Maybe There Will Be Cupcakes

Ginny Bartolone's Blog of Many Years

Tag: pilgrimage

  • 14. On Arriving

    14. On Arriving

    To read more context for the letter below, check out this post here:)  Dear Pilgrim, When you arrive in the Plaza do Obradoiro, take a moment to sit on the ground. I recommend a spot by one of the pillars toward the back of the square. This is where you’ll get the best view of it…

  • 13. On Why You Came Here

    13. On Why You Came Here

    To read more context for the letter below, check out this post here:)  Dear Pilgrim, Three-quarters of the way through our walk, somewhere right before Galicia, we passed a mother and daughter having an aggressive conversation. While we’d never shared a table with them, gossip along the trail was abundant about these two. It turns out…

  • 11. On Not Being a Richard Peregrino

    11. On Not Being a Richard Peregrino

    To read more context for the letter below, check out this post here:) An extra note this week. In the context of my book, the term “Richard Peregrino” developed as a joke with my fellow hikers about not being a d*ck pilgrim. You wish that none of this would need to be said, but we all…

  • 10. On Making History

    10. On Making History

    To read more context for the letter below, check out this post here:) Dear Pilgrim, As you head onto the well-trodden road beyond Astorga, it will become even more apparent that you are a part of something larger than yourself. The footsteps of millions that came before you mark the way as you mark the way…

  • 8. Dear Pilgrim: On the Meseta

    8. Dear Pilgrim: On the Meseta

    To read more context for the letter below, check out this post here:) Dear Pilgrim, The Meseta may look like a kind of purgatory when you stand on its outskirts or count its kilometers on a map. Its reputation for being too simple, empty, and stark is like saying the ocean is too blue. But, yes,…

  • 7. Dear Pilgrim: On Rituals

    7. Dear Pilgrim: On Rituals

    To read more context for the letter below, check out this post here:) Dear Pilgrim, When my parents still squeezed my sister and me into frilly square-collared dresses every Sunday and marched us off to church, I’d get to sit on the floor under the pews during Mass. I’d watch the soles of the feet of…

  • 6. Dear Pilgrim: On Honoring Your Story

    6. Dear Pilgrim: On Honoring Your Story

    As you fall into a natural rhythm, the resonance of your boots against the gravel will become a familiar sound. There is a cadence, a “sacred pace,” as they call it.

  • 5. Dear Pilgrim: On Navarra Through Burgos

    5. Dear Pilgrim: On Navarra Through Burgos

    You’ve made it past the Pyrenees; past the anticipation of the first steps. Ahead of you sit the Basque hills of Navarra and the fertile vineyards of La Rioja.

  • 2. Dear Pilgrim: On Wild Boars & Other Dangers

    2. Dear Pilgrim: On Wild Boars & Other Dangers

    I’m fascinated by the brand of terror that engulfs people when I tell them about the Camino de Santiago.

  • 1. Dear Pilgrim: On Identity

    1. Dear Pilgrim: On Identity

    There is a footpath that slips its way through the Pyrenees, tiptoeing over the line where we stop calling it France and start calling it Spain.