So, after having a couple of rest days in Santiago and having a chance to greet those pilgrims who I'd passed somewhere along the way, my feet were feeling strange. My legs felt restless, and my mind wasn't yt ready to deal with practical matters like bus or train schedules. I was in withdrawl. I'd decided the day I walked into Santiago that if I went to Finisterre, the end of the earh in medieval times, that I would do so by bus. I was SO done with walking.
But, two days later, there I was packing up my backpack (a couple of kilos lighter for sending a package of stuff to my friend Eunate's house near Pamplona, knowing I would bevisiting her again) and setting off to find those comfortingly familiar yellow arrows.
I can't really explain this need to start walking again...but I was feeling completely indecisive about my next step, and yet such a desire to move on, that Ifelt the only logical non-decision was to do what I'd become so accustomed to doing; follow the flechas amarillas (yellow arrows). It really couldn't have been simpler.
And that, I came to realize, is the real reason people choose to walkthe camino. There is nothing in this world simpler than following a well-worn path. There are almost no decisions to be made while walking. The arrows always show you where to go. Whenever you are tired, there is an albergue just around the corner and a bar just next door. The hospitaleros who volunteer there time to keep thealbergues running smoothly are quick to lay out the rules you need to follow. They'll even do your laundry at some of the private ones. Hungry? Have a pilgrim's meal for 10 euros (salad, soup or pasta to start; fish chicken, beef or pork with a side of french fries; finish it off with a desert of icecream, flan or possiblya local treat) and that concludes the extent of you decision-making for the day. Phew, that was tough.
But that is exactly what awaits you at the end of your camino: more decisions than you can deal with inyour weakened mental state. After so much time of just letting your mind go to think whatever thoughts it wants to think, the last thing it is capable of is deciding what comes next. And so, that is how I found myself following the arrows out of Santiago to the end ofthe world...my mind refusedto join the real world again. And so my reluctant feet took charge again.
**Note: Im using a tablet to write these posts, and cant be held responsible for spelling errors. Blogger refuses to let me tap in to the middle of a line to correct anything, and Im assuming the natural intelligence of my readers to figure out my true intentions. Thank you.
Saturday 17 November 2012
Monday 5 November 2012
Pilgrim's Point of View
One month ago I was in Santo Domingo, writing my blog, with the intention of keeping it up every few days. Almost exactly one month later, here I am in Santiago already, my head full of ruminations about the experience I've just had and trying to decide what my next move is. What happened to my good intentions? Well, after walking 20km a day and spending most of that time thinking, the isn't much desire to sit at a computer (if you can find one) and compose a coherent blogpost. At that point, most pilgrims shower, wash their smelly clothes and try to take a siesta before the shops open at 5pm. Being one of the pilgrims who had chosen to disconnect a bit from technology, I was forced to find pay computers, which are becoming a thing of the past, much like public telephones and phone cards. So, all of this to say, Sorry for not writing in a while.
So where to begin? It feels like I'm in a bit of withdrawl since walking into Santiago on Sunday, November 4th, 5 weeks, 6 days after starting in Roncesvalles 800km ago! It is surreal to be sitting in a hostal (cheap hotel) room all alone rather than in a busy albergue (special pilgrim hostal in full dorm room bunk bed stylings). Another change is that I've finally reached my limit of pay computers, so I splurged and bought myself a Samsung Galaxy II tablet! Holy smokes! I've come back into the real world already! This of course is just so I can keep up my blog in a more timely fashion (yeah right). I was pretty envious of all those smartphone users on the trail who could check email and get directions without carrying a heavy guidebook! Oh how the pilgrim has changed over time.
And that might be a good segue into the topic of types of pilgrims one encounters on the trail. There are pilgrims, and then there are tourists. To me, the real pilgrims are the people who come to the trail with some sort of question they are trying to find the answer to. They are drawn to the camino because it represents the opportunity for change in their daily life and a chance to get back to a more natural rhythm, to reconnect with themselves. There are as many reasons for walking the camino as their are pilgrims, such as spirituality, illness, a convenient holiday, but I believe that the frame of mind is what separates the pilgrim from the tourist.
At the beginning, in Saint Jean for many, or Roncesvalles for others (although I did meet many on the trail who had started way before that and had already been walking for a month or so!), we were all trying to figure out what the camino was all about, to find our rhythm in the mass of walkers and bikers, still learning that we had left the race behind and we just needed to settle in. But I believe that most of us started at that point with the idea of walking for a month and reaching Santiago. That, to me, shows a commitment to the trail and an intention to submit oneself to whatever the camino puts in the path. Not that any of us were aware of that then.
After a week or two of really finding my rhythm and feeling like part of the camino community, I started meeting people who were just joining the trail in Logrono and then Burgos. That was my first time realizing that people do this for holiday too. It hadn't crossed my mind that someone would want to just walk for a week or two, but not everyone wants to quit their job to fly halfway around the world to find themself. Fair enough. But their backpacks were so small, and they didn't have walking poles, and they carried enormous cameras. They joined the trail with such levity that it brought out my inner grump (more chocolate, please). And, hey, I have respect for those people who get the idea of the camino and choose to spend a couple of weeks finding their inner rhythm again, but at the two week point, I was in no mood to hear people complain of their first blister as though it was ruining their trip. I didn't appreciate watching them gallop ahead without a trace of tendomitis from the two weeks of constant wear on you feet. But hey, we each have our own path to walk. At least they were walking.
But the "pilgrims" who really got me were the groups who had all the gear for backcountry camping, who at the end of a 5km walk would get on their fancy coachline and cruise to their 5 star hotel at the end of the day, and who got picked up at lunch to go to a nice restaurant in the next town. All I can say about them was at least they weren't staying at the albergues and stealing my hard-earned spot. They even made the pilgrims who transferred their backpacks to their next destination look like hardcore warriors.
In the last days of the pilgrimage, a whole new set of tourists show up. They are the weekend walkers who want to get the fun credential full of stamps, proof that they were a pilgrim. They show up in the last 100km (because that is what the pilgrim office requires to earn the compostela certificate in Santiago) and race to evert cafe and bar to get the sello (a unique stamp in every place) even though they rarely bought anything to earn it.
Anyway, with a true pilgrim heart, all can be forgiven, or at least forgotten. Whatevrr the reason for walking, the camino is an opportunity to think about things in a new way. The trick, I think, is to carry the lessons forward and not get too caught up in the everyday worldin which we constantly find ourselves.
So where to begin? It feels like I'm in a bit of withdrawl since walking into Santiago on Sunday, November 4th, 5 weeks, 6 days after starting in Roncesvalles 800km ago! It is surreal to be sitting in a hostal (cheap hotel) room all alone rather than in a busy albergue (special pilgrim hostal in full dorm room bunk bed stylings). Another change is that I've finally reached my limit of pay computers, so I splurged and bought myself a Samsung Galaxy II tablet! Holy smokes! I've come back into the real world already! This of course is just so I can keep up my blog in a more timely fashion (yeah right). I was pretty envious of all those smartphone users on the trail who could check email and get directions without carrying a heavy guidebook! Oh how the pilgrim has changed over time.
And that might be a good segue into the topic of types of pilgrims one encounters on the trail. There are pilgrims, and then there are tourists. To me, the real pilgrims are the people who come to the trail with some sort of question they are trying to find the answer to. They are drawn to the camino because it represents the opportunity for change in their daily life and a chance to get back to a more natural rhythm, to reconnect with themselves. There are as many reasons for walking the camino as their are pilgrims, such as spirituality, illness, a convenient holiday, but I believe that the frame of mind is what separates the pilgrim from the tourist.
At the beginning, in Saint Jean for many, or Roncesvalles for others (although I did meet many on the trail who had started way before that and had already been walking for a month or so!), we were all trying to figure out what the camino was all about, to find our rhythm in the mass of walkers and bikers, still learning that we had left the race behind and we just needed to settle in. But I believe that most of us started at that point with the idea of walking for a month and reaching Santiago. That, to me, shows a commitment to the trail and an intention to submit oneself to whatever the camino puts in the path. Not that any of us were aware of that then.
After a week or two of really finding my rhythm and feeling like part of the camino community, I started meeting people who were just joining the trail in Logrono and then Burgos. That was my first time realizing that people do this for holiday too. It hadn't crossed my mind that someone would want to just walk for a week or two, but not everyone wants to quit their job to fly halfway around the world to find themself. Fair enough. But their backpacks were so small, and they didn't have walking poles, and they carried enormous cameras. They joined the trail with such levity that it brought out my inner grump (more chocolate, please). And, hey, I have respect for those people who get the idea of the camino and choose to spend a couple of weeks finding their inner rhythm again, but at the two week point, I was in no mood to hear people complain of their first blister as though it was ruining their trip. I didn't appreciate watching them gallop ahead without a trace of tendomitis from the two weeks of constant wear on you feet. But hey, we each have our own path to walk. At least they were walking.
But the "pilgrims" who really got me were the groups who had all the gear for backcountry camping, who at the end of a 5km walk would get on their fancy coachline and cruise to their 5 star hotel at the end of the day, and who got picked up at lunch to go to a nice restaurant in the next town. All I can say about them was at least they weren't staying at the albergues and stealing my hard-earned spot. They even made the pilgrims who transferred their backpacks to their next destination look like hardcore warriors.
In the last days of the pilgrimage, a whole new set of tourists show up. They are the weekend walkers who want to get the fun credential full of stamps, proof that they were a pilgrim. They show up in the last 100km (because that is what the pilgrim office requires to earn the compostela certificate in Santiago) and race to evert cafe and bar to get the sello (a unique stamp in every place) even though they rarely bought anything to earn it.
Anyway, with a true pilgrim heart, all can be forgiven, or at least forgotten. Whatevrr the reason for walking, the camino is an opportunity to think about things in a new way. The trick, I think, is to carry the lessons forward and not get too caught up in the everyday worldin which we constantly find ourselves.
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