Back in Scando

Two planes, two trains, and two busses(take that John Candy) and I'll be back in the O-slo once more. Sitting in the train station in Sweden waiting for the second train, feeling slurred and grimy, but happy to be back in Europa. The land of clean, prompt trains, trendy teens, good posture, sometimes way too modern furniture, and socialism. Feels like home.

Best. City. Ever.

I arrived in Cairo today, worn out form the limitless entertainment options on the ten hour flight, feeling a bit wired and a bit tired. But flying low, right over the Giza pyramids and seeing the Sphinx up close and personal shocked me into the trip. Customs was easy, finding a taxi a bit more challenging, but once I got into the city, the day quickly turned. Three hours after I arrived I was eating iftar with an Egyptian family who generously kept Charlie and I supplied with food and a wide assortment of crazy drinks, most involving hellacious amounts of sugar and dates. Four hours into the trip I was on a felucca cruising down the Nile with our new local friends. Six hours and five mint teas later I was outside of Cairo overlooking the city from a park on the edge of a sheer cliff. Seven hours later I was jamming to MJ sitting 8 deep in a Hyundai sedan and racing through downtown, where red lights mean nothing, and green lights even less. One hour before the start of the days fast (4am) we found ourselves eating ful (a popular Egyptian bean) and Arab bread talking with locals about Islam and politics. Aside from the scary highways, where crossing eight lanes of fast-moving traffic is taken one steady step at a time, the city is perfect.

So we're hotshots in St. Jean D'Angely

Bon Courage

Mind:
Walking through tiny towns with backpacks you tend to get noticed. People watering their gardens, or walking their dogs, or riding their bikes all say bonjour and give us big approving smiles (smiles that can easily be associated with confusion, or mockery, but I try and assume it is approval).Every so often someone will say "bon courage"which apparently means what it sounds like. And at first I thought this whole pilgrim thing was silly. Its kind of ridiculous for a nonbeliever like myself to be doing this massive trek to pay homage to a disciple of jesus. We get showers most nights, have great couchsurfing hosts a lot and are yet to sleep in the streets. We listen to MP3 players, (though my ipod did die recently and it wasn't total tragedy), have sweat wicking shirts, camelbaks, special laundry soap and pocket knives. So its hardly the courageous journey filled with religious fervor that precedes us. At first when people said bon courage (well, to be honest at first I couldn't even hear it because I couldn't separate words in French)I thought haha another silly archaic piece of this pilgrimage thing, but I'm slowly beginning to realize that the walk itself doesn't necessarily reaquire courage but a persistence of mind. I have the same thoughts of quitting in the same tone of inner monologue as I had when quitting smoking cigarettes. THis voice that says, Oh come on, you don't really want to do this anymore do you? I mean this is getting ridiculous. Just go sit down at that bus stop, wait for the bus and catch a ride to the next town. You are the only one who will know so just get over it. Quieting these voices is difficult, and it doesn't get any easier. But it is so satisying to take that last step into a town, sit down at a tiny cafe, drink the first sip of coffee, and stare at people you know you will never see again.

Body:
I lost my first toenail the other day. No biggie, just the pinky, can't figure out why i even had it in the first place.

Progress:
We have walked about 650 kilometers and have about 1000 to go. We arrive in Bordeaux tomorrow, will rest a few days with some couchsurfers there, take a day trip to Lacanau, a semi-famous beach on the west coast, and start walking through a huge national forest on Thursday. If all goes according to plan we will be in Spain by July 27...THe scenery has been solid sunflowers until about three days ago when we started seeing vineyards, and now we are constantly surrounded by them. We walked through Cognac, and are now making our way through the Medoc wine region. Haven't tasted much wine, cold beer is the only alcohol I crave, but I did get to taste this great apertif called Pineau that one of our couchsurfing hosts father had made. Sooooo delicious. SO now its on to national forest and the the Pyrenes and then Spain...

Walk, Forrest, Walk

We have almost made it to Poitiers. Last night we stayed with an amazing couple who had a garden that seemed to grow more diverse produce than is avalaible at major grocery stores. Rasberries, champagne berries, melons, lettuce, peaches, nectarines, eggs... we had a beautiful, late dinner, outside and spoke broken English and French until Terje and I both almost fell asleep at the table. The night before we were housed by a church in what turned out to be a small apartment most frequently used as a homeless shelter, but it wasn't so bad, the views were stunning, and we had the place to ourselves to cook and do some laundry. We are slowly adjusting to geting up earlier and earlier: tomorrow we plan to be on the road by 5:30 in the hopes of avoiding the often unavoidable heat in the middle of flat farm land. Walking for hours with no protection from the sun aside from SPF 30 can get quite disorienting; so we are trying to shift things earlier. Terje and I still like each other; but when the thunderstorm that has been waiting to break over our heads for days finally does, we shall see how often we can still make each other laugh...still things are happy and good and simple and fun.

10 Days In

Farms, single serving towns built of one city hall, a church, two fields of corn, and, a dude watering his yard, or walking a dog. Cars rarely pass and when they do they are often tiny and cute and French blue with old French men inside. Flowers are EVERYWHERE. Big wafts of fragrant smells hit in waves. And sometimes I get a whiff of Terje's feet. Or my own. Which may be worse. We have been hosted by couchsurfers for two nights, have paid ungodly high prices for hotels three nights, stayed in a tiny apartment connected to a tiny church in a tiny town one night, stayed with a fantastic French woman who is sort of a pilgrim officer in one town, and are staying in a cute hotel at the foot of gigantic castle in Amboise tonight. Ahhh and we met a barefooted girl in the streets of Orleans who invited us to her house and eventually we got to spend quality time with all of her roommates and caught both the fête de la musique and the Jazz Festival. We have dodged several rainstorms, been incredibly lucky with meeting the right people and finding the right things at the right times. We are both in good spirits and still like each other which is incredible given how much time we have spent together. The feet are holding up nicely, though I have considered cutting off my pinky toes. I mean what are they for anyway? These days they are just causing me undue pain. We are stayting hydrated and putting sunscreen on regularly, but I do look a bit crablike. Okay, now I am rambling, tired, ready for dinner, a beer, and a bed. Tomorrow we head to Tours...

So here is where Terje and I are walking. The cities in blue are places we have walked through already and the cities we have yet to get to are marked in yellow. I've only added the towns in France, but will add the Spanish map soon. We have walked over é(à kilometres through beeeeequtiful countryside. http://maps.google.fr/maps/ms?ie=UTF8&hl=fr&msa=0&msid=107934381566866378488.00046ced1257832ebb862&ll=46.932917,0.650253&spn=0.110421,0.215263&z=12

From Hilsen to Hola via Bonjour

So I am sitting in a bare apartment, prepping for a 7am flight to Paris. After a few bag swappings with madre, and a few days in Paris, I am off, on foot to the west coast of Spain with my Norwegian pal Terje. I'm going to do my damdest to update the blog (to keep the rents from getting nervous) but I have no clue what the internet access will be like along the way. But here's to Oslo, that majestic Nordic city, and new adventures.