Walking in the Moonlight

We leave early in the morning and for the past few mornings have been walking in the light of the full moon for an hour or more. This is a wonderful time for solitude and reflection, It is also very cold and I am wearing my fleece hat and gloves and once even my rain jacket which was a bit big and bulky but did cut the wind and make a difference. It is good to start early as it means that you finish the day a bit earlier as well. We like to get to the next place in the early afternoon. It is a bit more crowded we notice since leaving Burgos and so there are many people looking for beds. There are always enough and so we do not worry about this, only having enough time to rest and do the washing before dinner time.
We have met many nice people lately including one woman from Cape Town who I will get in touch with when I am there in Feb. She lives in Muizenberg and is a wonderful lady who I have had some good converstions with so look forward to meeting up with her along the way.
We have also noticed that there are a lot of people getting sick since Burgos. I was told that ths happens and to avoid this, we had been drinking bottled water and being very careful with the food we eat, but still there are 2 of my group who got quite ill with a GI problem, They are better now, but I find that I am very tired these past 2 days. We are walking now about 26 or more kms per day. Today is day 18 and so the fatique is likely due to the large number of kms I have walked with these poor feet. We are now at a total of 449 kms and the total distance is 778 to Santiago. I think when we get to 500, I will start to count down instead of up.
As we walk along, there are many thoughts that pass through my head, sometimes though it is all I can do to just focus on keeping one foot in front of the other as the pain in my feet is so bad. I have started to walk more slowly and to stop and rest about each hour as that helps. I think that my feet suffer from being hot so I take my boot off and change my socks as well, haning the spare pair with a pin from the back of my pack to dry out. I just think the bones are tired from the constant pounding and the movement for 6 - 7 hours each day. I am proud of myself for getting this far though and am thankful for my good health in managing it.
We sleep in these crowded rooms each night. The other night in the convent, as I was falling asleep with 8 other people in close quarters, I realized that the room was about 60% of the size of my bedroom at home and that I could easily fit bunk beds for 10 people in my own bedroom with another in the walk in closet. I am so thankful for a small space to put my things and to lay my head at the end of each day that I know I will appreciate the luxury of my home once I get there in a few weeks.
As I walk I have been wonderng what to think about and so just let the thoughts come as they will. I do concentrate hard on the pain in my feet to try to make it less and at other times thank my feet for the great power that they give me. There is much focus on the feet on this journey and many people who seem to walk well during the day are seen to hobble in the evening. It is interesting how my feet recover during the night. They ache in the beginning of the night, getiing less as the night progresses and in the mornng are fine once more. We have a wonderful power of healing with rest is what I am learning and as well, need to respect this function that is so simple in each day of life.
During the day, I pass many people who are residents of the small villages and as we pass by, there is so much friendliness from them. In the community of pilgrims at the end of each day, there is also a great feeling of togetherness as we are all on the same kind of mission with some similar intention, I believe.
I meet interesting people every day and am reminded of how easy it is to create relatedness with people I do not know. I guess that is the magic of the Camino that people are open to conversation even though there is a language barrier. They still respond.
I am now about 18 kms away from Leon and tomorrow we will have a short hike to the city where we will spend the day. We may even stay in a hostel for a change with our own bathroom and bedroom which will be a luxury.
Well I must head out to the shop and buy something for breakfast as I am running out of food. Whatever I buy is now weighed very carefully so that I do not have to carry too much. The back pack is much lighter these days or perhaps I am accustomed to its weight and it feels like a friend to me in some ways as it contains all of the essentials that I need for life at the moment. When I remember the manic way I carried it in the beginning and the pain in my shoulders that I had it seems like a different pack now. Anyway, everything changes as you walk along and think of mostly things that are not really relevant.
I recognize that a lot of my thoughts are worries and worries about things that may happen in the future and what a waste of energy this is thinking up things that may never happen. I wonder to myself how much of this is a practice in my real life and how much time and energy I spend thinking up potential problems and then fretting over them as if they were real. Interesting to contemplate.
Today the hospitalero gave each of us a card to pick from a deck as we paid for our bed and here is mine which I think is very relevant
"In any second you can change your life. To really live, you need only courage to do it".
Buen Camino............Maggee