Leaving Spain

Fifty | Garden | Ninety | Twenty-Five

4 September 2022

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This morning I find myself flying out of Santiago de Compostela even though I didn't manage to walk here as planned. I did make it like 300 miles though, and learned alot about myself along the way. And about humanity. Our species is at it's best when striving toward a common goal. I saw that in spades on the Camino. We were all part of this amorphous community moving at different speeds for different reason but all in the same direction. The people running the albergues often saw it as humanitarian work, helping the peregrinos. My fellow peregrinos, whether they understood me or not, were always there with a smile and a buen camino (or bon camino as I entered Galician territory). Many of them I saw more than once, and a number I now count as friends. About myself I learned that my capacity for suffering is great, and that I only really need water, food, shelter, and community. Okay, I should probably add warmth to that, but I didn't real have to spend time looking for it during August in Spain. We spend so much time and energy on things outside of those basics that we just don't need. I hope I can transfer some of the simplicity of life I found on the camino back home with me.