Jon's In5anity

Today we bought bikes with panniers.  We will be continueing our tour de spain via bicycles yaahoo.  I´m not sure what else to say for now but i´ll try to update often.  First to the coast then to destinations unknown. Peace

Yesterday we walked into Santiago the destination for our walk.  It was Very nice to finally make it.  After 500 miles of walking it´s nice to be here.  The city is huge and the cathedral is beautiful.  I feel a flood of mixed emotions.  Happiness, Confusion, Frustration and so much more in waves.  I feel like The trail has become a tourist trip instead of a spiritual journey.  The trail has become a thing rich old fit people do for a vacation.  I know I am not Catholic, but I am a spiritual person and I feel like the trail has lost some of it´s spirituality.  At the same time I am happy to be a part of a trail which millions of people have walked for many hundreds of years. 

Now the thing is what next?  Many options with much uncertainty.  The current goal is to obtain bikes.  We want to bike to Finisterre which is on the coast.  Then we would like to bike further if possible maybe around the coast a bit then maybe south through portugal.  WWOOF (Willing Workers On Organic Farms) is still an option we are trying.  We have sent out many emails and hope to hear back from someone soon.  The future is uncertain and we are trying to stay open to all possibilities.  Please keep us in your prayers.  Take care of yourselves and each other. much love

The nightbefore our departure into the great pyranees was stormy. We feared for the day ahead. Luckily when we awoke the sky was mostly clear. We packed up our things and strapped on our packs and departed. As we walked we enjoyed a beautiful sunrise in one part of the sky while the full moon set in another. We felt it was a good omen as well as a good way to start our journey.

The first day was tough. We walked 26km up and over the pyranees gaining 3000+ ft in the process. We were so thankful for the nice weather though it was quite warm and I of course got sunburned. After the first day of walking we ended up in Roncesvalles a small town in the spanish foothills. There we stayed in an Albergue. We would soon come to know these places as home.

Albergues are like hostels for pilgrims (pilgrams being people on the pilgrimage to Santiago). The great thing about them is that they provide a cheap (3€-6€ though some only ask for a donation.) place to stay. These beds can range from a thin mat on the floor with 6 or 8 people in a room or a bunk bed in a huge room with 100+ beds. The worst part about albergues is the snoring people. I am lucky to be able to sleep through nearly anything but i do occasionally wake up to a symphony of snores.

Our favorite albergues have been run by the churches. At these places we are served dinner and breakfast as part of our stays. One such albergue which was my personal favorite was at Eunate. We had taken a side detour to see this church one of the older and more unique on the trail. The church was octagonal (8 sided) not a huge church but it had beautiful carvings all around it’s exterior. Rain clouds had set in and we felt rain was emminant so we inquired about staying at the albergue next to the church. Here we met a very nice and spiritual man named Jean. He was volunteering for a few days to look after the place. This was the smallest place we have stayed at so far. It’s capacity was ten people on mats in one room. There were 8 of us on this particular night. Jean cooked for at least 3 or more hours preparing a feast. He spoke french and a little bit of spanish but very little english. because of this he and I could not talk. Alyssa spoke with him abit and learned that he had walked the camino 4 times. The night was very multicultured with a french couple, a spanish couple, a german women, and alyssa and I. The feast was spectacular 5 stars to Jean. After the meal we went into the church with small candles and had a short prayer and meditation. It was a spectacular night i will not soon forget.

In the days that followed we covered some amazing country. The mountains were a cross between the rockies and the appalachians. They were smaller like the appalachians but drier like the rockies. Soon we passed out of the mountain region of basque country into navarra. Here we began to encounter miles upon miles of grape vines full of grapes. Navarra and the region that followed La Rioja are known for having amazing wine. It is cheap and flows freely. Here we pay 1,50€ for a decent bottle of wine. We even encountered a place which had a fuente de vino or in english a fountain of wine. We had read about it but did not believe that it could be true. When we arrived we found a fountain in a wall with 2 spouts. the left marked vino and the right marked aqua. We pulled the vino handle and out flowed red wine. truly amazing.

We eat well here in spain. When we eat out we typically get the menu del dia or the menu of the day. This tends to be two courses and dessert and bread and wine for about 8€. These meals are nice but we cook our own meals most of the time. The food available is about the same as in america. One thing we have found to be particularily nice is the cheese. Many different kinds are usually available and most of the time it is locally made. We eat lots of sandwiches usually chorizo and cheese or cheese and veggy. We drink wine with most evening meals as it is considered a food group here.

I feel i should share a bit of history of the Camino so that you may better understand the trail. It is the ancient pilgrimage of St. James. St. James was a deciple of Jesus.  After Jesus died he walked accross Spain trying to spread the word and gain followers.  Spain was not ready for christianity and St. James only gained 8 followers.  Now we flash forward and St. James has died somewhere besides Spain I am unsure where.  His followers in Spain contact his followers elsewhere and his body is floated to Spain and his remains get burried in Spain.  He is forgotten then sometime in the future his body is discovered and the town of Santiago is founded and a church built on top of his grave.

In modern times we pilgrams walk to Santiago accross spain.  Some people for religious reasons, some for spiritual reasons, and many more have other reasons.  I am not sure why I walk.  I came here to walk and hike because I like to walk and hike but now that I´m here I am unsure what this path means to me.  I will let you know what I figure out.

The path is marked well with yellow arrows everywhere along the way.  We walk from town to town to town.  the distances vary from 1km-15km.  There are 100´s of pilgrams.  We rarily walk completely alone most of the time there is always some pilgram around.

I think I will sign off for now.  I hope you all are well.  Please write me and tell me of your adventures.

Much Love to you all

jon

Here I am in Spain. What a beautiful country it is. As some of you may already know I am walking the Camino de Santiago. This is the Walk of St. James. It is a journey which is 774 Km long. We have walked about 210 Km so far. The walking is going very well for me. I have had a couple blisters but they were not to bad.Alyssa and I started off in Raleigh NC monday the 2nd at 4am. We flew to New York and then had a layover for the day. We couldn’t even check in until 6 that night. So we slept most of the day. at 6 we got in line to check in. upon getting to the ticket counter we found out that our flight was delayed until the next morning. we were lucky and the airline put us up in a hotel for the night and gave us a voucher for dinner. The next morning at 5am we haeded back to the airport for our flight to Madrid. The flight was late taking off which sucked. The plane was terrible and the seats had very little room between rows meaning little leg room. But we made it. We soon realized we had missed our connecting flight to Bilbao. Once again we were lucky and the airline gave us a hotel room and diner. This time the hotel was amazing. It was huge and dinner was awesome. We ate dinner and then went to our room and watched MTV (the only station in english) until we fell asleep.The next morning we finally flew to Bilbao. What a deal this plane trip was a flight to spain and 2 hotel rooms and 2 dinners for $250. In Bilbao we headed to the bus station and caught a bus to San Sabastian. San Sabastian Was very quaint. We went to the old part of town into a maze of narrow streets filled with Tapas bars. We checked into the Pension Aussie (a pension is like a hostel) which was run by this australian guy who seemed a bit cracked out. After napping for a bit we headed to the beach for a nice swim. It felt so good to be int the ocean.

check it out i made the cover of appalachian today I rule

hello blog world it´s jon

wow i can´t believe i haven´t blogged since march wtf.  So  I graduated and now i live in a backpack in spain.  I worked for the summer made money and left for here.  I am walking again.  Suprise.  I know none ogf you aree suprised.  so anyway I am walking accross spain.  it is a trail called the camino de santiago.  google it to find out nmore.  i´d find a link but this computer sucks.  anyway Alyssa my girlfriend and I are here walking.  we have walked about 100miles accross spain starting actually in france on the other side of the great pyranees.  The biggest shock to me has been the fact that they speak spanish herer. who would have thought spanish in spain you would think they invented the language or sdomething. to bad i don´t speak spanish much.  but Alyssa does and I am learning quick. 

So we plan to walk about 500miles and then work on some farms and use couchsurfing.com a bit.  then we will hopefully travel over a bit of europe hitchhiking or flying or ewalking or something.  It´s funny to me that this sort of thing has become normal to me.  If my sister was like I´m walking accross spain people would be klike wtf.  but for me it´s normality.  and it´s good. 

The weather here is nice though it´s been getting a bit cold.  the wine is cheaper than water and it´s good.  So there are people waiting so i´ll sign off.  I am working on a mega post on my palm but i have to find a computer with a usb. so far they are these stupid kiosks.  which by the way harper if you can figure out anything about hacking ciber red internet kiosks powered by NEM it would rule. anyway take care much love

I’m in Boston chillin for a short vacation. Alyssa had to come up for a job interview with greencorps. I tagged along for support and to get outta town for a minute. Today we came into town early. I had some work to do so I came to the science center. It’s filled with lecture halls and laboratories. First thing I decided to explore. I hopped on the elevator and rode it to the top floor. I had seen the telescopes on the roof and wanted to get up there for the view. I followed the signs to the telescopes. got to a small hallway with 2 doors. both were locked. luckily i’m tricky so i managed to open one of the doors. I entered a small room which was a stairway with a hatch for a roof. I opened up to big draw latches and it opened. Bam I was on the roof. Note the two domes on the roof thats where I was. unfortunately the telescope room was locked and i had no success at opening it. However thye view was rather nice. Quite cold so i only stayed for a few minutes. Then I came back down and found a small room on the 8th floor with a desk and chair and so i snuck in and shut the door and here I am with my own private office at Harvard. I’m meeting a friend soon for lunch and to hang out. My friend Maria who I met in New Zealand lives and goes to school here. So we are going to kick it. I have also been working on a final report for the EPA biodiesel project competition I’m involved in. All and All a nice day. More news later.