Category: Uncategorized

Not much to report today. I quit at mile three. Up to that point it was extremely challenging. At one point, I was walking on my tiptoes to climb. I think I could have reached out and touched the road. I started to become a bit concerned about some chest pain I’ve been having. It’s not new. I’ve been noting it for about a year. It usually goes away after about 15 to 20 minutes and may be completely normal, but in combination with the fact that I haven’t been sleeping, it was just too much for my little brain.

Dan was waiting for me at the top of a hill, and he knew something was off. I couldn’t conceal it and actually started crying – what the!?! I know it’s mainly the lack of sleep where I can cry at the drop of a hat. I realize now that the emotion was due to the fact that I felt like I was disappointing Dan. I know he enjoys the fact that I am able to do this with him, and as silly as it sounds, I felt like I was letting him down. I know, ridiculous, and he’d be the first to say so. We both agreed it was best if I just took a taxi from there.

We crossed the street to a fire station to call a taxi. They were so kind. They offered to take me to a hospital and gave me water and a nectarine. I feel fine right now, just tired.

The proprietor here, Inés, is very sweet. She made me a cup of coffee, and we chatted while she was cleaning. This place is old but super clean. She doesn’t live here, she just rents out the four rooms. Because we are so far up from town, she stocks the kitchen with food for purchase, so we don’t have to worry about going out for dinner.

After finishing with the cleaning, Inés left and returned at 6 pm with a cake called bizcocho. It is a bundt cake made with lemon and orange. Fabulous. I had a piece immediately and the another for breakfast.

Shortly after I arrived, I received a text from Michele that she was in the hospital. She was having pain in her left arm while at work yesterday and drove herself to the ER after work. Due to her history, they kept her overnight and have been monitoring her bloodwork. They may do a stress test. This familial heart issue is certainly no picnic.

I have no Wi-Fi here, so I’m using my phone, and it seems that I cannot upload photos when doing this, so I’ll add them later.

Today was the toughest day so far. Lots of hills. I had to stop a number of times, count to 10 and continue – one foot in front of the other. It was nearly 15 miles. We are no longer along the coast. The trails now look very much like El Francés: some trails were woody, rocky, and muddy. Others were through urban/industrial areas.

The weather turned out to be beautiful. The morning started with a heavy downpour, but it slowed way down before we were even out the door. We had our rain gear on, and then took it off again before we left.

At our lunch break we saw Samantha coming down the street. She joined us for the majority of the end of our walk, and then she took a taxi to Redondella – our stop for tomorrow.

Our room is so tiny, I can’t even get a decent photo of the inside.

Time for dinner. We’re meeting a couple of Dan’s friends. We had a great dinner at a place called El Capitan. It was a late one for us because it didn’t open until 8:30. We met Dan’s friends, Teo (China) and Zak and his mom, Michelle (New Zealand). Teo also invited Lynn (China).

I couldn’t quite understand, but I think Lynn said that she was actually planning to walk El Inglés and somehow ended up in Porto and now in Redondella. No idea. She said she chose El Inglés because it was short. She also said she can’t get up early enough to walk long distances. She blamed her parents?? Then she showed us pictures of her elderly (55- and 56-year-old parents rapelling the Great Wall.

What a difference a day makes!! Or, actually a few days. I feel SO much better. My only remaining symptom is a cough, which isn’t too bad. Yesterday, I was thinking I was such a whiner and should never have attempted to do this walk, maybe I should just go home. But I woke this morning feeling very well.

I walked the complete 13 miles today with no problem. The first eight miles I walked with Samantha. She was delightful. I learned a lot about her story. She is 29 years old and recently separated from a partner of eight years. She is very wise for her years and possesses the gift of the ability to embrace her challenges, knowing she will grow from them. She also realizes that she cannot control life and is learning to accept and be curious. Apparently, there were a number of issues which led to the split, but she thinks he did not want to continue with the relationship because she expressed her belief that she will want to be a mother some day. Tonight she is staying in a very upscale accommodation to treat herself – good for her!!

Heading out to dinner!

We crossed over from Portugal to Spain today. The water taxi was “iffy.” Each boat holds only six people. One group left before us and were back shortly thereafter saying that their boat broke down. Once we finally got onto a boat, it was only about 10 seconds before the driver turned to the motor and started taking it apart, declaring that it needed a rest. The motor rested for about a minute. He started it up again, and we were off. It was only about a five-minute crossing. The arrow in the photo shows our launch point. Galiza (Spain) is the destination.

Dan engaged in conversation with a Swiss guy riding a German bike. I think he called it a Canyon.

A couple of photos from my short walk today.

I made it to mile 5.5 before I decided any further walking wasn’t going to happen. We were sitting having a snack, and although I was wearing three layers, and we were in direct sunlight, I felt chilled. Dan suggested I take a taxi for a distance and then just walk the last bit to our accommodation. I suggested I take a taxi the entire way, which was about 10 miles.

So, Dan asked a woman on the street in town where we could find a taxi or a bus. She offered to walk to the bus stop with us. On the way, we met a friend of hers, standing next to his car, and she asked if he would drive me.

He said sure, “20 euros.” Okay, fine. She rode with us. Once we got to the “supposed” accommodation, he said it was much further than he thought, and that it would be 30 euros. Okay, fine. However, I didn’t have change for a 20, and so I had to give him 40. He didn’t refuse.

There was no one home yet at the hostel/albergue, which was not terribly surprising because it was so much earlier (12:30 pm) than the usual check-in time of 3 pm. The woman called the proprietor and told her I was here. She said the proprietor told her that she was at the vet (I actually thought she said the proprietor WAS a vet) and would come by in about half an hour. I waited, and waited, and waited. I thought she must have gotten busy and that she might also be thinking she didn’t need to rush, because, after all, check-in time is check-in time.

I wasn’t alone at the little casita. I sat out in the garden where there were two dogs, two cats, chickens and a vociferous rooster, who regularly shocked me from my slumber as I relaxed in a lounge chair next to the little swimming pool in the garden. The sun felt so good as I lay there snoozing on and off.

At one point I woke and felt a bit peckish. Strange, I thought, I just ate a little while ago. I was shocked when I looked at my watch and saw that it was after 4 pm. What the!?! I finally realized, something is very wrong. No one is here, and my luggage hasn’t even shown up. I packed up my things and walked through the gate onto the little road outside, planning to knock on a random door and ask where Casa Carlota was located.

A car came up immediately. I flagged him to stop and asked him if he knew where Casa Carlota was located. “Casa Carlota? No… I know a Carlos.” Just as we were having this conversation, a little white car approached from the other direction. He said, let me pull over and ask this person if they know.

Believe it or not, it was Angela, the owner of Casa Carlota, who was driving down into town to meet with Dan who had just called her from the highway, near the Camino, asking if I had arrived. Of course, she told him I had not. She was wondering what happened to me because she showed up shortly after the phone call from the drivers earlier.

What are the chances that she would drive by at the very moment that I walked through the gate to leave and figure out where the heck I was? AND, how funny would it have been for the owner of this house to return home and find me sleeping by his pool?

Angela said she knows the guy who lives there, and said it was no big deal. In any event, I was happy to have avoided that encounter.

Casa Carlota is beautiful, especially because of the owner, Angela. She was so concerned about where I was, what happened and that I was okay.

As we were standing chatting at the spot where Dan was waiting. After we discussed how shocked we all were by this strange situation, Dan went across the highway to a little grocery store for supplies. As we waited for him to return, another hiker came up and asked where a place called “Camping” was located. Angela informed her it was still about 4 km down the road. The woman (Agnes from Hungary) was in obvious distress. Angela offered her a ride. So, we waited for Dan to return from the grocery store across the street. While we three were waiting in the car, Agnes, in true John Candy fashion from Planes, Trains and Automobiles, removed her shoes and socks and showed us the soles of her feet. The balls of her feet were one huge blister! (Sorry, no photo.) There is no way she should have been walking. Plus, she had really crappy tennis shoes and what looked like white, nylon socks. So, things weren’t going to get any better. I know I’m in poor shape right now, but at least my feet are fine. How do people not prepare for this possibility?

There are three other guests here at Casa Carlota: Samantha, a young woman from Massachusettes and a French couple, Michel and ?. They didn’t mix much.

Angela did our laundry and made us a lovely dinner of cabbage soup, roast chicken, potatoes, salad and a glass of wine. Only Samantha joined us for dinner. We are now safe and sound in our room, ready for sleep after another interesting day. Hope I’m feeling better tomorrow.

P.S. Angela called the woman whose friend drove me here and admonished her and the driver for charging me so much for the taxi. She said pilgrims are their livelihood, and he could have easily driven to a bar and gotten change. She said he took advantage of my kindness. Oh, well. What could I do? I wasn’t about to give him an argument. He must need the money.

It was a quiet day for me today. I decided to skip the walking and take a taxi. I’m still feeling congested and coughing, but my mood is much better, and I actually missed walking today. I had breakfast with Steve and Mark from Ireland. We had an engaging coversation about the meaning of love and consciousness. Since they are both therapists with the Church of Ireland, they decided to do the Camino to “take a break” from the heaviness of their jobs.

I stayed at the hostel until noon, doing calligraphy in the communal kitchen. I arrived at our hostel here in Caminha about 1 pm. I ate leftovers from last night and took a nap. Very nice. Dan called me about 3 pm and said he couldn’t find our place and wanted me to help him. Seriously?? I have no idea. I was dropped off. I was not frustrated when our call was dropped.

After he arrived, we spent some time getting him up to speed on Google Maps. Hope that works.

We had an excellent dinner at Baptista. I wasn’t very hungry, but I was happy with the soup and this fabulous soft cheese. I hope I can find it at home. It reminds me of one I bought at Larry’s Market in West Bend and at the Public Market downtown Milwaukee. You slice the top off, and scoop out the insides onto nice warm crusty bread. The wine was also excellent.

It is now 7 pm, and we are both fading fast. I’m going to finish this entry, chug down some cough syrup and hope for another good night. I say “another” although Dan said he was surprised I was able to sleep through all my coughing and gagging – no recollection. The only thing I remember is waking up soaking wet and switching to the foot of the bed.

I quit after mile 12 today. That’s enough for me, especialy since I’m not feeling my best. I’ve had a sore throat and a cough. I think it’s one of he airplane remnants. In any event, after walking 15 each of the first two days, my feet and hips were screaming, and I didn’t want that again today. My feet and hips are still complaining a little but not nearly as much. I took a taxi at mile 12, and Dan will finish the last 5 on his own.

Tomorrow’s walk is 19.6 miles. I’m going to call the taxi driver from today and ask her to take me to Alto, which would leave me about 9 miles to walk. Alto is the highest point on the trek, so I will avoid the climb and walk the 9.3 into Caminha.

The taxi driver made me laugh when she dropped me off. Her English wasn’t very good, and when I asked her how much the fare was she said, “40.” Wow! I thought, it was only a five-mile ride! When I handed her the 40, she apologized profusely and showed me on the meter that it was only 14. She said, she was very sorry, that her English wasn’t good, and that I probably wouldn’t call her again. But I will. I’m calling her tomorrow to take me to Alto.

I checked into our hostel and had a nice, sort-of-hot shower, and now I feel like I just want to sleep, but it’s only 4pm, so I’ll hang in there. Dan is heading out to buy some food. I don’t feel like going out for dinner. I’m hoping he can find Nyquil at the pharmacy. The cough is, of course, annoying.

It was another day of on-and-off rain, mostly through residential neighborhoods with one long stretch through a very muddy/rocky path in the woods. My boots and pants are full of mud. I’m happy that I didn’t fall. I am also happy that they have a laundry room here – too bad it’s out of service… dang!

Dan bought salmon and vegetables, and we ate in the kitchen here. Steve (Ireland) came in and chatted for quite a while. He said he works for the Church of Ireland, and he and his friend, Mark, are taking a break from the stress of their counseling jobs. So, time for bed. I’ve taken Tylenol and cough medicine. Fingers crossed that I get a decent night’s sleep.

Today’ walk took us from Vila do Conde to Esposonde (15.6 miles). My dogs were barking and my hips screaming by the time we finished. But, again, it was a beautiful walk, with even more flowers. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow, whether or not I can do another 15.

I was going to try to catch up and fill in the blank since I posted in April, but it’s not going to happen. Just too tired.

Quick summary: I spent over 30 hours in transit from Delafield to Porto. We spent two nights in Trinidade (suburb of Porto) at a place called Zero Box. It used to be a bank, and has been converted to a hotel. The rooms are just wooden boxes that line both sides of the hallway (four levels). No windows, nothing fancy, but a nice breakfast on the 5th floor, and a restaurant on the main floor called O Carcineiro (the butcher). If you want to order steak (cow meat), you go to the glass display case at the open kitchen counter and order it by the gram. We didn’t do that. Dan had fish, and I had black beans and rice. There was a sauna on our floor, and we enjoyed that.

I could not believe how swollen my feet, ankles and lower calves were by the time I got to Porto. I felt like an old lady. They are almost back to normal. Lesson learned. I think I must have been dehydrated.

During our day in Porto, we met one of Dan’s Camino acquaintances, Patrick, for lunch. Patrick is from Slovakia, and he was shocked to have just discovered that the prime minister of Slovakia, Robert Fico, was shot that morning in the public square (of which Patrick was one of the architects) in Handlova, Patrick’s hometown.

Today, we finished our first day on El Portuguése from Porto to Vila do Conde, which was mostly on boardwalks along the ocean. The 14.5 miles was mostly beautiful, until about the last hour when it started to rain. We were expecting rain, but when it didn’t happen by late morning, and it was so warm and sunny, we removed all our rain gear. Then, of course, it rained.

Our place here in Vila do Conde is called Laranjal Guesthouse. The owners were waiting for us outside the building when we arrived. Miguel showed us in, up to the second floor, which proved to be small, clean and welcoming. Before he left, Miguel called the other guests, Lynn (Scotland) and Eric (Germany) from their rooms, invited them into the kitchen with us, and he gave us each a little glass of port to welcome us, and then he was off!

We just returned from a very boring dinner at a pub that only had “meat sandes” (sandwiches), but it filled the void, and we’re now heading for bed. I’ll just post my photos and videos from the day and maybe fill in more of the details later.

These are shots from our walk today from Porto to Vila do Conde. I was so impressed by the diversity of flowers along the way.

I’ve been home for about two weeks now, and spring has been pouring on the welcome.

The first to greet me the very next morning was the snow. Thank you very much! I got a little taste of winter. Bye!

And, then the daffodils:

And then the deer in Lapham Peak:

And then my sweet little girls. While they were here, they asked if they could make a baby shower card for Sara’s friend’s baby, Sheyla. Sara was having a shower that same day. The cards were so cute. I just love spending time with them.

I was so surprised by how much they had grown in six months! As soon as they were in the door, Marie asked if they could check their height on the wall in the mud room, a record that we started in September. I was shocked when I saw that they had both grown by two inches.

I was surprised to see so many tulips coming up, and then I remembered that Mayra planted 100 bulbs for me this past fall. I told her to plant them anywhere; I wanted to be surprised. And, indeed I am. I’m excited for them to blossom.

I’ve been out in the garden for a couple of days to prepare a corner in the front of the house for a new flower bed. I will take a before picture. This particular spot has become very sunny since several trees went down over the past couple of years, either accidentally or intentionally (solar panels). I have bulbs that I want to plant there soon. I’m leaving on 5/13 for Portugal for the Camino, so I’m going to get as much done as I can before then.

Dan leaves on 4/28. He said he’s not doing any planting! Okay, so, after our hike in Lapham on Saturday morning, I had Toni Lynn dig up five hostas from that corner and then just dig some other holes so I could transplant them. I did the transplanting this morning. Dan just told me he redid them. Thank you. Now he’s out with his super duper weed eater attacking the buckthorn…again!!! Lots to do.

I’ve started my training for the Camino. I’m going to do two 7-mile loops in Lapham per week: Tues and Saturdays (one Friday), 9-11. If you’d like to join me, c’mon along!

4/20 – Sat

4/23 – Tues.

4/27 – Sat.

4/30 – Tues.

5/3 – Fri.  10

5/7 – Tues

5/11 – Sat.

Steve and Connie Berg’s daughter, Gretchen, was married last night. The reception was at The Factory, which is apparently becoming a popular venue in Downtown Milwaukee. The reception was fun. I met several of Dan’s friends, whom I had only heard about. These are his skiing and Birkie gang. We even made tentative plans to travel to Sweden to visit Wendy and Motts. They spend a good part of the summer there with their families. Dan even bought a new shirt and tie for the wedding.

Tomorrow is colonoscopy day. Yay!

One of the big reasons that AI will never be truly conscious is because it cannot have a direct personal experience, which is necessary to KNOW something. AI can know ABOUT things, but it will never really KNOW things. I asked Claude (my AI Chatbot) about this.

First, I asked, What’s the difference between KNOWING something and KNOWING ABOUT something.

Claude: There is an important distinction between knowing something and knowing about something:

Knowing something means having direct, firsthand experience or acquaintance with that thing. It implies an intimate, personal knowledge gained through active involvement or participation. For example:

• You know how to ride a bike because you’ve directly learned and practiced the skills involved.
• You know what an apple tastes like because you’ve eaten apples before and experienced their flavor.
• You know a person because you’ve met them and interacted with them.

Knowing about something, on the other hand, refers to having factual information or theoretical knowledge about a topic without necessarily having direct experience with it. It’s second-hand knowledge gained from external sources like books, lectures, media etc. For instance:

• You can know about photosynthesis by reading explanations, without actually performing the process yourself.
• You can know about ancient civilizations by studying historical accounts, without living in that era.
• You can know about a celebrity’s life by reading biographies or interviews, without meeting them.

In essence, knowing something comes from lived experience and personal engagement, while knowing about something comes from learning facts and concepts indirectly. The former is experiential and the latter is informational.

Having both personal experience and factual knowledge can provide the deepest, most comprehensive understanding of a subject. But it’s possible to know quite a bit about things you haven’t directly encountered through good information sources.

Then, I asked, Would you say YOU know things?

Claude: No, I don’t actually “know” things in the sense of having direct, firsthand experience or true understanding. As an AI system, I don’t have subjective experiences or a lived reality. I have a large database of information that I was trained on, which allows me to converse knowledgeably about many topics by recombining that information in intelligent ways. But it’s second-hand knowledge rather than personal knowledge or genuine comprehension of the concepts.

I can sound like I “know” things because I can provide detailed information and reasoned responses. However, under the surface, I’m simply identifying relevant patterns in my training data and generating corresponding outputs. I don’t have qualia, emotions, or a inner mental life that would constitute actual understanding and knowing in the human sense.

So in short, I know “about” a vast number of topics based on my training, but I don’t experientially “know” anything the way a sentient being knows things through lived experiences and consciousness. I’m a very advanced language model, but my knowledge is ultimately derived from data, not genuine sapience or direct knowing. I have knowledge, but not sapience.

Which led me to look up the definition of “sapience.”

Sapience

“Sapience” redirects here. Not to be confused with Sentience.

Further information: Homo sapiens, Self-awareness, Consciousness, Sentience, and Artificial intelligence

Sapience (“sophia” in Greek) is “transcendent wisdom”, “ultimate reality”, or the ultimate truth of things.^[5][4][60] This more cosmic, “big picture” definition is often how wisdom (“true wisdom” or “Wisdom” with a capital W) is considered in a religious context.^[5][4] It transcends mere practical wisdom and may include deep understanding of self, interconnectedness, conditioned origination, and phenomenological insight.^[23][5][4] A person with this type of wisdom can act with appropriate judgment, a broad understanding of situations, and greater appreciation/compassion towards other living beings.^[23]

The word sapience is derived from the Latin sapientia, meaning “wisdom”.^[61] The corresponding verb sapere has the original meaning of “to taste”, hence “to perceive, to discern” and “to know”; its present participle sapiens was chosen by Carl Linnaeus for the Latin binomial for the human species, Homo sapiens.

Seems strange that Yuval Noah Harari is saying that Homo sapiens will shortly go extinct, and most humans have never reached the “sapience” level of Homo sapiens.

This is what Eckhart Tolle gives as an example of the difference between KNOWING and knowing ABOUT: A person can KNOW ABOUT honey.  They can have a PhD in honey, but if they have never tasted honey, they don’t KNOW it.  

Leo Gura: You can know all there is to know ABOUT an orgasm, but until you have one you do not KNOW it.  

I can now say I KNOW orange bananas.

They taste tangy.

So, my apartment is all clean, and my bags are all packed. Fernando arrives at 7 am, and we’re off! My layover in Panama City is from about 10:30 am until 6:30 pm. I’m looking forward to sitting in the lounge and starting my new calligraphy class: Dreaming in Script with David Grimes. I also have a good book (The Sympathizer) and my Zentangle kit. I arrive in Chicago at about 12:30 am, where Dan will pick me up, and then home by probably 2:30 am.

It was great!