à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Food
How Much Can I Eat?
The Camino is about walking. And food. Without food, there is no fuel for walking. Looking over my daily expenses, the overwhelming majority is food and drink. The price of a bed and a hot shower, by comparison, is relatively low. When I was walking with the Italian teenager, we agreed that trying to save … Continue reading
A Tourist Demands. A Pilgrim Appreciates.
This bit of wisdom (which I translated from the more melodic Spanish), was on a bulletin board in the convent in Arre, where I rested early on in my trip. I’ve thought about it a lot since, as many of my fellow walkers are behaving as tourists. In each town, there are usually a few options … Continue reading
Cutting (out) the Cheese
I’m not the only one who over packed for the Camino; most of the others are also Americans who, determined to resolve every possible problem on their own, schlepped a lot of stuff. One older fellow I walked with for a few kilometers confessed to pitching three guidebooks and a bag of food into the forest … Continue reading
The Many Flavors of Fear
As a young girl, I marveled at Baskin Robbins and its 31 flavors, a vast universe compared to the standard chocolate, strawberry and vanilla, or, if we were being fancy, pistachio. At one point bubble gum was my favorite, although I couldn’t figure out how to keep from swallowing the gum along with the ice … Continue reading
Of Kugel and Catholicism
On Rosh Hashanah I attended an intimate, lay-led Kabbalistic service at a private home in Denver. I hadn’t expected food, but the hosts graciously supplied several bagel varieties, four different cream cheeses, coffee and juice. People were milling around when I arrived so I decided to have a bite. I placed half a sesame seed … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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