The Peterson Pack on the Move

       And for the Peterson's last destination before our return to the U.S, we have gone to Mars. It's actually quite nice once you get past the huge deserts and rocky wastes—there's clear blue skies, beautiful teal ocean, and great surfing.       Wait, never mind—one of the local little green men is telling us that we're in the Canary Islands.  Lanzarote is a little speck of desert a ways off the coast of Western Sahara...yup, we're in Africa! Geographically at least, for all other intents and purposes the Canary Islands are a part of Spain and by extension Europe. But we're disregarding that. Lanzarote is the westernmost of the Canary Islands, a little pile of sand and rock that is one of the most beautiful and yet strangely martian-esque places that I have ever been.      Lanzarote has been our vacation-from-our-vacation, a place to relax and unwind after our time on the Camino. However, it has been far from a relaxing isla...

These signs marked which direction to go all along the way Hello I'm Rachel Jonson reporting to you from Information and Stuff, Inc.  and siting next to me is Quillian peterson a nine-year-old pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago. Ok Quillian. I'm going to ask you some questions and you're going to answer them. That sound alright? Yup! Okay, first question. What is a Perigrina? A perigrina is " pilgrim" in spanish  Where are you now? Santiago de Compostela, resting after our journey Where did you start? Baiona, Spain How many kilometers did you do? 128 km What did you do while you were walking? I talked to my parents and my brother. How often did you rest? We stopped every 3-4 hours for food and water breaks and the parents' coffee needs. What type of food did you eat? Clams and other seafood, the Spanish tortilla which is potato with egg and flour, but mainly seafood Did you see any other kids on the trail? Zero, zilch Were people kind along the way? Yes W...

Happy birthday Ariana, your birthday was celebrated with roller skating and parades as far away as Spain! As we approached the town of Redondela we were greeted by parades; giant, spinning, creepy dolls; and a priest. We'd like to think that it was all for us. The locals say that it was a festival...but we're not sure if they're trustworthy sources. Redondela is our third stop on the Portuguese Camino de Santiago de Compustela. We actually didn't know really know very much about this hike when we first started, so I guess I better remedy that. The Camino de Santiago de Compustela is an ancient pilgrimage to visit the remains of an even more ancient saint—Santiago (Saint James). For those unfamiliar with Santiago's story (like us) here it is:  Saint James, brother of Saint John, was born in modern day Israel. He, along with his brother, was called by Jesus to become an Apostle. He became part of Jesus's inner circle and did lots of holy and important stuff. After...

  We arrived in Western Europe via the tiled city of Porto, Portugal. In this beautiful city, buildings of all kinds have tiled facades and even the sidewalks are decorated in mosaics. Some tile installations date back to the 1700s, while others have a more modern appeal, and some of the tile work resembles our family kitchens circa the 1970s. Some of the tiles have texture, some have graffiti sprayed about them, some are high up on buildings where they can only be seen from the top-floor windows from across the street (the bottom picture is the view from our top-floor room where the green tile and carved stone were invisible from the sidewalk below). The intricacy, time, craftsmanship, and expense put into these facades is amazing. I have not yet seen anything similar in our own USA. Aside from appreciating the tile work, we also checked out Porto's live music and street art, port wine, olives, Super Bock, sangria, and pastels de nata (egg custard in a crisp pastry). The ubiquitou...

Chapter 6 I woke up and jumped out of bed. I ran to grab a handful of nuts. I wanted to still be hungry in case the birds wanted to give me food, since it is impolite to say "no". I learned that lesson from my Grandma. When I got to the river, Moona was there working. I said, "How can I help?"  She said, "Put the ferns in sap and then dunk them in the dirt." Once that was done, she made me stick the ferns on giant leaves and tie them around myself to wear. Then, we set out to Moona's Nest. Moona had told me about where she lived but I never imagined so many birds. There were brown, white, gray and tan. It was awesome!  Moona said, "Stop gawking around, you! You will draw attention!" Just then, a bird came up to Moona and said, "Gla ba goo."  Moona said, "Ba ba joo kx." We kept walking. Once out of earshot, I said, "What did he say?" Moona said, "He said 'Hi, who is that? She looks weird.' Then, I sai...