Day 9 Queimada at Casa Domingo Albergue

That day walked most of the 23 kilometers barefoot as we were often on trails. Unfortunately, one of the guys had a bad blister and couldn't walk the whole way. They say, "You don't walk the Camino, the Camino walks you!" I se this happening time and time again and the best advice is to just go with it. 

We ended the day with my dear friends Anna and Gonsalves' beautiful Albergue in the small village of Ponte Campana. I have been going there since 2005, when we filmed a scene from the documentary Las Peregrinas. They keep a copy of My Camino book on display in a cabinet. And a bookmark hanging on the wall. So sweet of them. 

We arrived tired and hungry. After getting settled in our bunks, we did our laundry and hung it on the line. Them Anna made us a plate of Jamon and queso to snack on with a beer or glass of vino tinto.

We celebrated dinner in the dinning room with about 30 other pilgrims. We sat with Misha from Germany whom we had shared a bunk room with a couple of nights before. 

We also met a man named John, who was leading a group of 5 others on a marriage retreat. They were all from Georgia and Tennessee and had all been sponsored by a restaurant chain to do the Camino. Al the love they shared  and the fun they had was so inspiring to witness. 

After dinner Gonsalves surprised us with an ancient pagan ritual, a Queimada ceremony. He and his brother dressed up in costume and they called men up to the front to stir the concoction of a local liquor Hierbos, coffee beans, orange and lemon, sugar and maybe a few more ingredients. It was lot with a match so it burned a bright flame. 

Gonsalves asked a pilgrim to read to the audience while I stirred and stirred. 

Gonsalves dressed up in a costume with a hat. Once it had cooked long enough we all had a taste. It was very sweet!

It was an early night as we were all very tired. 

We enjoyed a lovely breakfast together and set out to walk 24 kilometers in the sunny and comfortably warm 23 C weather!

Ultreya. 

Sue 

@barebottomshoes

www.suekenney.ca

Next Camino walk with Sue is in October 2015. Pack pack service is included and all accommodation is booked in rural pensions, hotels and private Albergues. 

Mycaminobook@gmail.com

Day 5 Barefooting to Samos

This is the first time in 10 group trips that I have led,that I didn't go to the Monastary in Samos. In fact I don't even have a pic of it as some of them are on my IPad, which I can't download to my phone right now. Trust me when I say it is incredibly beautiful though. 

We walked very quickly in the morning and I got to be barefoot most if the way. We arrived in the old town of Triacastella and ate lunch in a typical taberna. The entire group seems to like Ensalada Mixta. Salad with tuna, asparagus, hard boiled egg and corn niblets. 

We started walking again and spent a lot of time in the forest, or on dirt paths, so itcwas perfect for Barefooting. I had a sore toe, as I stubbed it, so I wrapped or with tape for the day. 

The terrain was so natural a couple of the pilgrims tried batefooting. Jan, who is 70 years old, was the first to take off hers and join in. I talked to her about the shift that takes place in the alignment of her entire body to make it more efficient. We talked about some is the benefits it has on her physical body and the freedom that is experienced. 

She said as she ages she becomes more fearful of falling. Going barefoot can help to strengthen the feet, ankles, legs and the core body to help overcome that fear. The feedback from the sensory nerve endings in the soles of your feet work quickly to message the brain/central nervous system to adapt to shifts in the terrain so the body stays upright. Jan felt that what I was saying made "common sence" and that made her want to do it!

The more we walked, the closer our group became. We travelled together most of the time or at least within site of each other, although we had agreed before leaving that everyone should walk their own Camino. There was no expectation that we had to stay together but the group wanted to. It was quite lovely. 

One of our pilgrims, Lynn, was having trouble with her one foot swelling up so much it was hard to walk. We agreed to keep a close watch on it to see if she should see a doctor or not. 

One thing I don't like about walking in the country, especially in Spain is the fact that the animals are herded back to the village at night and in the morning, so there is a lot of cow dung visible. I found myself taking my shoes odd and the. Pitting them back on again. :)

We arrived quite late in the day. It was great that we had a hotel room rather than an Albergue. The group went on the tour of the Monastary and then most of them went to Vespers. We had a late dinner and everyone was in bed by 10pm. 

That morning we had breakfast at the hotel (cafe cin leche, fresh squeezed orange juice, a buffet of eggs, bacon and sausages, and some sweets too. We left around 7:30 am knowing that we had our longest day ahead if us. 28 kilometers!!

My foot infection was clearing up thanks to Jan's oil of Oregano. Even still, I was a bit concerned as I seemed to favour that foot and that meant I wasn't walking evenly. A sure-fire way to develop an injury. 

By now several of the pilgrims had been shipping their backpacks and had decided to complete the journey that way. I still had mine and so did Katherine. She had set a goal to walk with it and that motivated her to keep it, though it was decided without any attachment to suffering. Once you've had a backpack on for a few days it becomes a part of you and she didn't want to give it up. 

We arrived tired and hungry. 

Sue 

@barebottomshoes

www.suekenney.ca

Next Camino walk with Sue is October 2015. Backpack service will be available to all. You just have to walk. 

Arriving in Spain

Our Camino

After an overnight flight from Toronto to Amsterdam, 6 of our Camino group then flew to Madrid. There we met 3 other pilgrims, two from New York and one from Barrie.  We waited a couple more hours and then got on a 5 hour bus ride to Ponferrada,Spain. 

We finally arrives in Ponferrada and booked into our hotel. We went out for a wonderful dinner and got to know each other a bit more. The next morning we took a group pic in front of the hotel and set out to walk 14 kms to Cacabelos on a gorgeous sunny day. 

I

Before I left for the Camino, I had a nasty split in the skin on the sole of my right foot. A small stone lodged in it and I soaked my foot in Epsom salts and used Tea Tree oil. Several days after I was doing yard work and a thorn found it's way in. I couldn't get it out so after several days it became infected. 

Concerned about how I could walk barefoot, I redesigned my Barebottom Shoes to add a leather demi-sole to cover the ball of my foot. I thought I could wear test them on the Camino.

The morning I was to leaveI ended up in emergency to have it checked. After an xray, the Dr felt it was an infection and prescribed an antibiotic. 

The first day we only walked 14 kms and it was the perfect distance to get accustomed to being Pilgrims! I wore my Merryl minimalist shoes the entire day. The sidewalks in Ponferrada are made of a tile that has a sharp edge and cuts up the soles of my feet so I couldn't walk barefoot anyway!

Day 2 was better for Barefooting. 

The beginning of My Camino

My name is Sue Kenney and I am a pilgrim. I walked 780 kilometers on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela for the first time in 2001. After being suddenly downsized from my corporate telecom career I decided to go for a long walk to figure out my life purpose. The Camino is a medieval pilgrimage route in Spain. I walked for 29 days and went alone in the winter. I followed yellow arrows on a path that had been walked by millions of pilgrims before me. It was a profound life altering experience.

Through the art of walking, I discovered that my life work is to use my voice to tell stories to inspire others on their life journey. When I returned home I became a storyteller. I went to schools, libraries, church groups, networking groups, businesses and anywhere people would listen to my stories. Many who heard me said I should write a book. I told them I wasn't a writer. As I told more stories, more people said I should write a book. I decided to record a storytelling CD because I thought they wanted to take something home with them after they heard the stories. It's called Stone by Stone and in the first 6 months of its release I sold and gave away 1000 copies. People wrote back to me and said I should write a book. Ahhhh. One morning I woke up and it all became clear to me. I understood that this wasn't all about me. It wasn't a question of whether I could write or not, these stories were given to me as a gift from God. If I didn't share them, then I would be doing a dis-service to the universe and not fulfilling my obligation to living my life purpose. At Word on the Street literary festival I found a publisher. He told me that I must have a minimum of 200 pages. That's 50,000 words. My plan was to have the book out in the summer of 2005. In that case, he told me I needed to have a manuscript to him in 2 months. I assured him that if I wrote 1000 words a day for 2 months I could have the book written. So I did it. If I had known it was impossible, I wouldn't have done it. The book is called Sue Kenney's My Camino and it's a Canadian national best seller.
www.suekenney.ca