Week In Review! Denver Pt. 2!

It's been another two weeks in Denver--and they have been jam packed. Jam packed with adventure, heartbreak, meetings and, as of the last two days, snow! So, here we go--the week (ok, it's been two) in review!

• Remember how I had a horrible tree mural and Cookie Monster blue shag carpet in my walk-in closet sized room? Not anymore. One of my housemates had a massive room and didn't like it. So, we switched! Now we are both happy campers. (And, she painted the mural and psychedelic dresser within 48 hours of being in there. She's got way more energy than me!)
• I continue to love my jobs. The stories I hear though, at my afternoon job especially, continue to break my heart. We had a guy in who couldn't come up with the three dollars he needed for the copay on his heart medications. He'd gone without for two weeks before he found us and came in. (He said it might as well have been three million dollars because he couldn't come up with it on his own either way...) There was another guy who had recently become homeless and because of all the rain had found shelter for the last few nights night...in a port-a-potty. 
• Fall was beautiful for a few days. Then, after an 81 degree day, winter rolled in. Friday I woke up to snow. Flurries have been falling on and off since. (Brrr!!)
• UnderArmor cold weather socks continue to be my best cold weather friends. 
• As much as I love my jobs, I love the weekends even more. Last weekend David had cooked up some kind of a surprise. It had been on my calendar for a month, but I still didn't know what it was going to entail until I arrived at his house last Saturday. We drove out to a state park in the foothills, had a picnic lunch and then went horseback riding! I did not see that coming! David later had a lesson to teach up in what is the beginnings of the mountains, so we headed up there, had some coffee, and spent the evening there. While he was working I had a walk around town and wrote some postcards. It was absolutely what I needed to get me through the next crazy week. 
• Last Saturday eased some of the restlessness bubbling up in me. Horse back riding somehow reminded me of Moroccan camel rides (except way more comfortable!) and the little mountain town was giving me flashbacks to both Boquete, Panama and the mountains of Cyprus. Sunset walks and postcards just set the travel mood even more. 
• This weekend we took things in a completely different direction. We found a free jazz concert with a famous local band playing at a Methodist church down in Littleton. We thought it might be fun. (And, since it was free we were more than willing to take the gamble!) We walked in through snow flurries to find A) warmth (both of our houses and both of my jobs are so cold!), B) lots of old people (there were about 125 people in there. I think we were the only ones who weren't grey headed), and C) lots of fantastically ugly sweaters. The whole evening was great fun. The band was good, and really got rolling at the end--and the old folks were loving it. Orthopedic shoes were tapping all over the place. The grandma in front of us was especially getting down. 
• Two separate couples stopped to tell us that we did not old enough to be there--which just tickled us even more. 

Some pictures from the last couple weeks:  

I remembered to take a picture of our house. 10 of us live here and there are also offices for our directors. 

Horses!

Stables in the foothills. We weren't that far away from town or a freeway, but it still felt like we were in the middle of Wyoming. 

I did not fall off! : )

Our horses: Sky (David's) and Shy (mine). Not really sure why mine was named Shy. It certainly was not shy about stopping to eat, pooping at will or passing gas when others were near. 

It was a beautiful area. 

Up in Evergreen. (Seriously, it reminded me of both Boquete (remember?) and the Troodos Mounains (see here)).

Some fall trees

And sunset walks

Back in the work week, I decided half way through Monday (that had already involved staff meetings and inventorying more than 500 vases and other random things we sell) that in order to make it through feeding 1000 people spaghetti and then through an additional 4 hours of afterwork Urban Servant Corps programing I would need a boost. I made a lunch time stop at Starbucks while switching buses downtown. 

It was a good call because I found plenty of messages waiting for me when I got to my afternoon work site...

There's a saying that there's only two things in life that money can't buy: Love and homegrown tomatoes. I'm obviously a very lucky girl to have both. 

Friday morning at the bus stop!

The snow was beautiful...even if it had me worried that it was getting so cold already.

Totally

And finally, this evening even my Under Armor socks weren't quite cutting it. It was time to bust out my socks knitted by a Bosnian nana. David brought them back for me this summer and I've been waiting to rock them ever since. 

Camino De Santiago: Day 28--Portomarin to Palas de Rei

During the night I was woken up by a young guy, who we reasoned must have been on his first night of the Camino, who told me Someone is snoring. I just put my earplugs back in and went back to sleep. Of course someone is snoring! I think the kid went around waking up everyone till he found the snorer. Who started snoring again 5 minutes later. : )

Getting out of town was for some reason a bit tricky for me, and, much to my chagrin, included a high skinny bridge. I had a (perhaps irrational?) fear that I would drop my walking stick off of the bridge.

Finally outside of town we hiked past a couple of factories. Oh man they smelled bad!

There were plenty of more pleasant sights as well, though. 

I had made really good time during the morning, so when I came to this cross and spotted a nice bench under a shady tree nearby, I stopped. I took of my boots, slathered on the icyhot and rested while pilgrims passed--some going on quickly, but others stopping and making the sign of the cross, laying their hands on the crucifix or praying. I couldn't really figure out the significance of the cross until a girl from Seville came and sat next to me after touching the cross and praying. She told me a bit about it and we talked for a while, sharing piquilabi. 

She eventually went on (although happily we kept running into each other, and she later ran into my retired friends also from Seville--all parties quickly realized they were people I'd told each of them about), but I sat under my tree in a pensive mood and wrote in my journal for a while. 

Turns out that this cross is one of the oldest of its kind 

More cows! So smelly! 

Look closely at the first sign: This was the first road sign I saw with Santiago on it. Getting close!!

Yep, the Camino was still showing us every single cemetery it could. 

Then, mostly because I showed bad pilgrim form and hoped that the newbie pilgrims would get a bit of the hardship we'd endured, it started raining. We all threw on our rain gear and went on our way. 

It rains pretty much every afternoon in Galicia, so it wasn't too big of a deal. 

Until it started hailing. 

We saw this shed...

And hung out inside for a while. (This picture makes me laugh!)

We finally made it to town and checked into one of the very worst hostels of the Camino. It was pretty bare bones. Yet again we had no shower curtains or doors...but this time the dorms had communal bathrooms for men AND women. Our jaws were hanging when they told us. (It seems especially odd for such religious pilgrimage, no?) Anyway, we made it though, with most of our modesty intact (thanks in part to the paper sheets they gave us for the beds, or in my case, by arriving at the hostel after just about everyone had already had their shower) but honestly, you kind of stop caring about most things after 28 days on the trail!

I'm Back!

I've been a little MIA lately, but there has been a reason! The reason is that...I have been busy! I have been busy:

Sleeping. 
It took me a whopping 25 hours to get from Barcelona to Dallas/Fort Worth. The largely sleepless night in Barcelona, the long day on planes and wandering (sometimes running) through airports and the jet lag have hit me pretty hard. On top of that my allergies that were steadily getting worse starting in Greece (those pines kill me!) have exploded now that I am home. I've been waking up with my head spinning each morning. And then I go back to sleep.

Sweating. 

It's definitely warm here. It's the second hottest summer on record in Texas history. After Greece and Sevilla I don't think it's that bad, but 110 (43C) in the shade is pretty hot.

Eating. 

I've been hitting up the big Texas favorites: BBQ, TexMex and MexMex (as in Mexican Mexican food).

Drinking filter coffee. 
I have to admit that fresh out of Spain I was appalled at the coffee American Airlines served me on my flight home. Thankfully my dad has a stash of about 16 different kinds of coffee at our house and they have all been much, much better. My favorite thing about filter coffee is that you can sip giant cups of it without damaging your heart. I just finished a black iced coffee that had to be at least 1/2 a liter.

Reunion-ing. 
My parents came to meet me at the airport. My brother Brian lives in Fort Worth now and my brother Casey drove up from Austin to see me. I got to see my "nephew" and my cousin Michael. Today I got to have lunch with my best friend.

Winning tan contests. 

Before coming home my bff and old roommate Lindsay joked that I was probably tanner than she was. I laughed it off as impossible. I thought I was just tan for me. But after having lunch with her today and comparing--it turns out I am normal people tan, too (a first for me).

Doing laundry. 
With a machine! I felt a bit guilty, but I even dried it all in the dryer!

Listening to Flamenco and Andalusian Funk. 
Thanks Victor! When I close my eyes, it helps me forget that I am back in America.

Breaking out of the backpacker mold. 

I fixed my hair for the first time in 5 months. I wore perfume and actual shoes. I dressed in something other than the 3 outfits I've been rotating for months.

So there. You can see that I have been busy. I do have a bit of good news for you all too--even though I won't really be traveling much for the next little bit, travels on the blog will continue. Those of you who followed my actual itinerary noticed that I never got around to blogging a lot of places, and I'm still hopelessly behind on my Camino posts. So, for those of you who need a little bit of vicarious traveling, don't worry--I'll keep the stories and pictures coming! I'll see if I can't get a Trip In Review up soon, too. 

Camino De Santiago: Day 13-Boadilla to Carrion de los Condes

Day 13 was an experiment in choosing the path less traveled. Midway through the day you had two choices--go along the highway, which I believe was a little shorter, or go through the woods alongside the river. Surprisingly most everyone chose the highway so I had the river path almost all to myself. 

The day was rainy, but started out following the surprisingly beautiful Canal de Castilla. 

Animo!

I was surprised when we got to a set of locks. It was no Panama Canal, but it was fun. 

I remember that right after this sign we entered a small town which had a) an ATM, b) a cafe, and c) (the most important) a pharmacy--with everything a pilgrim could ask for (otherwise known as bandaids in every shape and size!)

Arrows also came in every shape and size

A little while after the paths split I came across this man named Pepe (who is apparently a Camino legend...something I didnt know about until later). He had a basket of candy and offered me a piece. I was a little skeptical of random old men with candy but a Spanish father came by with his two kids and he let them take a piece, so I figured it was ok. I leaned on my walking stick as he told me stories and nuggets of wisdom. (It also was a stark reminder that even if you stop for 2 minutes your blisters will ACHE when you start again.)

He had a pilgrim stamp, but I was too lazy to take off my pack, remove the rain cover and dig out my credentials. He wouldn't let me pass, so I agreed that he could stamp my hand. He said it would protect me. After the near death by lightening experience the day before I figured it couldn't hurt. 

And what do you know? The clouds started looking menacing again. 

I was thankful that there were at least taller things than me on the horizon this time. Either way, I was trying to walk as fast as possible to avoid the coming storm. 

Unfortunately after this point the signage got a bit tricky. I missed a somewhat hidden arrow and had to follow a small road for what seemed forever. It wasn't bad, but with the storm at my back I wasn't exactly up for walking extra kilometers. 

I finally made it to the town where my path merged back with the highway path. 

The rest of the way to Carrion turned out to be interesting...

Because right after I took this picture I started getting pelted in the head with hail. Yes, hail. I was soooaked to the bone. I thought about running, but then you look up and realize, where are you gonna run?

I was not amused. 

But finally I made it to Carrion de los Condes! The long day on the trail--filled with storms and hail--would all be soothed away when I got to my albergue filled up with tiny Benedictine nuns bustling around like hospitality fairies. Yeah. In the end there was only a random twenty-something year old guy. Decidedly not a nun. 

Eh. Anyway, they had a nice cathedral and the pilgrim mass was a nice experience. The picture above is of a famous facade in town. I ended up having a nice conversation with the non-nun hospitalero, got to know a group of young Irish teachers, shared a dinner of pina y curry salad with my Parisian friend, and ran back into my two South Korean friends whom I hadn't seen since Burgos. So all in all, I'll call it a win.