ONLY 10 more days of walking and we will be in Santiago! Wooooo Hooooo! when leaving leon early this morning approx. 8 am a man in his 40´s on a bike was followed by his son. i have not seen a child do the camino this young. later, the boy and his father stopped so the boy could take a rest from climbing the hills. the father told me they had started 8 days ago in Dux (sp?), France - traveling to santiago and then back! this boy is 10 years old! i can not imagine this kind of journey for someone so young. the father spoke good english, his son did not. next year in school he will take one hour a day to study english. Buen Camino.
heather and david from reno, nevada suggested we come to villar de mazarife, good choice, great walk felt like we could be in africa. the landscape gave us this impression. large trees surrounded by wheat colored weeds, leaves were a rich dark green with dark brown bark. i´ve never seen this kind of tree. far, far into the horizon i could faintly see a mountain range. the sky was a vivid blue, a blue so rich it seemed to hold one down, an occassional chestnut brown plowed field, today´s walk was enjoyable. a very long stretch, it felt different like walking on a plateau, higher than surrounding lands although i could not see that far to know for sure. the dirt road was easy to walk on, very few rocks, easier on the feet. i am laying int the top bunk above nicole and am very tired. i have ear plugs in so i can hear and feel the places in my body pulsing. i feel pressure in temples, my toes are pulsing in the areas that are very tender, at times a slight burn in my hips as i sleep on my side. i chose not to get a new pair of orthodics, my arch in my left foot burns with pain as i walk and rest, my heels ache from worn padding in my boots. my neck aches from pillows too high, my neck and shoulders ache from an ill fitted pack. i´m only adding these last comments regarding body so you can actually understand what it´s like. i am weary but happy. soon we will have vegetable paella with peppe at the albergue.
we just finished dinner that peppe and his family made for us and it was ohhhh sooo fine! we had paella, crusted bread, ensalada mixta with oil and vinegar, and fruit-sliced apples, oranges and honeydew melon and wine or water. thank you heather and david for suggesting this intimate and most delightful albergue. we are now going to bed, good night or as in your case good morning! tomorrow we will walk to astorga. LIFE IS GOOD...AriZona
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
4th of July
We had WATERMELON!!!!!! Woooooo Hoooooo! HAPPY 4TH EVERYONE, WE´RE THINKING OF EVERYONE! We are leaving early in the morning before the town wakes up. we just went shopping for our journey tomorrow as there will be a stretch where there won´t be anything available for food. we are going a different way a tip from heather and dave from reno, nevada....we will be walking to mazarife and see Pepe at the albergue. LIFE IS GOOD....LIFE IS GOOD! AriZona
Still in Leon
HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY everyone! this morning nicole and i walked across town and had a hamburger, fries and coke in honor of all the good food everyone will be having today at home. nicole and i bought some t-shirts, hers is red & mine light blue and darker blue striped. our stars and fireworks we are wearing in the form of much needed lotion which which sparkles, we didn´t notice this until we were in the sun, of course we laughed and thought it appropriate. didn´t find any watermelon, but we are in the spirit! Be Safe and again HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY! We will resume walking tomorrow morning when all of you are sound asleep. I Love You All....LIFE IS GOOD....AriZona
p.s. thank you heather and dave, we decided to stay one more day in leon and are leaving tomorrow (july 5th) morning and will take the way you suggested to mazarife. i´m sure we´ll see you soon. if you want to post another blog just click on comment & annonymous. LIFE IS GOOD, AriZona
p.s. thank you heather and dave, we decided to stay one more day in leon and are leaving tomorrow (july 5th) morning and will take the way you suggested to mazarife. i´m sure we´ll see you soon. if you want to post another blog just click on comment & annonymous. LIFE IS GOOD, AriZona
Tuesday, July 3, 2007
21st Day / Leon - Still in Leon
i can´t believe or remember from 2002 what having a day off from walking can do for the body and spirit. i feel great today and ready to start on the Camino de Santiago tomorrow, bright and early. i´m getting excited as i always do as a new adventure unfolds. today as i was showing leon to nicole everything came back to me; i remembered my favorite places, it´s just so thrilling for me to take a few steps and remember where my feet want to take me (new & old places)....it´s the adventure! i don´t feel i´m in a foreign country; no matter where i´ve been it all feels so familiar and i´ve been to many places here in spain that i haven´t been to before...next stage...learn the language, it´s more important to me than ever. i owe it to all the wonderful guys who we are fortunate enough to have work for us (marc & I refer to them as our amigos)and love them. in the cyber cafe we are at they are playing the greatet music from my life (since i was a little girl and, my mom would play the stereo so loud the next block could rock with her- thank you mom, ILY) i´m sitting here just dying to dance, smiling and rocking to the music! oh yeah, my heart is full. i´m talking really old songs, like-sweet talkin´guy; leader of the pack: under the boardwalk; i found my thrill on blueberry hill; hey venus; in the still of the night; and many many more, i am wanting to dance!!!!!!! no celebrations at this time in leon, although i think we may have missed one; as nicole and i entered leon yesterday morning we saw remnants of confetti strewn in many places; i think spain knows how to celebrate. oh, yesterday morning while eating breakfast nicole spotted a poster that told us there was a bull fight that very night. so we asked where the bull fight was and the two spanish men told us many km´s away, too far. they knew we were pilgrim´s and i didn´t think about it until we were well on our way but we could´ve taken a bus to where we came from to see the bull fight and then take the bus back to start walking again where we stopped. that was a great idea and if the situation arises again we´ll be on a bus to see the bull fight. it´s our journey and we can make it whatever we want, and we are loving it; pain, joy everything. LIFE IS GOOD. tomorrow morning we will be on our way once again. tomorrow will take us to Villadangos Del Paramo, 21.8 km. we now have a map of the elevations; tomorrow we will be " 800 meters. Stay tuned for the next days´adventure of nicole and arizona. Hola from Spain - AriZona
Great Story
Greetings from Marc.
I am loving having Arizona paint pictures of Spain in my mind. Thank-you Sweetheart.
Here is a journal entry AZ sent to me. Enjoyable to the last word. ILY
nicole has been typing for about an hour and i´m so physically tired i was starting to get impatient. luckily a man came in earlier and asked how long she would be on then told him i would be using it next and be on for an hour. i was laying on some chairs with a blanket to make it comfortable while waiting but i realized i wanted to sleep.
i have 7 toes covered with moleskin, bought some here in spain but it is worthless and seems cheap. i got lucky when a young guy and gal from reno, nevada came and got beds next to us. we got to visiting and then talked about the things we use for our injuries; i told them about my moleskin and about spain´s moleskin and they told me they had tons. at first i declined and they insisted, so i said i´d buy some from them. oh no, we have a gallon size of moleskin, we´ll just give you some; okay we´ll talk later.
i´m so tired i´m not even washing my clothes tonight, just a shower and that´s it. let me tell you about last night´s stay at the albergue: since we were abviously the only pilgrim´s that stayed in this albergue for a very long time as all the people in this village seemed to come out of places just to check us out. when we arrived there was a note on the door to go to the XANADO bar to pick up the key: that should´ve been our first clue.
we went to the bar which was very dirty with a little language difficulty we got a key and two cokes. when leaving the bar there were several young men sitting outside in a patio area of the bar, as we walked away someone clapped (second clue) and we went away raising our eyebrows with wide eyes.
the albergue was across the street at a very nice local park, we felt we were on display. when we opened the metal door, again we raised our eyebrows with wide eyes and laughed. it looked as though no one had slept there in a hundred years. as i said we felt we were on display, we didn´t know what to do. i told nicole i´m glad she was along i think it would´ve been too spokey for me to stay alone, we laughed and agreed for both of us.
if we left it would be another 6 km´s and didn´t know it was too late. we decided to stay. honey, it was weird. no place to eat, luckily we had a food, olives, chips and a coke...we were good to go. we ate in the park while the local high school boys´`played racquet ball with their coach. soon, the local teenage girls´ came and sat behind us, no one talking to us, just looking, old people, young people, the guys over at the bar. it was very weird!
we had windows that were open and envisioned the entire villiage peeking in all the windows watching us during the night...like in a stephen king novel. we left a light on, it was just too, too weird. i´m not washing my clothes tonight, but we do have to eat.
tomorrow we will be in leon, meeting andrea at 7 pm. i hope we get there really early, it seems our time is so precious. we have´t seen him in 5-6 days and may not much more so we set a time and place (at the cathedral).
my heels, ache, not enough padding, and my neck is killing me along with my shoulder muscles. i have someone waiting in line for the computer and need to go. i love you and miss you so much. RILYA - i´ll call - AriZona
I am loving having Arizona paint pictures of Spain in my mind. Thank-you Sweetheart.
Here is a journal entry AZ sent to me. Enjoyable to the last word. ILY
nicole has been typing for about an hour and i´m so physically tired i was starting to get impatient. luckily a man came in earlier and asked how long she would be on then told him i would be using it next and be on for an hour. i was laying on some chairs with a blanket to make it comfortable while waiting but i realized i wanted to sleep.
i have 7 toes covered with moleskin, bought some here in spain but it is worthless and seems cheap. i got lucky when a young guy and gal from reno, nevada came and got beds next to us. we got to visiting and then talked about the things we use for our injuries; i told them about my moleskin and about spain´s moleskin and they told me they had tons. at first i declined and they insisted, so i said i´d buy some from them. oh no, we have a gallon size of moleskin, we´ll just give you some; okay we´ll talk later.
i´m so tired i´m not even washing my clothes tonight, just a shower and that´s it. let me tell you about last night´s stay at the albergue: since we were abviously the only pilgrim´s that stayed in this albergue for a very long time as all the people in this village seemed to come out of places just to check us out. when we arrived there was a note on the door to go to the XANADO bar to pick up the key: that should´ve been our first clue.
we went to the bar which was very dirty with a little language difficulty we got a key and two cokes. when leaving the bar there were several young men sitting outside in a patio area of the bar, as we walked away someone clapped (second clue) and we went away raising our eyebrows with wide eyes.
the albergue was across the street at a very nice local park, we felt we were on display. when we opened the metal door, again we raised our eyebrows with wide eyes and laughed. it looked as though no one had slept there in a hundred years. as i said we felt we were on display, we didn´t know what to do. i told nicole i´m glad she was along i think it would´ve been too spokey for me to stay alone, we laughed and agreed for both of us.
if we left it would be another 6 km´s and didn´t know it was too late. we decided to stay. honey, it was weird. no place to eat, luckily we had a food, olives, chips and a coke...we were good to go. we ate in the park while the local high school boys´`played racquet ball with their coach. soon, the local teenage girls´ came and sat behind us, no one talking to us, just looking, old people, young people, the guys over at the bar. it was very weird!
we had windows that were open and envisioned the entire villiage peeking in all the windows watching us during the night...like in a stephen king novel. we left a light on, it was just too, too weird. i´m not washing my clothes tonight, but we do have to eat.
tomorrow we will be in leon, meeting andrea at 7 pm. i hope we get there really early, it seems our time is so precious. we have´t seen him in 5-6 days and may not much more so we set a time and place (at the cathedral).
my heels, ache, not enough padding, and my neck is killing me along with my shoulder muscles. i have someone waiting in line for the computer and need to go. i love you and miss you so much. RILYA - i´ll call - AriZona
Monday, July 2, 2007
comments
just click on annoymous and publish a post, see if that works for those of you who are having difficulties. AriZona in Leon, Spain
20th Day / Reliegos - Leon / 25 km
hello everyone - i want to take a moment to tell everyone thank you for writing and letting me know what is going on in your lives, it is very important to me and i thank you and love each of you very much. oh what a day we had, thinking it would be an easy day turned out to be a little too slow for us as we limped into leon with blisters, black toe nails, aching knees, neck and shoulder pain from my pack (i don´t like it at all and i put a lot of effort into my gear) but, we made it about 2ish this afternoon. we are in better spirits now that we have a wonderful hostel room which we will stay in for 2 nights and possibly a third. we can get up when we want to, go to the bathroom without waking anyone up or not going because i´d wake someone from their precious moments of sleep; not have to use a sleeping bag, not have to be in at 10 pm so the door to the albergue can be locked...it´s just so wonderful to think...we just don´t have to anything; not for another two days! seven of my toes ache and throb, it´ll be good not to have to put on my boots and let my feet air out and not have to put that pack on for two days!!!!!!! wooooooo hoooooo!!!!! i´ll deal with it when we hit the road again. i know me and i probably won´t be staying a third night because i will want to walk. nicole and i stopped in at an internet cafe while we were walking with hundreds of locals out shopping, eating or just visiting. i love spain because of all the festivities and interactions with people; they are so happy and love to people watch themselves. don´t we all. it seems one of the hot colors here across spain is my special orange and i´m bound and determined to find some cool tops. we see pilgrims all over and many are staying for a couple of days. it´s time to rest, it´s been a long walk and our bodies are starting to react. today, i told nicole, ¨why did i tell you i wanted to walk the camino?¨ of, course just kidding but that´s how i felt today. we´re going to get something to eat soon and then go back to our room for some good ole rest. it´s been two tough days of walking and nicole and i hardly laughed but we did some good laughing at ourselves today and got very silly. sometimes you just need to do that. upon entering leon, we saw a couple of friends (Walter & Stephan) whom we haven´t seen since hontanas. stephan had terrible blisters and says he is doing okay, i saw his blisters and don´t know how he could walk, but he did. we were suppose to meet our friend andrea at the cathedral at 7 pm but he must have moved on. we met a couple dave & heather from reno, nevada yesterday and had several fun visits with them, they might leave leon tomorrow so we might not see them again. they reminded us that july 4th is in two days and we should get a watermelon or something to celebrate, that sounds like fun. i´ve only seen watermelon in one supermarcado and that was a while back. our days & memories are becoming a blurr for others as well as nicole and i. i can´t believe we´´ve been walking for 20 days today. our spirits are up tonight knowing we´ll be getting some rest. please tell me stories of what any of you will be doing for july 4th, i´d love to hear. it´s been interesting over here as far as bush is concerned, he is certainly not loved. i saw a news flash this morning for a moment on tv while eating a croissant and cola cao with protesters marching with a sign....impeach bush! it put a smile on my face but, he´s still in office. how did that happen again? luckily we are treated kind by nearly everyone and only a few older people have given us a crunched up face with a smart comment. i think my wonderful husband is going to put a picture of the two of us and our beautiful orange jeep on the blog....the two things i´m missing. i´d love to give him a great big kiss and a great big hug so consider it done sweetheart. and great big hugs and kisses to all my sweet, sweet grandchildren (Tyler, KÁnna, Kaden, Atticus & Killian)....grandma willi loves you all very, very much. Of course love to all my wonderful children and their spouses. i love you all so much. i love all my wonderful friends, i guess i just love everyone. kati, i hope you´re doing well and getting back to your wonderful self. mom, dusty, and barbara & troy, i love you too. marc and bob (marc´s dad) have been on their own for awhile now and doing a good job of it i hear. i´m thinking of everyone i know and sending lots of love your way. i´m getting hungry and sleepy, i wish you all a wonderful happy day and sweet dreams tonight. LIFE IS GOOD, HAVE FUN - AriZona marc tell me several of you are having problems posting a comment keep trying please don´t give up.
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