à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Spiritual Practice
Famous Last Words
Shortly after writing my previous post (A Tourist Demands. A Pilgrim Appreciates), I resumed the Camino after taking a day´s rest at a hostal in Burgos. I bought some warmer clothes, a fleece vest and a hooded top. And I enjoyed a room of my own: a double bed (rather than a bunk bed). A … Continue reading
Yesterday, Erased
When I arrived at the albergue in Najera this afternoon, the hospitalero (host) asked me where I had come from. It took me a few seconds to remember that I had walked 16.5 kilometers from Navarrete, a small village in the wine making region La Rioja. Even though each day I record my starting and … Continue reading
My Camera as Spiritual Teacher
Yesterday, while walking alongside terracotta rolling hills, bright blue sky above bulging with huge pillowy clouds, my camera stopped working. The fully extended zoom lens was stuck there, as if it had taken too much Viagra and couldn´t change its shape. I pushed various buttons, trying to get it to budge, but no luck. My … Continue reading
Backpack On, Backpack Off
Boots on. Boots off. Lights on. Lights off. I have been on the Camino for just a week yet it feels much longer, perhaps because in some ways, each full day is the same. At the hostels, the lights go on at 6:30-7:00am, we repack our rucksacks, put our boots and packs back on and … Continue reading
Notes from a Liminal Space
Even though my body is still in Denver, I feel like I’m in a netherworld, between what was and what will be when I return from the Camino. It’s a wide openness I once feared but am now learning to inhabit. Suspending an identity is equally freeing and disconcerting. Yom Kippur, which ended tonight, amplified … Continue reading
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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