I can't believe I am writing in this blog right now. Thank you so much to Dwayne for updating things for me. His calls every few days to check that I was still alive and keeping me sane with news of the outside world were wonderful, thanks D.
So it's been an amazing journey for me and I still can't believe that I actually did it. I can't even begin to describe all that I went through. It was a life-changing experience and writing up just one post just can't do it justice. I still need time to digest all that I have been through and all the lessons I have learnt on the way. Right now I am resting at Ms. Yamazato's place. My body is trying to recuperate and strangely enough I have had to sleep all day despite not doing a thing. Walking for 8-10 hours a day has been physically draining and walking through the last typhoon (incidentally the biggest one this year!) was really challenging esp. having to climb a couple of mountains the day before during heavy wind and rain. Hmm...I am going backwards in the tale!
So I could not have completed this pilgrimage without the immense kindness of many, many strangers. The ppl of Shikoku were absolutely amazing. I bumbled through it rather clumsily, constantly getting lost, never knowing what exactly I was getting into, got stranded a couple of times on the coast and on top of mountains, had to sleep outdoors quite a few times (I really roughed it in the first couple of weeks), walked through 2 typhoons, climbed too many mountains and fell a couple of times. I also met so many kind ppl on the way, they provided me with food, money, transportation and shelter during very crucial moments. I traipsed through the entire island of Shikoku with my steadily shrinking backpack, gaining a wicked tan on the way. By Day 3 I had left my tent, by temple 21 I had shipped off my change of clothes and unnecessary luxuries to Dwayne, by temple 51 I left my bed roll and sent off my sleeping bag.
I met ppl from all over Japan, slept in many strange places (train stations, under temple bells, roadside huts, toilet blocks...just to name a few) and also encountered one crazy woman who stalked me for an entire night. I walked through all 4 seasons, up and down too many mountains, along beautiful coast lines, down expressways, through lots of tunnels...ahhh but I digress...it was an amazing, incredible journey. I was definitely looked after by a higher power as I found myself in some very scary situations. Yesterday I somehow hitched a ride back from temple 88 to the next prefecture bc most of the roads were closed from landslides after the typhoon, all buses and trains were cancelled, I don't know how I did it esp. since I couldn't walk anymore, I had busted my right knee going down a steep mountain bc the typhoon from the night before had washed away the trail. The temple ppl from Temple 84 have a lot to answer for telling me it was perfectly safe to take that route. Ahh again I am getting off the topic, I keep rambling and going off on tangents.
I will write more coherently in the next week, being on the internet after an entire month is making me giddy.
Friday Oct 22, 2004. 4.48pm. Tokushima Prefecture, Shikoku island. Ms. Yamazato's place
No comments:
Post a Comment