Day 5 on the Camino Way

From our starting point in St Jean Pied de Port to Santiago it is 775km—about 482 miles. Today we passed this sign which declares that we have 676kms to go—420 miles. So five days in we’ve walked about 70 miles—I’m adding in the 7 or so miles we walked from this sign to our hotel for the night. Seventy plus miles in five days, that’s about 14 miles a day.

In those five days, according to my heart monitor, we’ve burned 17,669 calories. That’s an average of 3,533 calories a day.

What’s Ahead?

Sally and I have 420 miles to go and 30 days in which to make it happen. That’s an average of 14 miles a day, burning 3000 calories each day. We are eating whatever we want and as much as we want. That’s kind of cool, actually.

Not Iowa, but Close

The last two days we walked though farm land—sunflower fields, wheat fields, olive groves, vineyards, corn fields, and herb gardens. It reminded me of my roots—my Iowa home. It was clear that these farmers knew how to farm. Beautifully cared for fields and groves and the vineyards were simply fantastic.

Local Knowledge and the Willingness to Share It

Over the course of the past two days we’ve been helped at least three times—always by locals. We will be walking down what we think is the right path and suddenly someone is shouting at us. We turn to look and that someone is pointing us to a different way. It’s an old man on a balcony in a village, a woman in a city, and a guy blowing his horn in another little place. Once we were at a flowing water fountain in a midsized town/village, and we were ready to fill our bottles when a woman from the village stopped and waved a finger at us. ”No! No!” she said as she pointed at a sign. The sign was in Spanish, but you could not miss the message—“Water Not For Drinking.”

It’s truly amazing how the folks in this region have embraced the care for pilgrims on the Camino Way. They have a saying ”The Camino Provides.” But it’s the people who are the Camino, not the trail—The PEOPLE. And I would submit that this is true in every place where people of good will are looking out for lost folks, strangers, immigrants, and any others who are in need of help. The people are the Way! We are the Way.

No Mary Today, But This Lady Instead

I’m not positive but I think maybe this is the Samaritan Woman at the Well. What she’s doing in the courtyard of a Catholic church is anybody’s guess. But I like her too. And I was happy to find her. She is a little worse for wear, right arm broken off, mouth a little messed up, but that almost seems appropriate. I think the Samaritan woman gets a bum deal with the labels put on her, but having had five husbands and then one who will not give you his name but take everything else he wants—I’m betting she was a little battered too.

End of Day 5

Buen Camino!