Friday, April 4, 2008

Supplies

Yesterday I bought most of my supplies that will fill my backpack: a blister pack(not a pill one): which includes 2nd skin, moleskin, iodine for disinfecting a needle, thread, gauze, paper tape, and polysporin. It seems like an awful lot to pack, for the 'possibility' of blisters, but I do want to be prepared .
A pharmacist, who'd walked the Camino, advised me to bring hydrocortisone 1% for bites (bedbugs!, mosquitoes etc.), and chaffing.
I bought a 35 litre backpack, a one pound sleeping bag with silk liner, a pack poncho ( often used as a ground cover, or as a disguise for excretory functions, especially on the meseta), more wool socks, a camel water system, a towel that weighs 2 ounces, a silk night shirt and long johns, and varied clothing items that I'll have to consider before packing them.
Further along Broadway was a shop selling adapters for my camera's battery charger. I bought two adapters, in the event that I may lose one.
A.J. Brooks, where I'd bought my boots a year earlier, kindly, and most graciously stretched the toe of my boots for me. My toes feel much better with the extra room.

It was a very exhausting day with so many options, and my not being completely certain of what I would 'need'. Fortunately I was accompanied and supported, by a former Camino walker.

Preparing is certainly part of the journey.

Tuesday, April 1, 2008

Gratitude

I awoke with a heavy feeling today, thinking it quite bizarre that some of us, in our rich society, place ourselves in a 'chop wood, carry water' situation so that we can really experience 'life'.
I no longer have to worry about my basic needs, however, on my pilgrimage, I will be concerned with such things.
What got me to thinking about such matters, was a documentary: "Long Way Round".
In the film, Ewan McGregor and Charley Boorman travel via motorcycle around the world. While in Mongolia they meet street orphans, abandoned by their parents, who are so desperately poor that they are neither able to feed themselves nor their children. The tiny two year old girl (the same age as my granddaughter), who could only speak to one caregiver, brought tears to my eyes. Equally as heart- rending, were my imaginations of the anguish, that the parents must be experiencing.

"No matter how hard or heart-rending it is to live,
Do not wear a tearful face.
Let's keep walking steadily
And live out our lives."


I am grateful for my life.

Ruth