Day 22 on the Camino Way

The Camino Provides! That’s a mantra of this particular culture. It means to say that if you need anything then the culture that is the Camino will provide what you need. This pair of hiking boots is in excellent shape and is the Solomon brand. The tread is almost new. And someone simply left them on a sign post along the way. There was a guy not far behind us who was wearing boots taped round with duct tape. I don’t know if he stumbled upon these boots, but Sally and I are hoping so.

Another Mother’s Blessing

As we walked out of the city of Leon, this mom was standing behind the window waving at us. I made the sign of taking a photo. She nodded yes, and then opened the window and stood there holding her baby and with a big smile. I know this is mushy stuff that means nothing really in the long haul. But it’s one of those gestures that make our day. We stood there and waved and she waved back. And then she called out ”Buen Camino,” and we happily moved on. Little gestures mean a lot when you are walking in the dark through an unfamiliar place looking for yellow arrows. Actually, little gestures mean a lot, period! Let’s do more of them, especially for the stranger within our gates. Yeah?

Wrong Choice Big Price

This morning, we took a wrong turn and it cost us big time. The trail split into two—both paths remained the Camino, but one was the right one for us and the other one was not. We chose the wrong one. This meant we had to walk along a busy highway for 21 miles. Our day was slated to be 14 miles on a more quiet and interesting path. Lesson learned.

And what is the lesson? It’s this, I think. When it is decision time, then stop, ponder, be as certain as you can be, and THEN move. We stopped, pondered, but didn’t make certain. What’s the rule?—measure twice, cut once? Yeah, that’s the one.

In our defense, not that we need to defend ourselves, I know, but this is the first wrong turn in 21 days. But no matter, when you make a wrong turn, you pay. We paid.

Had to Leave Leon

It was cold and dark, but we had to leave Leon—simply had to. We were in a hotel with air conditioning, a wonderful shower, a bed to die for, and did I mention air conditioning? The choices for food were staggering—eating places everywhere and of every kind. We had an amazing salad and pizza—oh so good this pizza.

We had to get out of there. It was too comfortable. One thing we’ve learned over the last 22 days is that if you sit too long you don’t want to get up, and you stiffen up. We were told by friends that the breakfast in this hotel was the best they had the whole trip. But we couldn’t stay. We were going to, planned on it, and were looking forward to eggs and bacon and coffee and fruit and other good stuff. But we couldn’t wait until eight o-clock. The night before we said we were going to, but we didn’t.

I woke up at 5 to edit the blog one last time. I finished by 6. Sally woke then, and got dressed—now it’s 6:15. Then she reads over the blog post for any obvious spelling or grammatical errors, and also if there’s anything that makes no sense whatsoever. There always is, by the way.

Now it’s 6:30 and we are both dressed, feet prepared, shoes on, suitcases packed, and we’re looking at each other and neither of us wants to say it. But one of us does. ”Let’s go.”

“Yes, let’s go.”

So we go. One and a half hours later we are 3+ miles down the road and sitting in a local coffee shop. The place is full of locals. The guy making the coffee is delighted we are there. He makes us a grande coffee with milk, gives us muffins to go with it. It’s not bacon, eggs and toast, but it’s really good and we’re really glad we’re 3 miles down the road. It’s 8:30!

(As a quick aside—we bought a fresh baguette from him, stopped a 1/2 mile on at another small local place for cheese and sliced ham. Later, after our wrong turn, we shared this with Biata, an older German woman we have been on the road with since the beginning. She took the same wrong turn. We were able to continue and connect with our hotel for the night. She had to make taxi arrangements. It’s kind of sad when you feel better because someone else has it worse then you.)

Too Comfortable is the Enemy

I could be wrong about this, but I think there’s a whole bunch of people who are simply too comfortable and too stiff to move. Institutions and the people who run them have been settled in the comfortable old ways and thoughts that they are unable to think of anything new and innovative. And what’s worse than the fact that they are not thinking, is that they don’t want anyone else to be either.

I’ve decided some time ago that changing institutions is not possible. What I can do, and you too, maybe, is try not to get too comfortable myself.

Buen Camino!