Fink's Travels Camino de Santiago 2012

After a good nights sleep in Santo Domingo, Sace and I hit the road again. Note that we had a good nights sleep because we have made the executive decision to avoid albergues if at all possible and stay in private hostels, hotels, etc. We experienced the prison lifestyle of the albergues and have moved on. Not really a difficult decision. One can do the Camino on less than $20 a day, but you don't have to. At one end of the spectrum, you sleep in bunkbeds (sometimes 3 beds high with 30 people per room), share co-ed bathrooms (poor women), can't sleep because of the snorers, get woken up by the back pack rustlers at 5 am and have no privacy. On the other end, we met some retired Canadians that had an outfit set up everything for them in advance. They only carry day trip backpacks, have their luggage sent ahead from hotel to hotel and have all of their meals taken care of in advance. The cost for their experience: $12,000 plus airfare. That doesn't mean it's easy...but it...

40 kilometers...Sara and I knocked that out in one day. A mule...what the Camino sometimes makes you feel like.  More on each of those later. My first entry after four days on the Camino was at a point when the Camino was new, fun and awesome...and my feet were normal. Following our initial four (mostly) solid great days, we experienced some of the challenges of this journey. We struggled with extreme exhaustion, blisters (my feet are tore up), shitty accommodations (sleeping 12+ people to a room in bunk beds is no bueno; lots of not so enjoyable smells and sounds) and the grueling, relentless and monotonous (wake, eat, walk, eat, walk, clean, sleep) schedule. There were some very low points for both of us when we both questioned why we were doing this. It is such a mental and physical challenge. Interestingly, the challenges have been much more physical for me and much more mental for Sara. I was determined to push on but Sara put her foot down and we rested a day in Viana. Sa...

Hello to the family and three other readers. Josh here checking in from Spain to give a quick update on our Camino adventures to date... Note: I wrote this a few days into the Camino and my experience has obviously grown. Sara did a great job capturing some of our challenges in the previous post. We started in Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port, France in cold, wet weather. The first day of our 800 km walk across Spain was set to begin. We read/were told that the first day would be the most difficult and four days into the trip this was definitely the case.  We had over a 1,000 meter climb up the foothills of the Pyrenees mountains over the course of 27 km.  It would be tough in any situation however being the first day on the Camino and carrying everything we needed for a month on our backs made it that much more challenging. Furthermore, our packs were way too heavy; the books indicated  you should only carry 10% of your weight and we were almost double that. First lesson le...

(Post by Sara) Ahhhh Paris , it exceeded every expectation I had. We arrived to find the an abundance of spring flowers in bloom. The monuments were incredible, Notre Dame brought me to tears, it was truly a breathtaking experience for me. We were like 2 energizer bunnies, minmal sleep and tons of walking. Our bodies were exhausted but our minds were incredibly excited to be there. When you´re in love and in the most romantic city in the world, nothing can stop you. Until next time Paris , I love you. After our rendezvous in Paris  we rented a car and headed up to the Medoc and Bordeaux  region which is considered some of the finest wine regions in France. We stayed in a small B&B in the countyside and explored 16th century churches, drove to see the Atlantic ocean on the West side and saw beautiful vineyards along the way. Before heading to Saint Jean to start our 500 mile trek we took a small detour to a tiny town that comfortably snuggles near the Pyrenees ...