8 A.M. on the Camino, and nary a protein breakfast to be had most of the time. More often it was yesterday's purchased tin of sardines, a shared jar of room temperature green beans, and a banana, but it was breakfast that didn't need refrigeration or cooking. Hey, stop the gagging, and stay with me here. Every once in a while though, once a week at the most, something special happened. An egg appeared. Early. Cooked with little to no hassle or language issues, and yes, I'm being repetitive, and served with a side of delicious jamon. GIFT. Once there was an egg and dark chocolate and cafe solo all at one time and early morning. HUGE GIFT. Obviously, it was the little things that mattered. Another example, soap supplied to us in the room upon arrival: giggling with joy, we felt somewhat imperial using it as clothes detergent. More than once as we left a big city we had the welcome surprise of a fellow pilgrim up ahead of us who knew how to get out of the maze of city streets back to the simple Path and who didn't mind being shadowed like a sucker fish on a shark. Of course we can't talk gifts without mentioning the days that didn't end with a hill. Nah, that never happened: I'm just messing with you.
There were bigger gifts as well, so let me count the ways. An (extremely) old Spanish woman standing in the blistering midday sun to let passing Pilgrims know road construction had changed the Camino to an unmarked route. No stomach problems, even with a restricted diet. Flowers, huge, and in every shade of blue, pink, red, and purple known to man. No rain at all, ever. Then there was Santiago. Even though it was the peak summer month of July, we had no line to get to the Pilgrim Office, walked right into the cathedral for mass, sat where we wanted, and even saw the swinging incense burner (though they had just swung it the night before). I could go on, but I must get to the people: scores and scores of fellow Pilgrims we met along the Way who all had the same problems to go through while walking, who all had the same destination. Along the Way, we laughed with them, prayed with them, chatted with them, and celebrated with them. On top of that, in Santiago, with thousands of tourists and Pilgrims milling about and going in and out of the city daily, we met every single person who was on our list to see again. If we didn't see them in Santiago, they were at the coast in Finisterre, where we went to decompress for a few days after finishing our pilgrimage. What blessings they were to us, and will continue to be for all our days ahead. These people and all the interactions with them were gifts we cannot adequately put into words.
Now that's not to say it was all fun and games. Church bells ringing outside our rooms all night long; people celebrating something, anything, all night long; storks clucking all night long; flies, scores of flies both night AND day. Not a big deal in the grand scheme of things...but did I mention the non-existent screens for doors and windows? NADA. Let the flies roam-don't fence them in! We both endured and walked through terrible colds, all because we had to. Blisters: I got a small, relatively benign one, but my sherpa husband got one, then two, then three, and since that wasn't enough, one formed under another. Yes, it is not an urban legend that blisters can form under blisters, as we have firsthand, visual confirmation they can indeed. Our bodies hurt to some degree daily, more so at the beginning of the trek, but also somewhat at the end of the month as we wore down. Sometimes heat was an issue, or finding a place to wash and hang clothes, and sometimes even siesta was an issue, especially in towns (all of them) where hungry pilgrims do not factor into whether to close shop or not. "Forsake the euro, we need our rest!"
Perhaps you can somewhat fathom it was not an easy life. Guess what? I now know for sure that's not what I want. I don't want easier; I want simpler. I don't want more bang for the buck; I want less buck. In fact, I want less bang, less noise. I want to stay clearly focused on the daily walk God has given me, without the distraction of what tomorrow may or may not bring. I want to get excited over the provision of a hard boiled egg. I want to start the day with saying "Thank you" for the sunrise, or the fog, or the chirping bird, or the hill I have the ability to climb that day, and then not get distracted from that pursuit the rest of the day. No wonder people keep going back to do another Camino. (We met one woman from Vancouver who was doing her fourth.) People long for something simple and beautiful,, but not easy, which is exactly what a Pilgrim gets on the Camino. Is it impossible here? I think not. Will it take some practice? Will it take commitment? All great endeavors do. A little verse I committed to memory before my walk says in part, "Set you mind on things above, not on things of the earth..." (Colossians 3:2). That's a great place to start and a beautiful place to stay. Try it. If you are a Christ follower, it's not really up for discussion, as it's a focus on our Lifeline. If you don't consider yourself a person of the Way, maybe now's the time to set your mind on some of those high places and see what happens. Re-tighten your boots and get ready though, for it is one glorious and adventuresome BUEN CAMINO.