31.9 miles, 3,700’ gain, 3,800’ loss, 9:34
Mind
Today I walked through Sarria, the starting point for a large percentage of pilgrims. To receive a Compostela – an official document that you completed the Camino de Santiago – you need to walk at least 100 km. Sarria is 110km with frequent train and bus stops. The numbers of pilgrims increased a lot as soon as I got to Sarria. I didn’t mind having more people join. It was a warmer day, but still mostly overcast. Only a sprinkling of rain.
Body
Today was a comfortable, long day of walking. Most of the shin/calf/foot pain would disappear mid-day and when it was warm. I even jogged some downhills.
Usually I find little markets or grocery stores along the way. Today I couldn’t find any, so I stopped at many more little places. As it happens, there were a lot more ’donitivo’/donation-based food tables/stands along the way. For example, there was a nice, older woman who had a table set up in front of what appeared to be her house. I had an awesome homemade donut!
Another place had yummy crepes. I sat down at a place outside of Portomarín and had a great veggie pizza and carrot juice in this little oasis of peace. I had my first piece of Santiago cake, an almond cake that I could eat all day. I did have my first section of walking where I was a little short on water, but not too bad.
Spirit
I finished the day with Salvador from Ohio/LA. I briefly met him at the hostel the night before. He had left well before me and was doing a 60km day. (He had to get to Santiago to go to a wedding of a family member in Poland.) I walked about 15 km with him. It was great to walk with someone also doing a long day and I hope I was able to help make his day feel shorter.
Dinner was with a wonderful German woman who lives in the south of France. She had been on the Camino for seven weeks and we talked about the coming end of the Camino. Today I had been thinking about my family (they left Incline and drove to SFO to fly to Spain) and how I would arrive in Santiago in two days. I was excited to see my family, yet I couldn’t help but be a little anxious that their travels went smoothly.
While on the Camino, the world is simpler. Eat, walk/run, pray, eat, think, clean up, eat, sleep, repeat. I thought back to my two long NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) courses where I was in the backcountry for a month each. NOLS does a great job intentionally helping its students think, reflect, and prepare for the transition between the backcountry and ’frontcountry’. I need to do the same thing, so I’ve set up my schedule so that today and tomorrow are 50km days and the last day is only 20km. I should have several hours between when I’m to the point I will meet my family and when my family arrives. Hopefully this will give me enough time to reflect, write, and prepare to transition.
I was able to share some of these thoughts with the German woman I had dinner with, and she seemed very appreciative of my thoughts on needing to transition. I talked about how strange and uncomfortable it initially felt after my first month-long backpacking trip to take a shower and have to use money to buy things. We also talked about the Camino as a pilgrimage. She was Protestant, but had walked with a Catholic woman for several days. I was very touched by our conversation. Her English was better than my German, but the language difference caused the conversation to slow down and we talked more deliberately and choose our words carefully. There was also a lot more heart and meaning in our conversation because of this. In the morning, I saw her and she said how touched she was by our dinner conversation. These are the types of chance meetings and conversations that I love on the Camino. And it almost didn’t happen. She and I sat down at different tables about the same time. After the waiter cleared off the other place settings and I saw the German woman also with only a single place setting, I got up and asked if I could join her. I hope I can keep this openness to other people and the intentionality of placing myself in situations with new people. This happens all the time on the Camino, but rarely in ’real life’. Hopefully I can make this real life for me, even though it naturally feels uncomfortable.
Common Home
Unfortunately with more people on the Camino now, more garbage accompanies them. It’s hard to pick up everything, plus there is a lot of trash that just looks so gross that I won’t touch it. I learned my lesson the hard way in the bigger city of Burgos when I picked up what looked like a wrapper and with was a paper towel stuck to dog poop. Luckily I didn’t touch any poop and had hand sanitizer to use.