The best of both worlds

Since I've been having troubles getting internet, I'll hopefully have time to write 3 blogs now; one for 2 days ago, one for yesterday and one for today. Here's the first one:

Two days ago I was awoken in León by a wonderful hug. Molly was there at 7:15 and it was time to get a move on. When I was having breakfast in the lobby of the Albergue to my surprise Molly came into the lobby as well. I thought she and Kesha would have left, they said they were going to get a move on pretty early. Molly and I had a great talk that ended so well for me; a strain on my heart was lifted and the Camino proved yet again to have given me a chance to grow.

When Kesha arrived in the lobby we were all gonna get a move on but we just sort of "hung out" there. We talked, laughed, jested and were generally lazy. But later rather than sooner we got a move on. The route from the Municipal Albergue in León is poorly marked. We decided to see if we could find our way and with the help of a strange woman we found our way down a long long street. There at the end, after another lady's help, we found our way to the center of town and even though we found yellow arrows we were lost. It was a great time, we enjoyed ourselves immensly, naming our ankles, playing on instruments that weren't there and as always telling story's and discussing everything and nothing.

We finally got some instructions from a man on where to go when Kesha looked in her guide book and read that the Cathedral here was something that noone could miss. We ignored the directions and headed for the Cathedral. Thanks to getting lost and hanging out in the lobby we arrived exactly as the Cathedral was being open to the public. The guide book was right, the Cathedral in León is legendary for sure. We were all awestruck!

After a while I went outside to pray and meditate. I did so in the square infront of the Cathedral and it was really nice. After that I stretched and to my amazement the girls were still in the Cathedral when I was done. We all bought some postcards there and after enjoying it some more we got a move on...or so I thought. We were definetly having a day of smelling the roses!

Next we were going to go have something to eat and find a restroom, upon Kesha's request, but we were waylaid by another beautiful church, a courtyard after that and then generally the beautiful city of León. We finally got to a Café and had some food only to enter into a lifechanging conversation, a gift we were sure only the Camino could provide for people that had known each other for such a short time. It was truly amazing!

Lunchtime came and went and we were still in León, we hadn't even gotten 1 km closer to our destination of the day, some 28,8 km's away. But we were headstrong and decided that we could have the best of both worlds. We had an amazing day of tourism and experiences that can not be gotten in an hurry and now we also wanted to storm almost 30 km's that day.

We marched on and got in our rhythm's. Kesha walked the fastest, then Molly and my feet being what they are, and after my experience with power walking the day before, I came last. It was a great walking party, we didn't talk much while on the road but during breaks we chatted to our hearts content. We stopped at the most expensive restaurant I've ever been to and Kesha literally bent down and smelled the roses. After explaining that expression to her, we all knew that this was a day of smelling the roses. The girls stopped at every rose after that, actually smelling them to symbolize the day.

I walked without my ipod most of the way but when I finally wanted to hear something I was bored of my music. Up until this point I had only listened to music but thanks to my friend Mummi I have a bunch of other stuff on there. Thank you maestro Mummi, you are AWESOME!!! The first thing I listened to though was a spiritual speak from the program that's pretty much keeping my life in balance and I added that myself. It was great and I felt rejuvinated after it. But after that I needed to listen to something but I couldn't start something new. The pain in my feet was too great to concentrate on something new. I looked at my playlist and found a reading of my favorite book: The Lord of the Rings. Thank you Mummi!!! If you have walked the Camino or are walking the Camino I recommend you read the book again/for the first time. You will gain a new empathy for the characters as they walk through the wilderness! ;) The book is also really spiritual in nature, for instance this line: "Many who live deserve death and many who die deserve life! Can you give it to them?" Being in a spiritual state of mind while reading/listening to this book definetly changes the experience. And since it's my favorite book I have only one recommendation that you can take to the bank: READ IT!

When we got to San Martin del Camino, our destination for the day, we found out that Katrin and Antonello were only one town ahead of us. I asked the girls which was more important to them; rest or meeting up with their friends? They were quick to answer and we head out almost 8 km's more to the next town. The girls walked much quicker than me so I told them to walk ahead, that I'd catch up later.

The 36,6 km walk from León to Hospital de Orbigo was kind of crazy after the days I've had recently. I arrived there at 21:15 and the Albergue I stayed in closed at 22:00. I was so glad to get there and after greeting my friends, taking a shower and generally getting over the fact that I had decided to burn the candle at both ends that day => the computers were shutdown and I couldn't blog. We went to bed around 23:00 but not before Molly gave me a short but perfect foot rub. God bless Molly Magic!

I would recommend to people that want the best of both worlds to make sure that they have earned it so to speak, that they have enough energy to pay for the consequences. For when you want the best of both worlds, there are always consequences...