“I want to grow on the inside....”

September 22, 2019

Last night, we stayed in a town where our guide book says only 60 people live. But at least 150 Pilgrims were there last night. Our hostel was awesome. Very basic room, but perfectly clean and nice. And food and the welcoming spirit and especially the staff were amazing!!

Our dinner last night included the following people:

From left to right, not including me: Dorian, from Jersey, England; Debra Jarvis from Seattle (goggle her, she’s got at least one TED talk and has written a few books), Moritz from Germany and Marco from Italy. Everyone shared their “why the Camino story.” Marco could understand some English but spoke almost none. When we asked why he was walking the Camino, he used Google translate and then showed us the translation on his IPhone. It said, “I want to grow on the inside.”

Dorian, who said everyone remembered her name because of the recent hurricane, was walking to deal with menopause...yes, that’s part of what she said...she also had several injuries and was dealing with how to be disappointed that she can’t do what she wanted. Moritz was just leaving University and trying to think through what to do next. These dinners are priceless.

I think about songs as we walk. (Today was 14.5 miles, bringing the total to 265 miles). Today’s song was a Peter, Paul and Mary song called 500 miles. It seems sort of appropriate. I’ve also had a Rodgers and Hammerstein song on my mind from the musical Carousel, called “You’ll never walk alone.” Gerry and the Pacemakers and others have covered it. Great songs to hum as you walk.

Shoes:

I love this couple (I think they are French.). White shoes for hiking the Camino? He carried her pack and his yesterday and they hold hands a lot. And I love these shoes that some lady ditched in the puddle. It rained last night, but not today, so we had puddles but didn’t have to wear the rain gear. We’ve been very lucky. It was quite cool all day today and that awesome breeze made it almost too cool.

This man died in his sleep in an alburgue in Logrono in 2013. He was from Liverpool and was on his tenth Camino.

And way out here in agricultural Spain, we saw this sign. For anyone who doesn’t know, that’s the company (and it’s predecessors) where I worked for 26 years.

More pictures with limited commentary below:

Churches:

Imagine these towns without the Pilgrims.

Signs:

Did Socrates really say it that way or was it Sargent Schultz? Anyway, we went to the second bar...the cool one....

Art everywhere....

This is Nick from Australia and we are in the town of San Nicolas..

Since we are trying to honor 43 (give or take) of Will’s girlfriends as we walk along, we think we have now covered about 22 (give or take). It wasn’t a beautiful morning, but maybe Will brightened someone’s day.