Letters from afar
Day 3, 18km: from Cornellana and the Monasterio San Salvador to Salas and the albergue, El Sueño El monasterio San Salvador was un encanto, built in the 13th century and it continues to receive pilgrims. As we left the Monasterio de San Salvador, we followed the twisty road going up and up. Another day of …
Day 2 from Paladín to Cornellana 20km– Monasterio San Salvador A 20km booty-kicker day! Up, up, up, to turn around and go down, down, down… There were moments, especially when the sun began heating up the landscape, that my thoughts rolled into the mental playground of negativity and I questioned my motives, “why is it …
It’s almost 9pm, dinner time. A full-day of walking later and I am ready to dive into this typical Asturian dish of cachopo; cheese and Serrano ham slipped between two sheets of thinly sliced breaded beef. I’m walking the Camino, Saint James’ Way, with my dear friend Nasco. Through valleys, over hills and over a …
October 24th, 2020 Tordesillas, Spain, Happy Fall everyone, I hope you are staying warm! September has turned into late October . The fields are yellowing and brown. Where once colorful flowers danced on the gentle breezes of spring, seed pods remain drooping dry and hollow— reaching for the repose of their winter bed. “What is …
October 24th, 2020 Tordesillas, Spain Regions are closing borders and curfews are in place. Before I left the islands, I would meet my big-smiled, bouncy haired friend Esther at the beach. We played card games, went swimming, and talked about life. One day just before I left for mainland Spain, she had this lightbulb moment, …
Late September 2020 Tordesillas, Spain (My new home!) Dear everyone, I hope this correspondence finds you in good spirits! I’m in adjustment phase with my new home, it’s no terrace with gorgeous views overlooking the ocean, but it’s comfortable in its own right. The sunsets over the Río Duero are spectacular and each evening the …
Tordesillas, Valladolid September 14, 2020 I have a new hogar in the small town of Tordesillas where I am teaching this year— yay me! A new home is exciting. I don’t have many things— necessary or otherwise, so I went with a furnished place and a kitchen with —well, let’s say I’ve got the necessary …
Monday morning, September 7th, 2020 The Pandemic continues. I am hesitant to be on the mainland of Spain, there are so many more cases of Covid here than on the islands. The Canaries have been somewhat buffered from a direct Covid-hit. Fuerteventura has been mostly shut down since March leaving the island tourist-free and as …
I will never forget mojo picón— a slightly piquant sauce, verging on a bit too much garlic (except I really don’t think that’s possible), and served with mounds of papas arrugadas, a.k.a, wrinkled potatoes, which, for a better understanding, are boiled new-potatoes in sea-salt. I can eat almost anything drenched in it’s deliciousness! The first …
September 6, 2020 Valladolid, Spain Hauling my worldly goods across the Atlantic to the landlocked region of Spain –Castilla y Leon–I finally arrived in Valladolid just after 10pm. I can’t believe this morning I was floating on the waters in the middle of the Atlantic, and now I am in a noisy, crowded city over …