on 15 june 2006 pilgrims pat o'brien (usa), damien walsh (south africa), and carl adair (usa) drank a bottle of champagne on the rocky outcropping known as cabo de fisterra. more than one thousand years prior to the arrival of the first pilgrims in santiago, celts and other wanderers were following the milky way west to this point where the land still comes down hard into the angry surf. each night the sun falls down below the infinite horizon and i can understand their doubts that it would ever come up again.
it's amazing to think of ourselves as participants in a tradition that has existed for 2 millenia. just as they did, we and the others scattered across the rock in various reflections had made a journey towards...what? the camino seems to have denied us that which we were seeking and showered instead other blessings upon us. the whole process and this ending has so much mystery wrapped up in it: it seems that the most finite moment of the trip, the point at which it is physically impossible to keep walking - the point at which the journey must end - that is also the point at which we recognize the infinite. we have been down to the ocean, we have been down to the sea. i'm telling you, it goes on forever. we're nothing before it. our journey seems like nothing before it - a few steps. but i can't imagine a better feeling to have - a feeling more worthy of 900 km, a more appropriate end for this experience along the camino. i only hope we may keep on.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Sunday, June 11, 2006
day 28: santiago de compostela
there are no borders.
there are no boundaries in the land of the living.
there are no boundaries in the land of the living.
Sunday, June 04, 2006
day 21: the microcosm
we're in villafranca, expecting several things:
1) calling home in about an hour
2) our sabbath menú del peregrino: 2 solid courses, dessert, and wine for under €10. t minus 2 hours
3) tomorrow's climb up to O Cebreiro. there's a lot of hype about this climb - apparently from villafranca it's 20 km more or less on the flat, followed by a jack up to 1.297 m in the last 5. we're not worried too about it, we've made it through the meseta. it's amazing how it's easier to get to the top of a mountain that it is to get to the other side of...the earth.
something i need to fill you all in on, today being day 21. on the first day, an extremely challenging 26km through the pyrenees undertaken foolishly after little rest and less food and begun at 2pm from st. jean pied-de-port, Pat and I had a formative discussion about microcosms. specifically, we considered the idea that this first day might be seen as a microcosm for the entire camino, which in turn would be a microcosm for our entire lives. we even expanded it further, conceptualizing each moment of the day as a camino unto itself, and on the expansive end, our lives as microcosms for all human life in all of time. the camino wasted no time in humbling us with a 9:45 pm arrival into roncesvalles having been soaked with rain and even pelted with marble-sized hail, but this microcosm idea has remained around in a different form.
we have been imagining that each day of the camino represents a year of life. our lives. things got off to a rough start - the world out of the womb is an uncomfortable place, and your skin's got to thicken up quick if you've got aspirations beyond the crib. since then we've endured the terrible twos, our first day of school, getting made fun of on the playground, and adolescence. only three days ago we were graduating from high school and going off to college. when you're on the road, the days (years) go slow - but looking back is another story. seems like only 3 days ago i was actually graduating from high school.
anyway, today represents the momentary unity of model and modeled: i'm 21 years old in real life and 21 years old in camino life (which is to say, extremely real life). tomorrow, we march off into the future. here's hoping that O Cebreiro doesn't smack us around too bad, otherwise i'm going back to 19. 19 was great.
twenties: what have you got?
tentative schedule - we're ahead of schedule mileage wise: arrive in santiago 12 june, officially receive half time off in purgatory (score!), hang out that day and the next. 14 june, depart santiago on foot for finisterre, literally 'the end of the earth' - out on the atlantic ocean. frantic waving across that body of water, general rejoicing, frolicking. bus back to santiago 17 june for our flight to london the following day. celebratory fish and chips, pints. 20 june, the camino continues, homeward.
1) calling home in about an hour
2) our sabbath menú del peregrino: 2 solid courses, dessert, and wine for under €10. t minus 2 hours
3) tomorrow's climb up to O Cebreiro. there's a lot of hype about this climb - apparently from villafranca it's 20 km more or less on the flat, followed by a jack up to 1.297 m in the last 5. we're not worried too about it, we've made it through the meseta. it's amazing how it's easier to get to the top of a mountain that it is to get to the other side of...the earth.
something i need to fill you all in on, today being day 21. on the first day, an extremely challenging 26km through the pyrenees undertaken foolishly after little rest and less food and begun at 2pm from st. jean pied-de-port, Pat and I had a formative discussion about microcosms. specifically, we considered the idea that this first day might be seen as a microcosm for the entire camino, which in turn would be a microcosm for our entire lives. we even expanded it further, conceptualizing each moment of the day as a camino unto itself, and on the expansive end, our lives as microcosms for all human life in all of time. the camino wasted no time in humbling us with a 9:45 pm arrival into roncesvalles having been soaked with rain and even pelted with marble-sized hail, but this microcosm idea has remained around in a different form.
we have been imagining that each day of the camino represents a year of life. our lives. things got off to a rough start - the world out of the womb is an uncomfortable place, and your skin's got to thicken up quick if you've got aspirations beyond the crib. since then we've endured the terrible twos, our first day of school, getting made fun of on the playground, and adolescence. only three days ago we were graduating from high school and going off to college. when you're on the road, the days (years) go slow - but looking back is another story. seems like only 3 days ago i was actually graduating from high school.
anyway, today represents the momentary unity of model and modeled: i'm 21 years old in real life and 21 years old in camino life (which is to say, extremely real life). tomorrow, we march off into the future. here's hoping that O Cebreiro doesn't smack us around too bad, otherwise i'm going back to 19. 19 was great.
twenties: what have you got?
tentative schedule - we're ahead of schedule mileage wise: arrive in santiago 12 june, officially receive half time off in purgatory (score!), hang out that day and the next. 14 june, depart santiago on foot for finisterre, literally 'the end of the earth' - out on the atlantic ocean. frantic waving across that body of water, general rejoicing, frolicking. bus back to santiago 17 june for our flight to london the following day. celebratory fish and chips, pints. 20 june, the camino continues, homeward.
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