My dears.
You are a lucky bunch,I had planned for a long report but being rather tiered it will be shorter than planned ,though too long for some.
So many of you complained I have to bow to popular demand and write again.
I have not written because I am deeply immersed and it is hard to take leave of it and write.
I am now about 320km from the end of the CAMINO,will be in LEON tomorrow.
I am at the grasp of continuous happiness and tranquility.
Every day seems to be the happiest ever until the next day.
This does not mean to say that there are no hardships but that the sum of it is humongous.
SPAIN is beautiful ,serene , forbearing and mostly welcoming and sweet.
Food is no great issue with me this time so I can not refere to it,but the wines are great.
I walk in what is the heart of Cervantes, Lorca and the great Spanish painters.
In the last 3-4 days i have walked mainly in high ,flat scenery,nearly deserted ,with a few dieing villages here and there.
For hours on end I hear just the wind blowing through the endless fields of ripening wheat (like in so many Japanese movies),or blowing through the (zafzafot,ash,cotton) trees that follow my route everywhere.
It seems as if I traverse through the country side and it traverses through me,we meet,grasp each other for a minute observe and than let go.
It is a deep on going meditation,hard,demanding,intensive,rewarding and non attaching,(to the extant that for the first time in my life I do nor remember names of places or care for there historical value).
I can only compare this ,I think to a long passage in a ZEN monastery.
NON STOP MEDITATION,letting all pass,grasping nothing,not even memories and experiencing all.
It is Sunny,cold,grey ,blue,hot,rainy,dry ,flat ,windy.mountainous,muddy,dusty difficult and easy all at the same time.
My body ,mind ,spirit and legs are fine and the CAMINO goes on.
I have many strange and funny encounters ,but this is for other times.
I often think of you my friends and wish that some of you will find the time and heart and will do the CAMINO and gain as I gain.
I pass many deserted and derelict churches and it pleases me(no offence to the dear lord ofcourse).
It is as if the Spanish people understood that freedom can not exist with organized religion.
In 10 years this will be the new Provence.
Some CAMINO phrases;Follow the"La FLECHA AMARILLA"," Donde Via Piligrio",Quo Vadis Piligrino".
Do nor forget "TEMPUS FUGIT"
Love to all rony