My Latest Adventure

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!

Yesterday (Wed.) I did the Alto Lino loop with my Panama Pals. We did the usual 5.3 miles and then went to Basar’s for lunch. I’ve been hearing about this place since I first arrived. I was supposed to go with Betty one night, but I think it was right after her accident, so we didn’t do it. It is now one of my favorite restaurants in Boquete. The owner’s name is Ofir. He is Israeli. I believe this is his first restaurant. It’s a little bit out of town on a difficult road, but Barbara’ ‘s a trooper. If she were in the military, she would have driven a tank.

The way this group lunch/dinner works is that you just let Ofir know how many are in your party, and he makes all the Middle Eastern basics – to perfection! Everything is incredibly fresh and flavorful: chicken shwarma; hummus; babaganoush; tabbouleh; shredded carrot salad; falafel; a mixed red onion/garbanzo/tomato salad; and pita bread. The dessert was baklava, and peanuts coated in vanilla or chocolate. And the wine wasn’t bad either.

We hung out in Debra’s apartment for a while after lunch, and then Barbara dropped me off at the Stone Cabins, where I met The Gang for their usual Wednesday night drumming. I usually don’t go because of the transportation issue, but I decided to attend for one last goodbye. I was happy that Gloria showed up. It was the first opportunity I had to sit and talk to her.

She’s been through a bit of hell in the past year. She had to go home last year because of heart issues. She ended up having surgery. She recuperated well, but just before she returned to Boquete, she discovered that the tenets in her house didn’t want to leave. They even changed the locks! They also made some changes inside the house. Unbelievable. She finally got them out, but also discovered that her former handyman had not been keeping up her payments on things, as instructed, and was instead pocketing the money – apparently because he had a sick wife.

Gloria sounded happier last night. She now has a 78-year-old man living in the apartment that I used to live in. They have an agreement that he will keep up with the maintenance and management of her house and apartment in exchange for reduced rent. He also drives her wherever she needs to go. Sounds good so far. I hope it continues to work out. Gloria said she plans to continue making the trip back and forth from Boquete to her home in Vinalhaven, Maine until she is 80. So she has two more years. She’s a very strong woman.

As I was leaving Stone Cabins to catch a taxi home, I realized that I left my keys in Barbara’s car. Luckily, my neighbor, Valerie was home and let me in the gate. This morning, I sent Barbara a text letting her know that I left my keys in her car. She said she would be right over after her hike with a new neighbor, Liz. Of course, she came immediately, but we then discovered that my keys were not in her car. I know that I dropped them into the little cup by the door handle. Not there.

I told Barbara that I would look for them later. Right now I wanted to get to the library for Mark Heyer’s presentation on AI. So I handed my backpack over the top of the gate to Barbara, and I climbed up the cement garbage structure on the side of the gate. It was a little tough because, on the very top of the wall, metal spikes were sticking up. I managed to squeeze my butt between two of the spikes, swung my other leg over, and Liz and Barbara helped lower me to the ground. I can just hear Dan’s voice if he ever witnessed that scene! And I certainly hope Linda doesn’t hear about it. Jerry – mum’s the word. Although Valerie may tell her. Or, she may hear it from the young Ngöbe woman who was eyeing us suspiciously from the road, even though Barbara tried to explain to her that I live here. I never know if Ngöbe understand Spanish, especially Barbara’s…:). I guess I’ll just have to deal with it.

Mark Heyer’s presentation on AI was mind-blowing. I always knew him as “the computer guy” in Boquete. I had no idea of his extensive background. He started working for Sony in 1980. They didn’t even know what to tell him to do, so he winged it. He also worked on the first prototype of the iPad and has given talks at schools like Harvard and Yale. He is very excited about AI and is a well-organized and stimulating speaker.

The things Mark spoke about are all things that Ray Kurzweil has been forecasting for many years in his books like The Singularity is Near and The Age of Spiritual Machines, and now they are coming to fruition.

This is an excellent video that encapsulates what Mark was presenting. This has all happened in the past two weeks since NVIDIA introduced what is called the Jetson Thor computer, which will run robots. Truly amazing.

One of the most fascinating predictions of this technology is that eventually companies will be saving and making so much money by using robots instead of humans, that they will pay the humans to stay home. I think that this is what is being called guaranteed universal income. I asked Mark what the incentive would be for companies to do this, and he said that there would likely be legislation created that would require companies to do so And companies will be so wealthy that they will comply. What a change in our economy.

Also, humans will be able to communicate with animals!

After my visit to the library, I went to Glow Up for a pedicure. I’m ready for spring in Wisconsin.

Long story short on the keys: After bugging everyone – including Barb searching Debra’s apartment, Debra calling Orif to see if I left them on the table, and Barbara and Murray again scouring Barbara’s truck, I discovered them in the bottom of my larger backpack as I was unpacking some groceries. I was looking for them in my smaller pack, thinking I was using that yesterday. Oh well. All’s well that ends well. I hope it’s ended.

So, my final week. Many people would be happy for just a week in this paradise, and I’m feeling a bit melancholy. I enjoyed my last visit to the Tuesday Market.,” I’m listening more closely to the birds: “Your Kids are Here!,” “The Helicopter Bird,” Ha! He started up just as I typed that! Hearing the roosters crowing, the dogs barking, the occasional gunshot. That’s my Boquete.

I’m going on a hike tomorrow with the Panama Pals (Debra, Barbara, and Barb). Then we are going to a new Israeli restaurant for lunch. I’m looking forward to that. I was hoping I could make it to that restaurant before I left. I told Debra a while ago to find out what wine is Barb’s favorite. Barb lent me a pair of hiking poles, so I wanted to say thank you. They were a godsend. Lesson learned: Make the effort to pack mine. So, Debra was a very good detective and told me that she overheard a conversation between Pascal and Barb. They were waxing lovingly about something called Pastis. I found it locally, at El Dorado, and Kathy Rutz, who lives upstairs from there, picked it up for me. I thought it was a wine, but I have since learned that it is an aperitif. I learned this from Louise while at Las Lajas. She was in the wine business. I’m going to see if I can buy it at home. I love a good aperitif. I just realized (thanks AI) that it is not apertif, as I had been saying it. Learn something new every day.

I forgot how much joy I experience while making cards. I haven’t been able to spend much time on them because of the writing. Maybe next year. I have an emergency order for Mickey. She wants a birthday card for her sister, Lulu. I think I might get that done before I leave here. I just discovered that I have some decent watercolor paper here – maybe – we’ll see. Today, I finished off a couple of thank-you cards and made envelopes. Just using the Disappearing Purple Elmer’s Glue was a blast. It reminded me of Cordelia and Marie. I’ve already set up a couple of dates with Sara to take them when I get home. I also want to make one more visit to town to buy a little surprise for them.

I enjoyed listening to this podcast today. I love her back story as well as her insights. I especially loved what she said about habits: that we need to choose those habits that serve us. She’s beautiful inside and out.

The trip to Las Lajas was fabulous, as always. Just a few images to commemorate.

Our final night, we had dinner at a nearby Italian restaurant called Naturalmente. It was excellent.

After our very happy dinner, we sat at the beach for a while before calling it a night. Wish I could have captured a photo of the huge crabs that were crawling around us. They move too quickly to get a photo.

Poor Dan had to celebrate his birthday without me. Looks like he did okay with a little help from his friends.

So, one more week, and I’m headed home.