The Virtual Vacation

It’s time to close out this Creative Camino travel blog. It’s been a real pleasure creating it for you. I love modeling travel writing for my students. I love the discipline of creating these daily posts. I love having to write them on the fly, usually late at night when I should be sleeping. It’s […]

It’s hard to know exactly what to say at the end of a journey as delightful and remarkable as this one. But I will try. Today, half our group got on airplanes to travel home or to new destinations; the other half opted for one more day together, traveling down to Finisterre, which some consider

Today, we reached the final destination of our Creative Camino: Santiago de Compostela. We walked into the city from our hotel at kilometer 9. I didn’t get to do the final part of the Camino last year; I got sick and had to leave my own trip the day before we actually walked into the

I don’t know how the time has flown by so fast, but our Creative Camino is drawing to a close. Tomorrow we will walk into Santiago—kilometer zero—the destination of all the Caminos. After that, we’ll have one more day together as a group, and the morning after that, just a few days from now, we’ll

Today was the longest walking day of our Camino pilgrimage. We walked over 16 miles. Now it is 6:30 PM and I am lying in my hotel bedroom right now with my feet up. I just massaged them with something called Green Goo Foot Care Salve, which is made of calendula, yarrow and comfrey. It

Today was the last “rest day” on our pilgrimage. From here on out, it will be a straight shot to Santiago, walking every day. I have loved the rhythm we created for this retreat, walking the last 100 kilometers of the Camino with five extra days off to focus on creativity. These extra rest days

Every morning before we start to walk, we gather in a circle and I pull out a little blue cloth bag filled with quotations I’ve collected about pilgrimage and walking, growth and life. I printed them out before I left Santa Cruz on stiff oaktag at Kinko’s and spent a couple of evenings in front

I never expected that I’d write a blog post about our Creative Camino pilgrimage entitled “love.” But it was the undeniable choice for today’s post. Our group—twelve pilgrims and three leaders (who of course are pilgrims in their own right)—has bonded so beautifully. The kindness and compassion with which we are greeting each other is

I first met Brenda Porter when the company she worked for, a women’s adventure travel company, sent her to be our guide for a retreat I created with my wife, Karyn: writing and yoga in the Sacred Valley of Peru seven years ago. When Brenda showed up at the retreat center, I could tell within

After months of preparation and anticipation, several days getting to know each other while waiting for late arrivals and lost luggage, several days sharing wine and Spanish food, writing and art classes, with instructions about how to adjust our backpacks and properly use our hiking poles, and getting all geared up, we actually took our

Today was a 12+ mile day. There was rain in the forecast, so we all had our raingear handy, but it ended up being a cool, and at times sunny day, perfect hiking weather. At first, there were lots and lots of people on the trail, everyone greeting each other with a friendly, “Buen Camino!”

Today we had a full day for rest, writing, laundry, shopping for needed items, and art. For our morning writing session, I designed a writing class based on Tim O’Brien’s classic Vietnam novel, “The Things They Carried.” The object of the class was threefold: to learn how powerful objects can be in defining character, to

Today was our first full day walking the Camino—ten or so miles (depending on whose digital device was counting). From here on out, we’ll be walking all the way to Santiago. This being the start of our non-stop walking journey, Brenda and Andre and I created a ritual for our group. After we were dropped

I’m loving the slow start to this Camino, our choice to have this three-day landing/retreat before we physically begin walking our 100-km pilgrimage. Yesterday, in our orientation session, I opened with an initial welcome of the group, Andre went over group ground rules rooted in respect, self-care, self-responsibility and what it means to travel in

Brenda and Andre made us a great first night dinner—a giant salad with tomato, avocado, chicken, beets, walnuts, and Spanish olives. Everyone got to add what they wanted. Dessert was fresh nectarines, dark chocolate, and dried apricots. We’re sitting around outside in a breezeway with perfect temperature, slowly getting to know each other. One of