Camino: Thoughts from this Adventure

How do you pull together your thoughts from an adventure like this Camino?

Do you focus on the history & spiritual side of the Camino? Dwell on the beautiful countryside? Or perhaps think back on the many lovely people who entered your life?  Maybe it's best to crystalize what personal learnings you can take away from the journey?

Or do you focus on the physical side of things- the way your muscles grew to crave movement & the simple fluidity of walking? How good it felt to taste fresh orange juice after walking for a few hours. Or the wonderful smell of fresh clean laundry or warm soft bread.

Uncategorically, I can say that this Camino was worth every hour of thought & preparation & I would do it again in a heartbeat. Why?

I enjoyed the challenge. I liked setting a goal & overcoming obstacles to achieve it. I liked self-sufficiency. I liked being faced with unpleasantness & choosing to ignore it & power through. I know, most people would find that strange. The Camino was good for me with its measurable progress toward a goal. And the sellos were colorful reminders of progress &  dandy reasons to take time to investigate churches & cafes along the route.

I liked not knowing what is around every corner. While I felt well-read on the Camino, I felt constantly surprised & intrigued. I liked getting ridiculously excited about simple things like a red poppy in a big field of yellow flowers or a hammock set up by a food truck in the woods. When I felt tired or was in pain, I liked finding the positive & humming a favorite song to put me in a splendid mood. I liked running into folks who brightened my day.

I liked fighting through the language & surviving on pantomimes to communicate (try explaining jousting in Spanish!).  I liked sitting quietly at dinner or on the trail & listening to the many languages & accents surrounding me. I liked that I had daily conversations on wide ranging topics with folks from wildly different backgrounds & no one got riled up or argumentative. It struck me how we can all be so different but all working toward the same common goal. Together.

I liked epiphanies I had on the trail.

One was about signs. I was alone while navigating into Pamplona, my first big city along the Camino. With the sudden glut of people, traffic, street signs & noise, I found it hard to focus & find the trail signs. After I missed a lovely riverside path I began to question my decisions. The signs & arrows hadn't changed but my ability to find them had been altered. There were small signs like metal shells in the walkway. Off in the distance from time to time, there were big ones. I felt discomfort when I didn't have a fellow pilgrim to confirm decisions. It hit me how this is a lot like decisions in life. We look for big signs right in front of us to hit us over the head so we are clear on exactly what we need to do. Often the little ones are right there in front of us- just when we need them. We don't need to necessarily depend on others but can trust that we will make the right decisions & often if they aren't correct, they are correctable & everything will still be OK. And by the way, I made it fine into Pamplona & had a splendid day on my own.

Another was about how I would spend my time. I came into this Camino thinking I would relish glorious time alone & would plop down under trees to sketch & paint almost daily. I learned that while I liked days alone to keep my own schedule that I actively sought out lively conversation with most everyone I met. And I found I like to keep people in my world

by reaching out when I hadn't seen them in a while, just to be sure they were doing well. I think of myself as a bit of an introvert so I especially enjoyed these one-on-one more meaningful interactions. As for that painting, it quickly morphed into making minute-long videos to capture and save the memories I made. There is still time to paint when I get home.

I also had no sense of how long it would take for daily hygienic tasks like getting packed, fed, laundered in addition to the obvious hours of walking & sleeping. I didn't recognize how impatient I could get with a simple thing like siesta. The idea of closing down an entire town for three hours during prime business hours was beyond my comprehension. After a few weeks, it felt normal & I just adjusted my tasks to fit around it. I admit, I still had problems with the late restaurant opening times on the Camino. That was my stomach ruling my head. 

I'm still noodling over how I want to keep my Camino alive in my day-to-day life back home. I realized how much I valued short calls home & how I looked forward ever so much to talking daily with my husband who constantly supported me in this adventure. I realized how much I enjoyed pulling back from media & now am attempting to enjoy music not TV. I am also going to have to kick a nasty cafe con leche habit & give up full bottles of Rioja on a daily basis. Baby steps.

Thanks to all those who provided insight, ideas, assurance, mental support & kept the wheels on back home while on this adventure. And thanks to my two adventurous friends, Laura & Betty, who met me during the Camino to share parts of the experience- their humor & friendship made the trip so much richer. And thanks to my husband, Jeff, who constantly nurtures my craving for adventure & while he wants no part of a hike this long, was nothing but supportive throughout this process. He will be glad to not hear about the "C" word for a while. At least until the next Camino...