On the way to Santiago: Tales from the Camino

Welcome to the journey of a lifetime

2007-09-30T23:50:00.000+02:00

Hello and welcome

On 6 September 2006, I began an 800-kilometre walk along a medieval pilgrimage trail to the tomb of St James the Apostle. Starting from St Jean Pied de Port in France, I followed the Camino francés route and crossed the Pyrenees and Northern Spain to reach Santiago de Compostela.

This tough physical journey was accompanied by an interior - often quite solitary - journey. But having walked part of this route in 2003, I also knew that there would be a lot to share.

Back in 2003, I related my experiences to friends and family in a series of email anecdotes. For my second Camino, I decided to create this blog to share my Camino experiences with a wider audience in the hope of inspiring others to make the journey.

To many people, both religious and not, the popularity of the Camino de Santiago lies in the fact that it mirrors the journey of our lives. The joys, the challenges faced and overcome, the acceptance of our limitations, the help we receive from others along the way and the slow realization that the journey is as important, if not more so, than the eventual destination.

And if all that's not enough, there's the breathtaking scenery and beautiful cultures and history of France and Spain to take in.

As the journey continues to be an immense source of creative and spiritual inspiration for me, I will continue to post images and writings on this site which convey some of the magic and beauty I experienced on the Camino.

Visit the quick guide if you'd like to see what you can find on this blog.

I hope you'll visit every now and again to see what's new. If you wish, you can request to be automatically notified when there are updates.

Please feel free to write to me if you're interested in learning more about the Camino and the pilgrimage experience.

I truly hope you enjoy your visit.
¡Buen camino!
John

photos moved + podcasts added

2007-09-30T02:16:00.000+02:00

As Yahoo! Photos is about to close, I've taken the opportunity to reorganise my Camino photo albums and moved them over to Picasa. The photos can now be reached either by clicking the updated album links in the sidebar on the right (under the heading "Images") or by clicking here for the 2003 and 2006 Camino albums.

You may also have noticed that I've added a podcast feature to On the way to Santiago.

You can now listen to my posts as a podcast just by clicking the "listen to this post" link at the top of each post.

Those of you who have an RSS feedreader that can open podcast enclosures can now subscribe to my posts and listen to them as podcasts by dragging the "Talkr" feed link from the sidebar on the right into your feedreader.

Feel free to leave a comment below to let me know what you think of these new features or if you encounter any problems.

Pilgrim art

2007-09-04T18:23:00.000+02:00

Almost exactly a year ago, I had the pleasure of meeting North American pilgrim Melissa West at a refuge in Pamplona. I remember sharing some interesting conversations with her regarding, among other things, the pagan and Christian origins of the Camino francés route.

As happens with so many people you meet on the Camino, I left Melissa behind to walk on to my next etapa, while she stayed on in Pamplona. I did not meet her again on that Camino but I did hear about her progress from other pilgrims I came across who knew or had met her. Something about our brief meeting stayed with me and we've kept in touch ever since via the occasional email.

It was wonderful to receive an email from her yesterday announcing two exhibitions of linoleum block prints by Melissa inspired by her adventures on the Camino.

As well as displaying her talent, Melissa's prints reveal great observation and insight and I'm sure her images will strike a chord with past and future pilgrims.

Those interested in seeing her Camino-inspired (and other) artwork should take a look at her website or visit the exhibitions which will be held in Oakland (Sept 29) and Santa Cruz (Oct 7).

Further details of the exhibitions can be found here.

[The image in this post is of a linoleum block print entitled Crossing the Meseta and is reproduced here with the kind permission of the artist and copyright holder, Melissa West]

Camino songlines

2007-04-30T10:21:00.000+02:00

If you're a fan of choral polyphony and Gregorian chant and are looking for some music to take with you on the Camino, then check out the magnificent CD by the Monteverdi Choir entitled Pilgrimage to Santiago.

In 2004, in its 40th anniversary year, the choir undertook the Camino de Santiago starting from Le Puy in France. Along the way, the choir performed in many ancient churches and cathedrals...

The album's liner notes speak of the inspiration for the journey as being the notion that:

...Music, from its Gregorian roots to the great flowering of a cappella polyphony in the fifteenth, sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, has the power to re-ignite these churches, to recharge batteries flattened by over-use and the seeping away of cumulative prayer...*

The recording was made after the choir's journey and was conceived as an "an opportunity to share our experience of living inside the music along the route".*

The album includes interpretations of chants from the twelfth-century Codex Calixtinus or Liber Sancti Jacobi (‘Book of St James’) which once served as the pilgrim's guide to the way to Santiago and included music for St James' feast day on 25 July.

To listen to an interview with the conductor of the Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardner, interspersed with some extracts from the recording, click here. You can also listen to a few a tracks from the album and download the album liner notes by clicking on the album sleeve icon on this page.

The tracklisting of the album is:

Music from the twelfth-century Codex Calixtinus:
Dum pater familias
Congaudeant Catholici
Alma perpetui
Psallat chorus celestium
O Venerande Apostoli
O lux et decus Hispaniae

from the Llibre Vermell:
O virgo splendens

and by composers

Tomás Luis de Victoria:
Missa O Quam Gloriosum
Motet O Quam Gloriosum
Vadam et Circuibo

Jacobus Clemens non Papa:
O Maria vernans rosa
Sanctus

Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina:
Jesu Rex admirabilis

Guillaume Dufay:
Rite majorem

Cristobal Morales:
Parce mihi Domine

Orlande de Lassus:
Iustorum animae

and Jean Mouton:
Nesciens mater

Thanks to fellow pilgrim Melissa for bringing this beautiful recording to my attention!

[*Quotes from the liner notes to the album "Pilgrimage to Santiago", © 2006 Tess Knighton]

"Wayfaring" - an album inspired by the Camino

2007-04-30T09:30:00.000+02:00

Washington DC folk-rock band one left has released its fourth album entitled Wayfaring.

Wayfaring was inspired by the Camino de Santiago, which singer-songwriter Rick Rowland has been on several times.

You can listen to tracks from Wayfaring here as well as purchase a copy of the album from this page.

Reproduced below are the album's sleeve notes:

Wayfaring

...on the age-old Camino de Santiago, over the French Pyrenees and across the mountains and plains of Spain to the very ends of the earth itself...

...on the road to Santiago.

Where wonders are experienced, insights are gained and a wanderer’s heart finds solace and loss. The road is long and hard and sometimes even treacherous.

The journey begins with a sacred call. A call from above, heard amidst the frenzied urban riffs of Heaven Calling, through the ever-encroaching tidal wave of global rule, fading cultures and life signs measured by a click or two. There’s a full sense here of the urgency of responding to the call, and so our traveller embarks, without further ado,

...on the road to Santiago.

When next we come across him he is on his way with a spring in his step, accompanied by a Girl from Monreal. Her presence seems to ease the wanderer’s burden of long days spent alone on the road, re-routing his journey away from the soul towards a soul-mate. But just how long will she stay by his side? How off-course will this diversion take him? The road is long and life passes by and by...

Soon enough, the road itself fills our traveller’s mind. A country ease creeps into his song and step. The call has been heeded and his mind now turns to the many many miles ahead. As autumn fades and winter grips his soul, the wanderer asks - if not the end of the road, what might there be Around the Bend,

...on The road to Santiago?

Bounding along to a spirited Knoppfler-esque walker’s anthem, we find our pilgrim scurrying along red Rioja soil, his goal firmly planted in his and our minds. The journey has its mecca, James the Greater’s tomb, and we follow the wayfarer’s purposeful progress through fragrant forests of blooming chestnut, oak and eucalypt - forests as varied as life’s fickle fates.

Before he knows it, the ebbs and flows of time and tide have overtaken the walker’s life. Storms are brewing just over the horizon and the wayfarer finds - like his seafaring mates - that the sailing is never smooth boys. Trouble looms with Magdeline by the Sea, for every port brings its exotic enticements and every traveller, at some time in his life, has given in to a wanderlust.

One more romantic interlude - a Nordic detour with You Scandinavian Girl - before he moves on to a riskier wayside flirtation, this time of the Faustian kind. With The Devil in Red, Satan crosses our pilgrim’s path, as happened so often to wandering Mississippi Delta bluesmen of old. With more than a passing nod to the likes of Wall of Voodoo, we enter a world peopled by scoundrels and liars and the journey to the holy of holies in Santiago begins to take a sinister turn - a headlong rush into the jaws of judgement.

Beware, O pilgrim, the perils that may beset you, even

...on the road to Santiago.

With Gypsy Roses, we’re ushered into an enchanted cantina with the suggestive languor of an Eagles-style intro. The music is as lush as the air of the gypsy-temptress’ parlour is perfumed. To the tune of the sitar-sounding bridge, the pilgrim’s last resistance is melted away. The assault on the helpless pilgrim’s senses will linger on, long after his encounter with the scented flamenco princess is but a memory...

A subsequent tangle with French Marie has more than a touch of military precision about it, but its heavy nostalgia for a love sadly lost appears to haunt the weary traveller, threatening to halt his progress ahead. Now the fatigue of the many miles traversed has begun to take its toll

...on the road to Santiago.

The weight of every step is felt in the next etapa’s plodding pace. But with his weariness comes the dawning of wisdom. The towers of Santiago’s cathedral are now well within sight and the pilgrim begins to make his final reckoning. A sense of perspective is finally gained - an awareness of the ripples in life that are caused With Every Step we take.

The Pilgrim's Way leads us into the very heart of Celtic Galicia, a land of enchantment and witchery, where one journey ends and another begins. The road ahead is unmapped and not as generously populated with the helpful yellow arrows that have guided the traveller safely to James’ hallowed tomb.

The joy of arriving is mixed with the sorrow of leaving, as the wayfarer bids farewell to Santiago’s fair way...

And so, 800 kilometres on, having covered a vast stretch of emotional, mystical and spiritual terrain, Wayfaring leaves the acoustic pilgrim with a burning question.

Is the rich and varied musical landscape glimpsed along the way (spanning country, folk and rock) inspired by sensations and experiences on the Camino in Spain? Or are the album’s myriad of sensory inflections and soulful introspections a masterful reinterpretation of the journey to Santiago in a fluent North American musical vernacular?

As is often the case with that complex tapestry woven between life and imagination, the answer lies somewhere intriguingly in between...

© 2007 John Mifsud

Original post: 22 January 2007
Post updated: 30 April 2007

moBlogging the Camino #4 - In the palm of your hand

2007-03-21T23:07:00.000+01:00

Just in from David Russell, pilgrim blogger at Mendocino Camino, is his anticipated guest post on moBlogging the Camino using a PDA device, or PalmPilot.

Over at Wikipedia, they describe a PDA, or Personal Digital Assistant, as a handheld computer originally designed as a personal organizer but which has become much more versatile in recent years.

David tells us how, almost of its own accord, his PDA found its way into his Camino packing list and made itself mighty useful along the way...

________________________

I am a bit of a geek...

My first inkling of the Camino came when my father asked if I wanted to go for a bicycle ride. Oh yes, a 500 mile bike ride...in Spain. He neglects the details sometimes...

Since he was buying the airfare, I said heck yes. My two-wheel experience has mostly been on BMW models, the kind with a throttle. I have bicycled occasionally, but Dad is a real nut. My sister Ann, her husband Brian, and 11-year-old Tom also came along.

At first I thought of going cold turkey, no technology at all...then, a camera had to come, then, some way of checking email...oh...and backing up the digital camera chips.

So, my PalmPilot snuck on board as well. I have a Palm Lifedrive*.

Every night, I would take the three cameras we brought and, by inserting the cameras' chips into the PDA, back up our photos on the device and its memory chip.

I carried it in the handlebar bag, along with my camera, for easy access. Coming down the hill off the Pyrenees into Roncesvalles, I went over the bars, flew quite aways, but the gear was fine. It handled a large amount of jiggling without any issues. I was worried about charging it, but shouldn't have - there were electrical outlets in all of the albergues and hotels. I never came close to not having enough juice.

To blog, I used a program (purchased separately from Normsoft for USD$15) called Hblogger. It lets you compose your posts offline and also post photos. The software does not resize photos physically, but I can tell it to scale the photo down and the resolution remains the same.

You can save a post as a draft, so it will not be sent until specified. Kinda like an email program. Once I find an internet connection (via built-in WiFi), I open Hblogger and choose send. It logs into my previously setup account at blogspot.com and sends all saved posts. It supports other popular blogging platforms too, like MovableType and TypePad.

Posting by email is also possible, but Hblogger allows you to customise your post and photos a lot better. A big plus of using either Hblogger or email to post is that logging into your blog and posting that way requires you to be connected to the internet while you're writing the post, which drains the battery life big-time. Email posts and Hblogger allow you to write offline.

In various spots, I'd pull over and do a posting while waiting for the others, or while lying down in the evenings. At one pension, I noticed a man working wirelessly, so checked to see if it was unlocked and accessible. Bingo! My first free internet connection in Spain....but most of them, at least 75%, were secured. This means that there is an access password required to use the wireless connection. For me, posting was not that much of an urgent priority, so I waited for an unsecured one.

The bigger cities had more wireless signals available. In Burgos, I got a connection from the hotel window, in other towns I had to walk around a bit, looking. I had another software package called WiFi-Where, which quickly tells me what is available and what is locked. I could have found a cafe with secured WiFi and paid money but I prefer to find free! I had about 4 posts by the time I got to Burgos. After dinner, once I found a free, unlocked access point, I blasted them all out to my blog.

I typed my posts using the on-screen keyboard, not terribly easy, but not that hard, either.

All in all, it worked very well. The French>English dictionary saved the day several times, and the Spanish>English dictionary kept me at least slightly informed as to what my sister was saying...she speaks Spanish fluently. I also had all my ebooks with me for reading....but the Camino is about the surrounding experiences, so that was more important.

We stopped in Fromista and started cycling south towards Madrid along the canals. We decided to stay on the pilgrim's path, no matter how long it took, and stop when we ran out of time....and Fromista was where we ran out of time.

But we'll be returning to finish our Camino next fall. That's my family, me and the Palm LifeDrive...

Buen Camino!
David
Mendocino Camino

*I did hack my Palm LifeDrive a little bit. Instead of the onboard 4 gigabyte microdrive hard drive, I switched to a 4gb compact flash disk. This greatly increased battery life and reliability. It also has a 4gb SD card for backups. Another modification was a 2500mha battery. These enhancements cost me a further USD$200

In summary:

Pros

24 hour access to write posts/emails when you please
No need to find an internet cafe to blog
Nice size screen to work on
Easy way to back up your digital camera's photos
It is possible to add photos to blog posts
Email-sending, HTML net browser and Hblogger software means you can choose between emailing posts (see Part 1 in this series), posting by logging in to your blog in the browser or letting Hblogger do the work
Easy-to-read screen/legible typed characters
Device easier-to-use than your average laptop
Similar size to a cell phone - just a little wider
Includes MP3 player for music
Software available includes ebooks, travel guides and language/translation aid
Cost: out of production now, but available on eBay and other places for about USD$200

Cons

Touch screen keyboard with stylus, not as comfortable as a normal keyboard
A little tech know-how is needed to optimize the device
If unsecured WiFi connection not available, can be expensive to post via paid connection
No camera - photos must be transferred to PDA from camera for blog posting
No GPS or cell phone

__________________

[The abovementioned features are those that come with the Palm LifeDrive. David advises that his is a model not commercially available anymore but which can still be purchased at eBay and other places. Other PalmPilots and PDAs may come with different features. This post is intended as a general suggestion of PDA devices as a possible solution for pilgrims who wish to blog more easily from the Camino. It is not an endorsement of any particular product or its manufacturers. Other products on the market may be just as good or even better than the one mentioned here. If you're interested in comparing other PDAs or PalmPilots, have a look at sites such as: cnet.com.au.

If you are familiar with any alternative PDA or moBlogging devices that you think would be useful for intending pilgrim bloggers, feel free to leave a comment below.]

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moBlogging the Camino #3 - The Pocketmail Way

2007-03-14T23:11:00.000+01:00

In this third instalment of an unusually practical series of posts for On the way to Santiago, veteran pilgrim and WanderingTheWorld blogger, Jim Damico, guest posts on another moBlogging option: Pocketmail*.

Jim describes a simple-to-use mobile emailing device which might provide the perfect solution for those who wish to blog on the go from the Camino but find the prospect of dealing with the technology and price of a smartphone daunting.

Pocketmail allows you to moBlog via "email posts" (see Part 1 of this series for more on this).

And now, over to Jim for the details...

__________________________

I first encountered Pocketmail when I was biking across the USA in 2001. I had met Mike, another touring cyclist from Australia, and we decided to ride together.

On that first day, he pulled up to a phone booth and didn't even get off his bike. He reached the phone, dialed a number and held up this device which was about the size of checkbook. It made some sounds, then he hung up and we continued on our way.

Once in camp, he pulled out the Pocketmail and started to read and answer his email. No need for an internet cafe, which were few and far between on the backroads in the USA.

The Pocketmail 'Composer' is an email device which uses sound to send and receive email. It opens much like today's cell phones to reach the earpiece and mouthpiece of any phone handset. You dial an access number and then push a button to begin the process. Depending on the amount of email to send or receive, it takes just a few seconds.

To read or write email or blog posts, you open the Pocketmail just like a checkbook. The top half has an 8-line black & white text screen which has a backlight if it's too dark. The bottom half is a thumb-style keyboard, complete with caps and special characters. I thought it would be hard to learn to use but it's pretty easy, just like playing a video game.

Powered by two AA-sized batteries and featuring lots of menu options, the Pocketmail device is only about as thick as a wallet.

Pocketmail.com has set up phone numbers all over the world. The numbers in the USA and Australia are toll-free, while numbers in Europe are local calls depending on your location. You pay a monthly subscription fee and that's it. Dial up a number and get your mail or blog to your heart's content.

For moBloggers, the one serious limitation of the device is that it is not possible to post photos to your blog as you can only send text emails without attachments. The subscription fee does come with a mailbox where you can view email attachments sent to you online at your next computer stop, but it's not possible to view attachments (except basic text ones) on the device.

In summary:

Pros

Full keyboard to type comfortably
24 hour access to write posts/emails when you please
Can send/receive emails
Cost of the device is about USD100
Just a little bit thicker than a wallet
Will connect to all phones and most cell phones
As easy as any email computer program
One set of AA batteries will last about a month
No need to find an internet cafe
Backlight when needed

Cons

If a local access number not available, can be more expensive
Subscription plans only in 3/6/12 month durations
Only able to view text emails, no html or attachments
No camera, GPS or MP3 player
Will not work with some cell phones
Cannot post photos as attachment sending not supported
No internet browser - so no net surfing

As I walk through Europe this year, including the Camino de Santiago, I'll be using my Pocketmail to keep in touch with family and friends and to send email updates to my blog (WanderingTheWorld.com).

Jim Damico

More information on the device is available at Pocketmail

_____________________

Jim begins his walk in May this year. Be sure to check out his blog to see moBlogging Pocketmail-style in action.

The next post in this series will focus on moBlogging the Camino using a PDA or PalmPilot and will be a guest post by David Russell, author of the Mendocino Camino blog.

[* This post is intended as a review of the Pocketmail device as a possible solution for pilgrims who wish to blog more easily from the Camino. It is not a product endorsement for Pocketmail or its manufacturers. Other products on the market may be just as good or even better.

If you are familiar with any alternative moblogging devices that you think would be useful for intending pilgrim bloggers, feel free to leave a comment below or email me if you're interested in guest-posting on the topic.]

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moBlogging the Camino #2 - Using a smartphone

2007-03-12T12:07:00.000+01:00

In the second post in this series on moBlogging the Camino, I take a look at the pros and cons of using a smartphone to blog as you walk.

A smartphone, according to the Wikipedia definition, is "a full-featured mobile phone with personal computer like functionality". There are quite a few products which fit the bill and would meet the requirements of travelling pilgrims. By way of example only, I will speak of the Nokia E70* - the phone I recently bought precisely so I could moBlog.

The phone comes with many features but I will only outline those which a Camino moBlogger would find most useful.

Firstly, as you can see from the photos, the E70 folds out from its mobile phone form into a full QWERTY keyboard, which makes typing your posts a lot more comfortable than it would be on a normal mobile keypad! Effectively, this means you have 24-hour access to a "computer-in-your-pocket" to compose your posts as and when you please.

Secondly, the smartphone can access the internet via your mobile phone company's network or by connecting to any wireless networks available in the area ("wifi"). This means that if you can find free wifi internet hotspots, you'll be able to publish to your blog (as well as send emails and surf the net) for free. Given that some internet access points on the Camino francés were charging 4 euro an hour in 2006, this can represent a significant saving in costs over the 4 to 5 weeks of your trip.

It is worth bearing in mind mendodave's comment on an earlier post where he noted that it was difficult to find unsecured (i.e. unpassworded) wireless connections in Spain. The solution may be to get a Spanish SIM card and publish your posts via a paid mobile network (which could be pricey on a prepaid service).

Next, the E70 comes with an HTML internet browser similar to what you have on your PC. This means that you are not restricted to viewing only those websites which have been optimized for viewing on a mobile phone. So you can directly log into your blog and post as you normally would at home (without needing to set up the "posting by email" feature I mentioned in Part 1 of this series). You can even preview your post to see how it will look.

Other features that come with this particular smartphone include:

a 2 megapixel digital camera with zoom (but keep in mind this is a fixed focus camera without flash and will not give you the quality of photos that a normal digital camera can)
a GPS navigator program to help you find your way if you lose sight of those yellow Camino waymarkers (but this needs to be paired with a GPS device, sold separately, to receive satellite signals)
an MP3 player to listen to music
a voice recorder (handy to record your thoughts quickly as you walk for inclusion in your blog posts later)

Some practical considerations to bear in mind (not just with the E70, but with most smartphones):

they tend to chew up batteries pretty quickly so you need to make sure you take your battery recharger with you.
smartphones can still be quite pricey so it pays to shop around. For instance, the Nokia E70 currently retails for around USD570. While you might be willing to invest this sum in a phone that acts as your walkman, digital camera, compass and internet access point all-in-one, you will need to be security conscious about where you leave the phone and careful about treating it roughly or knocking it. Travel insurance covering your valuables against theft might be a wise idea.
for most of us, it's not a good idea to just pack the phone thinking you'll learn how to use it along the way. At least at the beginning, there is a learning curve. It would be best to have a play around with the phone before leaving for the Camino and setting a few things up before you go (for example, you can bookmark your blog's log-in page in the browser or even publish a test moblog post).

In summary:

Pros

A full, thumb-style backlit keyboard to type comfortably (even in the dark)
24-hour access to a computer - write when you please
Email-sending and HTML net browsing (so you can email posts to your blog or post by logging in to your blog - see Part 1 in this series)
Comes with a digital camera
GPS navigation (in case you get lost!)
It doubles as an MP3 player
Not much bigger/heavier than a standard mobile phone
If you take photos with the phone, you're not reliant on access to a PC with a USB connection to upload photos to your posts

Cons

Price can be high (shop around and insure against theft)
Some tech knowhow is needed to set the device up before leaving home
If free unsecured wifi is not available, it can be expensive to connect to the internet abroad
Battery consumption - rapid depletion with feature-rich phones
Not a lot you can do to manipulate photos before posting them to your blog
The size of the text on the screen is small making (at least the E70) inappropriate for people who don't have keen vision

The next post in this series will be a guest post by Jim from WanderingTheWorld.com on moBlogging with the simple-to-use Pocketmail device.

[* The abovementioned features are those that come with the Nokia E70. Other smartphones may come with different features. This post is intended as a review of the Nokia E70 as a possible solution for pilgrims who wish to blog more easily from the Camino. It is not an endorsement of Nokia or its E70 phone. Other products on the market may be just as good or even better. If you're interested in comparing other smartphones, have a look at sites such as: cnet.com.au.

If you are familiar with any alternative smartphone or moblogging devices that you think would be useful for intending pilgrim bloggers, feel free to leave a comment below or email me if you're interested in guest-posting on the topic.]

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moBlogging the Camino #1 - An Introduction

2007-03-11T14:06:00.000+01:00

Among the pilgrims heading out to walk the Camino in the coming months, some will be eagerly looking forward to detaching themselves completely from their everyday life back at home. Others, however, will want to keep in regular contact with folks back at home or maybe even share the amazing experience they are about to have with the world at large.

Thankfully, for those wanting to share their experiences as they unfold, living in the 21st century brings many advantages for the modern-day pilgrim. Today's pilgrim has a number of powerful communication tools at his/her disposal - and I don't just mean mobile phones and email.

Quite a few pilgrims I met on the road last year kept blogs of their journeys as they walked the Camino - some of them open for everyone to read and others restricted to a circle of family and friends.

Blogs lend themselves ideally to journal-style travelogues, also allowing you to easily upload and share photos for those moments that perhaps words alone may fail to describe. One quick post keeps people up-to-date with your progress and insights from your Camino that you may want to share without having to write numerous individual emails or make expensive international phone calls.

For the intending pilgrim blogger, there is a wealth of blogging platforms (e.g. Blogger, Wordpress etc.) to choose from and loads of information online to help you choose the platform that suits you.

In this series of posts on "moBlogging the Camino", I will explore some of the ways you can comfortably maintain your blog from the Camino.

How can I blog from the Camino?

Traditional blogging: This involves either writing your posts in advance (long hand) and then transcribing them to your blog when next you come across an internet access point or typing and publishing your posts all in one hit when you have computer access. This is the method I used last year to post to this blog from the Camino.

It is a possible option, especially as there are a number of internet cafés en route and some refugios also have internet access. It also has simplicity to commend it. However, as a prolific blogger, I encountered many technical and practical problems in using this method, which I described in an earlier post, A blogger's guide to the Camino, which you may wish to consider before opting for traditional blogging.

moBlogging (or mobile blogging): This method requires a little technical savoir faire but is the ideal solution for those who want to be able to blog regularly without being limited to the often outdated or limited technology/software available at internet cafés and without being restricted to blogging only when there are internet acesss points around.

Basically it involves using a "portable mobile device" to write and publish your posts. By moBlogging, you can compose your posts while resting in bed at the albergue, in a field of poppies on the meseta or wherever you like!

With moBlogging, you have two options as to how to post on the go:

email posting: you can send a post to your blog as an email, without even needing to visit or log in to your blog. A number of blogging platforms now allow you to do this. (For help on this see, for instance, Blogger and Wordpress). All you need is a mobile device that is also able to send emails. Just compose your email post, attach any photos and send the email

normal posting: if your mobile device comes with an HTML browser (not just a WAP one), you can easily visit your blog, log in and post directly from there as you normally would at home on a PC

What exactly is a portable mobile device?

There are various devices you can use to moBlog. They include using a PDA/Palmpilot, a smartphone and a device called Pocketmail.

Over the coming week or so, I'll be looking at each of these devices as a possible solution for Camino moBloggers. My first post will explore the "smartphone" option.

[* The observations in this series of posts are based on my experiences walking in Spain on the Camino francés route. Other more isolated routes (such as the Via de la Plata) may present different issues (e.g. lack of internet facilities or even absence of a mobile phone signal). Anyone who has walked other Camino routes and can add some thoughts on blogging from them is welcome to share their experiences in the comments section below.]

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A new pilgrimage season begins...

2007-03-04T23:11:00.000+01:00

I'm back in Rome and with all the birds chirping away in the morning outside my window there's no mistaking spring is in the air.

The weather is fining up and after the Christmas/New Year lull, there's a buzz of excitement building on Camino forums and blogs around the world as we head into a fresh new pilgrimage season.

A whole new wave of pilgrims is eagerly posting questions on message boards and making preparations to undertake the journey to Santiago de Compostela.

But some veteran pilgrims also have plans underway for a return to Santiago over the coming months and have some valuable insights to share.

Over at Amawalker.blogspot.com, South African pilgrim Sil is busy making practical and personal preparations for her return to the Camino francés in September of this year. Her recent post entitled Adding new footsteps alongside the old ones explores why a pilgrim would walk the same route again (see also my previous post On "doing" the Camino). Her reflections on how her approach to this second camino has changed from that of her first pilgrimage make for very thoughtful reading.

And in a post entitled The Triple Gem, returning pilgrim Jim at WanderingTheWorld.com discusses his upcoming six-month hike which will take in the pilgrimage routes to Santiago, Canterbury and Rome. He plans to start walking in May this year.

In response to the question put to him as to why he would undertake such an epic journey, Jim, a practising buddhist, concluded that for him it is about "opening up myself to the 'unknown' and to let the world come to me as I walk every day... trusting life to unfold as it's going to unfold."

Personally, as I may soon be moving away from Rome to live in a small village in Umbria, I am still debating whether I will return to walk the Camino de Santiago this year. I had thought to walk the Camino portugués later in the year but time may be short. An alternative might be to walk the much shorter Cammino di Francesco (or Way of St Francis) in Umbria itself.

Time alone will tell what my plans will be, but one thing is clear: my experiences on the Camino de Santiago remain an ever-present element in my life. Perhaps the words of fantasy novelist Philip Pullman in the second book of the "His Dark Materials" trilogy, The Subtle Knife, aptly describe the legacy in one's life of the pilgrimage experience.

In the novel, there is a scene where a character named "Serafina" encounters a group of angels paying homage to a chosen child:

"And then Serafina understood something for which [her people] had no word: it was the idea of pilgrimage. She understood why these beings would wait for thousands of years and travel vast distances in order to be close to something important, and how they would feel differently for the rest of time, having been briefly in its presence..."

New blog sees the light of day

2007-01-17T17:38:00.000+01:00

For those of you who've expressed an interest in seeing what else I write when I'm not blogging the Camino, you'll be able to follow some of my writing projects on a new blog called global bedouin's oasis.

It's been a long two weeks of planning, designing and debugging but my writing blog is now finally up and running.

I will still continue to post Camino-related material here at On the way to Santiago.

I hope you enjoy the new blog.
Hasta luego!
John

Notes from the Afterlife #4: A childlike simplicity

2007-01-05T09:50:00.000+01:00

It's going on 3 months now since I left Santiago for home. The time has passed quickly, yet I remember much of the distance travelled with an unusually vivid recall. Images flash through my mind daily of the towns and villages along the Camino I either passed through or stopped to explore.

I must admit, however, that in September and October 2006 when I walked the Camino the second time, I often passed through places thinking I knew what they looked like from my first visit in 2003, only to find my memory had somewhat failed me.

And so it was that I discovered that the place I'd distinctly remembered as being Belorado was in reality Boadilla. And the city atop a hill that I'd crossed a bridge over a wide dammed river to reach, was Portomarín not Sarria.

Yet for the most part, I only seem to have got the names wrong. Give or take a new highway or housing estate here or there, the villages and cities along the Camino francés were much as I had remembered them.

Just as vivid in my mind are the people I met, the many kindnesses I received and the gifts I was able to share.

Almost 3 months have passed since leaving Santiago and in many ways I've travelled so much further since my time on the Camino. Currently, of course, I'm in Australia with family, but that's not that the distance travelled I mean.

I'm talking of the return to my isolated existence in the outskirts of Rome immediately after my walk in Spain. The night at a theatre in the Jewish quarter of Rome, where my friend Carlo got a standing ovation for a piece I helped stage-direct (for the first time in my life). And the resumption of my battle to be paid for work I did for an Italian public service client almost a year ago. Not to forget the overwhelming flood of work I received over Christmas and New Year - the busiest I've been all year.

Or finding myself, from one day to the next, amidst the bustling activity of my southern Mediterranean family here in Melbourne. Meeting and playing with my smiley little niece for the first time since her birth in August. And all the while grappling with a rapidly changing Australia, one which in so many ways I no longer recognise as the country I grew up in and last lived in some 4 years ago.

There've been beautiful moments and some difficult times since I left Santiago de Compostela. It's been anything but a dull or uneventful time. And yet I've had to sit and think hard while writing the last two paragraphs to recall the more recent milestones. I've had to focus to retrace the steps on the road after Santiago that have brought me to today.

By contrast, visions of walking the meseta or the swinging botafumeiro come to me effortlessly, as do fleeting images of the bull run in Viana. Faces of pilgrims I shared days of my journey walking up mountains with and the thoughts we exchanged also seem etched on my memory and unlikely to fade.

So what is it, I ask myself, about everyday life that makes it so hard to remember the progress we've made and the many wonders we experience? Surely moments I've had with those I love are no less special than those rich exchanges with pilgrims on the Camino.

If the Camino is like life, and life is a Camino, then why do I have a more vivid memory of my experiences on the way to Santiago, than I do of things that happen everyday?

You might say it's because on the Camino you're in a different place, experiencing a new culture, meeting new people. And yes, there is an element of the stimulation that travel in a foreign country brings with it, though in my case that was tempered by the fact that I'd been there before.

And yes there's the history, the sense of being part of something larger than yourself, a gravitas that springs from the knowledge of all the ancient and modern pilgrims who have walked there before you. The timebound rituals, the imposing monuments, the changing landscapes and the physical challenge.

I'll concede all the above have had a part to play in fixing the Camino experience firmly in my mind.

But I feel there's an even more basic reason why my memories of the Camino are thrown into sharper focus than much of the experiences of daily life.

The answer, I believe, lies in the simplicity of life as it's lived on the Camino, where daily life is rudimentary at best. Walking, eating, greeting and meeting, following the waymarkers, sharing with fellow pilgrims, handwashing clothes and eventually sleeping.

I think of the many times I've heard adults say that they don't remember things as well as they did when they were children. I've often wondered whether we sell ourselves short when we judge our memories so harshly. Perhaps we adults find it so hard to remember, or even cherish precious moments as they unfold, because of the clutter that fills our minds.

Life seemed so much simpler when we were children because it was - life as an adult is overly complicated. We are self-conscious, inhibited. We have materialistic aspirations and consuming ambitions. And we hang on to the things that perhaps we should forget. Injuries, grudges, petty jealousies - the very things that children, despite their great memories, so often forget.

I'm beginning to see my vivid memories of the Camino experience in a revealing light, to understand why Camino images, insights and encounters linger on, why my time on the road stands in sharp relief.

I'm starting to see in the Camino the rejuvenating power of simplicity - a simplicity we all had as children.

On the Camino, I felt my mind was much less burdened. I was filled with a heightened sense of the shared nature of the journey of life we are all on. I had time to notice the different trees in the forests I walked through and to remark on how the enormous black slugs I saw silently wending their way, walked across rather than along the Camino.

I had time because my life was stripped to the bare minimum I needed: nourishment of my body, sleep and food for the soul. I had time because my life was simple.

Immersed in this refreshing childlike simplicity, the sharp memory I had when I was younger came back.

And with it, for that precious month in Spain, so too did the child in me...

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Final thoughts on the year that was...

2006-12-31T12:23:00.000+01:00

As the clock ticks over towards the beginning of 2007, I see that a lot of other bloggers are writing posts summing up their year. Given that this blog is all about the contemplative experience of the Santiago pilgrimage and the benefits that such reflection brings, I thought I'd end the year here at On the way to Santiago with a look back at my personal highpoints over the past year.

A round-up, you might say, of what 2006 has meant for me - before and beyond the Camino. Feel free to leave your own thoughts on 2006 as a comment below.

My journey of the year: Walking the Camino francés a second time, this time from St Jean Pied de Port, crossing the Pyrenees despite suffering from a painful back injury. I've written a lot here about the people I met, the wonders I saw, the challenges I faced and how the journey has helped me grow. That growth continues, as does the journey, which remains a source of daily inspiration for me. In 2007, I hope to explore the Camino further. Perhaps I will walk another route to Santiago or return to the Camino as an hospitalero.

My discovery of the year: the blogosphere. This blog was inspired by my desire to share my Camino experience with others. But I come across new blogs every day which are inspired by the same wish to share knowledge and experiences with others. Blogging has not only allowed me to do what I like doing best (i.e. writing) but also enabled me to find and reach an audience and learn a lot from my readers in the process.

And then there's the wonderful feeling of being part of an important social phenomenon, a vehicle for free speech and empowerment in a world of increasingly silenced debate and intolerance of difference. If I have one resolution for 2007 apart from travelling more, it's to blog more. Perhaps I can combine the two again.

My book of the year: A friend in Rome recently gave me a book to read by Philip Pulman. It is a novel entitled "Northern Lights" ("The Golden Compass" in America), the first in a series called His Dark Materials. The book is a fantasy novel, a quest with a difference, exploring the threat of repression that institutionalized religion can pose when the power it wields is abused. It also explores fundamental issues such as the nature of the soul (called "daemons" in the book) without ever descending into preachiness or dogma. The book is beautifully written and I'm now into the equally enjoyable second novel in the series, "The Subtle Knife".

Prior to this, my favourite book for the year was Umberto Eco's "Baudolino". Set in the 12th century, it tells the story of an Italian peasant's 25-year long journey to the East in search of a mythical Utopian Christian kingdom. Along the way, he gets involved in some very hairy situations (usually of his own making), meets some amazing creatures and learns a lot about himself and the world. I was given this book for Christmas in 2005 and read it in January 2006, so you could say my year began with pilgrimages on my mind...

My friend of the year: Carlo - this one goes to you. In September, I was struck with debilitating back pain just days before I was meant to leave for France to start the Camino. Carlo put his life on hold (he even cancelled a job interview) to move to my house from his place at the other end of Rome. Thanks to his care, attention and encouragement, after 5 days in bed, I managed to get on a plane and experience yet again the magic of the Camino. Carlo, ti ringrazio di cuore.
My achievement of the year: after spending Christmas in Melbourne with family in 2005, I returned to Italy in February 2006 with all my official papers for Italy having expired in the meantime. I had already spent 2 years in Rome struggling with Italian authorities to get all the necessary paperwork in order. I had been rewarded for my efforts with defective papers, which expired after one year instead of the five years I was entitled to by law.

So when I went back to Italy, exasperated at the thought of what lay ahead of me, I was determined not to invest any more emotional energy into battling the impassive and obstructive Italian bureaucracy. And to my complete surprise, despite having a more blasé attitude than I'm usually known for, I managed to obtain a 5-year work permit, 5-year healthcare registration, an EU health card, an Italian ID card and enrol on the Italian electoral roll all within the space of 2 weeks.

Those with any experience of living in Italy will confirm that this is nothing short of a miracle! After achieving this, the challenge of reinventing myself as a freelance translator living abroad, while writing poetry and fiction in whatever time I could find, seemed like a piece of cake.

My Roman discoveries of the year: Living in Italy is not all frustration. It has its benefits. My highlights of living in Rome this year were: discovering the spectacular view of the Roman Forum from the Capitoline Hill (my blog profile photo was taken against this backdrop), exploring the truly beautiful and extensive gardens of Villa Doria Pamphilj (where I've spent hours reading and writing) and experiencing the magic of the Villa Celimontana Jazz Festival, a summer night-time event set in beautiful villa gardens near the Colisseum.

And last but not least-

My self-discovery of the year: that people who need people are the luckiest people in the world...

In short, 2006 has been a year of coming to terms with living in a foreign country and finding a comfortable space in that environment that allows me to live and express myself creatively. It's been a year of disappointment with some friendships and a new-found appreciation of others - with the hand of friendship being extended by many when I really needed it, on and off the Camino.

It was a year that started with me feeling exhausted after the long process of adjusting to living in Rome. But the fear that I had no more energy left to face life's big challenges melted away as the Pyrenees faded into the distance behind me a few days into my second Camino.

A year in which I began to get my priorities and life-balance right.

And finally, it was the year that I met so many other pilgrims, on the Camino in Spain and here through this blog - each of you on your own very special journey. All of you have added something special to the year that is now drawing to a close. And for that I am thankful to you all.

Happy new year!

or as we say in Maltese:

Nawguralkom sena ġdida mimlija riżq u hena

John

New-look blog and a happy new year!

2006-12-30T08:50:00.001+01:00

The migration of this blog to "New Blogger" has finally been completed...

Big thanks to my sister who helped me iron out all the bugs.

You'll notice that I've added a few new touches to the look of the blog and installed some new features. These include:

post topics - click on any topic that interests you in the side menu headed "Waymarkers" and all my posts relating to that topic will appear on one page
new site feeds - you can now be notified when there are:

- new posts on the blog;
- new comments on all posts on the blog; and
- new comments on any particular post that interests you.

For details on how to do this, see my post on this topic (Keeping up with blog updates)

So be sure to visit and have a look around and thanks for your patience while I resolved the technical issues.

I look forward to blogging the Camino with you and a whole lot more in 2007!

Best wishes to all of you for a safe and peaceful New Year.
John

[Updated 18 Jan 07]

Christmas greetings from the Antipodes

2006-12-24T12:00:00.000+01:00

Another long journey for 2006 - this time in the comfort of a jumbo jet...

This post comes to you from blisteringly hot Melbourne, Australia, where I'll be spending Christmas and New Year with family and friends after another year living far away in Rome.

Many of you will have noticed that it's been a while since my last post here. Unfortunately, a huge pre-Christmas rush of work and a last-minute decision to fly back to Australia for Christmas, have left me little time to blog over the last few weeks.

But as the heavy cloud of jetlag fatigue begins to lift and the year draws to an impending close, I've found that in talking to my friends and family about what I've been up to in my 3rd year in Rome, I'm only just beginning to appreciate how big a year 2006 has been for me.

The year began with another reinvention of myself professionally - this time as a full-time freelance translator. Yet again the universe has been kind to me. I felt the fear of this risky decision but followed my instincts anyway. I have been blessed with a steady increase in the volume of work, with still enough time left (till the pre-Christmas rush, that is!) for what I like doing best - writing - some of which I hope to share with you all soon!

But without a doubt, the major highlights this year have been walking the Camino de Santiago a second time and creating this blog - both of which have put me in touch with so many wonderful people from all over the world, each of you on your own very special journeys.

So I'd like to wish those of you who I met on the Camino in France and Spain this year, those who've followed and contributed so generously to this blog, and those who've given me such valuable support over the last six months, a wonderful Christmas and holiday season. Or as we say in Maltese:

Nixtiqilkom ilkoll il-Milied it-tajjeb!

I also want to send out a special wish to all those living in the many countries of this world troubled by repression and war. I hope that you will find happiness and love in those around you at this time and that 2007 will bring hope of peaceful resolution to the conflicts that afflict you and your homelands.

I will be posting some new material to this blog very soon. The coming year should also see me launching new blogs on topics that I hope will be of interest to you all.

In the meantime, I wish you and your loved ones all the very best for 2007.

¡Buen camino y feliz navidad a todos!
John

Remembering Foncebadón

2006-12-03T23:00:00.000+01:00

Last October, I stayed the night at the Domus Dei albergue in the abandoned mountaintop village of Foncebadón. After dinner, all of the pilgrims who were gathered round the table had a quiet candle-lit moment of reflection. The only sound that intruded on our thoughts was the wind howling through the wooden rafters set high above our heads.

Then the hospitaleros, both from Seville and suffering terribly from the cold at that altitude, put on a hauntingly beautiful song for us to listen to called "Chove en Santiago" ("It's raining in Santiago"), by Galician folk band Luar na Lubre.

Once the song had finished playing, I think I remember the hospitaleros saying that the song is about how beautiful Santiago is when it rains. But I'd be grateful to anyone who can tell me what the lyrics in Galego actually mean.

On a cold dark Sunday night here in Rome, exactly two months after the night I spent in the atmospheric desolation of Foncebadón, I thought I'd share with you the wonderful video clip for the song "Chove en Santiago" that I first heard there.

Incidentally, towards the end of the clip there's a very brief glimpse of Santiago Cathedral.
_____________________

[For some interesting background on this song (which is based on a poem by Federico García Lorca), see Peter Robins' very informative Camino website The Road to Santiago.

To see if it really is raining in Santiago right now, visit the webcam in the Cathedral square in Santiago.]

Little epiphanies #2: Philip & the Ethiopian eunuch

2006-12-01T00:00:00.000+01:00

The other day, I received an email from a German pilgrim, Annabell, whom I met on the Camino this year. She is currently in Ethiopia, living and learning from her first experiences in a Third World country.

I had many interesting conversations with Annabell on the Camino and our mutually enlightening dialogue continues even now, thanks to the internet bridging the distance between Rome and Ethiopia.

Annabell reminded me that on the Camino I had told her of my encounter in Pamplona, at the end of my first Camino in 2003, with a young Spanish pilgrim named Anselmo. That meeting was the basis for my story St Anselm the Plumber, an experience which I found resonated with me again when I met Adriana and her baby on the Camino this year.

Annabell noticed similarities between the story I'd told her and one she had recently come across in the Bible.

I'm not normally given to quoting scripture, but like Annabell I was struck by the similarity between the story quoted below and some of the conclusions I drew from my experience in Pamplona 3 years ago:

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip, "Rise and go toward the south to the road that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza."... And he rose and went. And there was an Ethiopian, a eunuch, a court official of [the] queen of the Ethiopians... He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was returning, seated in his chariot, and he was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go over and join this chariot." So Philip ran to him...and asked, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "How can I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. Now the passage...he was reading was this:

"Like a sheep he was led to the slaughter
and like a lamb before its shearer is silent,
so he opens not his mouth.
In his humiliation justice was denied him..."

And the eunuch said to Philip, "About whom...does the prophet say this, himself or someone else?" Then Philip...told him...about Jesus. And as they were going along the road they came to some water, and the eunuch said, "See, here is water! What prevents me from being baptized?" And he commanded the chariot to stop...they both went down into the water...and [Philip] baptized him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord carried Philip away, and the eunuch saw him no more, and went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus, and as he passed through he preached the gospel to all...*

(Acts 8:26-40)

The Ethiopian that Philip meets is on his way back from a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Philip approaches him because he is inspired to do so, even though he doesn’t know why. It is a "chance" encounter guided by a higher destiny. Philip joins him on his journey and the eunuch asks him for guidance. The giving of that guidance leads to a process of mutual awakening.

As Annabell, in her email, so beautifully put it: "Resurrection, understanding happens on the way, like on the Camino. And not by yourself, but in the fellowship of others. In sharing experience."

While I hope I'll never resort to preaching like Philip did, looking back on my meeting with Anselmo, where I found myself in the right place at the right time when he needed guidance and discovered (to my surprise!) that I had some to give, probably planted the seed of my desire to share my Camino stories with others.

For me, the story of Philip and the Ethiopian eunuch captures the essence of many of our encounters with others in life, both on and off the Camino. It reinforces my belief that sometimes we are led on a journey whose purpose may not be entirely clear to us but where our presence and what we have to offer is helpful to others we meet along the way.

At the same time, the benefit we ourselves receive lies in sharing the knowledge we've acquired on the way and in what we learn from that act of giving.

I find this idea very reassuring - especially at times when I find it difficult to make sense of the journey I'm on...

[*quote from English Standard Version Bible © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers]

<< Previous Epiphany

Guest Post by Sue Kenney

2006-11-29T22:12:00.000+01:00

When I created this blog back in July this year, it was in the hope of sharing and spreading knowledge of the life-transforming power of the pilgrimage to Santiago de Compostela. Over the last few months, I've posted reflections here on my Camino experiences and their profound significance in my life.

But today, I'm honoured to be handing over the talking (or should that be walking?) stick to a well-known pilgrim voice.

On the way to Santiago's first guest blogger is Sue Kenney, Canadian author of the book "My Camino" and director of the soon-to-be-released Camino documentary "Las Peregrinas".

In her guest post, Sue shares with us some of her inspirational moments from the Camino and reveals a matter very close to her heart...

The Philosophy of Love
by Sue Kenney

Before walking the Camino for the first time, I had developed a philosophy about life that was based on a fundamental belief that if my thoughts, actions, intentions and emotions came from a place of love, I could act from that place knowing that the outcome was contributing something of value to the universe. I also believed that before I could live from a place of love, I must first love myself. The problem I had discovered was in my quest to get ahead in my life, I had lost the ability to love myself.

Finding myself suddenly downsized, I decided to walk the Camino with the intention of finding self-love. A pilgrim I met told me that if you put your sorrow into a stone and place it down on the Camino, that you leave some of your sorrow behind. I believed that if I could leave my sorrow on the path, that would open my heart for more love. In the morning, I would begin each day walking in a state of love. I practised the idea of being love and set stones along the way. By the end of my journey, 29 days later, I felt as though I had no sorrow and I was filled with an overwhelming sense of love. Once I returned home I realized the real lesson was in applying my philosophy to everyday events and that became a discipline.

In October 2005, I walked the Camino for the fourth time and had the distinct honour of staying at the monastery in Samos. There is something mystical about being in a monastery that was built in the 6th century and used to be a pilgrim’s hospital. I was filming a documentary about the journey of five Canadian women who were walking with me. We had been given permission to film the Superior monk and fortunately, one of the pilgrims in our group was able to do the interview in Spanish. While watching, I was fascinated at the joy and delight the Superior monk expressed as he spoke. Although I couldn’t understand what he was saying, I could see that he was very passionate and his face seemed to light up. Later, I learned that he had spoken about this pilgrimage as the Camino de la Concordia; the Camino of Harmony, he called it. He said that he believed that if we all listen to our heart, listened to others’ hearts and if we listen to the heart of the Camino, then we would have Concordia.

In other words, we can all be with the same heart in harmony, if we live from a place of love.

It all seems so simple when it comes from a place of love.

Love and light,
Sue
_____________

If you haven't yet caught up with Sue's work inspired by her pilgrimage to Santiago, have a look at her website for more details of her Camino-related projects.

You can also click here to view a 5 minute trailer of her film "Las Peregrinas".

First Camino photos now online

2006-11-20T08:06:00.000+01:00

Photos from my Camino walk in Spring 2003 have now been added to a separate photo album.

Notes from the Afterlife #3: What did I get out of it?

2006-11-17T19:29:00.000+01:00

It's just over a month now since I returned to Rome from Santiago and having well and truly returned to the "routine" of daily life and work, I often catch myself asking "What did I get out of the Camino?" What has changed?

I guess what we take from the Camino depends on a lot of factors. The spirit in which we undertake the journey. Our reasons for walking the Camino. Our openness to the signs the Camino throws our way. And our readiness to reassess our approach to everyday life.

Today I found myself taking stock of the lessons I feel I've brought home from the Camino. I thought I'd share some of them with you:

that I do have the courage to make important changes in my life and that making them doesn't necessarily mean turning my whole life upside down. Little changes, one step at a time, can still move me in the direction I need to head and are much less discouraging
how important it is to overcome my own fears and insecurities in order to be able to help not just myself but others too
how important it is for me to make an effort to include people in my life for my personal and creative development
just how little I really need to get by
that the Camino is not just a metaphor for life. Life is a Camino and the challenge is to work at incorporating the simplicity, courage and openness I found on the way to Santiago into my everyday life at home
that the fear of what others might think of me should not stop me from being true to myself. I must have faith that others will see the value of who I am over time, no matter what their initial reactions might be (and if not everybody makes that connection, it's not the end of the world)
that giving is as important as receiving. Having expectations that someone will acknowledge or return a favour can only spoil the joys of giving
that it's important to acknowledge how far I've come rather than constantly focussing on how much I fall short of where I want to go
that not every experience I have has to be meaningful for me for it to have been worthwhile. Sometimes the true value of our experience is revealed when we are able to pass on the benefit of any lesson we've learnt to someone in need
that it can be worth doing something you've done before again - as long as you approach it with renewed openness
that as well as doing our best to overcome our fears, it is important to respect other people's fears and not judge them as less real or justified than our own

These are some of the benefits I feel I've personally derived from the Camino. I'd be interested in hearing what other pilgrims have drawn from their experiences.

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Next Note >>

Answer me this...

2006-11-17T08:17:00.000+01:00

I'm opening this post up for any questions about the Camino in general or the Camino stories and reflections posted here.

Is there a topic you’d like me to post on? Or any issue raised in my previous posts you think I didn't address fully? Ask me here.

If you feel you have something you'd like to add or share, feel free to respond to other people's questions here too.