Feet Back on the Ground

For the sake of posterity, here, for you, is my travel itinerary, and where I am now:

Santiago - Ourense
Ourense - Leon (overnight in albergue)
Leon - Palencia (not Valencia, no)
Palencia - Irun/Hendaia (yes, coming full circle)
Hendaye - Lyon (night train. Leon to Lyon in 24 hours!)
Lyon - Macon (where one takes the bus to Taize, which is just outside the town of Cluny, home to the somewhat more famous monastery.)

So, here I am in Taize. I slept straight through the afternoon yesterday, straight through dinner, straight through to 6:oo am this morning. It is an utterly strange place. But everything for the past several days has felt surreal, as if I'm living in some sort of dreamstate. The passage from Spain to France was strange, returning through el Pais Vasco, retracing my own footsteps, and watching pilgrims just starting out, walking past those yellow arrows that just the other day meant the entire world to me. The Basque country, Spanish and French, really is its own little world, different from everywhere else. On the train to Irun, I was struck by the gritty industrialism of the cities. Insistently, unapologetically ugly. A strange contrast alongside the breathtaking mountains and woods--I think this is part of the appeal. Cities like Leon, which is so beautiflul, so groomed, strike me as false. Not just pretentious but dishonest.

And France? Well, I don't feel qualified to say too much, having only been here a couple days. The landscape is much more like Vermont--rolling hills, the grass and trees more familiar here. It's chilly in the morning, and in the evening--whenever the sun goes away. Damn, give me Spain any day! Likewise the people: not quite as warm. In Spain, I was a pilgrim. I got lots of smiles, waves, friendly conversations. Here, I'm just another sweaty, dirty backpacker with dark circles under her eyes. Taize, of course, is another story entirely--one I'll have to save for another day, since I only have a couple minutes left on the computer.

To those in Vermont: One Week! I'll see you all soon! Much love to all the fuzzy ones especially.