Intentions

When I was preparing myself for the Camino I made both myself and my dad a bracelet with 5 beads.  Each bead represents an intention that we worked on and held onto through the pilgrimage.  Many people on the Camino carried stones or other items as physical reminders of why they were walking.

The bracelets were great because there is something that happens in your mind in hour 3 or 4 of walking, like meditation, where the "noise" or busy-ness of life falls away and there is really a wonderful quiet and calm left.  I have had this a few times but it definitely takes work to get there.  I was inspired to write this post because I have been back at work  for 3 days and I am missing that calm tremendously.  There are lingering effects, and I feel able to step above the crazy and the chaos but I can still feel it pulling me back in, regrettably.

I kept my intentions for the Camino broad and high level so that each time I came back to them I could work through a different piece of it or even just broadly meditate on it.  They are: health, future, love, inner peace and gratefulness.

I am glad that the bracelet is tied on tight because now that I'm back I may need the reminders of those more than I did on the Way... 

In case you were wondering...

Acapella battle singing inspire intense love and admiration in me that dance battling does.  Thought I would let you know.

Saw Pitch Perfect last night, they worked real hard to be like Bring It On (uno) and while that is a recipe for awesomeness they fell just short of amazing.  That said, there were some really quality lines and some really enjoyable characters and choice one-liners.

Totally worth it for the $5 movie night at Jack London, so don't pay full price or wait for the rental...

Casual Carpool Observations

So I realize that I am back and no longer technically traveling but my ride in casual carpool this morning inspired me to continue this blog even though I'm now home.

This morning's ride was with two women who, when I got in the car, were scrunching each other's curly and clearly recently washed hair. Ok, strange, but not the strangest thing I've experienced in carpool, there was once that guy who sang Michael Jackson songs the whole way in because his mom really liked his singing voice...yup.  These two women were clearly friends and more likely next door neighbors and then spent the next 10 minutes of the ride talking about the women who just recently cut both their hair.  This conversation was followed by one woman's amazement and amusement that her husband, though very busy, decided to order plants online for their garden.

Seriously, they both laughed...a lot.  Now, granted I don't know her husband but that seemed more normal than hilarious to me.

Recently I have been noticing those moments and conversations of other people where it seems that life becomes so predictable and routine that the smallest blips are cause for in-depth discussions.  I find it frightening...

Ok, back to work, back to my routine...

And now?

Now I'm home and happy to have a weekend to rest before jumping back into work and our conference in two weeks!

I'm sitting in front of a laundromat as my horribly dirty clothes hopefully go back to resembling something that look/smell like clothes and I'm really happy to be wearing different clothes than the few options I packed! Oh my dear over crowded closet, how I missed you and your array of options!

A day in Madrid

We decided to do the city on/off your bus to see more of the city since we only had one day. It was great! The city was packed and we had amazing weather. There were two routes, one of historical Madrid and one of the newer areas. The whole city is beautiful and clean with fun neighborhoods and plazas tucked around everywhere. I'm not great at stopping to take pics but here are some I got from the day!

We also went to the Prado in the evening and saw so many of the paintings I studied in my art history courses, and was impressed with what I remembered.

I think I definitely need a return visit to Madrid, at least a week or more to even start to see all it has to offer!

Some pics of the hotel...

Madrid

Madrid was awesome! The city is beautiful and I can now say from first hand experience that one day is not enough!

After some confusing airline issues from Santiago to Madrid and two lost bags later we met mom at the airport! The parents hasn't seen each other for three weeks, maybe the longest they've been apart since they got married, both were happy to see each other.

We found our hotel which was a few blocks from El Prado Museum in a great part of town. The hotel had only been open for a week. The rooms were nice and I personally loved the cute construction workers that were all around but they were definitely working out a few kinks!

We wandered in the afternoon and found a great place for dinner where I had this beautiful steak and ate the largest meal I'd had in a week and a half - there was not a lot of amazing food on the Camino...

Our monastery

Not too bad...

A well deserved cerveza and lunch!

Some photos...

From today's camino...

Our last walk...

Thank god!

Armpits and legs are hairy, feet feel like I'm walking on painful stewed tomatoes ( you can thank my father for that lovely mental image) but we made it!

I know most of our group has been going for three weeks and many people we met have been going for 30 days or more but I am so happy that we are done!

That said today was absolutely stunning!! We left before day real from Arca and walked through dark woods breaking free into fields as a rosy sunrise began to tiny the sky (see the first few pics, on the iPhone app I can't figure out how to put the pics in the right place with the text). The whole day was gorgeous as we wound our way through countryside down to Santiago!

Today was another 20k but felt harder, I think because you could see the end. At a certain point my feet hurt so bad it made me nauseous but stopping was worse!

Ok, now get ready, tonight we are staying in a monastery! I'll wait for the laughing to die down... It's actually beautiful in the lobby/downstairs even if the rooms are a bit sparse. Two nights here and then back to Madrid to meet up with mom.

Right now so excited to not have to wake up at 6am to walk tomorrow!!

Gonna post a few just picture posts following from today!