Camino memories, part one

Tres Coasa Hay En La Vida
Que Precisa El Peregrino,
Buenas Piernas, Gran Comida,
Y Si Hablamos De Bebida,
Poca Aqua Y Mucho Vino!

There Are Three Things
That Make The Pelgrim,
Good Legs, Great Food,
And When We Talk About Beverages,
Little Water And A Lot Of Wine!

Back home from the Camino.

                                                Amsterdam, 21 Nov. 2011.

The smell of Mary-Jane in its purest form penetrates my Gringo nostrils when I walk out of the Amsterdam railway station - nothing new here I guess, happens every time when I return from one of my trips - the Amsterdam main tourist attraction to be found all along the long strech of walking home, coffee shops on the city's Haarlemmerdijk doing a brisk business while I brave the cold and misty streets of my beloved Mokum, my last couple of km. before the comfort of my personal home engulving me, a last bottle of La Mancha red Spanish wine inside my heavy pack awaiting consumption...

Trying to concentrate on whatever amusement my telly will entertain me with while working on that La Mancha Spanish wine, trying to forget that superfatso in the chair next to me on the bus whose Gordiflon body occupied three quarters of my Asiento as well...luckily the driver alowed me to change seats and end up with a Brasilian beauty as overnight bus neighbor...trying to forget the Mosambique blacks chatting all night in Portuguese and hardly willing to stop despite several complaints of fellow travellers...openly discussing the fun of keeping these darned whitties awake untill the I told them Callete or slash it out with me at the next gasoline stop...

Trying to forget the sweaty bodies of a full long drive bus, farts and bodily smells playing havoc on my poor orafatory capablilties....

Yeah, I guess that one Euro Botella de La Mancha red wine was a great investment!!! 

Along EL Camino, four days of walking

Logronyo, 25 okt. 2011.

With my feet hurting like hell itself - intresting metaphor considering this is supposed to be a sacred hike - and the bands of my backpack burrying themselves deep into my shoulderbones,  I hike on throught the hills of northen Spain, enjoying the charming compnay of Marion from Stutgard, Marion who reminds me a lot of my greatest love in this life - well, one of my greatest loves in this life anyway - Andrea from Kassel, her blue blinking eyes and blond half long hair blowing in the wind while she tells me all about her life back home, her partner - Mierda - and her 27 year old son living in Argentina for studying purposes...

I try to pay her the most of my attention but at the same moment trying not to attach myself to her though she obviously enjoys my presence...so I tell her about my own life, my trips across the globe, my upcoming journey to that asian realm ten or twelve hours of flying from Amsterdam, how the local ladies run down my door in the New Star in Pattaya - I HAVE AFTER ALL NEVER BEEN ASHAMED OF MY LIFE STYLE - and show her the pics of my art work back in my house in Amsterdam - thanks again to the digital photography world where you don´t have to run around the world with a heavy and huge portfolio, a simple 69 euro digital camara will do with 800 pics on your memory stick...

Finally getting ahead of her just opun reaching Logronyo, I run into an old local geezer, drunk as the proverbial skunk and in the possession of a plastic bag full with cold beer and three yellowish teeth that he flashes at me broadly, inviting me for a couple of free drinkies...perfect opportunity to wait for my new found lady buddy before reaching Logronyo after a great day of walking El Camino...