Maybe There Will Be Cupcakes

Ginny Bartolone's Blog of Many Years

Tag: spain

  • 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…

  • 12. On Galicia

    12. On Galicia

    You’ve made it to Galicia. The bookending mountains reward you for your patience after weeks spent in the valley. You’ve entered the rainiest regions of Spain, and with that, comes a spectrum of colors never seen or noticed back home. Bathe in the pigments of Galicia.

  • 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.

  • 3. Dear Pilgrim: On the Pyrenees

    3. Dear Pilgrim: On the Pyrenees

    There is an invisible threshold between a challenge and a terrible idea. Before crossing the Pyrenees, be honest with yourself about the whereabouts of that line.