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Of Pigs and Bacon: Portomarin to Palas de Rei - September 9, 2024

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Along the roadside high above the Minho river, during the early morning hours of September 9, 2024, vendors set up stalls displaying cured meats, cheeses and other delectable wares. Carla looked longingly at them and announced with profound regret, “We have to wait until we reach Santiago.” “Yeah, we don’t want to carry all this on our backs,” I said, knowing how much it hurt Carla to restrain herself from buying up everything in sight. By way of introduction, it was the fourth day of walking with my friends, Carla, John and Giulia from O Cebreiro to Santiago de Compostela, and today we walked from Portomarin to Palas de Rei. Although the day was uneventful, it was still special. Every day meant something to me during this seven-day Camino to Santiago de Compostela—our second one together. We had walked along the coastal route in 2022 and enjoyed the journey so much we did it again in 2024, this time along the St. James Way. The memories may fade, but the camaraderie with friends and t...
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Serendipity on the Camino: Sarria to Portomarin - September 8, 2024

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Have you ever had a moment when you thought the universe had aligned to make everything right for you? The day I lost and found my tiniest gadget, a 1x0.5 inch flat remote control button, was such an example. Today’s walk might have been like any other except something exceptional happened. My friends, Carla, Giulia and her husband John, and I had to cover at least 24 kilometres to go from Sarria to Portomarin, our next stop. It seemed like a long time ago since we started the Camino in O Cebreiro, but it was a mere two days and 50+- kilometres ago. The weather looked promising with no discernible rain clouds, and just cool enough for me to wear a light jacket over my hoodie and t-shirt. We got an early start around 8:30 am, and it looked like most pilgrims shared the same idea. The numbers had swelled massively from the day before. There were hundreds of people making their way out of the town. Pilgrims need to walk no less than 100 kilometres to reach Santiago de Compostela and quali...
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Triacastela to Sarria - September 7, 2024

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With the first 21 kilometres of the Camino de Santiago in my rearview mirror, I felt energized as I got ready to meet with my friends, Carla, Giulia and John for breakfast. They seemed just as pumped to get started on our 25 km walk from Triacastela to Sarria. Carla suggested we go through Samos to see a monastery. She said the route would be slightly longer than the San Xil one, but the monastery came highly recommended by a fellow pilgrim she met yesterday. We agreed to walk the extra few kilometers. At 8:30 AM the air felt crisp after the rain from the previous day. We strapped our backpacks and Carla snapped a selfie of the four amigos in front of our hotel, a tradition we started from our first Camino in 2022. I whispered a silent goodbye to Triacastela where past pilgrims’ footsteps seemed to linger just a moment longer. Once out of the town, we marched over undulating hills, winding along scenic wooded paths through large swathes of farmland dotted by a few houses. Sometimes we ...
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O Cebreiro to Triacastela - September 6, 2024

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My first day of walking from O Cebreiro to Santiago de Compostela started early. Today my three friends, Carla, Giulia and her husband John, and I would walk 21 kilometers to our destination in Triacastela. Although I had a rough night adjusting to a six-hour time difference, my mood stayed high as I anticipated an adventure. I met my friends at 7 AM for breakfast outside the hotel’s restaurant. The mist chilled my bones as I waited. Minutes later a middle-aged man welcomed us with a cheerful smile. Together with a woman about the same age, they served us breakfast at a rectangular wooden table already set for four. When freshly baked bread, prosciutto, cheese and café con leche arrived, Carla and Giulia declared all was well again in our universe. They had a less-than-pleasant experience during the check-in process yesterday. The food didn’t disappoint. The coffee especially, hit all the right spots for me. I remembered how much I enjoyed the café con leche--coffee with lots of whole ...
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Porto to O Cebreiro - September 5, 2024

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In September 2022 I walked 128 kilometres from Baiona to Santiago de Compostela with five friends. My first Camino took place along the Portuguese Coastal Way. One of those friends, Giulia and I planned that pilgrimage as a retirement gift to ourselves. I enjoyed the first experience so much that when she suggested doing it again, I agreed. So two years later, three of those same friends, Giulia, her husband John, Carla, and I packed our bags and landed in Porto on September 5, 2024. This time we walked the last 162 kilometres from O Cebreiro to Santiago along the French Way. It was sunny and pleasant when we arrived in Porto but got cloudy and overcast as we crossed over to Spain. We arrived in O Cebreiro, a quaint hamlet in Galicia, late in the afternoon. Our driver dropped us in the middle of, what seemed, the only road. Looking around I felt that had we arrived in a horse-drawn carriage and dressed in 18th or 19th-century garb, we’d have fitted right in. One would think we’d easily...
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A Father's Day Special

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Introduction: While I was rooting through my writings searching for inspiration, I came upon this piece I wrote sometime in 2021 while the Pandemic still raged and before my mother passed on June 21, 2021. I’d forgotten all about it, and on this upcoming Father’s Day, it feels right to publish on my blog. So here it goes. Revisiting the Pandemic Years: My mother believes she has earned the right to die before my dad does. In 2010 when Mom was in her early seventies, she went through several back-to-back surgeries and stayed in the hospital for over five months. She wasn’t expected to recover, but she did, so now her health issues keep my dad, my four siblings and me on our toes. That is, until Dad was diagnosed with a malignant mass in one of his lungs in November 2019. Dad doesn’t want Mom to find out about his diagnosis because she is terrified he will pass before she does. So, when she asks, “Why are you going to the hospital so often?” He replies, “Don’t worry, it’s nothing major. ...
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