Camino de Santiago - the dos.

This design just made me happy. Smart parenting. Everyone plays together:

One of the people I’m walking with has a guide book. He is our guide (pronounced gweed-ay) He reads all the history and when we pass things of note he points them out and explains what he read. This bridge, he explained, was noteworthy because the tradition is that you have to take your shoes off whenever you cross it. He took his shoes off and explained to the other pilgrims who joined us crossing the bridge. About 10 of us crossed it together, shoes in hand. About half way across the bridge he starts giggling and announces the equivalent of, “It’s the tradition. Tradition of Gweeday!” He made the whole thing up. I’m still giggling.

Camino de Santiago - The Beginning

I was planning to sleep a bit and not worry about hurrying ahead. The day wasn’t suppose to be too hot, so I didn’t see the need to rush ahead ... well, it seems others had other ideas. The dorm was alive, awake, alert, and enthusiastic by 5:30am, so so was I! I headed out alone into the dark and followed the signs I could see through the dark streets and up the start of a hill, which turned into a climb, which turned into a mountain, and then a mountain range. All in all we - the travelers of the day, strangers mostly - climbed 1,400 meters with packs ranging from approximately 4 - 12kg ... mine weighing in somewhere around 10.5 (in hindsight, WAY too heavy).

And off we go!

The last few years have been an adventure, but sadly weren't able to be properly documented here.  My apologies for anyone with FOMO, but yeah, you missed out.  Moving on though, I'm off to find my Way.  

So here we go.  I will be hiking (walking) the Camino de Santiago.  As is the case with most things I do, there were some last minute complications, so don't be surprised if this series is interrupted periodically with pictures of other places and unrelated adventures.  Given my writing history, it kinda makes sense.  No? 

Since I am trying to keep my pack weight down, this trip sadly won't include super high quality photography, but I hope it will include high quality photo subjects which make up for cell phone travel photos, and reduced verbiage.  

Until next time, I hope this video of me preparing for departure will hold you over: 

Shout out to Urban Axes Boston

Test Test 1 2 ...

Long long ago, google disabled the app for blogger - the website that hosts this Blogovel. Sadly the only app I found was created by the developer “Made in Russia” which is a little suspect and also costs money. Since my next trip will be without my laptop I need to test out a few mobile work-arounds.

Enjoy this photo while I experiment.

Today I learned ...

Today my host mother walked into the room and handed me a nondescript packet of beige powder.  No explanation. No modeling of what one should do with this packet. Just sort of a "Here.  This is for you" motion.

I proceeded to smell it ... nothing.  Try again ... burnt?  One more time ... 

Me:  Burnt coffee?
Mom:  Corn.  Burnt corn.  
Me:  What do I do with it?
Mom:  Eat it man!

Then she proceeds to pour a small amount from her own packet onto her palm and licks it off.  

I've made many questionable decisions in my time here, and I think this qualifies as one.  Oh well, trust the Mama.

... kinda tasteless, then grows to something akin to flour.  Oh there it is!  Just barely burnt popcorn, with a hint of sugar.  Okay.  No regrets.

Thanks Mom!

Today I learned about Kasham.

Group Travel

I’ve mentioned here before that I am often a solo traveler.  I would estimate that my travel for the past decade has fallen almost entirely in 3 categories.  

1. Solo travel
2. Visiting someone in my friend or family base.
3. Travel for work/education - often venturing alone. 

This spring though I deviated from my typical pattern and traveled 3,000 miles from my current home to spend time with people who live very close to me … and in one case, I was traveling a quarter of the way around the world to spend time with my upstairs neighbor.  The experience was entirely foreign to me.  In fact, I think the first thing I said when I got off the plane and saw my three friends waiting for me at the end of the gangway was something like, “This is so weird.  I shouldn’t know you people.  This is a layover. I should be alone.”  

Traveling with other people creates a whole new set of experiences in addition to those provided by the venue that you’re visiting.  Want to get coffee?  Cool.  

Solo traveler:  Stop at the next acceptable shop and buy yourself a coffee according to your needs and whims. 

Group traveler:  Check in with the group.  Do we also want food?  Coffee to go or sitting preferable?  When you say coffee, do you mean pour-over or espresso/latte drink?  Oh sure, iced coffee …. ummmm that may take some more work.  20 minutes later 75% of your group may have what they were looking for.

Reading through that it seems so much harder, but it’s also a great challenge.  During past layovers my greatest challenge was to find a place where I could either sleep in relative security, or figure out a way to stay awake until my boarding time.  With a group that’s not really an issue.  If we’d wanted to, we could have cordoned off an area and slept with security in numbers.  In reality our greatest concern was not spending so much time joking and making fun of each other that we ended up leaving a trail of belongings behind us. 

Things in jeopardy of being left behind: one fitbit, two wallets, an entire carry-on bag, and one passport.  

It is possible that jetlag played a part in this as well.  

The beauty of traveling with friends is that you see a side of them that you otherwise might not.  It’s not like these new traits are wholly unexpected or in any way out of character, but everyone is out of their element and does not have access to typical coping mechanisms.  

Easily distracted?  Well, there’s no normal routine to keep you mostly on track.  

At one point, we were on our way to dinner, wandering through a section of a city where I used to live.  Two of the people in our group were a little bit ahead of the other two.  I was part of the group in back.  When we passed an alley that led to where I used to live, I got distracted and led the two of us in the back off on  a parallel street to check out my old home.  Of course, after venturing off, it DID occur to me that the remaining companions may miss us, but I also knew that at the end of the block the two streets converged again.  Worst case scenario, we were all headed to the same restaurant and would meet up there. By the time we met up again at the restaurant, there were stories of searching for lost travel mates, meeting points set and plans for how long to wait before calling the police (only about 20 minutes had passed).  

There were also several instances involving people who are exceptionally prone to losing things.  The assumption was always that if you couldn't immediately locate an item it MUST have been left behind.  This assumption wasn't without merit, however large amounts of time ended up being spent to locate phones, wallets, fit bits and an errant parking ticket that was usually in the person’s pocket the whole time.

The best part of all of this is the stories.  We have a huge list of inside jokes which only we will ever understand, but an equally long list of stories that are entirely relatable to anyone who’s ever been away from home and outside of their usual surroundings.  

It was such a good experience that I’ve decided to do it again in June.  Next stop:  Island life!

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Perspectives not Places - Not Safe for All Workplaces.

I am going to use this picture as a symbol of varying perspectives.  When I first came upon this statue I was traveling with someone who lives nearby and explained that this piece was supposed to portray femininity and the beauty of the female form.  I was astounded.  How in all humanity could this be feminine?  Try as I might, I just couldn't see what he was seeing.  I even asked ... but clearly created by a man, yes?  He didn't know and the author was not identified on or around the piece.  Insanity.  I just couldn't see how this could possibly be a representation of the female form.

The Statue As He Saw It

Although the greater theme of this blog is indeed travel, the not so often referred to blog title – Worlds Unseen and Lands Unknown – came from a journal that I had years ago.  I knew that my travel wouldn't fill the book, but I suspected that there would be so many new places and differing experiences to perceive, each its own little world to explore.  Really not so profound when you consider it, but also nice to reflect on periodically.  My writing tends to be most frequent when I'm traveling because that is the easiest time to perceive these differences and learn from them.  

Over the past three years I have had the privilege of working with some pretty amazing people in an environment which fostered growth, learning, quality improvement and integrity while striving for excellence.  I worked hard.  I knew I worked hard, just as those around me did.  We put in some pretty astounding hours and supported each other.  In fact, I remember in my initial interview my soon-to-be manager even said something along the lines of, "here we have a culture of yes.  If asked to take on extra work, people say yes.  If asked if a project or improvement is possible, the answer is yes.  If asked can we make things better, it might take some time but people are committed and we will get to 'yes'." I think she was saying more here than she intended.  It is in some ways the American work ethic.  Through hard work, commitment and a little know how all things are possible.  While I do value all of these things, it is only after taking a few weeks to do NOTHING, and a few months to selectively volunteer my skills that I've started to realize just how much I was missing.  The chronic stress and 60 hour weeks, while productive, were also subductive.  I'll have to leave it to my geology readers to make sure I'm using that correctly.  What I mean is, in a culture where people with the flu at most take 24 hours off from work, some amazing things can happen, but amazing things will also be missed.  By giving ourselves completely to work (whether it is our passion in life or not) we miss so much that just didn't happen to fall within the original perspective in which we approached life.  

I give you, The Statue As I Saw It: