July 14

Tomorrow will be the end of our first week at Arrow River. I've never suffered so much in a one week period! They are having a rare heat spell in Northern Ontario. Ajahn Punnadhammo said the normal high might reach 80. All week we have had temperatures in the low 90's! The temperatures are not so bad except it has been a very wet year and thus the humidity is nearly 100% and the mosquitoes are relentless.

The cabins are all built with the idea of trying to keep the heat in, not to evacuate heat. (It gets down to -40 in the winter!) Ajahn Punnadhammo's cabin sits in the middle of a sunny field and by late afternoon it is much warmer inside his cabin than it is outside. I went to make a phone call one afternoon and within minutes my clothing was soaked in perspiration.

Our one solace is the Arrow River. The water is cool and there are several deep pools were you can go to bathe. The breeze from the flowing water gives a reprieve from the mosquitoes and causes the air temperatures to be comfortable as well.

I am starting to adjust and have discovered ways to avoid the mosquitoes. The conditions here are very primitive. There is electricity in only two of the buildings and only one building has a telephone. They have no shower or bathtub; you either sponge bathe or wash in the river. In the winter we use the sauna several times a week. All laundry is done by hand and you have to carry all the water you use at your cabin. The cabins are all heated by wood-burning stoves, which means you do a bit of wood splitting and hauling too.

This past winter I loved the primitive conditions here. It helped make the adjustment to being on pilgrimage go more smoothly. At the beginning of the walk we found it difficult to find places to get clean. If I had gone right into those conditions, not being clean could have caused a lot of suffering. As it were, it was only an inconvenience. The past three months of the pilgrimage though, I got used to daily showers, laundry facilities and while at Austin's parents a near-constant supply of root beer.

Coming back into a world of sense deprivation was pretty shocking for me. I have to admit the contrast was pretty severe, but fortunately I knew I would adjust and thus tried not to make a problem about it. I also knew I would like the conditions here once I adjusted. In no time I'll be loving it here. (I hope).

Being here has been good for my health. I'm going for several walks every day. I hope in a week I'll be able to start helping Esko, one of the long-term residents here, build his cabin. I'm planning to work for only a half hour every other day at first and slowly add time as the endurance builds. In the meantime Ajahn Punnadhammo has made me the abbot's assistant. I'll be answering emails and other odd correspondence jobs.

In terms of walking in the future, I have decided to "let go." Austin and I both have a desire to continue. Austin needs to pay off his students loans so he can be in a position to ordain if that is to be his path. I could use that time to deepen my practice and it will give me plenty of time to recover from the mono (and see if I can find ways to prevent it from returning). If the opportunity for doing another pilgrimage doesn't materialize I'll be okay with that. If the conditions do arise, great.

There are literally hundreds of people I could thank for helping to make this pilgrimage a success. My teachers and parents come to mind, as well as all those that we met along the way. There are too many people to mention as I'm sure we will forget to mention a few by accident.

In closing I would like to thank Austin for being my steward, walking companion, friend and fellow practitioner. I might be able to find a walking companion who would be as good as Austin but I doubt I'd ever find one better. Thank you Austin for everything!