¡Caminando!

So, I went to Pamplona and talked to an old guy who gave me this advice"If you know you want to do the Camino, start it today! Why wait? You look very ready." So, I changed into my hiking uniform, mailed all my clothes with any semblance of style to Santiago de Compuestella, and caught a bus up into the Pyrenese. At first I thought the old guy was really wise and sweet, but I spent the last two days thinking he was Satan. Anyways, once in Roncevalles, I knew I was glad to be starting. I slept in a HUGE barn with 80 other pilgrims, I got blessed by a priest in 4 different languages, I was surrounded by people who like to walk and think. The best part of mass was hearing the priests sing in Latin, in a beautiful cathedral, way up in the mountains, at dusk. The funniest thing about mass was when they took an offering, there was a wildly loud chorus of Gortex rustling, heavy duty zippers unzipping, and velcro un-velcroing. Not your average Catholic Crowd.Then, the blizzard. From my journal"We had to walk on the highway because the path was obliterated by the snow. I think I walked about 20 miles today! There was no visibility-Where did those lush green fields and rows of blossoming fruit trees go?Where is the balmy,bucholic sunshine of yesterday? When I could see(through ice crusted glasses, and from under the snow laden brim of my sunhat)endless vistas of pinetrees stooped under their white burden. The horizon was white meeting white. As I descended in elevation, although summiting two mountain passes, the snow got heavier and wetter. Cars, once they reopened the highway, splashed wildly, afraid to loss momentum and skid. The worst moment happened while passing km marker 22(I started at 49). I asked the cosmos to make things just a little better. Nothing, just more snow. Then I asked the cosmos for a sign that things would get better, a symbol into which I could put my optimistic energy.Right then, a snow plow zoomed around the corner,dousing me with a wall of dirty icy mud thrown with bruising force. I wanted to collapse. Just then, The sky brightened, and I could see the little village where I would sleep that night down in the valley.Snowplow as remider that bad things can get worse, but don´t often stay that way for long." At the present moment, all that seems so long ago. Sure it it rained all day yesterday, and the camino is trecherously muddy, but life is GREAT! I am in such stereotypical Spanish wine country. Sloping green fields, mountains in the distance, chapels and fortresses on every hill top,cypress trees, lilacs, and poppies abounding, villages all white washed with red tile roofs, and me happily walking from town to town. I am in Puente de Reinna, for those of you with detailed maps of Spain. This is as deluxe and easy backpacking can get. One gets to shower and sleep in a bed every night, someone else cooks,and you get to drink killer coffee or the delicious vino tinto at all your breaks! deluxe, I tell you! Well, enough for now. More stories later! Buenas noches!

AMERICAN TOURIST GETS MISTAKEN FOR THE LOCH NESS MONSTER

After trudging around in the rain all day yesterday, I am ready to move on. Little circueteous cobble stone streets are sweet until they are running ankle deep with water and you can not see past the dripping end of your nose. It is beautiful today and I am off to Pamplona. ¡Ole!

¡¡España!!

Heck yeah, typing on a keyboard with upside down exclamation points and the beloved ñ. I can spell my name Niña! Groovy. So, the flight was interesting. I sat next to an enormous woman from Africa. She was like a large, immobile statue wrapped in yards of green fabric,her only vocab word in English being CocaCola! I never was able to convey my need to get to the aisle, so I sat the entire flight, bladder aching, legs twitching. Bilbao is one kick-ass city. I stayed right across from an amazing foot bridge, which was far more exraordinary than I could ever describe. I could see the Guggenheim from the wine bar in the lobby. I never got lost beyond my comfort. I ate really well. I went to the bus station today, thinking I was on my way to Pamplona. I then decided I needed a beach vacation, so I headed to San Sebastian, which is gorgeous. I am feeling pretty ready to get out of urban settings, and this is pretty darn urban. There is a free ferry out to an island, which I believe I will do this afternoon. So, more later. Love to all!

Colorado, Atlanta, and beyond!

greeting from my fathers house in Atlanta. This seems to be the land of arduous computer problems, carpenter bees, and sleep patterns reminiscent of high school. I think I have jet lag....or am becoming a vampire. I have stayed up past 3 every morning, and slept until at least noon. My waking hours have been spent in front of the anemic glow of "Bob", my step mother's computer.I now have my photos online,so if anyone reads this who has not seen them, email me and I will email you the Ofoto link. I also will soon have a web site courtesy of my super generous sister and mom. I also have my art on the Richard Levy web site http://www.levygallery.com/artists/projectroom/project.room.html as well as the San Francisco Contemporary Art Fair web site www.aafsf.com.
What do I think about all this? I am leaving and an essence of me will remain through this technology that seems so foreign. After resisting technology, this almost feels like having a reality show all about me. The hard part is that there is no one to edit my rambling output,and no one to force me to slurp up cricket smoothies or swim through shark infested bogs.So, unlike reality TV, unless I start biting people, these nocturnal vampiresque days and nights are producing nothing of interest with which to lure you, my faithful fan club, to read this blog. Have faith, ye of little hope! Once I land in Spain, this might become the trauma-drama-blog of the century! I might become a zealous catholic, hell-bent on sainthood, or I might be consumed by blisters beginning with my heels and then moving up. I also might just have a smashing time and have a zillion marvelous things to say about it. Anyhoo, tata for now.