I am sure that Kathy Streib when she read the Active Rain Challenge for December had a good idea I would probably include at least one post about my walk, known as A Camino, up through Portugal and Spain to Santiago de Compostela. Thank you to Lew Corcoran and Patricia Feager for hosting the December Challenge about those Aha moments we have all experienced in our lives.
When I set out on my Camino as my walk is called I did not have any specific ideas why. I knew that it was calling to me since I first discovered it, watched movies and videos and read more about it. It kept drawing me in, like a Siren whose song lures you. I actually had not realized till I started researching that there are multiple different Camino routes across Europe. The one most people know about was made famous by the movie The Way, filmed by Emilio Esteves with Martin Sheen about a father walking the route from St. Jean de Pied Port to Santiago de Compostela after his son dies attempting the crossing of the Pyrenees being hit by lightning. The father initially intends to collect his son's body and bring it home, but then decides to walk the Camino to discover his son and himself, scattering his son's ashes along the route.
Well, as I began my research I discovered there was a route from Lisbon in Portugal to Santiago de Compostela. I knew at once, my first Aha moment! that this was the route I was meant to take. Many people talk about how the Camino talks to you as you walk. Considering that tens of thousands of pilgrims have walked it over the years there is a lot of history and energy along the routes.
I had read about meeting up with other pilgrims as you walk, but my first day walking I met and saw no one. I walked 23 miles along sandy paths, cobblestone roads and tar macadam roads through nature parks and bird sanctuaries, along a river and beside train tracks. Finding my way by following signs some hidden some obvious of yellow arrows pointing the way.
I had a plan to stay at a hostel in a town, but on arrival it was very hard to find the hostel and when I did the company that sponsored it had stopped, so I had to walk back on myself to find a small hotel. It was a long day, but somehow very satisfying, even after getting lost, those arrows were not always so obvious, and finding my way back to my route. I found a small hotel and a restaurant for dinner offering a "Pilgrim Meal", these were usually no more than ten Euros and consisted usually of a vegetable soup, then rice and French fries with some type of meat or fish. Often wine was included, but I was not drinking at the time so just had water. I can assure you I slept well.
The next day I met my first pilgrim in the late afternoon and found my first hostel, small but adequate and ate dinner with several other pilgrims from around the world. I realized I was alone, but not lonely there were many new friends to make.
As the Camino progressed there were moments I felt the Camino talking to me, those Aha moments. For example, I was walking and reached an intersection with yellow arrows pointing in two directions. I did not know which was correct, but just sensed that the Camino was telling me to be patient and all would be revealed. It seemed like along time, but suddenly there was an elderly lady entering the intersection, she takes one look at me, yells Camino and points in the direction I needed to take, wishing me well with a Bom Camino as I thanked her and walked on.
This actually happened to me once more and again I sensed a presence and calmness that all would be made clear. I do not want to make this a longer post than necessary or one that details my Camino, that would take a book to be honest.
But, when I finished, I had walked 532 miles in just under a month averaging 23 miles a day. I had walked alone but was never lonely, there were people to talk to and moments of silence to contemplate life. I realized that life was going to be different but had never realized just how different it would be. My life changed from being married for 38 years to being divorced, to becoming single, alone rather than being in a marriage where I was lonely, to not being lonely.
I realized I was me for a reason when I saw this marketing piece, below, in a shop window in Lisbon as I returned home. That phrase has stayed with me. And I was not alone, meeting Annie my wife during Covid and getting to know her and marrying her.
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