Tag Archives: Camino de Santiago

How to Take a 3-Month Camino Sabbatical

“How long will you be in Europe?” said the bored-looking customs agent in Iceland. It was not yet 7am,Reykjavik time, and he looked like he needed coffee as much as I did. “Three months,” I answered. I’d found out (after I bought the plane tickets) that were pushing the limits of the 90-day automatic visaContinue reading “How to Take a 3-Month Camino Sabbatical”

The Via Podiensis (Le Puy Camino) Memoirs

It’s winter, it’s raining, and the world is a complicated, messy place. Sometimes the only solution is to turn it all off and curl up with a good book. And when it comes to books about the Camino, your choices are plentiful. Amazon lists 60 memoirs with the key words Camino de Santiago, and thatContinue reading “The Via Podiensis (Le Puy Camino) Memoirs”

How You Spend This Afternoon (An Almost Wordless Wednesday)

  From Annie Dillard’s Pilgrim at Tinker Creek: “Thomas Merton wrote, ‘there is always a temptation to diddle around in the contemplative life, making itsy-bitsy statues.’ There is always an enormous temptation in all of life to diddle around making itsy-bitsy friends and meals and journeys for itsy-bitsy years on end. It is so self-conscious,Continue reading “How You Spend This Afternoon (An Almost Wordless Wednesday)”

3 Camino Mantras for 2017, Part 3: Choose Your Focus

  The walk from Castet to Romieu was 30 kilometers (18 miles), a distance we’d walked before, but longer than I ever wanted to do in a day. We’d looked at the maps, though, and talked to our friends on the trail, and decided that a longer walk day while the weather was good was theContinue reading “3 Camino Mantras for 2017, Part 3: Choose Your Focus”

3 Camino Mantras for 2017, Part 2: Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Lose

I spent a lot of time last week trying to sort through how to make 2017 into a better year than 2016. Not having an election is obviously a good start, but I’m looking for things that are a little more personal. And my most meaningful, personal lessons came from the 79 days I spentContinue reading “3 Camino Mantras for 2017, Part 2: Sometimes You Win, Sometimes You Lose”

Three Camino Mantras to Carry into 2017, Part 1: Practice Acceptance

I tend to approach the world as if everything is negotiable, everything happens for good reasons, and the people who are kind and fair will be rewarded. We can probably blame four decades of reading novels with happy endings for that.

Opportunities (Almost Wordless Wednesday)

“We are so attached to our way of life that we turn down wonderful opportunities simply because don’t know what to do.”           – Paulo Coehlo I almost didn’t go on the Camino. The fears almost beat me a dozen times, and they succeeded in delaying me for years. I didn’tContinue reading “Opportunities (Almost Wordless Wednesday)”

The Pyrenees Crossing in 3 Minutes (Video)

  Before I walked my first Camino, when I looked at the whole trip spread out before me, there was one part that scared me more than any other: the day I would walk over the Pyrenees. I’ve written about my own walk from St Jean Pied-de-Port to Roncevalles before. Every pilgrim who’s done itContinue reading “The Pyrenees Crossing in 3 Minutes (Video)”

Hugging Saint James (The Traditions of the Camino)

There’s a lot to do when a Camino pilgrim reaches Santiago de Compostela. You have to find the Pilgrim’s Office, stand in line, and get your Compostela. You have to find a place to stay. You have to find all your friends and take group pictures. You have to go to a pilgrim’s mass atContinue reading “Hugging Saint James (The Traditions of the Camino)”