15 March 2023 The forty day thing.

15 March 2023 

 Hi Singhy,

What is this thing about forty days in our culture?

Many forty-day events come to mind.
Years ago, the forty days party to celebrate the end of their compulsory military conscription was a big event in many young men's lives.
It rained for forty days when Noah went into the ark to save his family from the flood. Moses was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights when he received the Ten Commandments. When Moses sent the spies to explore Canaan, they spend forty days exploring the land. Jesus went into the desert for forty days.

But that is all history. What about the future?

Wel, in forty days time, we depart on a forty-day adventure in Spain.

Why forty days?
Because Mpanzi's wish was for a forty-day hike as a celebration of forty years of marriage.
Just look at this forty year old photograph! Time has taken its toll, on both the photo and the people :-)

But there is a twist in this new adventure.

In 2019, Punda's brother-in-law, Sean, was organizing a trip to Spain. Part of this trip would be a hike on one of the Camino routes. He asked Punda to organize the hiking part of the trip.

At the beginning of October 2019, Punda made a suggestion, and Sean replied with this WhatsApp message:

"Thanks Kobus _ looks great and good info! Which route are we taking and which stages equaling what distance and number of days?"

Since life is not always as we would like it to be, the answer to that question never materialized.

Forty days later, Sean was in ICU, fighting for his life after an aneurysm.
The fight continued for forty days, and then it was the end.

What a sad time it was. With forty red roses we said goodbye.

Life goes on, and so must we.

Are we not urged to make good use of our time on this earth?

Therefore we wil strive to make the most of the next forty days and then for forty more. Walking, talking, eating tapas, drinking cafe conleche and cerveza and meeting fellow pilgrims from all over the world.

On this trip, Sean's wife, whom I call Dadatu, is joining us to walk the Camino Frances. I suppose it will be a celebration in more than one sense, with intense emotions to process at periods along the way.

A friend of ours love to say: "Failing to plan is planning to fail." A lot of planning went into organizing this forty-day camino. Here is the plan; the red dots are our reservations for the trip.

Reservations on the Camino Frances.

Now we must pack our bags and execute the plan.

Cheers
Msafiri