Day 1 on the Camino de Santiago

September 30, 2009
We must not be in Kansas anymore because we can’t understand anybody. Either that or we both have had major strokes.

The worst part about traveling is traveling or specifically getting to your destination to where you will be touring. It was 10 hours to London with a 2 hour layover, then a 2 hour flight to Madrid with a 5 hour layover and finally a 1 hour flight to Pamplona. I did like the fact that the alcoholic drinks were en gratis. I didn’t like the three security checks that we had to go through, especially the first where I was pulled aside for a personal check due to the aluminum wrapped lactose pills that I had stored in the pocket located halfway down my leg.

The first day of the tour is over and it was wonderful. We had an easy day of walking, only 5.1 miles from Roncesvalles at the Ibaneta Pass to Espinal. Emi and I wanted more miles, but one should be careful when wishing. Tomorrow will be longer. But the nice thing about today was the scenery, the people, and the food. The camino (trail) was through a beech forest which is not like anything found in California. It reminded me of a scene from the hobbit movie. Our fellow walkers are nice and we are doing a lot of life exchanges. And the food…most excellent. Dinner was a collection of small dishes, no not tapas, like roasted red peppers in olive oil, mushroom and borage, a certain kind of celery/thistle, a cod dish, and roasted lamb. The local merlot was part of the dinner and some of us ordered another bottle. Nancy, our guide, is a trove of information and she educates us so thoroughly that I feel like taking notes. We just came back from dinner and it is 11pm. Time to go to bed.

Prologue 2009

September 28th Emi and I will be leaving for Spain, to walk part of the Camino de Santiago. It is about a 500 mile walk, but we didn’t want to spend a month to walk the entire length, consequently we are taking a tour of the walk. We will only be walking about 100 miles in 10 days. They will shuffle us and our luggage along the trail, so in comparison of walking 700 miles around Shikoku with our belongings on our back, this should be like a walk in the park.

Talking about the 88 temple walk, that seemed so long ago it might have occurred in another life that I lived, so distant the memory. Some weeks ago Emi mentioned that she might want to do it again, and I instantly exploded with, “Are you crazy? You have forgotten all the pain and suffering that we went through. Well I haven’t. No, no, no.” And then I apologized for screaming. Seriously, I loved the walk, but it was hard, maybe too hard.

That doesn’t mean that we won’t walk when there is a reason and walking the Camino de Santiago has real meaning. We will be walking for God. We will walk for God in all his manisfatations. We are not particular. Why should we be? Can there be but only one God? As it is said by muslims, La illah illa allah,” there is no God but God. Call him what you will. I personally call him, “the thought of time, past, present, and future.” I joke of course. I have no name for God, but I will be walking for God.

Then again we are walking for the sights that will make us catch our breaths, the pleasure of the physical effort, and the rewards that come at the end of each day: the Spanish cuisine (especially the wine), a nice bath, and a comfortable bed. Also, this will be a time when Emi and I can be alone to share the joys of each other while in the exotic and wonderful country of Spain.

More to come…

Fortune Lady

On the last weekend in August Emi and I went to the reopening of the new Freight and Salvage Coffee House in Berkeley. If you’ve never been there, don’t think of ordering a double latte with a sprinkle of chocolate powder; it’s not really a coffee house, more like a miniature Yoshi’s. They had Ramblin’ Jack Elliot for the night. He is a legend within the folk music world as far back as when I was young, single, and stupid, still am but a tad smarter. We didn’t go there to see him though he was entertaining with excellent folk guitar playing and a lot of dry, dry, parched dry humorous yakkin’ (the reason for his name I’m guessing).

We went there to see the opening act featuring Rick Didia and Aireene Espiritu, and in particular we went there to see Aireene who I would like to consider a friend of mine. Of course, understand that I use the word “friend” loosely. I met Aireene some years ago when the hui played for Purple Moon down in Chinatown. She had performed with Rick just before us. I didn’t get a chance to hear them play, because we were rehearsing when they were on, but I was curious about her music because (cue the drum roll) she played a vintage Martin tenor UKULELE. After our performance she was still around and I had a chance to talk to her. I lamely but sincerely asked her how she played her ukulele. She answered saying she strummed and picked chords…duh, and then she said pleasantly, “Here, you can have my CD to listen to.” I was thrilled. I thanked her and when I got home I did listen to her CD, and I must say I still do. It is one of my favorite CD. Her style, genre, is a blend of folk, country, blues, and strictly Aireene. Her ukulele is picking and strumming. Hey, that’s what she said. Her low voice is earthy, sweet, and dramatic.

Some two years later I saw Rick and Aireene perform and the Velo Rouge Café on Arguello Street and yes they do serve coffee at this cafe. It’s a small venue and I got a chance to see them up close. Rick noticed that I was there for a very long time and thanked me at the end. Not long after that I took Emi to the old Freight and Salvage to see them. She liked them as much as I and the audience on hand.

Moving forward in time. About a year later I saw Aireene in Kuishinbo in J-town having lunch. At a propitious moment I went up to talk to her. I think subconsciously I wanted to see if I could converse without making a fool of myself twice over. I know not my limits. I asked her if she ever gave lessons and she said that she was actually thinking about it. Well we talked about the particulars and later arranged a time and place where she would attempt to teach me. With some effort I did learn how to play and sing one of her own compositions, “Fortune Lady,” but I think the ordeal, aka teaching, had traumatized her, for she did not want to continue, which was OK. I understood completely. If I were her, I wouldn’t want to have continued the lessons either. I exasperate myself continually in the effort of learning anything. In addition she had sprained her ankle badly which made getting around difficult and realized that teaching was time consuming, a commodity that she had little of. But I feel privileged that she had spent the time to teach me her song, a song that she had performed at every show that I’ve seen and the song that is on both her CD’s. I can only assume that it is one of her favorites. That thought gives me some trepidation whenever I sing it, afraid of ruining it. Aireene actually wanted me to record it and send it to her. It took me over a year to get the nerve to do it, and it took three takes before it was a keeper. Even then it was far from perfect, but by then I was so worn out with the effort the mere thought of trying again was overwhelming.

Here’s a link to Aireene singing “Fortune Lady,” Aireene not me, and Rick and Aireene singing some of their other great songs.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K4_36UKIRVE