Pineapple Juice

Hello again from sunny Espana - we finally had a really warm day after a week or so of rain, clouds, and relative cold. We are officially over halfway to Santiago from where we started in France - which is kind of weird to fathom. It isn´t that hard to appreciate our accomplishment each day, in fact sometimes it seems rather miniscule since we could drive the same distance in a matter of minutes. But comprehending the combined effect of all of those days of walking is much harder. We love looking at our map, mostly because it is so crazy to see our progress on that large of a scale.

We are horribly out of touch with the world - I have absolutely no idea what day it is let alone what is going on in the news. The other morning another pilgrim came up to ask and asked us what the date was. It took 5 of us several minutes to figure it out definitively without the aid of electronic devices. Needless to say, it is easy to lose yourself.

Time is passing both quickly and slowly. On the one hand, we can´t believe that we have already been walking for 3 weeks (exactly) because that seems like such a long time. Even though we don´t have any entertainment with us - no books, no music, just journals which we procrastinate about - I find I am never really bored, making the time go by that much faster. On the other hand, though, it seems like an eternity ago that we were in St. Jean Pied-de-Port to begin our journey. So much has happened and we know so much more, even if the majority of what we have learned involves blisters or eating and drinking for cheap. When we meet pilgrims who have just began the trek, we like to think back nostalgically to how we were when we just started (being seasoned veterans by now, obviously).

I just realized that I use the ¨we¨ pronoun a lot, which would be strange except that I spend 24 hours a day with Kate and almost as much time with our new friends, people who had been complete strangers just a few weeks ago. It is kind of like an ultimate shared experience (partially because that is what we make of it). It is also a very communal experience, like I think I have mentioned before. Kate and I have completely communalized our money. Everything material - food, drinks, bandaids, etc. - are all shared indiscriminately.

Speaking of which, it´s time to get my evening started. Hope all is well with everyone out there in cyberspace...