Where am I today? Carrion de los Condes!
Entry 33, December 27th,
2011
Expenses, Day 33
Pastries: 2.70
Provisions: 4.80
Croissant: 1.00
Albergue,
Hortanas: 5.00
Menú
Peregrino and Cerveza: 10.00
Total: 23.50
Trip Total:
762.03
Entry 34, December 28th,
2011
Expenses, Day 34
Provisions: 4.38
Albergue: 7.00
Menú:
6.50
Internet:
.50
Total:
18.38
Trip
Total: 780.41
31
kilometers yesterday. We've started across the meseta – it is very
flat and treeless. I cannot imagine what it is like in the summer.
No
heat in the albergue. Everyone was whingeing – I didn't think it
was that bad. It's all mental.
Entry
35, December 29th,
2011
A
quartet of haikus for some of my fellow pilgrims.
Pair
of sticks and white sneakers
Crunching
through the frost,
The
warrior leads the way.
He
points to the rising sun
Two
birds sing; empty branches.
Comedian:
pay attention!
Yellow
arrows are no match
Pilgrims,
follow him!
Will
GPS find his dream?
Happy
Happy Happy Beast
Spain
cannot contain
All
the words he can produce!
We
passed a hill today with a line of pine trees on top forming a wind
break. The stiff with from the Northeast made it sound like the
ocean.
Trusting
my intuition, I left the path and followed the ridge up. At the top
was a stone marker. I stood on it, watching the sunrise and feeling
the blast of cold wind on my face. I yelled – a wordless yell, the
sound of an animal rejoicing in the beginning of morning. It is good
to be alive this day.
I
am reminded of the picture of the zen monk, standing on the open palm
of god, with arms thrown outwards and mouth open in wordless shout
like he is on a rollercoaster!
Expenses,
Day 35
Coffee
+ Bocadillo: 5.50
Provisions:
6.00
Albergue
(Carrion de los Condes, Nunnery): 5.00
Menú:
10.00
Total:
21.50
Trip
total: 801.91
We
stopped in a small village where everything was closed. Ernesto was
already there, and he explained that the grandmother of the bar's
owner had just died. Just then the procession came by from the
church. Mostly on foot, casket in a hearse. They were carrying a
cross on a staff as well as a huge flag – after stopping at the
woman's house to say a prayer, they went on to the cemetery.
The
whole time we were in town the church bells were ringing – slow,
slow quarter notes, one bell at a time, for the funeral. Combined
with the wind in the bare branches, it was the most mournful sound I
have ever heard. In C minor:
(notation
in notebook) G, down M6 to Bb, up m7 to Ab, down m6 to C, back up to G to
start again
33km
today to Carrion de los Condes (Count of the Condors), a nice bit of
work. It was my longest planned day yet. I'm in good shape – the
joints were a bit tired at the end, but I didn't injure anything and
I am not stiff. I'm still not particularly fast, but I feel good in
the evenings and while walking. I was relaxed all day today, like
sitting in a chair, and spent most of it working on my posture. Head
back! But how far back?
Ernesto
gave me one of his mismatched walking sticks today, as he finally got
a new pair. Marten was right – the gifts come, there is no need to
buy any. It is a symbol of Ernesto's victory over the mountain pass
at St. Jean Pied-de-Port, as the matching stick was broken while
saving him from a particularly nasty fall. Perhaps this one will do
the same for me on the mountains yet to come, or maybe its brother
will (the stick Cleber found for me).
Michael/Kwang-sik/the
Warrior gave me a wire sculpture of a trumpet as well, for Christmas
. . . the gifts just come. I am writing haikus for everyone in the
group in return. There's nothing quite as light as a poem.
