It's a bird, it's a plane, it's a...fiddle?

Meet my wiplstix travel fiddle. It weighs 1.1 lbs and comes with a 2" x 24" PVC pipe for carrying. It sounds like a very quiet and tinny violin. Imagine that you were underwater and someone was playing a fiddle near you. It might sound like that. Bill Whipple made this lovely curly cherry wood instrument. His 'stix' have been played near icebergs, in Nepal, Cambodia, Africa, just about everywhere. But on the Camino? Perhaps this will be a first!

29 Days and Counting...

Scratchboard design for my journal

In 29 days, we will be heading to the Camino de Santiago de Compostela, a 500 mile walk on a 1,000 year old pilgrimage route in northern Spain. John and I have been planning this trip since January when a movie, a bottle of wine and a sense of adventure inspired us to buy backpacks and airline tickets and go. This month is la mes de preparación. We are walking, walking and then doing some more walking and our Spanish is coming along.
A big part of the preparation for us has been acquiring the proper gear for this trip. As a person who likes to bring everything including the kitchen sink on trips (6 pairs of shoes for three days? no problem!), I'm finding this part even more difficult than the walking. Every item we consider for our backpack is weighed figuratively and literally. Is this a 'must have', a 'would like to have' or a 'just in case' (immediately eliminated). Do I really need to condition my hair every day? What about once a week. How can I reduce weight and what do I need to give up in order to take those things I really want? It is recommended that we carry no more than 10% of our body weight in our pack. That means that we will bring about two pairs of pants and four shirts and a few odds and ends. I've made some landmark discoveries about lightweight things but will cover that more later. In the meantime, I'm weighing my options.