A Few Final Thoughts

The only regret I now have about my Camino is that I did not take an iPad with me to blog as I went. Contrary to what I was told, the wifi was amazing, even in the smallest of towns.  Especially in the smallest of towns.  There were only a handful of places where it was non-existent and they were usually at the higher elevations.  Note to self:  do not take advice from technologically challenged people -- yeah, you know who you are!  So it's time to wrap up my post-Camino reports.  Oh I may throw the odd one out there if circumstances warrant it, but for now here are a few final thoughts.

Eating on the Camino was definitely not one of the highlights.  Oh I'm sure there is some fabulous cuisine to be had in Spain.  Just not on The Way.  As in most European countries locals eat late.  'Real' restaurants open about 9:00; albergues have a 10:00 curfew.  The two don't jive.  So most places, especially the small towns with one place to eat, offer a pilgrim menu.  And let me tell you, some of those meals put the "grim" in "pilgrim."  But the price was right, typically about 9E for a starter, main course, dessert, plus wine or water.  And by wine I mean 1/2 bottle per person.  Most times the starter was a choice between a mixed salad or a pasta in some kind of weak tomato sauce.  Main was usually roast chicken, pork chops, or fish.  Served with fries.  Every time.  Every single time.  Dessert -- fruit (an apple), yogurt, or ice cream.  The kind in the little plastic cup that used to come with a flat wooden spoon.  You ate to fill a hole and to load up on carbs.  But every now and then you'd hit on something different.

This dessert came at the end of a pretty decent 6E pilgrim meal and it was even better than it looked.  Thin layers of real chocolate in between vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.  I'm drooling just writing this....

And then there was the drink...the wine, the beer, the brandy.  I consumed some mighty fine red wines and some of the biggest, cheapest, coldest mugs of beer on the planet.  But it was the jug of Sangria at a small, private albergue in Sansol that stands out in my mind. The bartender made it on the spot:  red wine, fresh cut fruit, orange Fanta, and, what I'm sure was the key ingredient that made it stand out from any other sangria I've ever tasted -- Cointreau!  That it came at the end of a very hot, long day of walking enhanced the taste I'm sure.  That I got to drink it while soaking my feet in a brilliantly cold foot pool, well, that's just heaven on earth.

Did I lose any weight on this journey?  The scale said no.  Mind you there were two weeks of eating, drinking, and not walking 30 km/day in Italy tacked on to the end.  But my clothes said yes.  I could take my shorts off at the end without having to undo them.  I'm kind of happy I didn't come home ten pounds lighter because there would be no way to sustain that.  As much as I enjoy walking, in the real world I just don't have time to walk six or seven hours every day.  But I sure do miss my more toned Camino body.

I had every intention of writing a book about my experience when I returned home.  But it's not going to happen.  I went alone because it was a personal journey.  The best part of the journey, the absolute very best part, was all of the people that I met.  Some I walked with for a few days, some just a few hours.  But I found the people I was meant to be with and we covered much of the journey together.  So the Camino is not my story alone to tell.  As I would never post their photos without their permission, nor would I tell their tales.  So other than the few tidbits that I do share, the journey will remain very much personal.

Did I have any great epiphanies as I walked?  Well, I learned that I don't know the lyrics to very many songs.  Many people walk the Camino while they consider life changing decisions.  I think the big thing I came away with was this:  I've got my shit together and my life is pretty damn good.  You can't ask for more than that.

Unless it's a hamburger the size of your head.  Or a fountain that dispenses wine as well as water.

To all who follow, I wish you a Buen Camino.  May the sunrise always be at your back.

    

Because if it's not, you're going the wrong way.


Book Reviews:  I picked A Sudden Light by Garth Stein because I totally loved his previous novel The Art of Racing in the Rain.  This one, not so much.  A tale of family redemption wrapped in a ghost story.  I'm not a fan of books that impart huge chunks of info during dream sequences.  It was just a so-so read for me.

Laline Paull must have done a huge amount of research to write The Bees, a fictionalized account of life in a beehive.  Her depiction of their actions and behaviours was fascinating.  I'll never be able to look at bees again in the same way, or wasps and spiders for that matter.  Well done.