true life planet

Ok, ok.

The fact is, I´ve run terribly behind in the blog. So, what I´ve decided to do is this: tell you what happened in the last 20 villages in this one entry:

So, I:

Got robbed of: most of my underwear, a bra, my toiletries, and cash

Ran out of money, bank card stopped working for some reason

Got really depressed

Cried alot

Slept alot in a cold room in a convent, prayed alot

Was pretty hungry

Bank card worked again

Ate alot

Talked with a man who was doing the Camino for his mother, who had recently died, and was very angry at the greed of his brothers and sisters about the way they handled her possessions(his point of view). I suggested that perhaps he could let go of the idea that he will get anything of his mothers, and perhaps just let go. He cried, and we went off and shared a bottle of very nice wine.

Talked to a very nice man from Israel, we also shared a bottle of wine on  a park bench.

Talked to another man who wanted to leave his wife, even though he was in love with her he did not find it so interesting. I told him how I thought love was the only thing that made my life interesting.Wine was shared…he called his wife, while I sat there. It had a very happy ending.

Decided I was drinking too much wine(although this is a hard one, becasue I am in Spain, and that is what they do here. you go into a bar/cafe at 9 am, and the mother who just took the kids to school is drinking a glass of wine!)

Walked thru alot of villages

Looked at alot of falling down adobe structures

Looked at alot of falling down adobe structures some more

Visited tons of churches

Talked and walked with many pilgrims, some I liked a lot, others, not so much. Decided walking alone is the best.

Hurt a Don Juan in the groin, which was very effective

Ordered a salad and it came with more meat than I have ever been served in one sitting in my entire life, and I decided right then and there that I really, really need to be a vegetarian

Got chased by two dogs

Ran out of water and got pretty dehydrated on the Meseta-some prayer here, too

Had lunch with a farmer and his family: a lovely lunch of asparagus and strawberries from their garden

Got a tour of a secret underground tunnel in a village leading to the church

Decided that I miss white mens underwear and boxers after being faced with night after night of looking at men, usually over 60, and for some reason, mostly German, walking around in black bikini briefs for hours on end(someone explain this phenomenon, please). This may become an obsession unless someone can send in an answer. The particular issue is a cause for many interesting conversations over pilgrim dinners-someone is always bringing it up…

Didn´t sleep for nights on end due to snorers and very annoying people who insist on getting out the door at 6 am in the refuges

Gave up doing any laundry in the refuges, as it was raining and raining and raining and nothing would dry anyway

Got my first blister(not bad, it took awhile)

Spent alot of time thinking about God.

Spent alot of time thinking about how I haven´t done the things I wanted to do in my life-in the past-because I was (a) worried what other people would think about it; (b) worried that I would lose someone I loved over it

Spent alot of time thinking about the nature of love, what it is, and what it means to love

Spent an entire week thinking about adopting a special needs child sometime in the next 5 years, in spite of fears over (a) what people would think about it and (b) fears of losing someone over it (c) what my family would think about it and how they would handle it or what they might say or advise about it…and decided that this idea of adoption would be a good expression of love. Decided I would be a good parent. Left the idea there, in the back of my mind, to develop a bit more.

Realized that I can do many things at once: in spite of the fact that our Western culture teaches us differnetly on this subject.  We learn that you can have this-but if you do, then you can´t have that, or if you have both one will suffer. But it is possible to have many things at once..and have a relaxing, tranquil life at the same time.

Stopped worrying entirely about what anyone thinks about anything I do. Pretty much have stopped worrying. If I do it with love, it´s simple.

Arrived in Leon, exhausted, with my feet not responding to commands anymore-and therefore, I decided to stay in a cheap hotel, which has been a wonderful, relaxing experience. An actual bathtub!

And now, the blog is up to date!

gigi

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