Here is what the approach to Santiago looked like. 

1. Red Bull had a tent with blasting music, comfy chairs and, of course, free Red Bull for all Pilgrims (just like the final stretch in a marathon)

2. Coooool park overlooking Santiago with beers and snacks and, oh yeah, yet another cute church

3 Notice the stone statues; this was something out of a visionary arts museum – dozens of stone sculptures in this guys front yard. He gave me a personal tour, also showing me his workshop when he could see how incredulous I was at the idea that he had carved all these statues!

4. THE CATHEDRAL and since it was Saint James celebration, there were thousands of people including pilgrims trying to get in

5. Firework celebration of our arrival (ok, actually celebrating Saint James day, but we liked to think it was just for us)

It been a little bit of a disquieting time; Rusty passing, arriving in Santiago, reconnecting with Troy (we had been traveling separate for two weeks), walking to the “end of the world,” hanging in Finisterra, and now walking again for the last time before returning to USA. I feel discombobulated, ungrounded. I am still crying at almost anything including this most awesome German Shepard that insisted that I stop and spend time with him; he looked at me with those Rusty eyes and I just stopped everything to pet him. 

It is always challenging to end a vacation and this one has its own special challenges. The simplicity of this life will be missed; I get up, I put on my boots, I start walking and I follow the arrows.  I often wonder how I will incorporate the lessons of The Camino into my life; what can be simplified? Is it our lives (i.e. the activities and things) that need to be simplified or just our attitude toward life. My guess is it’s the latter.  But what does it mean to approach life with a simpler attitude? Less drama, more acceptance, more grounded in the moment, less worry about things you cannot control (which is everything), etc. 

theBuddhists say that ALL attachments lead to suffering, not just attachments to material pocessions, or people, but attachment to worry, to goals, to “needs” etc.  I do not interpret this to mean that we are not supposed to love, or to have goals/plans, etc, but that we are not to be prisoners to our loves, our goals, our desires. I understand this to mean that we should revel in the beauty of loving, but not become a prisoner to its power.  Or, that it is fine to make plans and goals, but don’t be controlled by them, be ready to change plans at any given moment. This has been well practiced on The Camino and I am hopeful can be brought home to Annapolis.

Reflections on the Meaning of faithA really personal topic, right? And often confused with the word “religion.” But the last few days have provided much opportunity to ponder what faith means to me. 

As most of you know I was raised nominally Jewish, Bat Mitzvah, Yom Kippur, Passover, etc as well as Xmas and Easter sunrise service. While I culturally identify as Jewish, I feel more spiritually alighed with Asian/Indian belief systems. I mention this mostly as a disclaimer. The most important spiritual message I received from my Jewish upbringing was “the reward for a good life is ……. (drum roll please) a good life. And I don’t even know if that’s just something that my dad made up.

But the the lesson I am relearning over and over again on the Camino is that we are taken care of, that we “do not walk alone.” This message is articulated by Christians as I “walk with Jesus, he is my protector” but it is a tenant of ALL faiths, even the one I made up for me. In fact, I think it IS faith. The KNOWLEDGE, the absolute certainty that your “God*” is taking care of you; that is faith. And it is a lesson of The Camino over and over again in big and small ways. 

*I prefer to genarlly use the word “Universe” but “God” is easier to type and more accessible to many people. 

Here are some examples of being taken care of on The Camino. I wanted a banana and out of nowhere a banana appears; I wanted a foot bath and as we check into the Albergue the ‘hispitalitaro’ comes up to me and offers me a foot bath (with Epson salt). 

But the story where I was stranded 24 km from The Camino was more significant to me. This was when I was in the middle of my “off Camino” experience and I WORRIED and stressed over what would happen IF I couldn’t get a ride back to The Camino. I completely stressed out over a future moment instead of just living in the moment and having faith that it would all work out; all I needed to do was be patient and let life roll out. 

This kind of situation happens many times a day (especially if climbing a mountain); I stress if I am going the right way and all I need is to be patient and a way-marker will appear. Or I stress over if I have enough water and all I need is to be patient and a fountain will appear. I stress over many things and all I need is to be patient, live in the moment, and let the moment take care of itself. Cause the truth is that worry does no good anyways; what is, is what will be. Have faith and you will be rewarded. 

So I am finally posting my reflections from July22:

I am feeling so very blessed to have had been with Rusty for 11 years of his life. He taught us all about love and he was my protector. I always felt safe knowing Rusty was in my life. I am so happy to say that I have had two dog “experiences” since he passed (actually one was before he passed) and I feel very lucky knowing he is still with me.

Second: this Camino thing is such an interesting experience; today I again connected with a group i affectionately call the “English Speakers” who I have seen off and on throughout my entire trip. We all started in Saint Jean Pied du Pont and leapfrog each other in our progress. The English Speakers have almost become a cult, growing in size to TWENTY ONE pilgrims who all travel together. Crazy!! I could join them but …… I love having my independence, not held to a schedule, a number of kilometers per day, a time to stop, etc.  But I do enjoy meeting up with them from time to time in random places.

Its amazing to be frequently running into people you know when you are in the middle of nowhere in a foreign country. Just imagine stepping out of a bar (quick bathrooom break) that was just on the outside edge of a little town and seeing Camino friends who invite you to go to dinner with them at “the best octopus restaurant” in Spain!!!!  Seeing as I had already done 30+ km that seemed like good enough reason to stay in town. And we DID have the most awesome squid.

But it was also an interesting experience and lesson about judging people. The group I joined, who I had been leap frogging with and who were tangentially in the English Speakers cult, had previously struck me as “Camino Partiers” which most of the English Speakers are. By Camino Partiers, I mean the people who appear to be only doing the Camino for the party aspect; they seem bereft of spirituality and depth. One of them actually walks with a boom box blaring music (geeee do I sound a wee bit judgmental !?!). Anyhow, I hang with them every now and then, especially when they are going to have the “best octopus on the Camino.” Plus, I can’t really ever pass up a good party.

So, there we are eating yummy octopus, when I start asking everyone about what their most meaningful experience on The Camino has been. Well, it was amazing, these guys were actually very eager to talk about their more personal and meaningful experiences, almost as if no one had asked them before. And they were also quite eager to hear each other’s story as though they were just waiting to be told. Clearly they had never talked to each other about this and were very engaged in each other’s stories.  So , there you go; they were not bereft of spirituality or depth, they just didn’t know how to initiate a discussion about it. Shame on me for judging them, although I am happy that I reached out and asked them to share.

Then, that group retired due to drunkenness (consumed multiple bottles of wine enroute) but I continued to walk around the town (Melide) and kept running to random people I know, in a random city in the middle of nowhere Spain! I run into Simon from Poland and his friend from Thailand. So I hang with them for a while. This is a “Camino Couple” that I don’t actually have much in common with, except that I was eating dinner with them when I found out Rusty died so we have shared some intimate moments. We pass a plaza with music I decide to listen to the music and they keep going. Then I see another person I know and we all get mojitos together at the outdoor bar and not long after that we are joined by the English Speakers. Wow!! Here I am in a random town in Spain and I keep running into people I know!! Wow!! And we all party together!! And so many different countries! Every table I am at always has representation from at least four different countries including USA, Germany, Poland, Taiwan, South Korea, Holland, Ireland, Hungary and Australia.

There was awesome music (DJ) and awesome drinks and I pretty much danced the night away until my bewitching hour of 10 pm (albergues LOCK the doors at 10pm). While there really isn’t any such thing as a ‘typical pilgrim experience’ this was a pretty typical pilgrim experience.