Sunday, September 19, 2010

El Camino es la vida

Good afternoon, evening, and night everyone,

No internet yesterday as well, but we are now in Burgos and since it is a pretty big city there is no problem finding a cafe. 

The walks yesterday and today went pretty well.  Yesterday´s didn´t start off as desired, with rain and wind for most of the walk, but it ended beautifully.  After a wet and windy hike up a mountain and then a long walk through a pretty dense forest, we emerged on the other side of the mountain, greeted by the sun and beautiful views of the countryside.  We stayed last night in a tiny town named Atapuerca, in a small but nice albergue.  The church in Atapuerca was beautiful, but unfortunately there were no masses offered there during the day and, if I understood the little old lady´s Spanish who was outside the church, not even on Sunday.  The Crucifix in there was probably the most beautiful I have ever seen, and the Church was very conducive to prayer. 

Amy from the UK has continued to walk with us and has been a lot of fun.  I still think she is a British spy or something, but she swears she isn´t--just like a spy would do. . . Her friend is joining her on the Camino in a few days, so she will soon be leaving our company.  But, we are seeing that the situation with Amy is pretty much par for the Camino--you meet people, befriend them, walk and talk with them, and then you part ways.  It´s kind of been sad leaving the people we have walked with, but at the same time necessary so as not to build up any expectations of needing to catch up with someone or go at a pace that is undesirable.

Staying in Atapuerca last night left us with about 20km to Burgos today.  Burgos is the biggest city we have hit since Pamplona and the hustle and bustle has been kind of shocking since we arrived this afternoon.  Shocking only in the sense that we have been in the country for the past 5 days or so.  Our total km´s since we started 10 days ago is 289.4 with 507.1 left between us and Santiago.  Today´s walk, although relatively short compared to a couple recent 30km days, felt longer than it was.  We saw Burgos at about 20km out and had to watch it for basically the whole trip, feeling as if we were never going to get there.  We had to navigate some city streets and avoid cars, but finally made it to our hostel and dropped off our stuff.

We ate some lunch and went to visit the Cathedral, which is probably one of the more stunning churches I have had the privelege to visit.  It is an 11th century cathedral that has been very well maintained and preserved.  You have to pay 2.50 to get in, but after seeing all that they do to make it look so nice inside, it was worth it.  We then went on a hunt for the bus station to check some times for Amy and then went to look for some new flip-flops for me since my old ones broke in a brief soccer match between me and some little Spanish kids. It was worth the break though since I scored a goal at the same time :-) 

I am now in an internet cafe and I just finished a nice cold "jugo de coco, con pulpa"--basically a can of coconut juice with pulp--blegh.  Burgos is nice but I am already ready for the countryside that awaits us.  From what I have heard it is pretty much just you and some fields from here to Leon, about 100km from here.  The quiet has been one of the best parts about the Camino so far.

Now I know this one has gone on long enough, but I want to share the meaning behind the title of this post.


There is something that I have been noticing and that I have talked to other pilgrims about since someone brought it up in conversation, and that is the feeling that I and other pilgrims get before leaving the albergue.  It is almost a feeling of dread but excitement at the same time.  This feeling is one that, when I meditated on it a little bit, I realized was one comparable to those experienced in the spiritual life.  The dread comes from knowing that another long slog awaits with possible blisters, stubbed toes, twisted ankles, etc., but the excitement comes from knowing that we are one day closer to our final goal and that great blessings will come during the day.  When one makes the decision to change the way one lives one´s life and to follow Christ, there is an excitement knowing that this life that they are living is one that will find them united to God in heaven. But, the dread comes from knowing that it is not going to be easy, knowing that the life of complacency and spiritual laziness that they are leaving behind is "easier" than taking that step and moving towards our Lord.  The blisters and other ailments are things that, while they may seem to slow us down, are what actually help unite us to our Lord in the journey.
      I need to do some more meditation on the Camino-Real life parallels--There are much more than I realize right now.

Well, until next time, know that you are all still in my prayers.  God Bless you.

Paul

2 comments:

  1. Paul,
    Beautiful post. Thanks for sharing. Praying for continued insights.

    Love,

    Dad

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  2. Praying for you, Pauw!

    Love and miss you tons.

    Yub,

    Kelts

    ReplyDelete