On the Road!

​Two tough days of hiking.  St Jean Pied de Port to Roncesvalles is usually called the hardest day of the Camino.  Indeed it was.  25 Kilometers with 3,000 foot elevation climb.  Thankfully, the weather was fine and the scenery was beautiful. But it was almost as hard as the hardest days of riding the RAGBRAI bike ride across Iowa.  Today, we hiked from Roncesvalles to Zubiri.   Less distance but harder on my muscles.  Much of the day was in the rain and the trail was slick.  After yesterday, what goes up must go down.  We had some steep ascent early in the day then 1800 feet descent, most in the last 4 miles.  Over slick rock with water running down the trail into large puddles and muddy patches.  At the end, not only was I sore (I hadn’t practiced descents like that) but with new blisters on the tips of several toes.  I am walking around kind of funny now, but so are the majority of the people at the albergue. There is a lot of Basque influence here with many signs in the Basque script.  The Albergue is cold, the showers quickly run out of hot water (mine never had any hot water) and the heater in our sleeping room doesn’t work.  However, there are about 20 in the room, most are people that I recognize from the trail or at the albergue in Roncesvalles.  Everyone got together for some pasta prepared by two Italians in our group for dinner.  It was good.  Companionship is wonderful. Italians, French, Spaniards, English, Japanese, Tiawanese and a couple of other nationalities that I haven’t identified.  Tomorrow, we return to Pamplona and we hope to stay in an Albergue that is situated in part of the sanctuary of a 14th Century cathedral.  And hopefully, my muscle kinks are gone.

Saint Jean Pied de Port

​Today, Dave and I arrived at the traditional starting point for the French route of the Camino de Santiago.  We left the hotel and walked 3 miles through the rain to get to the bus station.. It was sort of a shake down of our wet weather gear.  Life is learning and I learned that I needed to make some modification in the way that I used my rain gear.  Ponchos, when used with backpacks, still require a rain jacket if you are going to have your arms free.  Even if you think that you can keep your arms under the poncho.  

The ride from Pamplona was uneventful.  We couldn’t see much because of the rain/clouds and the steamy windows from the other wet pilgrims on the bus.  The route was parallel to the route that we would walk back to Pamplona over the first four days of the Camino and all the hill climbing and switchbacks pointed to the significant climb of the first day.  There were several Americans on the bus but about half the bus was communicating in a different language.  We had some nice conversations while waiting for the bus and while we were on the road.  

When we got to St Jean, the rain was coming down hard.  Harder than we had run into in several days of rain in Pamplona.  Dave was using a rain suit but I got soaked while retrieving my backpack from under the bus and getting the poncho situated.  St Jean is a cute medieval town that has been featured on Rick Steves.  Old buildings, city walls and some narrow winding streets that we mostly pedestrian now.

Our first stop was the Pilgrims office where we had our Pilgrim Passport validated.  We also received a briefing on the trail conditions.  The higher Route de Napoleon is closed due to snow but the slightly lower route (only 3,000 foot climb) is passable.   We also received our Camino scallop shells.  Mine is now hanging from the back of my rucksack.

We had reservations at our first albergue and it was a short 5 minute walk from the Pilgrim’s office.  It is sort of a rambling building but with rooms of only two beds.  That works!  It has an area that you can wash clothes, a common bathroom and shower and a nice sitting area where you can read and talk.  However, only one other couple (there are about 16 people) spoke English.  The rest were Korean and Japanese and English was not one of their skill sets (nor do I speak their languages).  The dinner was family style with soup, a lamb/noodle main course, dark chocolate dessert with a nice red wine.  I am now about ready for bed.

It is supposed to stop raining about 3:00 AM and the temperature should be in the mid 40’s.  Fine hiking weather.  Breakfast will be at 6:00 and the first opportunity for a stop will be about 5 miles in.  We’re off!

Buen Camino 

Back on the Camino

​I have wanted to return to hiking the Camino de Santiago ever since Jo and I hiked the Portuguese arm of the pilgrimage route.  I really enjoyed the Portuguese Camino, but I wanted to experience the longer French route of the Camino in more of a pilgrims manner of carrying all your gear, having the freedom to choose where to stay, when to stop for the day, and when to start the journey,  

Last fall, I saw an old classmate at a get together.  Actually, Dave was more than just a classmate, we had roomed together at West Point, we were in the same ‘pod’ of about 30 who went through all four years of West Point together, we went to Ranger School together and Field Artillery School together.  Dave had wanted to hike the Camino for years.  He is an avid backpacker but hadn’t found the time or opportunity.  He jumped at the chance.  We set the date and started training for the 15 or so miles of backpacking each day and worked on whittling our backpacks down to the bare minimum essentials to conserve weight.   

Earlier this month, Dave retired from IBM, we purchased the tickets and we are now in Pamplona, Spain for 2 days of Holy Week and tomorrow we will take the bus to St Jean Pied de Port which is the traditional starting point for the Camino.  I end with the traditional greeting/farewell on the trail.

Buen Camino!  

Back to the Camino

At the end of March 2024, I will fly back to Spain to take the French pilgrimage route of the Camino de Santiago.  I will be joined by a friend and West Point classmate, Dave Anderson.  Both of us are training up and testing our equipment for a 500 mile journey across northern Spain.  We are carrying our gear and will be staying at alburgue (basically hostels) for the journey.  It is 6 weeks away and we are getting excited.  

Jo and Anne (Dave's wife) will join us at the end.  
I am really looking forward to the chance to explore northern Spain and participate in the spiritual journey that has been taken by so many over the last 1000 years.  Buen Camino!

And we are off ...

We are traveling together for this learning adventure. Rick and I are 2 of the particpants on the PC (USA) Peacemaking Study tour to Guatemala/Costa Rica.  We will be visiting & studying Climate Justice & Faith in Central America. We look forward to being with Leslie Vogel (the mission co-worker in Guatemala who will be leading the Guatemalan portion) Karla Kohl (the mission co-worker in Costa Rica) again.

This will certainly be a different trip for us than our recent travels. We will be visiting mining sites in both Guatemala & Costa Rica. Seeing with our own eyes and hearing with our own ears what this extractive industry has done/is doing to the environment and to the people's that inhabit the surrounding environment.

Laudato Si' , the encyclical Pope Francis wrote, outlines the relationship of humans to creation,  how the environment and especially the poor are connected. He emphasizes - we are part of creation and creation is part of us! In our 'technocratic paradigm' of first world, we will experience the rush we have for results and that EVERYTHING in the path is only a means to an end.

We are excited and apprehensive to be part of this journey. To visit the front lines of much of what we read and are passionate about and exposing our beliefs to actual reality.

Pray for us and our fellow travelers on this study trip as we listen and learn and discern what WE (Rick & I) WILL do to make a difference.

Haiti Hurricane

     Another installment of my very intermittent series of blogs.  Tropical storms have always been a threat to Haiti.  Even ones without the strong winds have caused much misery.  I was in Haiti in 1994 for (then) Tropical Storm Georges.  Maximum sustained winds were only 40-50 miles per hour but the 12-18 inches of rain were devastating.  Initial reports had only a few killed, but the dead don't give report.  Eventually, someplace between 2 and 5,000 were felt to have died.  Bridges were washed out, hill sides crumbled and water borne disease was rampant.  Hurricane Matthew has the potential to be worse.  Even bridges built since the earthquake have been destroyed.  Waves as high as 50 feet high and a storm surge of 10-12 feet high must have devastated the shoreline.  We will see today as we fly from Santo Domingo into Haiti.

     In the developing world, beachfront property is not particularly valuable,  Because of the threat of storms, the areas closest to the water are the most vulnerable.  This leads to a clustering of the poorest people closest to the water.  I saw this in Tacloban with Typhoon Hyian in the Philippines.  The poorest were the closest to the shore and they suffered the greatest loss.  Often, they wouldn't leave their homes for fear of looting.  Often they left too late.  We have already received similar reports from the southwest of Haiti.  

     The entire situation brings back my military memories (and requires similar skills). I deployed as part of the HHI advanced team with two experienced HHI Haitian hands (Wes Comfort and Steve Weber) but I am the most experienced disaster responder.  So I get to look at not only the medical aspects of our deployment, but at logistical aspects (fuel, lodging, food, re supply etc), administrative aspects (MoH and WHO coordination etc) as well as treating patients.  Even flying in by helicopter brought back military memories.  This also brought back memories of when I entered Haiti during the first few days after the earthquake.  We entered then from the Dominican Republic, again because the airport was closed.  

      The flight into Santo Domingo was also interesting as the storms from Hurricane Matthew were still active.  We had one last minute aborting of a landing and an very rough time second successful attempt at landing.  That evening we meet with Charlie, who has a helicopter company.  We have worked with him in the past and he graciously agreed to fly us into Haiti from Santo Domingo allowing us to see some of our medical sites en route.  We had already registered with the Haitian Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization as an Emergency Medical Team.  We are in, for us, a unique situation.  We already have Haitian medical teams that we can deploy to our regular sites in the southeast and an expat medical team that can be used in the MoH/WHO system.  

     As we fly along, even in the Dominican Republic, the shore is quite eroded and the rivers are out of their banks.  There is no rain now but the cloud level is too low to get to some of the places that we wanted to scout.  We will have to bypass some of the places we wished to see and fly to Port au Prince.  We saw a lot of damage.  Many metal roofs missing and fields and rivers were flooded as we enter Port au Prince.  This demonstrated  the advantage of concrete roofs (as long as there is no earthquake).  As the plans started coming together, I felt a sort of peace.  I guess this is where I am supposed to be.  

     After formalizing plans for the deployment of our Haitian medical teams and a few more coordination meetings, we ran out of work day and energy.  Tomorrow, I am off to connect with the World Health Organization and the Haitian Ministry of Health.  At least as long as I am in Port au Prince, I will be able to blog.  Thanks for following along on this with me.  Keep the Haitian people in your prayers.

Heading to Malawi

     It has been a while since I have posted a blog and this seems like an appropriate time to resume.  I am now flying from Kansas City to Atlanta en route to Malawi in southeastern Africa.  As the Chief Medical Officer for Heart to Heart International, Julie Hefner (Heart to Heart's Director of International Programs) and I will explore partnering with the Church of the Resurrection in their primary care and nutrition programs.  It is a new role for me (at least since my last blog), developing programs and partnerships.  It is a change because I was used to taking care of patients in the developing world and disasters.  Now, while I get to do that some, My main focus is on how others can provide that care.  I won't deny that there are some regrets in the change because  I have always enjoyed taking care of patients.  But there is a challenge and a greater good that I can help usher in by developing avenues through which others can help.  Certainly there is much more that needs to be done than I could ever do.  By developing these programs, many others will have the opportunity to help give those without adequate medical care, be they in the developing world or even in the U.S..  

     On this trip, I will spend almost two weeks in Malawi.  This is a small county wedged between Zambia and Mozambique in southeastern Africa.  It was already in the bottom tier of least developed countries before 3 straight years of poor harvests.  Since the majority of people are subsistence farmers, this has lead to widespread hunger and the President of Malawi has since declared a state of emergency.  One aspect of famine is that most who die due to malnutrition don't die of a lack of calories.  90% of those who die, due so because of infection.  The immune system is the second most energy requiring tissue in the body after the brain.  In malnutrition, many don't have enough calories to expend to fight what would be otherwise survivable infections.  We have brought a large supply of antibiotics with us, but the immune system still needs energy to work.  Malawi has been importing food, but there are still several months before the next harvest.  

     Hopefully, the situation isn't so dire.  I look forward to learning more about the people of Malawi.  However, please keep us and the people of Malawi in prayer.