Magdalena de Kino: Part2
Valentine´s Day. Quiet in the square. A slight breeze and desert wind feels like a late August.
We called off our relationship in November. Something calls us back. And forth. Perhaps unmistakable compatibility and knowingness, perhaps attachment, perhaps the broken unspoken promise and investment of time spent. We email each other often. Flirt and call it something more than nothing.
She is not home. I take and send her a photo of a sacred heart. I don´t think it sent.
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Magdalena de Kino: Part1
People honk and wave. Completing their prayers to Mary, passengers in a blue Chevy Astro sign the cross for roadside assurance. They too honk, staring, as they pass and enter the freeway on ramp where I make my exit.
Walking down the final portion of the historic pilgrimage route from Nogales to Magdelena de Kino, shrines adorn the road. Some small, some large, some plain, some colorful. Some, abandoned and desolate. Some are empty, but painted new. (more…)
The Grace of Good Works
I arrive in Imuris at dusk, exhausted, colors heightened. My ears are torn by the ripping sound of a truck downshifting, slowing into town. Nowhere to stay, I continue south. I am stopped by a stranger in front of the bus station who says in almost perfect English, “Hey! Where are you going?” (more…)
The Ladder of Divine Ascent
4 days from Tuscson, and now on my second day south from Nogales, walking 3 hours in the sun, my mind travels. My walking stick, gifted by a kind man in Green Valley (see blog “Meet Joe”), decorated by Gloria Moroyoqui, with the faces of Jesus and the Virgin of Conception, clicks every 4th step and counts a kilometer at 300.
Walking is not hard. My mind, seeking every form of comfortable thought to ease my mind from the boredom of constant, repititious walking, makes it so.
North of Cibuta. Walking. Still.
I recal an image from my youth. Gilded and dark, I meditate on meaning and perspecitive in the icon and writings of John´s Climacus in The Ladder of Divine Ascent. A teaching on the mystic vision of Jacob, St. John Climacus illustrates the allegory for the monastic set of the Christian East, describing 30 steps to Heaven. (more…)
La Manda
Nogales a Cibuta, Cibuta a Imuris, Imuris a Madelena de Kino, instructions scratched on a piece of paper, lay out the first half, the first 68 miles, to Hermosillo.
Pilgrimage is much more common in Mexico than in the cool secular north. A “manda” or a “promise” made to God or to a saint in return for a “milagros” the miraculous answering of prayer, belivers give their word, their promise, that they will walk, crawl on their knees, etc. to a shrine, a church, to venerate the relix of a saint, or perform some other act of holy foolishness, often in return for the healing of a sickness for themselves or a close family member. (more…)
Leaving Nogales: La Promesa
Leaving the home of my gracious hosts Guiermo and Gloria Moroyoqui, I make my way down unplanned streets, cracked sidewalks, still muddied from yesterday’s melting snow.
Passing farmacias, local neighborhood markets, worked in with the fabric of homes, I emerge from the neighborhoods following a slight but steady stream of men and women on their way to work, boys and girls, in uniforms, on their way to school, all on their way to the main artery that runs through the town of Nogales.
Curious, people stare. I wave. Faces soften. Boys laugh. I stop at a light and others soon join, pointing to the pictures of Jesus and the Virgin of Conception fastened to my walking stick decorated by my Yaqui hosts. Their broken English better than my broken Spanish, we fumble through improper conjugations, and struggle for recognizable vocabulary. (more…)
Cross the Line
The border, near Yuma, snakes off into the distance.
Copied info and stashed cash strapped to my thigh, I bury my phone and keep my camera close.
More than a Campfire at Camp Pendelton
Oct. 14 2008
I want to thank everyone who wrote with there concern. I am safe, there are plenty others who have been affected, much more than me, to say the least.
Stopover at Saddleback
October 13, 2008
A wonderful person in Laguna Beach suggested I stop by Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, pastored by Rick Warren, author of the Purpose Driven Life. (more…)
Cappy´s Dinner: Newport Beach
I wake up dew covered with people now parking just feet from where I slept. Walking till early in the morning, I slept late and rise with a rush to escape the heat of the day, the heat of my sleeping bag, the heat of my clothing. I change my clothes and pack my gear and head into Cappy’s Diner on PCH to plug in my phone. The waitresses are moved by the project, especially by the prayers. Two waitresses take prayers to pray with and one writes a prayer in the back room. They offer to buy me breakfast. I order a yogurt and coffee. One waitress comes out as I am leaving to bring me what she can offer. Crackers and napkins and a pen.
Oct. 12 2008
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Gifts from Beyond with Support to Brazil
I find myself in Long Beach, at the home of renowned Reiki master, healer, and composer Iben and her partner Robert James whom I had met at Elevate. Iben works on my back while Robert prepares halibut.
Juants throught Watts
A sign above a church entrance, urging people to find treasure where you are. God is everywhere!
I left Olive for Main. Industry is quiet on Sunday night.
Here, my path is tarmac, paved 28 miles straight through Watts, Compton, Willmington, and Long Beach. Warehouses turn residential, cast in yellow incandescent light against cheap buildings adorned with Gregorian windows and doric poticos with peeling paint revealing its true self.
This is the main street, Main St., and here there are no supermarkets, not even fast food really. Here there are apartments as many blocks east as you can see from Main in the dark. The number of churches fascinate me for a while and I am careful taking pictures with my phone. There is a church called “New Pilgrim”. I endevour to take pictures of every church I see, then I get bored, or scared. (more…)
Leaving Los Angeles
iAMwalking.org movie from Christopher Howe on Vimeo.
It was clear upon leaving the elated Elevate Film Festival, amidst the fanfare, the red (green) carpet, that so much more is possible than we imagine, and that I really had no idea how to do what I had imagined, what I had seen. I had no idea about the places, people, circumstances, and challenges I would face.
I AM Walking! October 5th! Please Join Us For the Launch!
My friends, I am so grateful for everything everyone has done, especially those at Elevate Films, to promote and support this project. I am truly blessed!
Elevate Films is committed to making a huge difference on this planet with their support of creative film and media that wakes us up to what is possible in life! (more…)
