28 days, 638 kilometers, 28 different beds, meals in at least 50 different restaurants, each of us getting at least one case of bed bug attack, at least two dozen flans for me, almost every kind of weather imaginable, more churches than one expects to see in a lifetime, countless new friends, each of us breaking our newer $150 boots, remnants of my $3 hat and gloves, PRICELESS!!!!
I have been very fortunate, to have had one tiny blister, to have slept and eaten well, to have not been sick at any time, to have had rich experiences, and to have had great company. I walked with a 79 year old Flemish woman walking in sandals because no shoes could contain her terrible bunions. I had to lance her blister the first night I met her. She hardly speaks any English so I point to her feet whenever I see her, she just shrugs as if to say, "What can I do, these are my only feet so I walk with them through rain, and mud, and snow." Simone says she is addicted to the Camino. It is her 15th and she is still walking.
I have read people's accounts of the Camino as a daily ritual of poor sleep, long mindless kilometers of walking, calorie packing dinners before collapsing to slumber only to wake up and do it over and over again, much like the movie 'Groundhog Day'. We have found ours to be beautiful. The miles keep getting easier and the hills more forgiving. The scenery is abundant and constantly changing. The birds speak to us and the wind whispers our song. The Camino is anything but boring. We are excited with each new town we end up in. We arrive, shower, and immediately do the last thing you'd expect-walk the whole town and enjoy it.
Everyone walks their own Camino. You get what you put into it. We have gotten our fair share and we love it.
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