Camino Day 7: Villatuerta to Villamayor de Monjardin

We have been on the Camino for 1 week, and it is still a struggle each day. Tonight, though, we shared a pilgrims' supper with a Camino veteran who shared some much needed wisdom. She said: the Camino is like life. The first part, through the Pyrenees, is like childhood; you feel your emotions strongly and get to know your body. Next comes the teenage years, when you feel unnaturally confident and strong, you think you know exactly where you stand as you cross the rolling hills of Northern Spain. Then, the adult years of responsibility as you cross the long, flat, hot meseta, and begin to climb the fairy hills of Galicia. And finally you begin to see and believe in the end of it all: Santiago and, if you are lucky, Finisterre-- the end if tbe earth, your golden years, the years of age and wisdom.

I am, without doubt, firmly in my Camino childhood. I am easily angered, I often curse starting this journey, then just as swiftly feel the purest joy I have ever known. I long for my teenage years and adulthood, and the confidence they bring. Like real life, I'm sure I should savor my chilhood, but it is hard to appreciate the depth and beauty of it while in it.

Tomorrow, I will practice being a child. I will try to accept all of my emotions, and appreciate them for what they are.
I will learn and know my body.

I started tonight by singing at the top of my voice in a the tiny, empty, Romanesque church of San Andre, that you could light for a one euro coin. I listened to the sound reverberate off the barrel vaults, alone, witbout ego, without skill, without illumination, and reveled in the sound...and I was happy.

Aprx. 8 miles today.