That is the question that I started this quest with and the one that I have posed to my friends who have also completed this journey, over the past few days. I know that many pilgrims continue to return to the Camino to re capture the feeling of 'escape' from reality, of being closer to a profound sense of the energy of the universe and to be part of a community of human relatedness that transcends anything we have experienced in our ordinary lives.
I have returned to work and my normal life. I drive my car along roads that I have driven for years and today I noticed myself observing the rocky path along the side and wondering what it would be like to walk this way. I can walk normally now, my limp is gone as my ankle and feet are recovering from the effort of the 800 kms that seems like a memory and not such a great feat now as it was so soon over.
I look at my life and try to put into context the experience that I had in Spain within the reality of the life I live and it is a challenge to bring that great sense of peace into the daily rituals of the way we have created our hectic lives together. I have answered the question 'now what' for myself, I know in my heart that I have. I just wonder if I have the guts to pull it off, as I once again find myself in the quandry of questioning my capability for designing a truly creative and adventurous life. Perhaps that is all there is to it really - keep on leaping into the unknown and continue to believe in what I am searching for.
What is it they say over and over again - it is already there right in front of you -just take the time and the answer is there waiting to be noticed.
I feel like I am on the brink of something and am so thankful for having pole vaulted myself into the unknown to actually start this journey on the Camino. I find myself out in the early morning darkness with a flashlight these days as I am compelled still to walk and that this time of a new day awakening will provide me with what I am looking for.
If there is any advice that I can provide it is only this - to grab life with all your might as we have only one chance to live it powerfully and with no regrets.
Maggee
Showing posts with label Camino de Santiago de Compostella. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Camino de Santiago de Compostella. Show all posts
Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Almost at the End
We are now stopped at a wonderful place in the country just a short 38 kms from Santiago. This old structure used to be a hospital and it is located near a river and has a wonderful set up for the bunk beds, showers and laundry which are the essentials for the pilgrim. We are paying 3e for the night here. We walked about 26 kms today to get here and boy it seems like the final stages of a serious marathon for me at this stage of the trip.
Yesterday and today, I am sure that Alvina has put her many books into my back pack when I was not looking and my boots feel like they have been soaked in lead. Everything is so heavy and I just keep telling myself - one foot in front of the other. However, we plod along, stopping a lot now and trying to keep up with the leaders (Kirsten and Barb). Clare stays behind with Alvina and me and so we trudge along at a more slow and steady pace arriving, but later than the hares in the lead!.
The countryside has not been as super inspiring as it was a few days ago, however when I do look around, it is still wonderful country side, full of such beauty, rolling hills, women leading the cows out to pasture in the morning and of course the early morning sky a blanket of stars with the new moon ready to show itself.
We walk and walk and it seems that our life has been nothing but that forever. Alvina feels like she has found herself now with the walking and does not want to stop so she will accompany Kirsten to Finestere after we complete our rituals in Santiago. We are too short on time to even consider this and I would need a few days of rest before my feet would toloerate the conversation I am sure. For Barb, there may be a bus trip to jump into the ocean on Thursday and for Clare, not sure yet.
However, we have only 3 days left together after today and this seems impossible. We have been bonded together on this common mission for weeks and have done nothing else but plan the day, do the day and then recover from the day with a lot of wine and laughter at the end of it.
We have been lucky to get into great accomodation every night and so have enjoyed smaller rooms and less intrusion of snoring pilgrims. we are making good friends and there is a roving community of us now that meets at the stops and in the evenings. It is like nothing else on earth this Camino experience. So many people with a common goal and similar intentions of getting something greater than the ordinary out of this journey.
We will be in Santiago by Tuesday afternoon and plan to attend the noon hour mass on Wed with some of the people we have met along the way. We are hoping that they will swing the big botefumero which is the very large container that was used to spread incense over the less than fragrant pilgrims in early days. It is used infrequently now, but you can pay for it to be done if you choose. We are hoping that the groups of pilgrim tourists that are now on the path will take care of this when we get to mass on Wed. There have not been as many pilgrim tourists as I had expected since Sarria. These are groups that do the journey with e guide, a bus that waits for them in case they are too tired to walk and also has a cold lunch on board and best of all, they stay in hotels every night. They carry day packs so they are springing ahead of us now on the trail as we are slowing down with our fatique and heavier load. However, as we say, everyone does the Camino in their own way and so we much be generous and support each person who chooses their own way.
Well, once again we have the honour of being seated in a dark corner of the bar with the TV sports channel blaring above our head and the smoke from the patrons choking our lungs, It is time for wine and a rest, to read and write in the late afternoon as is our custom. We are showered and laundered and settled in for the evening now and will look forward to shorter walks in the next two days as there will be less than 20 kms per day to walk which is a sublime treat after the past few weeks.
Stay tuned...........the apostle is waiting for us in Santiago!
Maggee
Yesterday and today, I am sure that Alvina has put her many books into my back pack when I was not looking and my boots feel like they have been soaked in lead. Everything is so heavy and I just keep telling myself - one foot in front of the other. However, we plod along, stopping a lot now and trying to keep up with the leaders (Kirsten and Barb). Clare stays behind with Alvina and me and so we trudge along at a more slow and steady pace arriving, but later than the hares in the lead!.
The countryside has not been as super inspiring as it was a few days ago, however when I do look around, it is still wonderful country side, full of such beauty, rolling hills, women leading the cows out to pasture in the morning and of course the early morning sky a blanket of stars with the new moon ready to show itself.
We walk and walk and it seems that our life has been nothing but that forever. Alvina feels like she has found herself now with the walking and does not want to stop so she will accompany Kirsten to Finestere after we complete our rituals in Santiago. We are too short on time to even consider this and I would need a few days of rest before my feet would toloerate the conversation I am sure. For Barb, there may be a bus trip to jump into the ocean on Thursday and for Clare, not sure yet.
However, we have only 3 days left together after today and this seems impossible. We have been bonded together on this common mission for weeks and have done nothing else but plan the day, do the day and then recover from the day with a lot of wine and laughter at the end of it.
We have been lucky to get into great accomodation every night and so have enjoyed smaller rooms and less intrusion of snoring pilgrims. we are making good friends and there is a roving community of us now that meets at the stops and in the evenings. It is like nothing else on earth this Camino experience. So many people with a common goal and similar intentions of getting something greater than the ordinary out of this journey.
We will be in Santiago by Tuesday afternoon and plan to attend the noon hour mass on Wed with some of the people we have met along the way. We are hoping that they will swing the big botefumero which is the very large container that was used to spread incense over the less than fragrant pilgrims in early days. It is used infrequently now, but you can pay for it to be done if you choose. We are hoping that the groups of pilgrim tourists that are now on the path will take care of this when we get to mass on Wed. There have not been as many pilgrim tourists as I had expected since Sarria. These are groups that do the journey with e guide, a bus that waits for them in case they are too tired to walk and also has a cold lunch on board and best of all, they stay in hotels every night. They carry day packs so they are springing ahead of us now on the trail as we are slowing down with our fatique and heavier load. However, as we say, everyone does the Camino in their own way and so we much be generous and support each person who chooses their own way.
Well, once again we have the honour of being seated in a dark corner of the bar with the TV sports channel blaring above our head and the smoke from the patrons choking our lungs, It is time for wine and a rest, to read and write in the late afternoon as is our custom. We are showered and laundered and settled in for the evening now and will look forward to shorter walks in the next two days as there will be less than 20 kms per day to walk which is a sublime treat after the past few weeks.
Stay tuned...........the apostle is waiting for us in Santiago!
Maggee
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
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
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
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