The daughter of an old friend has done something really cool (not that she wasn't cool already): she's walked the Camino de Santiago! 780 kilometers from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela took her 35 days. 
I asked her, admittedly somewhat flippantly, if it had changed her life. Here's her answer:Has it changed my life? Yes and no. I wanted to change many things in my life before I left, and most of those things are still works in progress, but I feel like a new person indeed, and how I am IN the many aspects of my life has changed. I feel my heart opened and deepened, a great sense of my inner strength, and, most of all and least expected,
a deeper sense of faith, not in the religious sense necessarily, but trust in myself and the world to provide what is necessary to move forward always. I found that the Camino was something different for everyone who walks it. For me, it was about trust, rediscoving "my magic", and leaving behind that which no longer is useful in my life. (There is actually a place for that, it's called the Cruz de Ferro, an iron cross atop an astounding pile of stones!) I met so many amazing
people there from all over the world. Some of them will remain lifelong friends, I'm sure. I fell in love with many of the small towns I passed through and would love to return to them someday. There is so much about it but really you have to walk it to understand it completely.She sent along some of her favorite pictures, four of which you see.
