à la carte spirit by ilona fried
Starting Over
The Price of Finishing
“Where are you heading?” asked the man seated next to me in the scenic car as Amtrak‘s California Zephyr rumbled across Illinois. I was multitasking — peering out the window while reviewing photos on my laptop — and glanced over. With his worn sweater, baggy pants and bug-shaped eyeglasses that harkened from the 1980s, he … Continue reading
A Room of One’s Own (sort of)
While I was on the Camino, sleeping on bunk beds in rooms with as many as several dozen people, I often longed for a room of my own, without snoring and rustling, with space to spread out my belongings. Thanks to the generosity of a Denver writer friend and her husband, I’m staying in one … Continue reading
To Hang On or Let Go?
There is an end-of-Camino ritual at Finisterre, to burn something from the trip (or toss it into the sea). The symbolism is personal: for some, it could be a form of spiritual completion, a break with the past and/or the promise of a new beginning. A few days before arriving to the coast, I walked … Continue reading
Reentry: A Rude Awakening
To be fair, I did not go directly from the Camino to the US; I spent a few days resting in Santiago before heading to Madrid on Sunday to catch a plane yesterday. To be honest, I was not eager to return. I considered extending my stay and paying the change fee for my flight, … 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
à la carte spirit by ilona fried 
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