Madrid!

Here we are at the end of our Spain trip!  On our anniversary we were taking a fast train (150 mph!) to Madrid in the middle of the country.

The family we stayed with, Veronica and her son Mario, are good friends of my sister-in-law, Jenn.  She stayed with Veronica's family when she was in college.  Here we are having tea, coffee and the famous Santiago Torte, an almond cake named after St. James.  From the left:  Antonio (Veronica's dad), Veronica, me, Pilar (her mom), and Macarena (her sister).  Almost all of them speak English!  Veronica got them all together to provide amazing hospitality to us while she was away working everyday.  Macarena drove us around the city and took us for breakfast, her mom gave us a great tour of the old part of town, and both her parents had us over for the well-loved "Cocido Madrileno," a many-course lunch of soup, bread, wine, appetizers, a selection of cooked meats, and plate of vegetables.  So good, so good!  Veronica and a friend took us out to a late night dinner (eating time is traditionally 9 or 10 PM)!  Veronica and her son Mario were great hosts to us.  Such a loving family, so trusting of us, and very fun!

These pictures were taken at Plaza Mayor, a well known part of the old city of Madrid filled with cafes and street artists.  So beautiful!

As an anniversary gift to ourselves, we bought tickets to an evening of flamenco dancing -- the dancers showed so much skill, passion, and intensity!

 

Here we are with Pilar and Antonio having Cocido Madrileno.  What hospitality the whole family showered upon us!  Spending time with Veronica and her family was a great way to end our time in Spain.  What great memories we will always have.

John and Mario asleep in the car!

Valeria (Macarena's daughter), Veronica, me, Mario, and John

We arrived safely back in Tacoma after 40 days out of the country!  Next it was on to Vancouver, Canada, to visit some good friends.

The end of the Camino - We made it to Santiago (Praise God!)

What a journey! We made it! We're here in Santiago resting after 22 days of walking and 317 miles! We experienced very few setbacks and limitations, thank God! Leigh's viral sinus infection, John's shin splints, and a few muscle aches were all. Thank you for all your prayers! We have heard from others that some had not made it here, some wept as they entered the city in pain and joy, barely making it, and some came in taxis and buses no longer being able to walk the full distance. But all have incredible stories of their journey. God is good, and we are blessed to be in Santiago, the destination for countless pilgrims since the 9th century -- pilgrims seeking God, overcoming limitations, finding community along the way, knowing pain and joy, receiving hospitality, and experiencing God in the beauty of God's creation in the Spanish countryside and villages, through the encounter with God's people of different languages, cultures, and backgrounds; in worship and solitude and personal reflection and more.

All have come for various reasons: Some for personal, for health, for religious and spiritual reasons. Some to walk the long Camino, some to bike it, and many have come doing bus tours. Pilgrims of the past came to see the remains of St. James (called Santiago, brother of John and disciple of Jesus), on which the whole Cathedral of St. James is built, and to attend the mass. What a beautiful end point for our long journey.

Leigh and I are celebrating our one-year wedding anniversary today, grateful for all of you who are so important to us, for your love and support and companionship along the journey of our lives. We are all walking a Camino together in daily life, and we walk together with one another and with God. The priest at the pilgrim worship service in the Santiago Cathedral encouraged us pilgrims coming to the end of our Camino journey to ask, What is next? What will we do now? How will we live as we continue the journey of our lives? What will we carry with us from this experience? How have we been changed? We're reflecting on that in these next weeks and months.

Here are some pictures from the last part of our journey. The church behind us is the Santiago Cathedral the day we arrived. The certificates we're holding are our "Compostelas," certifying that we have officially completed the pilgrimage. The pilgrim worship service in the Santiago Cathedral features the huge silver incense burner swung back and forth high to the ceiling at the end of worship, done for years to symbolize our prayers ascending to heaven and to sweeten the air from the stench of road-weary smelly pilgrims after hundreds of miles. (You're welcome for that image!) Finally, we took a bus to Finisterre, which for centuries was known as the end of the world because it was the furthest point west you could travel in Spain. Pilgrims on the Camino often walk from Santiago onward to the ocean at Finisterre to truly end their journey having walked as far as they could possibly go.

One week left!

We just entered the region of Galicia, where Santiago, the end point of our walking journey, is located. We're almost down to 100 km left to walk... the end is in sight! We climbed to the highest point of the trip (5000 ft). We walked to the Iron Cross near the highest point where pilgrims have for years placed a stone carried from their home-we placed our stones from 922 South Cushman, Tacoma, there with a prayer of laying down burdens and receiving God's freedom and guidance for the future for us, our family, our church and community (see pictures). We descended the mountain, then climbed up again to the village of O'Cebreiro where we attended a pilgrim worship service at the oldest pilgrim church on the Camino (9th century), receiving a blessing for the rest of our journey.

The Galician area is so green. There are vestiges of Celtic culture here in the language, people, music, and green landscape with old stone walls.

Here are a few pictures from our walk these past days.

In Leon!

Here are our past days...

Day 7 - Viana
We stayed in an albergue (dormitory) in a very old section of town (beautiful) with an incredible view from the porch over the old city wall miles into the distance. We ran into our friend the ER doctor from Canada over dinner and he gave me (Leigh) a prescription for my cough. How cool is that!

Day 8 - Navarrete
This day we were asked to join two Brazilian guys for dinner. It was a nice evening of laughs and translations. These 26 year olds quit their jobs as businessman and journalist to take two months to walk the Camino. Paulo Coehlo's books (The Alchemist, The Pilgrimage) influenced them heavily. This town is a potter's dream! Clay is made here in this red earth region, and there are many potters here.

Day 9 - Azofra
We had a wonderful quiet walk and saw only two pilgrims on the way! We revised our plans this day and decided to take less rest days and walk more to experience more of the Camino! We will need to take the bus for part of our route because we didn't plan enough days to walk the whole 500-mile Camino.

Day 10 - Santo Domingo then to Burgos by bus
In Santo Domingo we toured a church with a rooster and hen in a cage inside (these remind and recall the miracle of Santo Domingo). The rooster crowed alot while we were there. Wonder what that worship exerience is like. Though I was sad to not be walking the whole Camino, I felt privileged to be walking as much as we can walk. Walking just does something to your body, mind and spirit. I am grateful to have this meditative time, this time with John and to be able to experience this goodness done to my body. We stayed at an amazing albergue in Burgos that is run by a Catholic church. Here we attended evening worship, received a pilgrim blessing, shared a community meal with 4 other pilgrims, and participated in a closing reflection time and prayer led by the hospitalero (hostess). Each person shared an important insight they received so far walking the Camino. Wow!

Day 11 - Leon by bus. We arrived in Leon in early morning and toured the amazing cathedral, ate tapas and drank sangria, walked the medieval streets, and toured a basilica with museum. We ended the day eating the pilgrim's menu (discounted for people walking the Camino) at a really cool restaurant.

Day 12 - walk to Hospital de Orbigo
What a nice walk... Again with only two other pilgrims on the road. Today we walked the furthest we've walked - over 22 miles! Our feet are tired, but it's a good tired. We crossed a bridge before arriving today - one of the longest and best preserved medieval bridges in Spain dating back to the 13th century, built over a much older Roman bridge! A famous jousting tournament took place on this bridge in 1434! Old in Spain is really old!

Pics: John after lunch on the road, eating tapas, Leigh admiring a potter's work in Navarrete, John buying olives for lunch at the Najera open-air market, John above the clouds.

Los Arcos - Day 6 on the Camino

We have had full days on the Camino, with a full range of weather as well (snow, rain, sun, and overcast). Here are our days so far:

Day one: Roncesvalles to Akerreta
We walked from near the border of France to a beautiful 300 year old Basque house (it was in the movie "The Way"). What a treat to be there and talk to the owner about the renovation. We also had a pilgrim meal with others and met a 73 year-old English man walking it for the second time for charity.

Day two: Akerreta to Pamplona
A shorter walk through forests to the site of the Running of the Bulls. Pamplona is the most populous of the cities on the Camino. We loved the Maundy Thursday Misa here and saw a grand Holy Week procession in the streets.

Day three: Pamplona to Puente la Reina
This day was a walk over a great pass called Alto del Perdon. At the top we saw Pamplona and the other side of the hill to our next town. Supposedly if you walk to the top your sins are forgiven.

Day four: Puente la Reina to Estella
We had been talking to a man from Madrid here and there but this day we were with him more. It was a rich time hearing about his life, his openness spiritually and his knowledge about Spain. This was his last day. As a chemical engineer managing a paper company, he has only Semana Santa to give to the Camino. We said good-bye to this fellow companion.

Day five: rest day in Estella and Easter! Christ is risen! Alleluia! We worshiped at an ancient Roman Catholic church in the center of town.

Day six: Estella to Los Arcos
We walked through beautiful countryside with rolling hills, vineyards, and goats! We walked with a friend we had met the first day, a doctor from Cleveland, Ohio.


Pictures: procession float for Semana Santa (Holy Week), Maundy Thursday service in Pamplona, Leigh on the Camino, walking a Roman road, the Camino waymarkers, John receiving the grace of a monastery winery's free wine fountain!

Walking the Camino de Santiago

This morning Leigh and I (John) starting walking the Camino de Santiago. In fact, we walked a long way... drumroll please... 17 miles! Along the way we met other pilgrims, talked to them a bit as we walked side by side, then we continued and met others. So far we've met a guy from Ireland, three older women from Australia (two are sisters), a man and his sons from Barcelona, an older gentleman and his son and daughter also from Australia, a couple from Finland, a Brazilian couple, a couple from Chicago, a man from Ohio, and others! We will probably see them on the road here and there as well as meet others. What a rich experience to be meeting others who have been planning like we have been and who have been looking forward to this journey.

Now we're resting our tired feet (see photo). We started our walk at Roncesvalles near the French border in northeastern Spain. Last night we arrived by bus, received our pilgrim's passport (called a credencial), attended a special pilgrims' mass to bless the pilgrims on our journey, had a special pilgrims' dinner, and slept in a dormitory with 110 beds (and lots of interesting sounds during the night). "Buen Camino" is what we heard over and over again. It means "Have a good journey."

Notes about these pictures:
- Leigh and I at a sign marker on the Camino de Santiago (note scallop shell symbol - we gave each person in worship at Peace on the day before we left on sabbatical a shell as a reminder of our Camino walk and of the pilgrimages we're all on in our lives)
- Leigh in front of one of the beautiful little Spanish towns we encountered on the way
- I'm resting my tired feet at the end of a good day

Buen Camino!

Three Days in Fes, Morocco

We're in our last day in Fes, Morocco, and it's raining...hard. It's a little reminder of back home in Tacoma. We had another reminder this morning when we met another couple from our hotel and learned that they are from Portland. Fes is a fascinating city. We're staying in the medina, the old city, dating back to 808 AD -- wow! It is the cultural and spiritual center of Morocco, surrounded by an ancient city wall, and it contains 9700 narrow streets with many Muslim houses of prayer (mosques), Quranic schools (medersas), fountains (sakaya), bath houses (hammans), homes (basic dars and fancy riads), community ovens (faran), and tons of shops in the open-air marketplace (souk) containing any item you can imagine and more. Cars are not allowed in this old city of 160,000 people, and donkeys (known as the "car" of the medina) carry the heavy stuff through the streets. You can easily get lost in the medina. A man took us around to see tanneries, weavers, spice sellers, a school, a mosques, and much more. Since 1981 the Fes medina has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The first university in the world is here in the Fes medina.

Yesterday we took a tour by car to the nearby Atlas Mountains, saw monkeys, learned about the rural Berber people, and went hiking a bit. One of the highlights was dinner at the home of a Moroccan family - Mohammed, his wife Fatima, and their three children. We were served traditional Moroccan couscous and "whiskey"(that's what they call it!) It's green tea with mint and sugar - so good!

I (John) have been loving the Moroccan food - lamb and beef tagine (google it!), couscous with chicken, and pastilla (a savory and sweet meat pie filled with spicy pigeon meat and topped with sugar and cinnamon). Leigh likes the beef and prunes tagine and in the morning the chocolate spread on baguette.

We are finishing our Lenten spiritual growth group study and have been blessed in our conversations together as we reflect alongside our Peace congregation about what it means to walk together in the city, growing in relationship with God, family, and community.

Tomorrow we head north to northern Spain, a trip that will take us two days that includes taxis, trains, ferries and buses. We begin our long walk across northern Spain on the Camino de Santiago soon!

Here are some pictures:
- The view from our rooftop terrace at our hotel in the Fes medina
- Eating a dinner of couscous with chicken and beef tagine at our hotel
- Our waitress and wonderful hotel cook serving traditional Moroccan "whiskey" (green tea with mint and a tiny bit of sugar)