Camino De Santiago Quotes

Nothing you love is left behind. You come back to it once you understand it, once you see its essence as it is: pure and flawless - once you refuse to define your life without it. Look into yourself. The only thing you regret in the end is falling for someone's definition of love instead of exploring its infinite potential. It is not saying "I love you" to people who should have heard it from you. There is no flaw in love.

Spanish pilgrims travel on Camino de Santiago from monastery to monastery, collecting small medals to attach to their rosary as proof of their steps. I have stacks of Polaroids, each marking my own, that I sometimes spread out like tarots or baseball cards of an imagined celestial team.

It’s funny, at home you look different on the outside with each new day, yet on the inside you stay virtually the same. Here you’re always the same on the outside, but on the inside you change by the hour.

There is of course a deep spiritual need which the pilgrimage seems to satisfy, particularly for those hardy enough to tackle the journey on foot.

When you pay attention to your inner voice, even if doesn't sound rational, you may live some of the most important experiences of your life.

People expect you to follow their "rules", to fit in, to be like the others, and when you consciously choose not to and you follow your inner voice, you don't belong there anymore.

There is no dream without at least one chance to become reality.

If you constantly express your gratitude for everything that happens to you without judging things as good or bad, more miracles will come your way.

I'm American to the core. So please forgive me if I say some foolish things when I'm overseas. It's my birthright." The Best Way--El Camino de Santiago (2012)

Walking the Camino de Santiago taught me the wonders of physical challenge, the wonders of spiritual freedom, and the wonders of baby powder.

It was amazing and scary at the same time. Having a dream is fantastic! Changing its status from "Dream" to "Reality", is freaking awesome, but it scares you to death in the beginning,

El camino es el que hace las preguntas y el camino es el que da las respuestas, así que escúchalas siempre, porque somos tan solo parte de un escenario donde se sigue representando la misma obra pero con otros actores, esta vez nosotros…

Me refería a una cosa que había leído años atrás: que los hombres y las mujeres eran polígamos por naturaleza y que la sociedad lo censuraba para evitar conflictos y funcionar productivamente. Y, a cambio, nos había dado el coqueteo, el baile... para saciar las ansias de conquista. Aunque para muchos no era suficiente.

I have never planned on living long but I have always intended to live well.

I have a friend who often tells me that I am resisting change. Could be... But when I do embrace it, it is quite life-changing, I would say!

For each progress you make jumping into the pain and mastering it, there is a divine reward waiting for your smile, gratitude and understanding.

Even if my body falls broken, my mind and spirit will carry me on!

people should walk this path even before they graduate" [...] "What's one month? It's not even a paragraph in the book of your life...

There, at Finisterrre, I understood that life is a sum of Caminos we choose to take and each of them is a mix of joy, pain and full happiness. The balance is always in our hands!

Camino, in my view, is a metaphor for your own life...

Sometimes the solutions to our problems come from looking backwards, not forwards.

Under a certain state of being, when the rational mind shuts down, Time and Space as our minds perceive them, change. So, if we are conscious enough, we can expand Time and compress Space.

The people you leave behind when you are going on this path, are like a watermelon on a hot day when they call, to check on you. Talking to them is refreshing and can even become addictive.

A pesar de que Britney tiene bastantes cosas mías (el gusto por la música y los platos pesados), también tiene mucho de su madre: básicamente, los genes de alguna sangrienta guerrera nórdica.

To feel the pull, the draw, the interior attraction, and to want to follow it, even if it has no name still, that is the "pilgrim spirit."The "why" only becomes clear as time passes, only long after the walking is over.

Yes, husband. Now it is my desire that matters, not yours. Now I want something. I am very surprised to learn that I want things, for myself, things that have nothing to do with you. I want many things, in fact. Do you know what I want? I want to eat some roast pork, first of all. And then I want to walk the Camino de Santiago on sore feet with a song on my lips. I would like to travel on a ship, also. And I would like to learn how to play dice.

I found my own value system different there! I felt like a new person, one that was more focused on living her own life and mission. Unseen wings were already mature and ready to flap while freedom somehow became my best friend.

We are always exactly where we are supposed to be for our inner growth. The important thing is to remember that we are in the right place even in difficult times. This way we will suffer less and enjoy our personal journey more.

Consider the so-called mistakes as new paths towards your destination. And if you take them as new opportunities, in fact, there are no mistakes! Just choices that lead you to a new reality and have different consequences. The secret is to always see the beauty in everything!

I hear a swelling swoosh; from the south a bullet train whizzes into view on the tracks, knives through the landscape in a matter of moments, then disappears with a whoosh. It has just covered in a few seconds what has taken me hours to walk. That very fast train reminds me that, as a pilgrim, travel is made holy in its slowness. I see things that neither the passengers of the train nor the drivers of the automobiles see. I feel things that they will never feel. I have time to ponder, imagine, daydream. I tire. I thirst. In my slow walking, I find me.

Deep inside I learnt that when you have a dream and you really wish for it to come true, things happen in a certain way to help you achieve it. And indeed, certain things started to move in the right direction and even if I didn't appreciate all of them as positive at that time [...]

In the end, we are never alone! We have friends all over the world, people that are coming on our life path if they are supposed to support us, teach us a lesson, or just walk with us for a while And while walking the Camino, it is very easy to see it all and to understand how blessed you are in this life.

It was very nice to realize how we can cancel the space that apparently divides people, and share with them our stories as if they were part of the same experience, bringing them closer to us. And I think that's the beauty of a story: you have the chance to live it somehow through the feelings of the storyteller.

Then, step by step, you start to understand the difference that it produces inside yourself. And in the end, you choose who you want to be from that moment on. And when you reach that state of mind and being, you cannot undo what you just did. And you change. You transform yourself from a caterpillar into a beautiful colorful butterfly. You start to love your new colors, your wings, and once that process begins, you may develop this desire to fly up, and from up there, you see yourself first, then your life, your family, your friends, your job, everything. You start to compare your previous caterpillar perception, with the new butterfly one. If you like the caterpillar view, you stick to it. If not, you will change it completely. But this is not an easy overnight process. It takes time, patience, and perseverance to live like a butterfly.

Essentially, this thirst is not the longing for an extensive walk on the Camino. It's the longing of meeting your own being, outside the temptations of a fully materialistic world. Camino is just a channel, a concrete representation of your inner need to evade the loop your life is repeating over and over again, and find your true nature, your true voice, your true meaning on this planet. And when you walk this path, you complete a layer of your search.

My pilgrimage can be interpreted as a parable of my path through life. It was a difficult birth - which is literally true in my case. At the beginning of the route - and in my childhood - I had trouble hitting my stride. Until the middle of my path through life, no matter how many positive experiences I enjoyed, I experienced many twists and turns that sometimes threw me off-course. But at about the midpoint of my journey, I started moving cheerfully toward my destination. It almost seems as though the Camino has seen fit to grant me a little peek into my future. Serenity might be a goal worth pursuing.

Oddly, most narratives, both academic and personal, end when the goal is reached: the apostle is hugged, the Compostela is duly granted, and the pilgrim bids the Camino farewell and goes home. Although most first-person pilgrimage accounts are written after the journey is completed, the authors generally reveal only a glimpse into how the Camino continues to exist within their own lives. The experience is treated like a photo, a frozen memory; as if there were no flow between the pilgrimage itself and daily life. As pilgrims enter more deeply into the Camino it appears to leave an indelible mark, yet it is hard to discern the nature of this mark.

Please, Holy Mother God,” I whispered in prayer, “help me cut the invisible cords that bind me, and set me free. Give me the inner strength to let go of all that I have created up until now, on every level, and which no longer reflects the highest path for me, and for those I love and serve. Help calm my more masculine energies so I can settle into my own divine feminine nature and cool the angry fires of hurt and fear that have burned in my heart for so long.” After making my prayerful request, I got up and lit a candle to the Divine Mother, to say “thank you” for hearing me. I was ready to surrender. I knew it was time to release control over my life and let God take over. I spoke my intention aloud: “This life of mine is now finished. My present way is no longer serving me or allowing my greater Spirit to express through me. I ask for the cocoon to break open and free my true divine light. I surrender all attachments on all levels to the past and am now ready for what the Universe has in store for me. And so it is.” At that moment time stood still. I knew my intention was heard and registered by the heavens, and that my request would be honored and met with divine support. I sensed an inner shift take place in me. I didn’t feel euphoric. I didn’t even feel happy. Rather, I felt somber and quiet in spite of the thousand sounds swirling around me, the Universe saying, Okay, get ready. The next morning, I suddenly had a powerful intuitive hit from my Higher Self that said, “Sonia, it is time to heal your life, and the only way to do that is to walk the Camino de Santiago. And go alone.

La Casada Infiel Y que yo me la llevé al río creyendo que era mozuela, pero tenía marido. Fue la noche de Santiago y casi por compromiso. Se apagaron los faroles y se encendieron los grillos. En las últimas esquinas toqué sus pechos dormidos, y se me abrieron de pronto como ramos de jacintos. El almidón de su enagua me sonaba en el oído, como una pieza de seda rasgada por diez cuchillos. Sin luz de plata en sus copas los árboles han crecido, y un horizonte de perros ladra muy lejos del río. Pasadas las zarzamoras, los juncos y los espinos, bajo su mata de pelo hice un hoyo sobre el limo. Yo me quité la corbata. Ella se quitó el vestido. Yo el cinturón con revólver. Ella sus cuatro corpiños. Ni nardos ni caracolas tienen el cutis tan fino, ni los cristales con luna relumbran con ese brillo. Sus muslos se me escapaban como peces sorprendidos, la mitad llenos de lumbre, la mitad llenos de frío. Aquella noche corrí el mejor de los caminos, montado en potra de nácar sin bridas y sin estribos. No quiero decir, por hombre, las cosas que ella me dijo. La luz del entendimiento me hace ser muy comedido. Sucia de besos y arena yo me la llevé del río. Con el aire se batían las espadas de los lirios. Me porté como quien soy. Como un gitano legítimo. Le regalé un costurero grande de raso pajizo, y no quise enamorarme porque teniendo marido me dijo que era mozuela cuando la llevaba al río.

LA CASADA INFIEL Y que yo me la llevé al río creyendo que era mozuela, pero tenía marido. Fue la noche de Santiago y casi por compromiso. Se apagaron los faroles y se encendieron los grillos. En las últimas esquinas toqué sus pechos dormidos, y se me abrieron de pronto como ramos de jacintos. El almidón de su enagua me sonaba en el oído, como una pieza de seda rasgada por diez cuchillos. Sin luz de plata en sus copas los árboles han crecido y un horizonte de perros ladra muy lejos del río. * Pasadas las zarzamoras, los juncos y los espinos, bajo su mata de pelo hice un hoyo sobre el limo. Yo me quité la corbata. Ella se quitó el vestido. Yo el cinturón con revólver. Ella sus cuatro corpiños. Ni nardos ni caracolas tienen el cutis tan fino, ni los cristales con luna relumbran con ese brillo. Sus muslos se me escapaban como peces sorprendidos, la mitad llenos de lumbre, la mitad llenos de frío. Aquella noche corrí el mejor de los caminos, montado en potra de nácar sin bridas y sin estribos. No quiero decir, por hombre, las cosas que ella me dijo. La luz del entendimiento me hace ser muy comedido. Sucia de besos y arena yo me la llevé del río. Con el aire se batían las espadas de los lirios. Me porté como quien soy. Como un gitano legítimo. Le regalé un costurero grande, de raso pajizo, y no quise enamorarme porque teniendo marido me dijo que era mozuela cuando la llevaba al río.

Martina had a strikingly athletic physique. Throw in her alluring personality and she was destined to be amongst male pilgrims all along the way.

Las muchas nubes que se ciernen sobre la ciudad ocultan, esta noche, el Camino de Santiago.

Be yourself and be determined,” he says. “Even if you don’t know what you want, you won’t know if you are not determined.

The better part of the tour was the gossip offered up by the tour guide. It seems a certain Genoese sailor used to frequent a married woman here in Burgos. Being a highly skilled navigator, this seaman was particularly well-versed in seasonal rhythms. His mistress’ husband was in the shipping business, and gone six months a year, allowing the swashbuckling Genoan to swoop in to fill the seasonal vacuum. Like most Genoese, this sailor—Christopher Columbus—was attracted to the cosmopolitan flair that Burgos offered. The guide went on to point out that this same Captain Columbus would later delay his departure for the New World from the Galapagos Islands for over a month, when he fell into the arms of an especially delectable, but married, island woman. I guess I am just naïve. After all, how much of a surprise is it that the world’s greatest explorer of all time was also a bit peripatetic when it came to sleeping arrangements.

Europe is the land of great cathedrals. Chartres and Notre Dame in France are world-class by any conceivable measure. Salisbury Cathedral in England is in a class by itself, despite its remote location. St. Peters in Rome is a mecca, and to a lesser extent Rheims in Germany. My amateur eye would unhesitatingly add to that hallowed list, Burgos Cathedral here in northern Spain. It is widely considered one of the finest examples of Gothic architecture in Europe. Inspired by the French cathedralism of the Middle Ages, it doesn’t look Spanish in the least.

Pilgrimage is a journey of discovery—the find may be inside oneself, it may be a fresh appreciation of nature, or the pleasure of opting out of the real world for a while; it might be the delight in making new friends in a very random but quite intense way.

Optimists are intrinsically happier and happiness breeds further happiness. Light a candle rather than curse the darkness and do not wait for someone else to light it; do it yourself.

Choose your life partner wisely; find one who makes you laugh and smile, who shares your interests and loves you for who you are, not what they want you to be; choose a partner who is strong but gentle with it; choose a partner you want to wake up beside every morning for the rest of your life. Choose a partner who would walk the Camino with you.

To encounter God, you first have to issue an invitation to Him; He does not come without being asked—a divine form of good manners. It’s up to us. He establishes an individual relationship with us. Only a person who truly loves is capable of sustaining this relationship.

summer of 2011, when the first call to walk the Camino Santiago de Compostela had tugged at my soul, I would not have known this was my why. A tug so fierce I had no choice but to follow, the next years would guide me to

Y no nos metas en tentación, mas líbranos del mal. MATEO 6.13 Cuando Dios permite que seamos probados, Él siempre ofrece una salida. Siempre hay un camino a la victoria. Siempre hay una puerta de escape. Ekbasis es la palabra griega para «escapar» en 1 Corintios 10.13. Literalmente significa «una salida». He aquí una verdad que nunca habrá visto en este versículo: Pablo nos dice exactamente lo que la vía de escape es: Dios «dará también juntamente con la tentación la salida, para que podáis soportar». El camino de salida es a través de. La manera de salir de la tentación es soportarla como una prueba y nunca dejar que se convierta en una búsqueda del mal. Le han hecho daño. Usted ha sido falsamente acusado. Le han criticado, tratado cruel o injustamente. ¿Y qué? Acéptelo. Soporte con alegría (Santiago 1.2); esa es la vía de escape. Por lo general, se busca una vía de escape rápida y fácil. El plan de Dios para nosotros es distinto. Él quiere que nosotros la tengamos por sumo gozo y «tenga la paciencia su obra completa, para que seáis perfectos y cabales, sin que os falte cosa alguna» (v. 4). Dios está usando nuestras pruebas para llevarnos a la madurez. ¿Cómo podemos soportar? Hay varias respuestas prácticas. Voy a mencionar solo algunas. En primer lugar, medite en la Palabra: «En mi corazón he guardado tus dichos, para no pecar contra ti» (Salmos 119.11). En segundo lugar, ore: «No nos metas en tentación, mas líbranos del mal» (Mateo 6.13). En tercer lugar, resista a Satanás y ríndase a Dios: «Someteos, pues, a Dios; resistid al diablo, y huirá de vosotros» (Santiago 4.7).

complaints book may be sufficient to bring about a change in

At the summit, there are statues illustrating pilgrims from the past. Often there is an Englishman here; he spends his summers helping pilgrims. He sells cans of soft drinks and gives away tea; he also has some basic medical supplies to help pilgrims suffering from blisters. The

Los moribundos buscan palabras amables cuando están ante el final de su camino en este mundo, las buscan incluso entre aquellos a los que han herido.

I convinced myself it was all going to be better than okay once I left him. I had at one time loved him with my whole heart. I’d spent the last year overcoming pain, regret, illness, and tried to rediscover myself as I dated men who weren’t good for me just to prove to him that I could. In retrospect, I hadn’t wanted, nor needed, any men—I simply hadn’t realized it. I mindlessly thought I wasn’t alright if I didn’t have someone. It had hurt my pride that he’d moved on so quickly.

—Escupo yo sobre las Ashen Teka y sus patéticos y quebradizos dioses —respondió Ibras, cortante—. Son las más pequeñas de las Ashen. Además, yo no temo a los que su camino se limita a seguir a los dioses, pues no siguen su camino sino el de alguien más. —Por eso mismo deberías temerlas, caudilla.

—¿Alguien sin camino? —La incredulidad tiñó la voz de la caudilla—. ¿Cómo va a haber alguien sin camino? Hasta las moscas siguen el camino de poner huevos. Si hasta el ser más simple lo tiene, ¿cómo un dios no iba a tenerlo? —No lo sé, nunca he hablado con un dios, caudilla —Tara se encogió de hombros—. Era un dios, ¿no? Podía hacer cosas que los mortales no podemos ni soñar, ¿por qué no esto? Quiero decir, tal vez es por eso que la gente sigue a los dioses, porque no tiene ningún camino, porque pueden proyectar los suyos propios a través de los dioses y liberarse del peso que conlleva ser dueño de cada pisada que das.

I will say that the best places we have stayed so far have been in Uterga, Villamayor de Monjardin and, of course, Ventosa. Lorca is a pretty nice little town and a good stopover, along with Torres del Rio. After

En algún momento de la noche, el sol va a volver a salir por el horizonte y, de alguna forma, la vida seguirá. Por el mal camino. Pero seguirá...

People who walk all the way to Santiago from France or somewhere beyond are usually considered pilgrims, but people who skip past the boring bits on a bus or train are lightweights, sight-seers, tourists. “Real pilgrims” take the good with the bad, they accept whatever the trail throws at them. They’re respectful, they carry their necessities and not an ounce more, in a bag strapped on their backs. They keep it simple, they don’t take the easy, or posh alternative. Rain, blisters, fierce dogs, bedbugs, blinding heat or deep snow, they keep walking. They’re vagabonds with a peculiar respectability, and a great deal of self-regard.

It goes easy if you do it one step at a time, one day at a time.

There is divinity to be found in the secular.

A plaque at the top of Alto de Perdon has the inscription, Donde se cruza el camino del vieto con el de las estrellas, (Where the way of the wind crosses the way of the stars).

Mark Twain said “it ain’t what you don’t know that gets you into trouble, but what you know for sure that just ain’t so.

You are safer walking the Camino in Spain than any day you spend in the United States.

Anxiety is all about projecting the self into the future. Fear is the part of you that is hopelessly trapped in the past.

Stability is about flexibility, not being rigid. You glide and skate rather than push and shove your way along.

we must first identify as human beings and learn not to make comparisons. We must first discover what we have in common. When we start out by focusing on our differences, we make those barriers harder to bridge.

So, let us not be blind to our differences—but let us also direct attention to our common interests and to means by which those differences can be resolved. And if we cannot end now our differences, at least we can help make the world safe for diversity

Reflecting a minute, Father Joe softly replies, ‘Tony, you are right. The world is made up of two types of people. Those who think the world is made up of two types of people, and those of us…who don’t.

There had always been a sense of urgency in my life. Always something to do, somewhere to go, things to fix, other things to buy, stuff to clean, phone calls to be made, goals to be set.

not to cling to any thought—to let all thoughts flow by, detach ourselves from them, so allowing them to fade away into nothingness from lack of attention.

How many of the yellow arrows pointing the way had been obscured by a narrowly focused consciousness and passed by unseen.

Siempre observaba desde ese mirador la calle de San Diego, que se perdía hacia mis tierras sureñas, conservando el mismo trazado del antiguo Camino del Inca que entraba a Santiago por la Cañadilla de la Independencia, lo cruzaba por lo que es hoy la calle del Puente y seguía hacia el sur por la calle de San Diego.

Take your energy from your gratefulness. Then you will always have energy and you will find yourself moving towards Santiago without a problem.

He said that in life we can take our energy and inspiration from a variety of sources: whether it’s the desire to complete something, to prove something, or because something is an obligation. There were many different founts of energy in life.

Buscamos una fórmula para la libertad en lugar de buscar una relación. Queremos escapar de la necesidad de depender del Señor diariamente. Queremos ser libres, no de la esclavitud sino de enfrentar la cruz. La liberación de los espíritus malignos elimina los obstáculos para la libertad, las trabas y la esclavitud. Pero no quita la cruz de nuestras vidas. El sufrimiento es el camino hacia la madurez. La erradicación del dolor es uno de nuestros ídolos en el mundo occidental. Pero el sufrimiento es parte de lo que significa ser humano. La madurez significa ser fiel incluso si no nos sentimos bien, sabiendo que hay problemas en esta vida y considerando todo como una fuente de alegría (Santiago 1, 2)

Though the struggles you face are yours, they are never meant to be faced alone.

Why do I deal with the dry dust in my mouth, The mud on my aching feet, The lashing rain and the glaring sun on my skin? Because of the beautiful towns? Because of the churches? Because of the food? Because of the wine? No. Because I was summoned!

the risk to live the life you dream about. ~ Tere Arigo

Grañón.

Head south where they speak French, cross the mountains through the pass at St Jean, walk until they speak Spanish, then keep the sun at your back in the morning, and in front of you in the afternoon, or by night, follow the stars known as the Milky Way until your reach the sea.” - Codex Calixtinus

Not for the wife to keep house, but to be a partner, someone to share strengths and weaknesses and make something even greater through union. To make sure neither one of you gets overwhelmed. To help make time and space for yourself, both of you.

In Belorado we sit outside a cafe, lounging, not saying or doing anything. I feel a pang of impatience, as though to go farthest is the goal of the day, rather than to go fullest.  I have told myself often enough that this is not a race. Whether or not the Camino is a transformation or a cure, a maturation or a ripening, a metamorphosis or a disintegration, it needs time.

You need to go. You will go,” she proclaimed. “You’re already a pilgrim, Freddi.” Every time I spoke to her, she repeated it for years, including the last time I’d spoken with her, just a few days before I walked off the doorstep of that albergue in Saint-Jean-Pied-De-Port. “Pilgrim.” She was the first to call me that, but not the last. Everyone became a pilgrim that first day. Our openness with one another created something. We surrounded ourselves with people of all generations and cultures and backgrounds; we were united in exhaustion from carrying our damaged, decaying spirits.

Las provincias tenían un gran comercio. Córdoba surtía de bayetas, frazadas finas ordinarias, ponchos, de unas alfombras que decían ‘chuses’ y eran los que tenían en los cuartos para abrigo, porque las alfombras para las salas solo venían por encargo. De Corrientes venían unos lienzos que les decían tucuyos, costaba dos reales la vara y era de lo que se vestía la gente pobre; porque el género blanco más ordinario costaba un peso y seis reales”. Quien escribe es Mariquita Sánchez de Thompson, luego de Mendeville, quien a pedido de Santiago de Estrada hará esta enumeración en su Recuerdos del Buenos Aires virreinal: “En las provincias había industrias; en Buenos Aires ninguna. De Mendoza venían alfombras para ir a la iglesia, hechas allí con mucho ingenio. También hilaban las lanas y las teñían de los colores más hermosos y hacían las alfombras de relieve, lo que era muy estimado. Venía de Mendoza mucha cantidad de frutas secadas riquísimas. Las pasas de uvas secas a la sombra eran muy estimadas; tenían todo el gusto y eran verdes a la vista. Traían ricos dulces muy apreciados entonces, sobre todo, por ser de frutas como guindas y ciruelas, que había muy pocas. Traían aceitunas muy ricas, compuestas y secas como las francesas. Muchas almendras y nueces; arropes, que eran unos dulces hechos con higos en lugar de azúcar. Traían vinos de varias clases, preferidos por el pueblo al carlón, que era el vino que se traía para el consumo, desde España. Venían de San Juan tropas de mulas con barriles de vino fuerte, imitando al Madeira, muy claro, pero con mucho aguardiente. De Córdoba venían también muy ricos dulces y cosas de azúcar, hechas de un modo muy original: tazas, zapatos, muñecas, confites, cosas muy estimadas. Venían de Salta ricos pañuelos bordados de Cambray, era cosa muy apreciada y celebrada como regalo”. Que a nadie escape el “en Buenos Aires ninguna”. Allí no se producía, sino que se contrabandeaba y se recaudaba de la Aduana, además de vender lo que casi espontáneamente generaban la agricultura y la ganadería. Esas diferencias entre el puerto que crecía a favor del comercio ultramarino y las provincias que debían adaptarse a novedosas circunstancias que las desfavorecían, pues los intercambios comerciales ya no tendrían como eje el camino entre Lima y Buenos Aires, instituyen un conflicto que atraviesa la historia argentina, irresuelto hasta hoy.

I wonder what would happen if the days were not pushed? What would happen if the time flowed in its natural sequence? The sky edging from darkness to gray, rising like a tide of light, pushing the flotsam of cloud upward. And then the sun’s rim, liquid gold, the slant of light through twigs and leaf. What would happen if you watched time’s river rise and flow, lifting you on its back and carrying you on its crest, until, lying back, you rested on the receding light, languishing in the slow pools of afternoon, the tips of the firs trembling and lifting, the ropes of birch leaves swaying in the light like sea kelp. To the west, the evening glow would linger, holding on to color. What if you could watch until the last drops spilled from the edge and then you came to know the night? Oh, but what would be served by such a life? Observation. Contemplation. Deliberation. What if your life came unplugged, disconnected, out of sync with the rest of the world? What if you rode this planet on one full circle round its star paying attention to light and plants and water? Seeing the way rain gathers in puddles or dew beads on grass, noticing the day violets open under the firs or ants appear in the bathroom? You could, you know. Shut off the bells. You could cut loose, unplug, begin. You could improve the nick of time.

If a seeker arrives at the Oficina del Peregrino as part of the procession and expects a bequeathment of wisdom, matters of the heart, and bravery, he or she will be sorely disappointed. This is not the land of Oz. Unquestionably, these rewards and more are out there but must be dearly earned along the journey and beyond.

The Camino. It’s not to get to know myself. I’ve repeated the condensed version of the story of my life so many times to others along the Way it sounds to me stale and formulaic. Even irritating. I’m from here, I did this, I do that, and I think such and such, that is me. For all the events in life I have found so consuming, so defining, I can see how petty and inconsequential they are. No, that’s a little too nihilistic. But being compelled to repeat my story so often I can see it is not all that I am. These headlines, where I’m from, the work I’ve done or do, the things I’ve seen and experienced and made, the people I know or have known, my beliefs and perspectives, the things I’ve yet to do but want to, I cling to them even as they turn to dust. The telling and retelling, I’ve begun to see, ultimately liberates you from your narrative, if you allow it to. The

A lot of pilgrims run a needle with thread through their blisters. They pull the thread through until it hangs out both entry points and then cut it, leaving two to three inches of thread hanging out, which supposedly allows the blister to drain.

Insight of the day: It is good to know who you are!

No one has to choose to be with others whose habits and words are disturbing but we can make the choice not to judge them.

If we can be so different within one and the same life, why shouldn’t that continue over several lives?

We cannot continue the primal reaction of demonizing those we do not understand—who worship differently—who have a different skin color or sexual orientation. Nowhere, is the truth for who we can be more evident and encouraging than on the Camino de Santiago.

I have decided never to waste a holiday again.  It is all too easy to just relax and drift through free time; but travel provides that necessary relief from reality, time to relax and recuperate, and to re-enter life in a much better frame of mind. 

A particularly poignant moment for me today was after being given two quotes which caused me to spend time reflecting on the path that my own life has taken so far, and might take in the future: “Whatever does not make your heart sing was not meant for you in this life” “Whatever you lose time doing, you should be doing in life

in this increasingly connected world, we may actually be becoming increasingly disconnected as we live life through a computer or phone screen.

Later I realize that every time I deviate in the slightest from the path, the butterflies disappear. No sooner am I back on the pilgrims’ trail than I see swarms of colorful butterflies.

I really like the idyllic little places I pass through where people live their lives in peace, working, having children, and celebrating holidays, but I couldn’t live like them. I have to keep on going. I just have to hike, and the rest will fall into place.

historical statistics tell us that July and August are the busy times on the Camino, June close but somewhat quieter, and that the shoulder seasons of May and September are ideal – warm without being too hot, and quieter without any danger of albergues and restaurants closing. April and October are seen as pushing it, weather-wise and from an infrastructure standpoint, while November to March are only for those hardy fools who either relish frozen appendages and feel that hiking 800 kilometres isn’t already enough of a challenge, or are just way too busy the rest of the year with their job as assistant manager of paddling pool security.