Took over a day early at the albergue, Surprise! But okay. When we told Theo at one of the two bars, he bought us a vino tinto. I think we will be okay here. Here is a photo of his bar full of "our" pilgrims. Our house is "completo". Fire is going. Thus time for wine.
Arrived in El Burgo last night. Helped a local carry 80 lbs of potatoes to his house. Whew! Ate our first pilgrim dinner. Slept in a private room with a bit of heat.
Took over a day early at the albergue, Surprise! But okay. When we told Theo at one of the two bars, he bought us a vino tinto. I think we will be okay here. Here is a photo of his bar full of "our" pilgrims. Our house is "completo". Fire is going. Thus time for wine.
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Our plane doesn't leave for a while and we have yet to change into our traveling clothes, but after a frenzied couple of hours, we have all our gear ready to go. We're hope we've included all the stuff we'll need for the next five weeks. The duffel contains our walking sticks, scissors, jackknife, and liquids, plus lots of stuff we will be using as hospitaleros and leaving at the albergue. It will be sent as checked baggage, but we'll be bringing our backpacks as carry-ons. We've taken similar photos as we were about to depart for our other Caminos, and this is the first one that doesn't have a dog in it. Here is a link to our 2012 version.
A week and a half ago I posted a cry for advice when my plantar fasciitis flared. Help came in 43 comments.
I decided to try them all simultaneously because time was short. I realize that is not a way to test the variables, but when you’re retired you don’t need to worry about such things quite as much. So here’s the story in the order that seemed to me to be most effective:
Having done all this, I am about 90% pain-free. We’ll see what happens when I try to really walk on it. With two weeks at the hospitalero assignment before hiking, I am hopeful. Thanks, Everyone! Less than a week to go, and we're still working on building up our strength. All is not work, however, and a part of our daily walks takes us near some small wetlands where spring is bursting forth. Below are some of the showy plants we saw today
While in Cedar Key, we went on a 7-mile hike with some fellow members of the Friends of the Lower Suwannee & Cedar Keys National Wildlife Refuge. We wore our packs and proclaimed it a training hike.
We saw turtles, snakes, and other wonders of Florida nature (ie ticks.) But near the end, there was a rope bridge to cross. Ooops, not 12 days before leaving and not with packs on. We back-tracked to the road. But we thought you'd enjoy seeing our friends cross it. Baseball teams take their spring training in Florida, so why not pilgrims looking forward to the Camino? The choice is easy for us because we live in Florida. Florida's Cedar Keys are a cluster of small islands off the west coast, extending three miles into the Gulf of Mexico. We spend part of our time here, and since a good deal of our time recently has been devoted to training for the Camino, we've done a great deal of walking around the islands (actually, the one island that's inhabited). It offers a number of scenic places to walk, and the Gulf is seldom out of sight. One important thing the island lacks is elevation; the highest point being less than 10 meters above sea level. So an important element of our training is missing, and it appears that we'll have to do our hill training while climbing Monte Irago and on the trail up to O'Cebriero! That's a scary thought. We comfort ourselves with the knowledge that unlike us, many people who take to the Camino as pilgrims have little opportunity for training of any kind. We hope you've enjoyed this brief tour of some of Cedar Key's Camino spring training routes. Now that we've toughed it out under the tropical sun for a while, we'll need to get back to Gainesville and do some of the less interesting things needed to get ready for the Camino. Time is getting short.
I went to lunch with three Spanish speaking friends today at Civilization, here in Gainesville. Usually four or five of us gather at one of our homes to chat in Spanish every few weeks. But it is a spectacular sunny Spring day today and we decided to practice our Spanish over lunch at this locally owned and operated spot. We even grabbed an outdoor table. I mostly practiced my receptive skills...and did pretty well, thank you very much. My friends are kind and complimented my expressive efforts, which was encouraging. And I learned several new words...always important. I think I'll study some Speed Spanish now. Only 18 days until immersion.
(For a glimpse of how our novel's characters are preparing for the Camino, click here.) Our Pilgrim Gathering Saturday evening in Gainesville FL was a smashing success! There were 25 attendees...6 have hiked it previously and 15 have tickets in hand to go this summer, including 3 who have gone before. 6 are leaving in April, 6 in May, and 3 in June. There were 5 who are still dreaming about when they can go, and 3 (including an 8-year-old) trying to resist. Ha! they don't have a chance! Since they cared enough to come to a Gathering, they are really already hooked, they just don't know it yet. Note Michaelyn, on the left in the green shirt. She is leaving April 21 and has created a blog that has a compelling first post: www.xcreek.blogspot.com Check it out. You will not be disappointed.
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