Catching up

I haven't been very active on social media or the blog the past few days - I have barely talked with Tina and only a few messages exchanged with my daughters.  I am just so alive and LIVING in the moment - read: I am totally immersed in this experience we call Camino!  A Camino is about three aspects; mind, body, and soul. The body, also the physical aspect of the journey, is the easiest to document as it is more of a journal of where I have been and what I have done. Mind, is more of the internal growth and the mental "Awakening" that one experiences while walking the camino. That leaves the spirit, which is also one of the hardest ones to articulate never mind even put into words.  Suffice it to say, I have been immersed in this experience and growing in mind body and soul every day!

I'll catch you up on the physical journey:

Monday's I pushed well into uncomfortable zone with Heel pushing it up to 25.5km. fortunately, the stop at the end of the day was an all-inclusive stop with dinner, breakfast, laundry machines on site, and a inground pool in the backyard!  Temperature had reached well into the '80s Fahrenheit which caused an uncomfortable slog into the albergue at the very end.  Fortunately, the pool was just warm enough to soak tired feet in. But being pilgrims, that wasn't enough, one broke Pilgrim decided to go for a swim. Then a few more decided to join them. They dared the American to jump.

CANNONBALL!!!

***SPLASH***

(All that water on the patio was from my cannonball!)

The irony, I was in freshly laundered clothes. I quickly stripped off everything but the swim trunks made sure the pockets were empty, and proceeded to make one of the biggest splashes I'm sure that pool has ever had 🤣. The pilgrims around derived a ton of amusement from my near instantaneous action...  Did I say that this place had a Washer and dryer?  Cuz I made use of it, twice 🤣.  The end result of all of this spontaneity, with many pilgrims having a spontaneous pool party and just having one of the best times without any scripting.

Tuesday, yesterday, saw a much easier day on the trail for me. There was only one hill of consequence that needed to be climbed and I was able to complete my days walk in a little over 18 km.

Coming down the back side of the hill, I found myself laughing out loud at the sheer amusement of a construction project. Apparently there is a major upgrade going to the n550 highway, causing major road construction. The amusing part, was the signage indicated that pilgrims had the right away and construction traffic always had to stop and yield to pilgrims 😲.

The last several kilometers went by in a blur because I bumped into one of my new friends from Portugal while I was taking the Riverwalk detour into Pontevedra.  We actually had a wonderful conversation about topics that people usually are too emotionally invested in to have any kind of meaningful conversation. The outcome, we decided, was all things in moderation and finding the right spot on the pendulum that feels good for each person.

Today saw 23.5 km of mostly non-eventful walking. The highlight of my day, I elected to treat myself for a whopping 50 euro, to stay at one of the thermal spas in Caldas del Reis. They have both an outdoor swimming pool, and a thermal spa, both heated my geothermal heat in the area. I have already had a chance to thoroughly enjoy thermal pool and I'm waiting for my allotted time to go to the thermal spa.

So enough of the physical journey, last night, while sitting down at a local tapas bar, one of the people that had joined me made an observation. He noted that I always seem to be comfortable wherever I'm at and particularly he noted that I seem to be at home. I told him not upon doing the Camino process in 2015, I learned to be comfortable where I was at when I was there. There was some other observations by the other people at the table which generally said I seemed to know what I was doing and was comfortable in whatever place I was in so everybody was grouping around me 🌝.  I took that as a very big compliment and I also took it as a testament it's the how intensely these Camino journeys have affected me.

There's more going around on the mental side of the journey, and absolutely tons on the spiritual side! It's an evolving process, and I'm not ready to put any of it into words, even if I think I could find the appropriate words.

In two days I make Santiago, tomorrow will be my last night along the Portuguese route and I will stay in Padron which is not only famous for its peppers, but it it carries a tremendous amount of significance for pilgrims on the Portuguese route. Padron is where the stone boat carrying the remains of St James washed ashore covered in scallops. That is the reason why pilgrims take immense care of displaying their scallop shells on their backpacks.

I cannot promise any frequency of updates. The next few days is promising to be a blur. I have some posts Santiago plans in the works but I'm not ready to commit to anything, much less announce any plans.