Landscapes

Landscapes

Celtic camino

/ binarybea / Leave a comment

Today, my daughter Eva and I participated in an activity organised by the Spanish Language and Culture classes (ALCE) in Ireland: we walked a section of the Camino de Santiago (St. James´s Way).

(Photo of the St. James´s Way milestone located in Bray, County Wicklow, Ireland.)

Camino de Santiago? In Ireland? Yes! It turns out that one of the many "Camino ways" scattered around Europe (and the world, for today we learned even Brazil has one) is here in Ireland; it´s called the Celtic Camino, and today we walked the portion that stretches between Bray and Dún Laoghaire, along the coast. So beautiful!

We were a good few Spanish families, taking our chances with the rain, which, thankfully, never showed up, and we had a really nice time: walking, chatting and sharing. Reliving the spirit of the Camino, including several stops to stamp our passports and some well-deserved rest with light refreshments at the end. I´ll most probably be sore tomorrow morning (I´m no longer used to these long walks), but today, my day has been filled with great memories, conversations, encounters, re-encounters, pride at our achievement, and spectacular views despite an overcast sky:

(Photo of the beach and the DART tracks from a viewpoint near Killiney.)

Thanks a million to Ester and Beatriz, teachers in ALCE Dublin and organisers of this event, to the Camino Society volunteers who accompanied us today, and to all the families who made the effort to come along. It´s been amazing.

By the way, if you´ve never done the Camino de Santiago (I mean, properly making it to Santiago de Compostela), I strongly recommend it; it´s a wonderful experience. The minimum distance is 100 km, which is not so difficult to achieve, and I can´t describe the immense satisfaction you get when you arrive at the impressive Santiago Cathedral on foot. I did it twice, many years ago; the first time along the French way, and the second time, along the Portuguese way, and I´m looking forward to doing it again (my dream is to do it with my girls, Irene, Alicia and Eva, if I ever get to convince them).

Lastly, I´d like to share here a very well-known Spanish poem by Antonio Machado, referring to the great metaphor of life that is the "camino": the path, the road.

Traveler, your footprints
are the only road, nothing else.
Traveler, there is no road;
you make your own path as you walk.
As you walk, you make your own road,
and when you look back
you see the path
you will never travel again.
Traveler, there is no road;
only a ship’s wake on the sea.

Blue and green

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Once again August is gone, and September has arrived; in many countries in the Northern Hemisphere it´s time to go "back to school", for kids and also for adults.

Ireland usually enjoys a few days of good weather at the beginning of September (which is officially considered autumn), and this weekend has seen a continuation of that tradition, so the girls and I have taken the opportunity to stretch that summer feeling a bit more before fully returning to the routine, and we´ve been out to see "blue and green", as my friend Bea would say 🙂

We took this picture today at the Blessington Lakes, a water reservoir located in county Wicklow which services Dublin and its surrounding areas. We started the day exploring the lake by kayak, then we went for lunch nearby with some friends (we even had churros for dessert!) and finished with a nice walk around the area, chatting along and enjoying the scenery.

Open air, exercise, tasty food, nature and good company; what else could we ask for?

When I first heard of this idea of going out to the "blue and green", I really loved it; I generally tend to stay at home a lot, probably too much, and I get lazy about going out, but I know very well that I feel much much better when I go out for walks: I recharge my physical, mental and emotional batteries. And if it´s a nice day and the surroundings are also nice, that´s the icing on the cake... Another friend of ours, Juanjo, used to call it "performing photosynthesis", and I also find that expression very fitting. It´s incredible how much a simple walk out in the open air can improve our mood.

Blue and green. Green and blue.

Today, when I got to think about writing this post, what came to my mind was a song by U2, Beautiful Day, which says "see the world in green and blue". This particular line was inspired by a sentence that astronaut Neil Armstrong said while looking at the Earth from the Moon. And the song, in general, encourages us to find joy in the small things of life, even when we´re going through a rough patch.

What about you? What helps you to recharge your batteries? Do you enjoy seeing the blue and green? What´s your favourite landscape?

"It´s a beautiful day… Don´t let it get away".

Travel companions

/ binarybea / 1 Comment

I´m writing these lines from Madrid airport, waiting for my flight back to Dublin.

For the past few days, I´ve had the rare chance to allow myself to make a stop along the way, put the (often frantic) rhythm of my daily life between brackets, and pay attention to what´s truly important… It´s been a true privilege, and I´m really grateful for it.

Among many other things, I´ve truly enjoyed sharing time, affection and conversations with several people that once were, or perhaps still are, my travel companions.

  • My mum, brothers and sisters, who were the first companions I had in life, and who are still walking along with me, even in the distance.
  • My siblings-in-law, warm and loving as always, and my nephews and nieces, the next generation, coming in with tremendous force (you guys are all so lovely 😉)
  • My dear cousin, whom I hadn´t seen in ages 😊 (I was so happy to see you Borja)
  • Family friends who are as close as family itself; we know we can always count on you.
  • Friends that make you feel that it doesn´t matter how long it´s been since you saw each other last, the connection is still there, and keeps growing(you know who you are)
  • A reunion that sent us back down memory lane, with dancing steps… (thanks a million for everything Cristina!)
  • And speaking of memory lane, there was even time for laughs, looking at old photos from my first communion 😃

Then, the icing on the cake has taken place today: I´ve been lucky enough to meet in person with several colleagues in this new adventure of reinvention I´ve embarked on. Even though we´ve only been walking together for a short time, you´re already leaving your mark on my life, we´re growing together, and there´s so much that we still have to share…

To be honest, I´m going home with a feeling of joy, treasuring the moments that I spent with all of you. Thank you so much, my travel companions.

Arab Proverb

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Cáceres, like many other towns and villages across the Iberian peninsula, has a multicultural historic past: the Romans were the first ones to settle here, and later on during the middle ages, Arabs, Jewish and Christians lived together in relative harmony for several centuries.

A few days ago, the girls and I went to visit a traditional Arab house from the 12th century, now turned into a museum. We were able to walk through the different rooms in it, and admire objects from daily life back in the day, many of them found in excavations around the area. I have to say we thought it was very cool, and the guide told us a ton of interesting facts.

This Arab house-museum, in case you ever want to visit it, is called Yusuf Al Borch. I´m not a big fan of taking pictures, but I did take one of this courtyard window (I love Arab style arches):

And I also took a photo of this proverb, which I remember having written somewhere, years ago:

Do not say everything you know,
Do not do everything you can,
Do not believe everything you hear,
Do not spend everything you earn.
Because…
The one who says everything they know,
The one who does everything they can,
The one who believes everything they hear, 
(And spends everything they hear)
Often…
Says what is not convenient,
Does what they should not do,
Judges what they do not see,
And spends what they do not own.

Back home

/ binarybea / 1 Comment

This week I'm writing to you from Cáceres, my home town. I'm back "home" for a few days, enjoying family, friends and the last few days of summer. And after the year and a half that we've had, I'm truly enjoying it, fully, without taking anything for granted :-)

Medieval square in Cáceres, Spain

I'm feeling a bit odd, like I'm at home but also away from home at the same time, as if things had changed while somehow staying the same... I'm a bit like this every time I come, but now even more so, with everything that's been happening during this time.

Searching for quotes related to this topic, I bumped into this one, I hope you like it:

Returning home is the most difficult part of long-distance hiking; you have grown outside the puzzle and your piece no longer fits.

Cindy Ross

An unexpected present

/ binarybea / 1 Comment

I´m not much into sea swimming in general; I grew up inland and it´s not something I´m used to. But what I do love is walking along the beach, dipping my feet in the water. 

Yesterday evening I had the pleasure of doing exactly that, as I watched a gorgeous sunset. It had been a very hot day, but at that time it had cooled down a little, and the temperature was ideal, even the water felt less cold than usual to me… Most people had already returned home, there were only a few left. And at that moment, it was all peace and quiet.

What a joy.

So there I was peacefully walking, enjoying the scenery, deep in my own world of thoughts, feeling happy for having set aside my to-do list for a little while to live the present moment (and in my head giving shape to a blog post about priorities, which I will write some other day) when another visitor of the beach took this cool picture:

Bea walking along the beach at dusk, her reflection showing in the water

An unexpected little present, and a lovely memory, thanks Sharon!

Recharged batteries

/ binarybea / 1 Comment

Every once in a while it´s good to have a change of scenery, even if it´s just for a couple of days, to set aside the daily routine, change perspective, and recharge batteries. This summer, for the second year in a row, I took the girls on a mini-vacation in Ireland, or using a popular expression nowadays, on a staycation (holidaying without leaving the country).

It´s really such a joy to go out and visit new places, or return to places you visited years ago... And these lockdown times have made me appreciate these opportunities more than ever. I´ve loved going back to the ring of Kerry, and we´ve had the privilege of seeing it at our own pace, without rushing, and without the endless row of tourist buses that usually invade these lands during the summer months. 

During this family trip, we´ve had a bit of everything: surprises, changes of plans, lots of music on the radio (of varying quality), lots of ice cream (and chocolate!), and above all, lots of amazing landscapes. Here´s an example, the Kerry cliffs:

View of the Kerry cliffs and the sea

So in summary, we´re bringing back a big load of good memories, enough to keep us going until the next break. And if going away on a holiday for a few days feels great, equally great is coming back home afterward :-)

After having this little rest (more of a mental break than a physical one, I must say), I´m resuming my day to day with renewed energy, especially the couple of projects I´m working on, that I´m really excited about, one of them this blog of course. I´ll keep you posted.

A sentence up on the wall

/ binarybea / 6 Comments

Every now and then I´m going to leave around here one of the quotes and sayings that most resonate with me. This one I saw for the first time as a child, in a magazine, and even though I didn´t fully understand it at the time, it caught my attention:

A man only possesses what he cannot lose in a shipwreck

Hindu proverb
Hook Head lighthouse, in county Wexford (Ireland), where the rocks and the mighty winds have surely caused more than one shipwreck.