Monday, August 13, 2007

more scenes from the camino.

the interior of the albergue de peregrinos in roncesvalles, where we spent our first night. it can hold 100 beds. thankfully, after the 10:00 pm lights-out everyone settles in for the night and the worst thing you have to deal with is the snoring of large german men.























the singing nuns that run the albergue in carrion de los condes. it sounds like the start of a bad joke, but there was not a dry eye in the room when they ended. they just radiated love, kindness and hospitality.






















the 'jesus hostel' in villar de mazarife.
























the highest point on the camino, the cruz de ferro (iron cross) at 1505 meters. tradition is to bring a stone from your home and deposit it on the ever-growing heap.




















inscription on a church building in leon:

pilgrim, do not let the fatigue of the camino impede your thinking. is the important thing the goal? isn´t it true that it is the encounter with the wilderness, with the river, with the path that you have lost, perhaps with the one and only god?















getting closer.

















entering santiago.






















the cathedral of santiago de compostela.




















our next goal: the end of the earth.



















arriving in the town of finisterre. it was still quite a walk to the ocean, though.


















this is what the end of 826 kilometers looks like.





















I'm writing this from a hostel in riga, latvia. tomorrow I head back to stockholm on the overnight ferry, and then to the UK on the 18th.

here's a picture of me in a church in tallinn, estonia.

more to come soon!
post-soviet love,
cindy

Monday, August 06, 2007

camino scenes, in no particular order.


a rather buffed-out statue of jesus in o cebreiro.




















wine is good and cheap in spain.















some pilgrim-themed art.



















a horreo, or granary, where corn is kept in order to dry it after harvesting and keep it safe from rats. these structures are ubiquitous in galicia, northwestern spain.




















me and bebe, a donkey owned by a french pilgrim couple. this was bebe´s second camino.


















another horreo.


















fog in galicia.














more fog.

















just a coupla pilgrims on the road to santiago.
















another example of the basque language and how different it is from spanish.
















the largest state in spain is castillo y leon. they were annexed hundreds of years ago, but some people still think leon should stand alone.















art in the park, leon.



















carvings on the door of the medieval church of san ysidro, leon.














a bronze door knocker in navarra.















and here´s a little game I like to call 'find the yellow arrow'.'
























































































I´m in northern finland at the moment, way north of the arctic circle in a tiny lapp village called inari. here´s a pic of me feeding some reindeer. tomorrow I head back south to helsinki, then over to estonia by ferry. if I can find more uncrowded libraries with free internet, I hope to post more updates soon!

antler love,
cindy