Posted on June 24, 2019 under Monday Morning Musings with one comment

A walk around the world

 

“If you compare yourself to others, you may become vain and bitter; for always there will be greater and lesser people than yourself”.

Desiderata: A Poem for a Way of Life (Max Ehrmann)

I so want to be Paul Salopek.

Who? Until a few days ago, I hadn’t heard his name so you’re forgiven if this name leaves you puzzled.

Rarely if ever, have I wanted to be someone else other than who I am. I have been luckier than most having been born in a special part of the world that is beautiful, safe and pollution free. I am in good health and am enjoying retirement immensely. So why this sudden pang of envy?

Paul Salopek is a writer. Paul is also a walker. He is a travel writer.

When (if!) I grow up, this is a profession that holds great appeal for me. I guess in some ways, I’m already living this dream having chronicled my six month volunteer stay in India. I also wrote a book about a couple of epic road trips through the United States with my son. Presently, I am working on book #5 about my recent walk across Spain, having completed the Camino on May 28^th.

Salopek is a Pulitzer-Prize winning journalist and fellow with National Geographic. He has been on an epic walking journey as the principal pilgrim of the Out of Eden walk, to trace the history of humans’ migration out of Africa and around the globe. He started his walk in Ethiopia in 2013. He has walked 17,000 kilometres so far and he has a long way to go before he finishes his trip at the southernmost tip of South America. https://www.cbc.ca/radio/thecurrent/anna-maria-tremonti-s-most-memorable-interviews-paul-salopek-the-pilgrim-1.5180139?fbclid=IwAR0r3I_RXbxNX5Gwp6yieRpiLWiQA2FGS_lCbtOTcxFhBUQ0EgOPtJtExWY

I was fascinated when I read the interview done by recently retired CBC radio journalist, Anna Maria Tremonti. She has interviewed Salopek a number of times and has found him to be a pretty inspiring guy. Salopek has seen a lot and has arrived at some conclusions that are disturbing but not surprising. “I think almost in every place I’ve been, women get the short end of the stick – economically, politically, in sense of family power, in sense of things like land ownership. Inequality between genders has emerged now, almost seven years in, as the most consistent form of human injustice along the trail.”

In a recent post, I spoke about Canada’s lofty position as a desirable place to live. I also mentioned that our country is grappling with some long standing issues around the treatment of First Nations people and immigrants. We’re making progress on these fronts albeit painfully slowly. I could have, and probably should have also added gender inequality to the list. On the surface, it appears that Canada is making some headway with gender inequality. More women are occupying senior management positions in industry, business and politics. Equal pay for work of equal value is finally being addressed in some sectors of the economy but there is still a long way to go.  If Canada really wants to be #1 in the world, all of its citizens need to be treated equally.

I think I’ll drop Mr. Salopek a note. If he gets tired, I’ll tell him that I would be happy to take over!

Speaking of writing and books, I have the first three chapters written for my Camino book. As much as I want it to be a serious examination of the Camino, I can’t help but filling the pages with humour. There were several notable quotes along my 713 kilometre walk but none more memorable than on day one. I was chatting it up with a quiet, introspective man from Finland. Being my first day, I was eager to start collecting “stories from the trail” so I was grilling him with questions. When we finally got to our hostel and sat down for a cold beer, he looked at me and said, “We are comfortable with silence in Finland.” Never have I been so politely told to shut up!

“You are a child of the universe, no less than the trees and the stars,

You have a right to be here.

And whether or not it is clear to you,

No doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.”

Desiderata

Have a great week.

P.S. Some of you will remember that Desiderata was made into a song. Sorry if this gives you an earworm today!

Posted on June 17, 2019 under Monday Morning Musings with no comments yet

Meet the Francesinha

 

“Pull up a chair. Take a taste. Come join us. Life is so endlessly delicious.” Ruth Reichl

I am certainly no Anthony Bourdain. I have done a bit of traveling and have experimented with food from different countries but always return to the tried and true, even if it sometimes bores me to tears.

I love Indian food. Thai is high on my list. So are Chinese and Japanese. Genuine Spanish paella is quickly moving to the top of my all-time favourite dishes.

Many people suggest that from time to time, we conduct a cleanse where we rid our bodies of harmful elements, returning it to a state of purity… before we fail again and fall back into bad eating habits.

I’m having a particularly difficult time with what I call the “Camino Cleanse.” Part of it is psychological and part of it is physiological. My eating habits on my 713K walk across Spain can only be described as somewhere between erratic and abysmal. Eating a warm chocolate croissant every morning for a month washed down with strong black coffee and a glass of the freshest squeezed orange juice imaginable, was not the worst transgression.

A lunch of a baguette with chorizo and cheese, paired with a chilled glass of Estrella beer was the norm.

The evening “communal meal” was never gourmet but then again, that wasn’t the point of these repasts. The nourishment came primarily from the conversations with fellow travelers from every corner of the globe.

And so it was, on my visit to Porto, Portugal at the completion of my Camino, that I casually asked a waiter at one of the 10,000 (an exaggeration but it seemed like it) sidewalk cafes what one might eat that best represented Portugal. He pointed to something on the menu. It was in Portuguese but I am nothing but adventurous and gave him the two thumbs up as I sat with friends from Poland and Brazil, sipping wine on a warm spring evening.

I was about to experience Francesinha for the very first time.

Do you remember the “Double Down” sandwich that KFC was offering up several years ago? You know. It was the one where two deep fried chicken breasts replace the normal bun that one would find in a fast food restaurant. Wedged inside this is bacon, cheese and the Colonel’s special sauce. I did exhaustive research on Wikipedia (!) and was astonished to learn that this delicacy tips the scale at a modest 540 calories. Really? I’m thinking that a Senate investigation might be in order to confirm the veracity of this claim.

The warm evening and the glow of Portuegese port had me feeling quite mellow. That is, until the Francesinha was presented in all of its heart stopping glory. And what, pray tell are the ingredients in this artery clogging masterpiece?

I’ll start with a few that can only be considered benign at best. There’s some cornstarch to thicken the gravy, some tomato paste and a harmless bay leaf. There’s milk, chili flakes and salt. This is where things take a serious turn towards the emergency room. The other main ingredients of a Francesinha are bread (thankfully not two deep fried chicken breasts), roast beef, chorizo, smoked ham, Dutch cheese, beer, and port wine. Sitting atop this eighth wonder of the modern world is a fried egg. The sandwich is served with enough French fries to satisfy the palates of an entire class of kindergarten children.

I must admit that all 1300 calories (not including the fries) were very tasty but the revulsion going on inside my arteries took some of the fun out of tackling this monster. I reckoned that the strain on my heart might be akin to attaching chains to my back and trying to pull a bus 100 meters.

It was soon after consuming every morsel of this meal that I vowed to walk the Camino again. If I hadn’t had to return to Canada, I would have started the next day.

Have a great weekend.

 

 

Posted on June 10, 2019 under Monday Morning Musings with 2 comments

All arrows point to Santiago de Compostela

 

Some final, random thoughts from my travels in Europe.

After 38 days on the road, my European adventure has come to a close. I have been messaging friends from different parts of the world since my return and predictably, there’s a bit of a letdown after such a unique experience such as the Camino. When you’ve walked together for days, slept together in crowded alburgues, administered care to a complete stranger’s blisters, dined together at communal meals and raised a glass or two at the end of a long day, you forge a common bond of fellowship.

It’s not all that surprising but the people I met on the Camino are ordinary folks but with extraordinary stories as you will find out when I publish my book. Just about everybody I met had come to Spain to do the walk with a specific purpose. Many were dealing with personal issues and needed time and space to collect their thoughts and sort things out. Some were recovering from serious illnesses and were celebrating a second chance at life. For others, it was a chance to walk with close friends. There were married couples, twin sisters, a mom, dad and their two young children, best buds and every other imaginable combination. The vast majority were walking alone but when you’re on the Camino, you’re never really alone.

This does not imply that the Camino is crowded although the last 100K IS very busy with many tourists who choose to do just the last few stages of the walk. There were many days, especially in the early morning darkness, where I didn’t meet a single walker for three hours. The beauty of the Camino is that you can be alone or be with others. It’s how you feel on any given day that determines whether you want tranquility or company. And even when you’re alone, there is nature all around you, speaking to you in soft whispers, if you take the time to listen.

Music is such an important and integral part of my life that it comes as no surprise that I enjoyed many beautiful musical moments on the Camino. Singing and playing guitar at the “hippie farm” in Montan was a hoot. There were many times on the trail that somebody ahead of me would be singing at the top of their lungs. On one of the days that I chose as a day of contemplation (no interviews or chatting on the trail), I was meandering along when I heard a man ahead of me singing the theme song from Romeo and Juliet. He was an older gentleman (my age!) from South Korea and his walking partner that day, a guy in his twenties from Spain. Such is the Camino that you see people of all ages and all countries meeting up randomly and walking awhile together.

As I passed them, I complimented the beautiful singing. I spontaneously broke into a verse of “Farewell to Nova Scotia” and then moved on.

Doing laundry one evening in the crowded main plaza in Pamplona, I sat outside a laundromat, sipping red wine and watching a performance by a troupe of flamenco dancers. Wine, laundry and flamenco dancers. You wouldn’t normally expect to find those three words in the same sentence!

I also witnessed for the first time, a performance of Fado music in Coimbra, Portugal. It was in an intimate setting with 30 people in attendance. The music was terrific and the two male soloists were exceptional.

I also caught a piano concert in Pamplona. The pianist was brilliant and the acoustics in the concert hall, world class. At the end of a piece, when the pianist took his fingers off the keys, the notes lingered in the air like a hummingbird at a feeder.

My walking mate for the final two days of the Camino was a lovely young lady from France. Virginie and I knew enough of each other’s mother tongue to communicate quite nicely. The day before reaching Santiago de Compostela, I started singing “We Are the Champions” and that became our anthem as we proudly marched into the city on May 28^th.

The moment that still leaves me a bit misty eyed was the day I was walking with two young women from Poland, an incredible 43 year old Argentinian man and one of my best friends on the Camino, Jan from Heidelberg, Germany. (Their stories will be in my book) We were walking five abreast with much fellowship and laughter. The air was rarely still but at one point, I felt that a few verses of “The Happy Wanderer” were appropriate. When I finished, my Polish friends sang a rollicking tune from back home. This was followed by an Argentinian song and Jan finished up with a German classic.

Someone suggested that we try a song that we all knew so I started singing Happy Birthday. Everyone chimed in. It was only when we finished that we noticed that Jan was a bit emotional. It just so happened that it was his birthday that very day and it coincided with his father’s death a few years earlier. There was a group hug and many tears. The Camino has a way of doing that.

I chatted briefly on the weekend with a new friend from South Korea. Her personal story will appear in my book. I met her at about the halfway mark of the Camino and she was having serious pain issues in one of her legs. I watched her hobbling one day and was doubtful that she would make it all the way. Make it she did and I was there when she arrived in Santiago de Compostela. Like so many walkers, she worked through her discomfort because the destination was important to her.  We shared a warm embrace and a cold drink.

I asked her how she was feeling, now that she was back in South Korea, facing long days and much pressure at her place of work. “When I arrived in Korea a few days ago, it was not easy to accept that something I enjoyed so much was over. I couldn’t even sleep and I cried all night.”

On more than one occasion in this space, I have referred to the Camino as a traveling United Nations. You meet people from every walk of life and every country in the world. You eat, sleep and walk together. You share your life story with complete strangers. There is a high level of trust and camaraderie.

I’ll leave you with a quote from the late Anthony Bourdain regarding travel:

“Travel isn’t always pretty. It isn’t always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts, it even breaks your heart. But that’s okay. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully you leave something good behind.”

If you want to experience one of life’s greatest adventures, take a hike.

Buen Camino!

Have a great week.