Monday, February 22, 2010

3 a.m.

Last night, I woke at 3 a.m. Worrying.





















This is nothing new. I'm up worrying at 3 a.m. all the time. 3 a.m. and I are old friends.

Mostly, I agonize over financial catastrophe, looming health crises, the State of Every Union in my life...you know, the ususal.

But, as this dream trip becomes a reality, I now have a refreshing new collection of fears and anxieties to keep me awake and in a cold sweat (or maybe it's a hot flash....)

Attack dogs and dislocated knees and bedbugs -- those are just the warm-up worries. I really hit my stride with stuff like: What if we can't catch a weekend bus from La Coruna to Sarria? What if all the beds are taken in all the albuerges -- do we sleep in a doorway somewhere? Cash or Credit or Debit -- and how much? What if we can't catch a bus from Fisterra back to La Coruna (and why do they call that stretch the Costa del Muerte?!) What if this sorta-skiffy knee of mine completely gives out in the middle of nowhere? And what the hell is that sudden stabbing pain in my head -- migraine? aneurism? brain mets?...
Along about dawn, when the rain lets up a little and the cats start yelling for breakfast, I start to settle down a bit and recognize that none of this stuff is insurmountable: Caity is smart and resourceful and I'm not idiot, so whatever happens, we'll probably figure it out just fine.

Which is what I feel -- what I know, what I'm sure of, right now, after a good day at work and a glass and a half of sauvignon blanc...


We'll see how I feel at 3 a.m.....

Sunday, February 21, 2010

How many modes of transportation does it take to go on a walk?

So a bit of history behind the Camino (taken from the website American Pilgrims on the Camino, great site, you should check it out). El Camino de Santiago means "The Way of Saint James." Legend has it that the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela holds the remains of Jesus' apostle Saint James. This pilgrimage has existed for thousands of years, and there is even evidence of pre-christian route as well. While the peregrinos (pilgrims...gotta start using that spanish) of the past used to start their walking of the Camino from their doorsteps, the most-used route to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela begins in France at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, at an amazing 774 km away, at the French/Spanish border in the Pyrenees! Since my mom and I unfortunately don't have a free 3-6 weeks to complete this whole Camino, we're starting around 113 km away at Sarria.



Alright, so here's the route we will be taking on our pilgrimage: (roughly laid out on this map)



We will be flying into La Coruna, taking a day to rest, hopefully to get rid of the jet lag so we'll be ready to hit the Camino. Then we'll take a bus to Lugo, then take another bus (or possibly a taxi, since it will be the weekend and we hear that bus schedules are iffy on weekends...) to Sarria. (Amazing, how many different modes of transportation it will take for us to get to the place where we actually start walking...)

We'll walk from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela, stopping to sleep in refugios/albergues (hostels). Now Santiago is commonly where people stop, but my mom and I have decided to continue on to Finisterre (The End of the World) where we'll walk the beach and (hopefully) find our own scallop shells which is the symbol of the Way of Saint James pilgrimage (Jerusalem's is a palm frond, Rome's is a Papal key) Anyways, thats the plan, then we'll take a bus back up to La Coruna and fly home. Exciting!!

Yesterday we booked the (ridiculously expensive considering we're traveling there to walk and stay in hostels) plane tickets, and we'll be leaving June 9th and returning June 25th. Can't wait!

(by the way, I think I should let you know that my mom is trying to convince me to let her have a camera on the plane/buses/taxi, but not be allowed to take any pictures while on the Camino. I don't know about that...think it's still cheating. O wait, here's her reasoning: "we're going to be traveling in completely modern ways until our first step on the camino, so let me be able to document it." Oh no she's now playing the "we're never going to do this ever again in our lives so give me this much" card. typical mother. haha. we'll see...)

Saturday, February 20, 2010

Oh My God.

Yesterday I went into work, armed with a marked-up calendar page of June 2010, and the request for 72 hours of PTO (paid time off), so that my daughter and I could walk the Camino de Santiago de Compostela together....

My mom is currently thinking what to say...creating a blog with her could be a bit of a conundrum since she is a writer and feels the need to write, re-write, then throw that out and completely re-write again everything that she wants to say. (this includes birthday cards, which have at least 3 drafts at a minimum. shes laughing while reading this...)

About five years ago, I read this great book: "Pilgrimage to the End of the World" by Conrad Rudolph. He walked a thousand miles from LePuy in France through Santiago to Finisterre, extoling the beauty and history through which he trudged while detailing his aches and pains and layers on layers of blisters. I was hooked. I shared this with a dear friend -- a like-minded, simpatico sister -- and we dreamt of taking this trip together...when we could find a spare three months away from work, home, husbands, kids...all that. But life happened, and that became impossible - a dream I let go.
Last summer, while walking Cayucos beach with my smart, beautiful, talented, big-hearted, 17-year-old daughter, I said "How do you want to celebrate your graduation from high school? We can take a trip...shopping in Paris, pubbing in Dublin (kinda kidding...)" and she replied: "Let's do the pilgrimage." Ah...smart, beautiful, talented, BIG-hearted, 17-year-old daughter!
Although - not a thousand miles. Sarria to Santiago to Finisterre...108 miles. That should be enough of a mother daughter walk.

And a great one at that. My family and I have traveled since I was young, to amazing countries like Italy, England, and France. My generous and loving dad had always organized the trip so we saw the amazing museums, resturants, wonders, tourist attractions, etc. which was great, but being a 17 year-old about to go off to college, jumping into a new city and lifestyle, I was craving a trip with a bit more, how shall I say...danger, uncertainty? (this is what my rebellious stage in life includes: a pilgrimage with my mom. haha)
Well, we thought this trip needed to be written down, since it not only includes a different way of traveling, but also a journey of 108 miles, hostels, a new language to learn, plus the physical, mental, and spiritual aspect of it. Alright, who's excited?!
I guess we should introduce ourselves. The contenders:

Caity: Theatre geek. Likes long walks on the beach, sunsets, and cliches. Can't imagine going 3 weeks without eating a ham and cheese sandwich. Learned three years of french in high school and can barely speak it. Now having to try and conquer SPANISH?!!?! (this will be an interesting and possibly stress-filled journey before the actual journey) Will be writing in this font for the duration of the post.

Cindy: Writer (formerly full-time, currently part-time). Musician (formerly part-time, currently full-time). 51 (so yes, this might be part of a mid-life crisis). Craving a journey on several levels... keen to share it with my daughter (who is NAGGING ME for taking so long to write anything, so I will stop now....) (Should be an interesting 108 miles....) (and she loves to use parentheses and elipses...haha)

So here's the catch: As another facet of my oh-so rebellious ways, I have convinced,
(ahem...arm-wrestled, forced) my mother to agree that the actual trip be solely our own. This means...no cell phones, no blogging from the road, no quick stops into internet cafes to check our e-mails/facebooks, and NO CAMERAS. Yep. But an interesting idea, don't you think?

We will have only our memories, and possibly what we write and sketch in a journal. As close to traveling like medieval pilrgrims as we can get in this day and age.

So this blog will track our preparations for the trip, and our recollections after our return. I absolutely love this idea. Hope you all do too. As for the blog, we're not going to try to be witty or funny or deep, just going to share our experiences, thoughts, and feelings. We both hope to be entertaining but we promise to be honest, with each other and ourselves. (which is a big part of this pilgrimage...)