The fellowship of the Camino

Last night in San Juan de Ortega there was only one place to get something to eat, unless we wanted to get something out of a vending machine. We went to the place and tried to pull some tables together but were abruptly stopped by the owner, a real patrone, who only knew how to say NO and was obviously only equipped with ears for decorative purposes. Anaise tried to talk to him but all her sentences were interupted with the word NO and a long line of some derogatory words. Antonello was going to give it a go, see if he could reason with the fellow, but instead ended up storming away cursing as only an Italian can. It was an hillarious scene! We almost boycotted the restaurant but when the Italian temper had cooled off we decided that we could eat there after all. But they stopped serving real dinner even before our first attempt at eating there so we ended up getting huge sandwiches and laughing a lot about the "NO" patrone and many many other things.

This morning we woke up rather late and as usual I stayed behind to pray and meditate. My tendonitis was still quite painful and I wasn't sure I was gonna be able to catch up with them at all. But after anti-inflamitory cream and pills, a great breakfast and a serene meditation I started walking and to my amazement it didn't hurt a lot. Soon enough the pain seemed to subside and I was back in gear, my speed was back. I'm still tired though, this being the 12th day of walking more than 20 km a day! ;)

It was cloudy this morning and the countryside was so beautiful in the overcast sky and wet landscape. The air was so fresh after the rain and you could smell the wonderful aroma of the vegitation all around. Rescently the Camino has been taking us through one small town after another. I caught up with them in the second town after San Juan.

We had a great walk together today and shortly after that second town, Atapuerca, we found an amazing stone circle. We gave each circle a meaning and entered them with all our being. There were ten circle, one after another until we reached the center. They were 1) Energy 2) Love 3) Joy 4) Spirit 5) Happiness 6) Love (again, because it's so important) 7) Friendship 8) Self-discovery 9) Discovery of the world 10) Discovery of that which is eternal.

We travelled on through the day, Burgos being our destination. From San Juan to Burgos is 27,4 km and the arrival of members of my Camino family varied quite a bit. I see us now as sort of the first book in the Lord of the Rings and the sad thing is that I think that book is coming to an end. There is still plenty left of the story, 2 books according to the analogy, but we might do it in different groups from here on in. Tonight is Alexander's and Anaise's last night and their leaving, I think, will be symbolic for the end of the Fellowship of the Camino! We will most likely break up into smaller groups that will travel together, we might see each other from time to time but I don't think it will be the same (again, pretty similar to the analogy)! Now that we have arrived in Burgos all of us have pretty much hit our stride. Some will want to walk faster, some keep the same pace and others, be it because of pain/injuries or other reasons will want to walk slower. So tonight is our last night together as the Fellowship I think, our last supper if you will! I know I'm going to miss them but again, just like with the french guys, it makes me happy that I'll miss them; that means that I truly care for them and that we made an amazing connection in such a short time. Anyway, I'm sure we'll all meet up and have a reunion soon enough! ;)

This all made me think of what my pace will be. I know I'll travel more km's a day, most likely around my original goal of 28 km or even 30 km. My body was tired today, probably (again) because I've been going more than 20 km every day for the past 12 days. I'm hoping that I'll have more energy tomorrow and in the coming days. I was afraid this morning that my tendonitis would hurt for the rest of the trip and when the pain came back in the last 3 km of today's walk I became afraid that my trip would take me closer to 6 weeks than my goal of 4. I think the fear came as a result of the sadness I felt about the end of the fellowship of the Camino, bad feelings have a way of begetting bad feelings. I turned my attention to the fact that I was about to experience something new on my journey and the new brings endless possibilities. Fear was turned into excitement and I'm ready for the next part of my journey now!

I'm gonna go enjoy the time I have left with my friends now, especially the last supper. Stay awesome beautiful people, I hope that if good times are coming to and end in your life that they will bring new exciting times filled with wonder and amazement!