed to have gone to the site shortly after the death of Christ to spread the Gospel and convert souls to Christianity. The place was called Compostela—the starlit field—and soon a city was born there. It became a magnet for worshipers from all over Christendom; known as pilgrims, their symbol was a conch shell. In its heyday in the 16th century, the road to Santiago de Compostela drew more than a million pilgrims a year, from all over Europe, who guided themselves by the light of the Milky Way. On their heels came believers humble and exalted, including Charles the Great, Saint Francis of Assisi, and Isabel de Castilla.

For centuries, seekers have walked the dusty roads to Santiago de Compostela in search of enlightenment., Peter Marlow / Magnum

When I set out for Santiago nearly 30 years ago, starlight was the last thing on my mind. But one afternoon, there I was, in a café in León, surrounded by chattering travelers alight with stories about their trek. The town of Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port was miles behind me, and I was already better than halfway to Santiago. In a matter of days, I would turn 39, and though I had no idea at the time, from that moment on nothing in my life would be the same. But here, on the road, the landscape ahead looked monotonous and flat. Behind me was no different, except for my own boot prints etched in the dust, which the wind would erase by nightfall. Everything seemed surreal. “What am I doing here?” I asked myself.

That question would haunt me in the days and weeks to come. How absurd, making a pilgrimage by foot at the turn of the 21st century! OK, so I was chasing my dream. Ever since I was a child I’d wanted to become a writer. But was I really ready to do what it took? After all, it’s so much more comfortable and far less risky to have a dream; but trying to live that dream could bring frustration or defeat. Besides, I was no longer a child.

Despite my doubts, I pressed on. My trek to Santiago would become my first book, The Pilgrimage, and open the door to many others.

You can do a lot of writing and rewriting in your head over 25 days and 800 kilometers. Along the way, I passed a number of guesthouses and pilgrims of all ages, each carrying the telltale conch. I met couples celebrating their golden anniversaries and chatted with stressed-out business executives who’d decided to take a month off to chill and rethink their lives. Everywhere I turned, there were students, young people who were just learning the gift of meeting and mingling with others like themselves, from all over the world.

A day’s walk from Santiago, I recall the small hill, Mons Gaudí, that pilgrims can scale to get their first glimpse of the iconic city and its immense cathedral at the end of the Milky Way, those torches that have been beckoning them through each incredible day of their journey. In the mid-1980s, a mere 400 people a year completed the walk to Santiago as I did. By 2010, some 450 were streaming into Santiago every day.

The stone church is the same as it has been for centuries, but by the journey’s end, it is the pilgrim who has been indelibly changed. Along the way, each traveler discovers how little he really needs to get along in life. After three days’ walking, everyone ends up shedding half the weight in his backpack. Lighten the load, preserve the body, and tend the soul. Those are the lessons of Santiago de Compostela, the city at the end of the road best taken on foot, as it has been for centuries, one step at a time.

Paulo Coelho’s most recent book is Aleph.


The End

Ultreya and Buen Camino

b

My First Inspiration for Walking the Camino

2011-11-10T10:13:00.001-07:00

I was walking through a bookstore when a book caught my eye. It was The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. He, at the time, was new to America being a Brazilian author. It was his first translated book, as far as I knew. Riveting! I just sat there and read and read and read until it was finished, but not without many markings, turned down pages and explanations of my own. It became a text book of sorts at the time. I was new to the world of "create your own life" (at least consciously) and soaked up everything I could. I was entirely focused in remaking my world, dramatically. I no longer wanted to be where I had wallowed for so long. Little did I know how long it would take me to really make a difference and how much my mind, subconscious beliefs, were running my life. I had periods where I was on top of it and doing well then it would suddenly rear it's head and The Old would pop back in in a new disguise. One day I was an angel and the next I was a coyote, the trickster, really messing up my life.

I fell in love with Paulo 's writing and searched out more translations. Soon I was devouring his words. Then I found The Pilgrimage. I sat down and began a whole new journey in my life. I found a great big bag of fear hidden in me. It slowly opened up, kind of like a Pandora's box. I thought I was really moving forward and making all the changes I wanted in my life and creating this new fun existence. Suddenly this box brought in a whole new set of poooo. This poooo smelled awful and I felt ashamed. I had been teaching what I had been learning. You know, learn, give, get more routine. The path had been guiding me well until I found this hidden pile of poooo. I think it had been hidden for many centuries because it was a smell so great that it would knock you out with just a wiff.

It was when I knew I needed to walk, get into nature, meditate etc to clean out this box within me. BUT, life got in the way. Along with life I made a few misjudgements for myself and off I was lost in a tangent. One of my real life problems, keeping focused on what I truly wanted. My family could just whisper and I would change my life in an instant for them. They didn't have to ask for anything, I just would notice a need and give up my life and change for what I thought they wanted. Such a crazy lady. I actually had a problem doing what I wanted and had to fight to do it. I would always acquiesce. These bad habits put me in a place where I was unable to do the walk and I became lost in my own rabbit hole. Constantly wishing I could find a way to get out and go for my walk. I worked at it for years but for some reason beyond me, I kept hitting walls, not just walls but thick stone walls. It was as if I was trapped in a stone box and try as I might no one would come help me and I couldn't seem to get out.

Then one day I found a bit of stone that was disintegrating. I grabbed it and worked it until out I popped. Now I am out and have come up with another idea of how I can manage to do this walk. If this works out I will be walking next year. This is my inner journey that I have sought to attain for many years. Those demons from the Pandora's box have been doing a good job on me. This blog is my public way of making things happen. Remember fear is all part of the ethereal area, it really doesn't exist unless I allow it to be there. But this old lady has been allowing it to run me, without even knowing I was doing such a thing. The walk puts the fear hidden in the box right out front, ready for me to face. I have tried walking at home but the duration is never long enough. Remember, I have become very efficient over the centuries at hiding and pretending it doesn't really exist. It doesn't exist, but because I hide it I give it validity. Forced to walk for 6 weeks and deal with every day to day challenge in a foreign country where I do not know the language (and I will be in areas where they do not speak or know English) will bring out this hidden Beelzebub and I will be able to take back my power once and for ever.

Ultreya, buen camino