APRIL 2014: A NEW START WITH GENESIS

THANK YOU ARZÚA

At  the beginning of January I moved to a place 40 kilometers from Santiago. Arzúa may not be the prettiest town of Galicia, but people are friendly and I now feel at home here. ‘Gallegos’ are said to be distrusful, but I have found them very welcoming and I would like to say thanks to some of them.

First I would like to mention Lino, my landlord, for offering me a nice appartment –I am the first tennant and everything is new– at a decent price. Winter can be hard in Galicia –it rains a lot- and finding a nice appartment with a lot of light and views over the countryside was important for me.  Lino has been a constructer and  when I rented a shop and needed professional help he put me in contact with the right people.

Then I would like to say thanks to Luisa Fernández, who lives in Santiago, and is a friend of a friend. By introducing me to her friends, she made my first weeks in Galicia so much easier. The bike I am now using to explore the countryside is hers. She also introduced me to Amaya Valencia and put me in conctact with Fran and Dolores, who are now my best friends in Arzúa.

Amaya turned out to be a great help when I was working on my leaflets about religion. She corrected the Spanish texts and gave me excellent advice regarding what information to put in the shopping windows.

Moving to a new place is not easy, and certainly not when you are no longer a teenager and are on your own. Therefore, I truly appreciate those who made things easier for me.

I would also like to thank Sisi, who helped me when I was looking for an appartment ; Pili from the Praza café, the first place I could go to for a chat; Raquel, Jesús and Carmen from the ‘Ultreya’ Albergue , the business next to mine, who are the best neighbours one can get; Monxo, from the public library, who not only knows a lot about books, but also about the people of the town, and who was very helpful when I looked for a particular service or craftsman.

GENESISM

At the beginning of April I have opened a shop that offers food (lots of chocolate, nuts and dried fruit, etc…) for pilgrims, as well as food for thought for spiritual pilgrims. The information panels in my shopping window are the following:

10 PROPOSALS

FOR SANTIAGO

1) Go to km 0, get your certificate and embrace the apostle.

2) Visit the local market (mercado de abastos).

3) Go for ‘chocolate con churros’.

4) Get lost in the old town while admiring the stonemasonry.

5) Enjoy the views over Santiago’s rooftops from San Domingos de Bonaval.

6) Relax at a spa.

7) Treat yourself on a nice lunch or dinner.

8) Have a tapas night and try a Ribeiro in a ‘cunca’ (ceramic cup).

9) Search for Santiago’s most famous gargoyle.

10) Take a day trip to Finisterre & Muxía.

TRAVEL BROADENS OUR MIND

“Not all those who wander are lost.” J.R.R.Tolkien

“The world is a book and those who don’t travel only read one page.” Saint Augustine

“The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.” Lao Tse

“A good traveller has no fixed plans and is not intent on arriving.” Lao Tse

“Travel is fatal for prejudice, bigotry and narrow-mindedness.” Mark Twain

“It is good to have an end to journey toward; but it is the journey that matters, in the end.” Ernest Hemingway

“Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world.” Flaubert

“We may sit in our library and yet be in all quarters of the earth.” John Lubbock

A CRUCIAL LESSON

In the Information Age, ignorance is a choice. An ignorant person is not an idiot, but someone who, often deliberately, ignores certain information.

The creation of nuclear weapons is a milestone in mankind’s history. It not only teaches us that we are capable of destroying ourselves, but also that a society that doesn’t live in harmony –like ours– is eventually bound to do so: weapons continually become more sophisticated and once there are weapons of mass destruction it is only a matter of time before they are used. This does not mean that we will destroy ourselves in the near future, but that to guarantee our survival we must discover why we have conflicts with each other and with our environment.