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Hi all my beloved friends and family and fellow vagabonders!
Well, our Camino has come to an end. We left Muxia by bus today, traveling back to Santiago de Compostela. We fly out tomorrow morning to Madrid, where we catch another plane to Bologna! Yay! Pasta! Pizza! Gelato! More gelato!
But I digress… I wish I could convey to you all how much I have loved walking the Camino. Reminds me of that scene in Contact when Jodie Foster says, ¨You should have sent a poet…¨ Our Camino was short, a baby Camino, but that´s okay, its what was right for our current situation. But I will come back and do a longer one. Maybe the entire Camino Frances, or more. I loved walking thru the Spanish countryside, and talking with the locals, and gazing at the endless loveliness. I found myself feeling really good about things. I took lots of pictures, so brace yourselves for the slide show!
You meet all kinds of people while walking the Camino. People taking a month off work, people in midlife crisis, people celebrating anniversaries, people looking for affordable vacations, but mostly people just looking. Looking for forgiveness and redemption, for themselves, for an experience with meaning… There were some beautiful folks I met, especially our sweet Isacio and Cristobal.
Then there was the leech. We met him our last day on the Camino. We couldn´t get him off of us! We tried shaking him off, we really did. It was a rainy, rainy day, and Hamsa and I got to navigate our way across a river (it was totally a blast!) and there, on the other side, after that fun adventurous Huckleberry Finn moment, stood The Leech. This was the name Hamsa gave him because he felt really drained by him.
Itś not that he was a bad guy, its just that I didnt want to spend my last day on the Camino hearing all about his divorce. Really, I didnt. I was feeling contemplative, you know. And so was Hamsa. You know contemplative? It tends to be a quiet state of mind. Telling strangers all the intimate details of your failed marriage just doesnt fit in there anywhere. Eventually he went on ahead of us, and we were able to have some quiet time again. Which was nice, because walking the Camino (even a shorter version like ours) tends to bring all sorts of things to the surface.
So we walked on through the rainy rainy day, through the soft, green, fertile landscape. (If you ever want to procreate anything, just spend some time in Galicia.) And at last we walked into Muxia, where our Camino ended. Hamsa said his Camino officially ended the moment he passed under the ¨Muxia¨ sign. It was a special moment for us.
And then there he was. The Leech. Walking towards us. And not by coincidence. No. He was looking for us. He started talking, I dont even know what about, because I was looking at Hamsa, who was desperately trying to hold on to his special moment. So I had to tell the guy, look, we need some time here, some time alone, some time to look at the sea and reflect. Fortunately, he was able to honor that and leave us.
So we looked at the sea and reflected. Special moment salvaged.
Then we went to town, found the supermercado and went to the albergue for the night. There we met other pilgrims, including you-know-who. Hamsa invited them to join us for dinner, so there we all sat having a stone-soup style meal while we talked about our lives, our selves, our experiences, and anything else. And in that context, our Leech became a Human. We got to know him, and even enjoyed his company. He had a lot to offer, and we no longer felt like he was sucking us dry.
It made me wonder, how many times in the past have I dismissed someone because I didnt like how they acted when I first met them, when if I had given them a little more opportunity, they may have turned out to be a lovely person. Yeah, okay, telling a brand new acquaintance about the painful details of your divorce is not socially acceptable in the USA, but maybe its cool in his home? Who knows. I just want to practice that concept of – less judgement, more curiosity –
Anyhoo, here is a pic of Hamsa crossing the river 
And another of him at the official end of his Camino
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Laura
Very inspiring Laura. You make me want to quit my job, you know the one that I love so much these days, and go on my own pilgrimage. Or perhaps I will just walk down to the pub and have a pint until this feeling passes.
Hamsa crossing river is such a phenomenal photo… I just put it in my “C” drive… Will print it and frame it for your arrival home… Many Blessings… RaTaTa and BLOSSOM BERRY!!!