Gorillas in the Mist- Travel Theme…

Ailsa has really set a difficult challenge this week.  We don’t often have misty days around where I live. And sorry- no Gorilla’s either, the nearest would be the vervet monkeys… http://wheresmybackpack.com/2014/04/04/travel-theme-misty/

Most of my misty experiences happened on hiking trails. There was this beautiful morning on the Camino de Santiago in 2011! We walked through the misty layer to high above it, It was so beautiful looking down the mist covered valleys…  (nearly reminds me of my favorite song from Dire Straits… These mist covered mountains,… !)

Where is the mist? Look down there!

A year before my Camino experience, our family hiked the Blyderivierspoort Hiking Trail in South Africa. And the weather was really extreme. We got lost in the first 2 km! When you are lost in the mist, without a GPS, sit and make tea…  The boys loved it, my daughter didn’t…

Teenagers and Misty Hiking days… pure memories from hell… (for them…)

And that is all I have to say about that…

Bridges- Sunday Stills

http://sundaystills.wordpress.com/2014/01/06/sunday-stills-the-next-challenge-bridges/

When thinking on the theme of bridges, I decided to post a few bridges I crossed on the Camino de Santiago in Spain… Bridges are quite useful to help you continue your journey and reach your destination…

The world famous bridge at Hospital de Orbigo, where knights used to joust in the Middle Ages- I would not like to fall off a horse here…

High above Ruitelan…

Just before o’ Cebreiro

Portomarin

Into Melide

You see- we’ll just cross that bridge when we come to it…

Numbers- Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge

http://ceenphotography.com/2013/11/26/cees-fun-foto-challenge-numbers-or-letters/

All Pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago knows this sign- the last 100 km to Santiago, the minimum distance needed to walk to earn the Campostelo Certificate. My Camino hat- I lost it on the last 10 km to Santiago, at a coffee shop underneath the Santiago Airport…  If you see it there, give it my regards…  

Direction- Ese’s Weekly Shoot & Quote Challenge

http://esengasvoice.wordpress.com/2013/11/24/eses-weekly-shoot-quote-challenge-direction/

Ese’s Quote:

Prompt 15 – DIRECTION

The great thing in the world is not so much where we stand, as in what direction we are moving.
/Oliver Wendell Holmes/

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Some of the Direction pointers on the Camino de Santiago in Spain…

“Sometimes the slightest things change the directions of our lives, the merest breath of a circumstance, a random moment that connects like a meteorite striking the earth. Lives have swiveled and changed direction on the strength of a chance remark.”
― Bryce Courtenay

Related articles

• Camino Way- Cee’s Which Way Challenge (vosperdruiter.wordpress.com)
• Layers on the Camino- Weekly Photo Challenge (vosperdruiter.wordpress.com)

Layers on the Camino- Weekly Photo Challenge

http://dailypost.wordpress.com/2013/11/15/weekly-photo-challenge-layers/

On the Camino de Santiago, I was impressed by different layers to be seen…

Different layers of Horizons to be seen…

Layers of roof tiles to keep us dry…

Layers of Pilgrims snoring at night…

Layers of stinky at the door…

Layers of dead people in the countryside…

Layers of delicious pulpo…

Layers of beauty- Gothic Cathedrals, Stained Glass windows, Gregorian music…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Camino Way- Cee’s Which Way Challenge

http://ceenphotography.com/2013/11/13/cees-which-way-challenge-no-13/

Maybe this is not a good photo, I don’t know…

So let me just tell the story. I went to Léon in Spain to walk a part of the Camino de Santiago, the French Route, in 2011.  I started with my first stamp in my pilgrim’s passport at the Léon Cathedral. And then, when I was was looking for my accommodation I just saw this man walking in an alley. For a few meters he and I were walking on the same road, in the same direction. He was a local, I a tourist from the other side of the globe.

It started me thinking about all the paths we walk in life (as the Camino tends to do…) I just wondered what this man’s life story has been so far. Where did he come from? What did he do with his life? Where was he going when our paths crossed in an ancient alley in Spain.  Also the other people in the photo- who are the man with the pink T Shirt waiting for? The elderly couple walking in the distance- are they still in love? Do they still dream about each other?

Maybe a lot of these questions were triggered by last night’s Church Board meeting. Maybe I am also at a place in my life journey where I am wondering: Where to now?  Am I really living my life to the best of my ability? Do I really make a difference where I am now?

Do I just do the Johnny Walker?  Time will tell.

Related articles

• The devil and the Pilgrim… Statues- (vosperdruiter.wordpress.com)
• Sometimes- No Way… Cee’s Which Way Challenge (vosperdruiter.wordpress.com)
• Good Morning, Camino de Santiago! (vosperdruiter.wordpress.com)
• A Morning Hike – West Fork Trail In Oak Creek Canyon (bobbiesurber.wordpress.com)
• Walking in History ~ Camino de Santiago (justabackpackandarollie.com)
• The Way (kristyh5.wordpress.com)
• The Nameless – But Brilliant – Master Sculptor of Leon (bobbiesurber.wordpress.com)

The devil and the Pilgrim… Statues-

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: Statues, Carvings, Sculptures

BY CEE NEUNER OCTOBER 10, 2013

The Current Series

This is the second week of our current series and the topic is statues, carvings and sculptures.  They can be really small in size or huge.  See my entry at the bottom of this post for examples.  I hope you have some fun with this challenge.

• Statues, Carvings, Sculptures
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I had such a good trip to Spain in 2011, when I went to do a part of the Camino de Santiago. The Spanish have a lot of statues!

In Madrid, in the Parque de Retiro, is a  statue for the devil. Or- The Fallen Angel-

And the next day I started walking my Camino de Santiago in Léon, and there one of the first sights was a statue of a pilgrim- there are LOTS of Pilgrim Statues in the north of Spain! I liked this one!

 

 

And there you have two human traits- remembering evil, and searching for good…

 

Good Morning, Camino de Santiago!

THIS WEEK, SHOW US A PHOTO THAT SAYS “GOOD MORNING!”

It could be a shot taken during your morning walk, the morning vista out your kitchen window, your cat doing a pre-breakfast stretch, or a textured close-up of your oatmeal bubbling away at the stove.

I’m excited to see how all your days start — maybe we’ll all pick up a new morning ritual!

– Michelle

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One of my happiest memories in my life  is the early rising, and the hiking on the Camino de Santiago in Spain.  Early Morning tells you: it is time to make big strides today on your journey of life!

Living in a Teletubby house in Spain…

Daily Prompt: On the Road

by michelle w. on September 30, 2013

If you could pause real life and spend some time living with a family anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us TRAVELS.

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There is such a huge world out there. So much I would still love to see. So there are so many answers to today’s question.  I would love living for a while in a primitive hut in Brazil’s rain forest. Or in a palm leaf hut on an exotic island. Or one of those conical huts of deer hide in Mongolia.  Or the underground city at Kappadocia in Turkey- how does it feel to live there?

But the one that I thought of first was of these houses that I saw outside Léon, Spain when I walked the Camino de Santiago. How does it feel to live underground in these Teletubby houses?  Is it better in winter when the snow lays thick?  Don’t people feel cramped and in each other’s faces in a very short time?  So I would love to live with a family in a house like this… but not for long…

Sensitive Me…

Daily Prompt: Super Sensitive

by michelle w. on September 16, 2013

If you were forced to give up one sense, but gain super-sensitivity in another, which senses would you choose?

Photographers, artists, poets: show us SENSITIVE.

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I am getting the Deja Vu feeling again… The last time I answered so beautifully that I would not like to lose one sense, as I would love to keep on seeing the beauty of the world around me, to listen to the music (Justin Bieber and Miley Cirus would be an acceptable loss of senses…)  I would still love to smell the roses and a freshly ground coffee, or a bread fresh from the oven. I would love to taste all the dishes of the world worthy of Masterchef, and I would love to keep on feeling the touch of the woman I love…

So… I will go with the photo challenge instead- Sensitive…

A photo never seen before in public- This IS my happy face:

Ok… I had a good excuse, it was when I had just finished the Camino de Santiago, so I was extremely tired. But I really wanted to see Finisterre, so I took the bus there (out of time to walk the 78 km). So- this photo could also be used for the Weekly Photo Challenge- Inside… Inside the Bus… Inside the Bus Station in Santiago de Campostela.

That is why I did not publish a selfie yesterday- children might weep…  What I wanted to see might also not look like much. But this is the Westernmost point of the Europe continent- from here on it is just Atlantic ocean till you reach the shores of the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. (Bill Gates, if you read this and feel proud or deeply moved, please send an airline ticket, so many of my Bucket List Items are still to be seen in America, and I have never had the chance or change to go to the USA,…)

How will you know this is not just the beach at Hermanus? Same ocean…  Any pilgrim who went the whole way of the Camino to the 0.00 km marker will recognize this:

So what does this all have to do with Sensitivity? Well, I did walk 317 km to get into touch with my inner self, my deeper feelings and all that… you should too!  Sometimes we need to step aside from our busy path, and take some time to just BE…  We need to be sensitive sometimes, otherwise we miss the whole experience of this one life we have on earth.

So: BE a pilgrim, struggle forward, reach your destiny…