In the morning I’ll either walk, or catch a taxi, to the airport and fly home. This trip has been great.
It is so great to see different ways of living. Wonderful to meet such a variety of people, with so many stories, occasionally in languages I could understand. Really, the language issue wasn’t as bad as I had expected. Smiles, kindness, and charades is all a person needs.
The importance of flexibility has never been so evident to me. Sometimes a person just has to go with the flow, and, see what happens.
Hotels are comfortable, and are a nice alternative. The albergues are where to meet people out of their element, every time having a different experience, and have the actual Camino experience. My experience was the best of worlds, some albergues, some hostels, and some hotels.
I’ll remember the kindness of strangers. The guy giving me a ride in his sports car so I would have a place to stay. The simple smile and nod from a pilgrim as I was placing a stone next to the Camino, and a couple of big blubberfests. Simply the kindness of shopkeepers and folks at restaurants as I butchered attempts to find and order things, and, helping so many times trying to figure out which Euro coin was worth how much. Euro bills were easy. The coins gave me grief, especially if there were folks waiting in line behind me.
The large amount of alone time to think, and practice, and to relax and concentrate on the present moment, and not dwell on the past too much, and not worry about the future too much, was great. My mind was often occupied by food, water, sometimes aching body parts, weather, sleeping arrangements, timing, learning new things (geography, history, cultural norms, languages, weird street signs), getting used to thinking in the metric system, trying to remember names of cities, people, and even…witches:)
This trip clearly took me out of my comfort zone. It was a good thing. My phone plan allowed for unlimited texting, but limited talking. I wanted to save my talking for necessary calls on the trip. Not talking to anyone from home for a month has been hard. There are some voices I really want to hear. Luckily, Rick and Nancy came so I was able to hear familiar voices for a bit.
I have a love/hate relationship with the phone. It was crucial for navigation. It was needed to text communicate with home, and communicate with fellow pilgrims, hotels, finding supermarkets, restaurants etc. I used it to help with Spanish words I didn’t know, and to learn more about historical items I didn’t know about.
I used the phone way less than I usually do at home, that’s a good thing. By far, the primary two uses of my phone on this trip are pictures, and this BLOG. I will actually be glad when I send this tonight and it’s done. I’m using this blog as my journal. I couldn’t help but keep up on some sports, but mostly just scores. One night I watched Euro League basketball on TV in a hotel…they’re good.
I’ve been told it before, and it’s clearly obvious, but things are really old here compared to at home. An old building at home is 150 years old. That seems brand new here:). I had never been to Europe before, and had heard others talk about this, but it hit home more to me when I saw reminders multiple times every day.
Learning that old languages are still hanging on was a surprise to me. I thought they just spoke Spanish in Spain. Foolish me.
A lot of people are moving around the world. Yesterday, working in the hotel I stayed at was a man from Nepal, who had worked for five years in Poland, and then came to Portugal because of work. People coming to Spain and Portugal to work from all over was a surprise. South America and Cuba seemed to be the most common foreign born workers I met.
In order to see the service at the cathedral in Santiago I arrived two hours early. I simply relaxed, looked at the building, listened to the din, watched people, rested my feet, smelled the unique odor/aroma of old, and didn’t say a word or wasn’t spoken to in a large, growing crowd. Never could I have imagined that I would voluntarily sit in a church for two hours before a church service:)
My lack of knowledge of Europe is embarrassing. I need to study maps, and history books. No wonder questions about Europe have always challenged me in Jeopardy! Franco, Salazar, and the Basque Country issues are things I should have known more about.
Would I do a Camino again? Yes. Will I? I don’t know. There are many different Caminos. The Camino Portuguese sounds very interesting, is only about 1/3 the length of what I did this time, and sounds incredible. Many do the Caminos on bicycles. Maybe that’s in the future. Some even do them on electric bicycles…that seems like cheating:). Theresa will be an important element in that decision.
For a month I averaged 17 miles per day. It took a few days, but my legs feel great now. My feet are better, and, I’m glad I have a podiatrist appointment next week:) I’m anxious to weigh when I get home. My guess is I lost a little weight, but not much. The amount of food I consumed was huge. Last night I found a buffet. I can still eat a lot. If my eating habits don’t change any weight I lost will soon return.
I miss my family so much, and am looking forward to seeing and hugging them! Thanks to Theresa for letting me do this. Thank you Kari for figuring out the flights, buying the tickets, and bringing your family along to make the beginning of the trip memorable! Thank you Colin for reiterating four important rules of travel: 1) Use the bathroom whenever you have the chance; 2) Charge your devices whenever you have a chance; 3) Eat whenever you have a chance, and; 4) Sleep whenever you have a chance.
All good advice!
Thank you Rick and Nancy for joining in on a bit of this adventure, and letting me see things I totally would have missed. Thanks too for Lifesavers, Smarties, and an umbrella I plan to replace.
It’s time for me to take some of Colin’s advice, and sleep.
Good Night from Lisboa, Portugal.
Buen Camino
