Home...?

Yes, I feel as if my life, the life I have returned to, is punctuated by ...? more often than not. My plans for the future, my plans for now, what I want, what I need. I've been home (once again, home...?) for over a week now; everything is the same and nothing is the same. My life is full of these paradoxes: about change, about time, about my future (inevitable) employment. I laughed in the face of reverse culture shock (it's just an anthropological term, right?) but, really, it's hitting me. Theoretically, I knew that things changed while I was gone, but it's difficult to anticipate it in practice. I get the question, "So, what are you plans?" every time I see someone again for the first time. I always thought that college was the difficult time--choosing your major, graduating--and that after graduation, you somehow got a job in that field. What the fuck was I thinking? Anyway, it's strange to see what my friends are doing now. From what I've seen so far, there are two general paths open to me: doing hard drugs and drinking heavily while working a no-responsibility job, or turning adult and working a professional job or going back to school. Neither appeals. There must be something else, but this really seems to be what everyone I know is doing. I had come to terms with my lack of direction while I was in Spain but I've been feeling outside pressure since day 2 in the US (e.g. checking up on my daily progress). But regardless! I love being back! I love spending time with my friends and family, of being around people who know and understand me (as well as anyone could probably understand me). It already feels like I've been here forever. Really, this is just a continuation of my homeless wandering of the past two months--just a different, familiar setting. There are so many possibilities and I have no obligation or commitment anywhere nor towards anyone. And I'm paralyzed into inaction. I'm paralyzed by the thought of making the wrong choice and closing off possible options forever. Of getting stuck in a job I hate with an obligation to continue working. I have received so much advice (solicited or not), and I do realize that by not choosing anything I am losing possibilities too. So I can't win but I probably can't lose either. It just takes time, I suppose.

Santiago de Compostela!

We arrived in Santiago de Compostela on the 23rd!!!! 450+ kilometers of walking (Sydney has the exact numbers), not including the numerous backtracks. Quite anticlimatic but also really strange to be done with a month of walking. First thought: how overwhelming to be in a regular sized city, with lots of people and traffic. And, how unfortunate that you can't just look for a place to pee behind some bush a little off the path! It's nice to be done, to not have to wake up early, hobble out of bed, pack bags quietly and often in the dark and walk till my feet hurt. But I'm also sad it's over. The atmosphere at the albergues is so warm and all peregrinos compare foot wounds and help each other out. You can also spot a peregrino from a mile away, usually because they're limping. The last week or so we'd been meeting a group of (amazing) Germans, 7 in total, at each albergue and eating and drinking with them. We've since parted ways, also sad. I've learned so many interesting things about Germany, and whenever we are at an impasse, we ask ourselves, "What would the Germans do?" We got to Santiago just in time to celebrate the day of Santiago on the 25th. On the 24th there was a fireworks show from the front of the cathedral--spectacular, with excellent music as well. We got terribly drunk with the Germans, ran into a ton of people we had met on the Camino, and just made general fools of ourselves. Excellent. Now we're in Fisterra, on the western coast of Galicia. We're bumming around on the beach until Syd and I go to La Coruña and Matt and Emily go back to Santiago to catch planes. I go home in a week from tomorrow: absolutely insane. Where have these months gone????

Galicia!

We've made it to Galicia! Yesterday, Matt, Emily, Sydney and I crossed into Galicia across an incredibly busy, very long, under construction bridge. One worker told us we could walk along the left lane, which had no traffic. About halfway across the bridge, someone said, "Is that car coming towards us?", which it was, as well as the other lane. So we had to hop over the construction barrier, which ended soon and we had to cross over to the right lane and run the rest of the way. It was pretty fucking excellent and really funny. All the workers were yelling and pointing with instructions. We got to the albergue, which was full, but a pair of German lesbians let us have their beds while they slept in a tent outside, leaving two of us to sleep on the sofa and a mattress on the floor. We made friends with a group of seven Germans, who initially disliked us because we didn't say good morning to them. The local police (four of them! so efficient) came to the albergue to document who was there and collect the 3 euro each, and offered to take our little group to another place so we could all have beds. One cop (jolly cop) drove us to the gymnasium, stopping to let us buy wine at the supermarket. We had the whole gym to ourselves! Then jolly cop went to get the other three cops (lady cop, spiky cop, big nose cop) to sign us in (once again, very efficient). This, following a terrible day where we got on the wrong track and overshot the village by about 4 kilometers and had to backtrack about 8. (Yeah, I know it doesn't make sense but it's the way we walked or something.) We also tried to get to another road by crossing a field; unforunately there were tons of blackberry bushes, pokey shrubs and a cliff, so Emily and Sydney went over a hill and Matt and I had to go back to the road and around. So, all in all, about 33 kilometers: too much. Now I have a terrible blister!

Anyway, it is so great to see them again, and I feel like almost no time has passed. Strange.

Asturias.. and the camino continues!

Well, I've made it to Asturias. Currently I'm in Gijón waiting for Matt and Emily to arrive! I can't wait to see them! My first step back into reality. We bussed here this morning from Ribadesella, about a four days walk from here that we completed in an hour and a half. Not that nice to think about. This ends about 12 days of walking. It's nice to have a day or two of rest. My body is tired and I have a blister on my right pinkie toe that just doesn't want to heal and really just shoots pain through my foot by the end of the day and makes me gimp around. It's pretty funny. It's also extremely hot right now. So, nice to go to the beach! About 5 days ago (everything is approximate) Sydney and I met a German woman, Martina, and a Dutch woman, Annemarie, in a monastery albergue and up until today we'd been meeting up with them since then. They've been taking care of us, i.e., telling us where there are albergues, where the albergues are closed, etc. They are also hilarious and love to make fun of everyone. I'm a little sad to leave them. About three days ago we emerged into a village and met Henrik, a Dutch man we had met when we first started walking, over two weeks ago, who I never thought I would see again. I think he was very surprised to see us, but happy, too, that we had decided to continue after the problems from the beginning. Rudolf, the crazy Austrian man, also appeared at an albergue. I think I'll probably see him again as his pace is much faster than ours. It really is true that even if you think you've lost someone on the Camino, you'll probably run into them again.

Asturias is absolutely beautiful. We have been walking more or less along the coast again with less asphalt for the last few days. We have been walking alongside the Picos de Europa for about a week as well. There are tons of farm animals everywhere and we are constantly distracted by some creature or another. The landscape is amazing and parts remind me so much of home. I'm realizing how much I'm ready to go home. But I don't know if I'm any closer to deciding what I want to do when I get there....

Santander y el Camino de Santiago!

Here I am in Santander, Cantabria, day seven of the Camino del Norte! I must say: much more difficult than I had anticipated. No training, no problem.. Not true. We walked 4 days, almost dying on the 4th, arrived in Marquina, decided to bus to Bilbao (terrible blisters for Sydney, too much weight in bag and huge painful bumps on collarbones from bag pulling for me), recover two days, and start again a little farther along, in Laredo, Cantabria. Much better. So we've been walking 3 days so far since Bilbao. We went to the Guggenheim in Bilbao: amazing. So strange. I continue to love the País Vasco and want to come back here at some point. The countryside we've hiked is absolutely amazing. It's so beautiful and so much like home! Green, mountains, hills, forests, clouds, rain! Several days were along the coast, with incredible views and beautiful beaches. Some of the path is asphalt, along the road, some is through forest, some is through mud, or fields, or along the beach. Sometimes the yellow arrows marking the path are nonexistent at a crossroads, or ambiguous, and it's frustrating. Some is hella difficult: I'd be pissed to climb it in a normal hike without 20 pounds on my back. Yes, I also did buy poles, and a new bag in Bilbao. A pretty penny, but my collarbones no longer hurt! We're just taking it as it goes, but taking it slow. I've met some incredibly interesting people so far: a crazy Austrian who has already walked 3000 kilometers, an Italian guy walking from Rome with no money, a Canadian girl even less prepared than we are.. Hay de todo. But everyone is so nice. And it is so incredibly beautiful, everything.

San Sebastián

San Sebastián is a wonderful wonderful city and I love it! It's on a beautiful bay with a paseo and two beaches surrounding it. We went out for pinchos and sidra last night. It was all really good; the best pinchos I've had in Spain. After eating we went were looking for a bar that didn't seen Spanish, and ended up in a clearly foreign bar with the soccer game. Spain beat Italy, then the place cleared out and the bartender put on American music for us. I requested Michael Jackson so Sydney, the bartender, one other customer, and I all sang the entire Thriller album. After that we met some Spanish guys and they took us to a gay club: my first in Spain. It was a lot of fun, they were playing excellent music (Postal Service, Chili Peppers, Bruce Springsteen). Now I have a wicked hangover but well worth it. So, tomorrow we start the Camino!! We're going to try to take it easy the first couple days... I'm excited but I have no idea what to expect! I'm a little sad to be leaving San Sebastián but glad that we'll be in the País Vasco for awhile longer. I think I could live here.

Back in Spain! ...goodbye Eastern Europe.

Ok, we got back in Spain yesterday and now we're in San Sebastián in the País vasco. And it's fucking hot. Like 90 degrees. To the beach soon! It's nice to be able to speak the language again and have a general understanding about what's happening around me, but I'm sad to have left Eastern Europe.

I guess I'll just give a general overview of what I did over the last two weeks or so. We went to Dubrovnik after Mostar, where we met a Finn named Sanna in the bus station (as we were mobbed by people offering us rooms) who asked if she could stay with us because it's expensive to stay alone. So we stayed in a triple (with a tiny foldout bed for Sanna). Dubrovnik is nice but it's incredibly touristy. We walked around the city, went to the national park on the island of Mljet, and went to the beach. The Adriatic is so beautiful! The water was so clean and clear and absolutely amazing. The national park was incredible; it has two lakes, the bigger one has a small island in the middle with a monastery on it. So, it was an island within an island, which is fun. We swam in the lake which was as clean and clear as the sea around the island. There were trees that came right up to the water's edge.

Then we took a ferry to the island of Hvar. Once again, picture perfect and incredibly beautiful. We only stayed one night, which was probably for the best because I couldn't stand all the rich people walking around and all the yachts in the harbor. Rich people!

Then we took a ferry to Split, which is as nice as Dubrovnik but with a lot more life. I really enjoyed the old palace which encloses the old part of the city. We went to the beach one day but the water wasn't as nice as it was in Dubrovnik and it rained midday. Así es. We went to this town on a island, Trogir, one day.

Then to Zadar! Still on the coast. We only spent the evening there but it was still excellent. There is a sea organ there (don't ask me how, the informative brochure was written in broken English) which produces mystifying and magical music. We had a delicious dinner of fish with Sanna and Stefan (a German guy she had met earlier; he had the funniest German accent!!).

The next day we went to Plitvice National Park, which has 16 lakes connected through various waterfalls. It was absolutely amazing. We walked around and down the lakes for several hours. Unfortunately, you are NOT allowed to swim in them.

Next day to Zagreb, the capital of Croatia. We just walked around the old part. Nice, but not terribly impressive.

Then to Budapest to catch our plane the next day. On the verge of sleep I asked Sydney if she had checked the flight time, since we had both thought it was at 1pm the next but I couldn't check myself as I had thrown away my reservation (idiot). She dug out the paper and found that it left at 9:15am. Narrowly avoided catastrophe, I would say. A long day of traveling got us to sweltering Madrid. And now we're in San Sebastián! I can't wait to go to the beach! The original plan was to start the camino on Monday but Sydney is sick so perhaps we will wait until Tuesday... It's just so damn hot!