Epilogue: Santiago - Porto - Home

Bus to Porto took 3.5 hours, not 3.5 weeks. I didn’t realize how many hills I passed, or that fall had started it’s appearance. In Porto, the exhaustion started to settle in and I took a hop on, hop off bus to see the town and never hopped off, just went back to rest.
Next day was a day trip to wine country, Douro valley. The engineering of terraces for wine and olive trees blew me away. I had too much to drink, very easy for me, and I probably snored on the drive back.

There was evidence of fires from mid-September. The tour guide at the winery said they were encased in black smoke which might give the wine this year some interesting flavor notes. 😉The bus driver played “What a Wonderful World” and I cried. Hills of green, rainbows, blessed infrequent blue skies. Colors of people from different countries, unified with the diverse intentions they each brought to this historic path. Smells of eucalyptus, sheep, mud, roaring rivers. What a wonderful world.

Flight across the pond was 8 hours, 3 movies. More crying at the Disney movie, “Young Woman and the Sea” about a girl who overcame various challenges to swim the English Channel. In the 1920’s! It wasn’t walking 150 miles, but you know, she did it!

It was a little bumpy as we landed in NJ. I forgot to eat the apple I stole from the breakfast buffet ( be advised, all food must be eaten here! ) so it had to be incinerated. Fire to fire! Why not.

So back home, I collapsed after my 23-hour day. Allergic rhinitis( happens to the best of us) dehydration, toothache. More and more tears. The integration begins.

Inner journey: we can do better. We can be kinder, gentler, more helpful. We can preserve natural places better. We can share duct tape for someone with blisters, we can give someone a ride when they’re scared or tired, we can share space in a taxi, we can pick someone up at a hospital. We can live simpler, on fewer clothes and simpler meals. We can find meaning in the simplest things. We can forgive and move on to what’s next. We can take the next step, rest, next step.

I hope to live more from my heart, share light wherever I am, rest and restore and journey outward.

I’ve been very blessed by this journey and I hope you have been blessed by witnessing and supporting me.

Buen Camino, whatever The Way is for you.Read more