It’s day 8 of my journey through the Camino de Santiago and wow what a journey it has been!
Over these past 8 days I have trekked 175 miles/ 281ish km with my pack on. (I know, I didn’t think it was possible either!)
I meet new fascinating people who love to have deep conversation every day (which y’all know I thrive on.)
I see views that one only sees in the movies & more life revelation than I could have ever imagined.
The Camino is a lot like life.
I know… weird, right?
So first, each day on the Camino you are constantly meeting new people. There are individuals who you meet & maybe see once or twice, then never again. Then there is the group who you are looking forward to seeing each night in the municipal. In all honesty, these people become your family. I remember the first day seeing an older gentleman and a younger guy sharing food they had bought and thinking “wow, that’s really nice.” However, that’s the norm here. Pilgrims are constantly offering their food and other various items with one another, sharing EVERYTHING. (much like the body of Christ) There is one guy (Jon aka the sweedish cook) who cooks lunch for a group of us every single day. You walk up a huge mountain and just when you think you can’t imagine taking another step and you see a friendly face from your fam that encourages you and pushes you forward that last 4km. Every single night when we see one another it’s like seeing a long- lost relative. This relates to life in so many ways, you are constantly going to have people ebb and flow throughout life, but people who remain the same. People that will share with you, and people that encourage you when you feel like you cannot go any further.
Second, you realize just how far your willing to push yourself physically. Every day your legs are aching and sore, and the next day you wake up just to do it all over again. Today when we finally arrived at our destination, I was so excited just to realize we still have 25 more minutes of walking. I could have cried because there was not a part of my lower body that was not in pain. There are a lot of times I wanted to quit but continued to push myself forward. This also relates to life. There are gonna be times that its really hard and you want to give up. You have the choice to move forward or take the easy way out. Just to let you know at the end of the day when you finally reach your destination, there is a satisfaction that nothing or person can take away from you.
Third, step out. Jump into intentional conversation asking the deep questions. I cannot tell you the countless conversations I have had that just gave me life. Conversations about our faith, dreams, fears, and ambitions. Practice your Spanish, even if your super nervous. I just have been using as much as I know, and have been able to understand & talk fairly well. I mean really how are you supposed to improve if you never try?
Below are some pictures of some of the people I have met thus far and views from my walks each day!
