My Camino Playlist

I have to admit that I’m a little embarrassed about the way I’m going to be doing the Camino. I’ll not only be carting my gear and clothing, but I’ll be pretty connected – I’m bringing my new GoPro Hero3 Black (thanks, Dad!!), my point and shoot Panasonic (mayyyybe Camarón so I can actually get nice shots), my smartphone and their chargers to capture my journey to Santiago.

And I can’t part from my iPod. Music has been a cherised friend since I was a kid, so I couldn’t imagine setting my 200+ miles to tunes. I’m the nostalgic type that connects songs to special moments, special people. I’m walking for Kelsey and other kids and their families, and I’m walking for me. I’ve spent alternate hours updating my iPod with a few songs especially for my Camino For the Kids:

It’s Gonna Be (500 Miles) – The Proclaimers

Ok, so it’s only 200 miles that I’m walking, and if time allowed, I’d do more. I’m already imagining the blisters, sore muscles and joints and complaining I’ll be doing throughout, but in the end, it’s all For the Kids.

Lean on Me – Bill Withers

Dance Marathon, the cause I’m supporting, is a 24-hour marathon of strength and mental grit. During the last two hours, the DJs turn up the music and we boogie down, using every last ounce of energy until we’re finally able to sit and rest after 23 hours. Just before 7pm on Saturday, when the total amount of money raised is shown, everyone joins together, arm in arm, to sing this song. We all need somebody to lean on once in a while, right?

Swim – Jack’s Mannequin

Andrew McMahon, frontman of Jack’s Mannequin and formally Something Corporate, underwent treatment for leukemia in 2005 while preparing the band’s first tour. After beating it,  he began a non-profit called The Dear Jack Foundation to raise funds for pediatric cancer. This song has quickly become a favorite, with its central message begging to just keep your head up and swim.

Walk on the Wild Side – Lou Reed

Reminding you to dare to do something different, to push your boundaries and to inspire others. I will not, however, change my sex as the song suggests.

Dire Straits – Walk of Life

One of Dance Marathon’s mottos is “Dance For Life.” I haven’t been able to dance for six years, but I can still Walk For Life.

Two Step – Dave Matthews Band

I love the central theme of this song – Celebrate we will, cuz life is short, but sweet for certain. I remember how excited Kelsey was to turn 21 and finally be able to go out with her older sisters and friends for a Long Island. Such a shame her 21st was her last birthday, so I try to have a long island when I find them in Spain for her.

The Show Must Go On – Queen

My boots are bought, my bag soon to be completed and we’ve got a place at the beginning and end of the Camino. Come what may, there’s no stopping us!

Don’t Stop Believing – Journey

This is far and away one of my favorite songs. I know the Camino will have hard days – terrain, weather and emotions may get the best of me – but arriving to Santiago has been a dream of mine since 2005. This year was a marathon with loads of fruits, so it’s time to give back and believe in other causes.

Any ideas for what I should have on my playlist, Camino-related or otherwise? You can learn more about my Camino on my Why I’m Walking post, donate a few bucks to The Children’s Miracle Network and University of Iowa Dance Marathon, and join my Facebook page for more updates and information on the Camino de Santiago. Thank you all so much for your overwhelming support over the past few months! #CaminoFTK

The Camino for the Kids is made possible by the following sponsors. I have some received gear and lodging, though I have not been paid in any way for this article:

Seville Snapshot: Tools of the Gypsy Trade

Moises extends his hand to me, wiping it first on the back of his pant leg. ¡Wenas noshes, hoooooooola a mis amigos, olé mis grandes señores! His greeting is always the same, and accompanied by a near-toothless grin.

I fish around in my wallet for a euro or two for him, noticing he’s wearing a turtleneck that I’m pretty sure used to be mine. The Novio offers him a cigarette and asks about his children and wife. Of all of the gypsies who live in the chabolas at the far southwestern end of town, he’s the only one I know by name, sturck by his positivity. Not all the vecinos have a soft spot for him like I do.

I don’t usually give money to beggars, but Moises is different. Sometimes, we’ll even buy him a sandwich and a beer at  Cerveceria la Tiza, which results in his insistence that I take a sprig of rosemary he’s obviously nicked from someone’s garden, or occasionally a pack of tissue. On occasion, I’ve also received flowers, and often more than I deserve for just a bit of spare change.

Stolen spices and tissue packs aside, I especially love when my coins are accepted with a tune on his cracked guitar.

¡Una rumbita pa mi americana! ¡Qué el Dios de los Gitanos te bendiga! A rumba for my American girl. May the Lord of the Gypsies bless you.

Have photos of Seville or Spain to share? I gladly accept them and run them as part of my weekly photo feature! Send me an email to sunshineandsiestas @ gmail.com, or upload to my Facebook page.

My Chicago Soundtrack

I am a Chicago girl, born and bred. I love my all-beef Kosher hot dogs, had a Chicago Bulls three-peat T-shirt, sport a Jewel-Osco card in my wallet. Leaving the Windy City was a choice that almost never came to be, with a job offer on the table and plenty of young friends convincing me that my life was not in Spain.

But I chose to board the plane and to take my Chicago roots with me to Spain, preaching the Cubbie way of life and claiming that there are lakes the look like oceans in the middle of the Midwest. As Spain became more and more like home, I became increasingly proud of where my parents, grandparents and I come from.

Now that I’m back in Chicago for the month of August, every trip to the City of Broad Shoulders has my heart pumping out the songs that bring me back to the countless summers, bitter cold winter afternoons and rides along the rails of the L. Songs that remind me of seeing punk rock shows at the Metro, of childhood shopping trips on State, of what makes this city so damn great. Wikipedia lists over 400 songs about Chicago, and while “My Kind of Town” and “Sweet Home Chicago” would be obvious choices, mine are a little unexpected (and seriously throwback to my love of punk rock days. Lucky Boys Confusion, Fall Out Boy and The Dog and Everything CDs are still in my car!)

Kanye West – Homecoming

While I can’t say Kanye, like R. Kelly, is a favorite Chicago musician, this song echoes through my brain every time I fly in over Lake Michigan and the skyline, which stretches further than my window can hold.

Allister – Somewhere Down on Fullerton

Why I’ve never taken a madcap dash around Chicago like Allister does, this song was the first I ever crowdsurfed to at a show at House of Blues with my friend Amanda. It was her first visit to Chicago, just after our freshman year of college, and I remember the rush of feeling like I was going to get dropped while getting groped. I still have the shirt I bought that  night to commemorate a Chicago band playing to a Chicago crowd as only a great Chicago venue can allow.

Arranmore – Southside Irish

My family first came to America during the mass wave of immigration that gives America its heritage as the Land of the Free. Settling in Chicago, my Irish great-grandfather, who had owned a still-operational woolen mill in Foxford, County Mayo, worked as a tailor. I feel most proud of my Irish heritage, even though I’ve got Scottish, Welsh and German roots. As a kid, I participated in Irish parades around Chicagoland, so this Saint Paddy’s Day anthem reminds me of those mornings, the wind biting my pink cheeks, as we marched through the streets in the name of the Emerald Isle.

Aliotta Haynes Jeremiah – Lake Shore Drive

There have been countless times where I’ve speed down one of Chicago’s grandest avenues, Lake Shore Drive, as twilight was falling. Window open, wind on my face and the lights of the Loop in the rear-view mirror, those are the nights where summer is at its peak and I remember how fun being young is. This song, from the time when my parents were young, brings back summer memories of the Oak Street beach, drinks at Castaways and belting out whatever’s one the radio with girlfriends.

Alkaline Trio – I’m Dying Tomorrow 

I can’t say I remember who introduced me to the local band Alkaline Trio, but I love him for it. Among my favorites is “I’m Dying Tomorrow,” which ask the age-old question: Do I have any regrets?

The Loving Spoonful – Hot Town, Summer in the City

Now that I’ve made living in Spain a reality, I usually only get summers in Chicago. Fine by me, as the city is replete with festivals, concerts and events that play to its patchwork heritage – and one of the things I love best about it. What I love about this song is that it talks about the balance between night and day in Chicago, no unlike a summer in Seville: the days are long and scorching, while the nighttime relief is when everyone comes out to play. This city feels young.

Fall Out Boy – Chicago is So Two Years Ago

The first time I ever heard this song, I was packing up my dorm room freshman year to go home for the summer. “There’s a Light on in Chicago, and I know I should be home,” still rings true whenever I arrive home after a Spanish sojourn. Being able to come back to the place where I grew up helps keep me grounded when I’m away, knowing that there’s always a Portillo’s around the corner and that the Cubbies have still not won the World Series. Ahhh, home.

Hey, Chicago, whaddya say (Go, Cubs, Go was not in my list; too obvious)! What would be on your Chicago soundtrack? Leave me a message in the comments, or leave me a birthday note since I turn 27 today!

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