Everything I wrote about the seven weeks I spent in Spain in 2017, walking from the French Pyrenees to the western coast of Spain as a pilgrim on the Way of St. James.
Today we crossed the marker that is 100 kilometers from Santiago: we are very, very close. Now, there are new people on the road walking the final 100 kilometers required to acquire a compostela in Santiago. Now, there are tour buses. Now, we must be careful not to be smug and think our blisters are…
On the 27th day of the journey I woke up in Rabanal, a gorgeous, steep stone town with an asymmetrical old Romanesque church where monks sing the liturgy of the hours and you can sit in the crumbling, asymmetrical Romanesque church to hear them. Before setting out I went to hear them sing Lauds at…
Spain haunts me. Even when I was on the Camino, even in the first days of it, I dreaded leaving. I met someone who hadn't. It's early on, in Estella, barely a week in. I turn onto a cobblestone street with looming walls. A tall man with bleached hair and tan skin is playing a…
The journey's too big. Too many details are on this single line we are walking, and too many people are on this single line, and this line is too old and has too much history, and there is too much beauty on this path, and too much boredom and it’s cruel to do this, to…
On the 25th day of the walk, I woke early and left Villar de Mazarife quickly. In a couple hours, I had gone 14 kilometers and the sun was only starting to come into its own as I ducked into a bar for coffee and a piece of cake. I saw a few people I…
TRANSCRIPT OF A FAKE SERMON. Good morning, and it’s a blessing to be guest preacher at you all, brothers and sisters, this morning. I have just returned from Spain and there was a big adventure I had there. It was really good and it was spiritually dark because many people in Spain are Catholics and…
Continue reading ➞ Satan the Prowling Lion Will Lead You Stray if You Stray from the Way
Sometimes I think, this is what it must be like out there. In the Midwest. The Great Plains or the Badlands or something. I don't know. I've never been to the Midwest. But the Meseta, this flat, seemingly infinite plateau hogging Northern Spain, seems as close as I'll get to it. Here are flies. Here's…
Ermita San Nicolas is a pilgrim hospital with about 800 years of hospitality stuck up in its walls. “There is no electricity,” Iulio warned me when I checked in. He had blue eyes and blonde hair and perfectly lilting, broken English. “There is no wifi and the bathroom is outside. At 7:30 we perform a…
Today was the first day on the Meseta. I walked alone all day. I walked 31.5 kilometers which is about 19 miles. I began the day thinking deep thoughts: how can I make money? Will I always be single? What’s wrong with me? What’s right with me? Am I making the most of this time?…
On the 15th day of walking I walked to Burgos with Jon and Martin of fly-killing fame. We parted ways because they wanted to walk on and I wanted to see the city today. I saw the Burgos Cathedral, which is second in size only to Seville’s. I saw the Museum of Human Evolution which…
On the 14th day of walking, I walked over 30 kilometers with two men, Jon and Martin, who started walking ten days ago and now are best friends. Jon is my age and from Colorado. He had an engineering job involving 650 helicopter engines, and Martin is British and retired after a career in IT.…
Tuesday: ~Walk to old basilica and eat dates and cheese outside it. ~Check mass times. ~Research La Rioja wines and buy a bottle after siesta. ~Read one of the two English books in the albergue, a writing textbook or The Handmaid's Tale. ~Buy face wash? ~Shower and do laundry. ~Buy another baguette and more biscotti for…
Chelsea the Writer 