Met a man named Hans several days ago and have been sort of ´hopscotching´ with him ever since... He is a big-wig at a Dutch company (or so I suspect from his very humble description of what he does...) funny, actually, in most cases people on the camino take several days to get to the question of - so, what is it that you do in your "real life"... sometimes it even takes a day or so to get to "what´s your name"?!
Hans is a very methodical, organized, planner sort and true to form has several little side projects going on as he walks the camino that involve ´lists´. The one I thought was interesting was the list for what constitutes camino stress. I haven´t asked him why he has chosen this topic, but some of the things on his list are rather funny ... things like: having to walk more than 10km in the morning before finding a cafe con leche, running into the same person day after day that you keep trying to politely get away from, a constant barrage of unsolicited advice from a stranger about how to care for your feet when you are 55 years old... and the list goes on...
I thought keeping this list was an interesting idea... I however, am not interested in the topic of stress... I have found the topic of peace has come up again and again on the camino... every now and then someone will say... "isn´t it peaceful / ahhh muy tranquillo" ... and so, for me, a ´what is peace list´has been taking shape in my thoughts the past couple of days ... particularly in the early hours. Some thoughts for the list so far: Peace is... being patient while you wait for the sun to rise, arriving in a new town and feeling like you live there because other caminitas / caminitos are waving and saying hello, the first smell of fresh air in the morning in Galecia, miles and miles of fields in front of you and not a single sound (except a few echoing cowbells), strangers sharing advice about good Albergues or sandwiches (bocadillos), someone you´ve never seen before coming up to you to tell you that ´so and so´has a knee bandage and they heard you needed one so if you go down the road and on your left you´ll find them in the plaza square; while alone on a stretch of highway a Brazilian man I´d never seen before came up to me and through broken ´portuguese, spanish, english´ politely asked if we could walk the next 7km together as this was was a particularly dangerous section and we should look out for one another... These are just a few instances when I´ve felt peace... there are others, but this list helps perhaps to give sense...
Less than 100km to go now...
Buen Camino,
A.
Hans is a very methodical, organized, planner sort and true to form has several little side projects going on as he walks the camino that involve ´lists´. The one I thought was interesting was the list for what constitutes camino stress. I haven´t asked him why he has chosen this topic, but some of the things on his list are rather funny ... things like: having to walk more than 10km in the morning before finding a cafe con leche, running into the same person day after day that you keep trying to politely get away from, a constant barrage of unsolicited advice from a stranger about how to care for your feet when you are 55 years old... and the list goes on...
I thought keeping this list was an interesting idea... I however, am not interested in the topic of stress... I have found the topic of peace has come up again and again on the camino... every now and then someone will say... "isn´t it peaceful / ahhh muy tranquillo" ... and so, for me, a ´what is peace list´has been taking shape in my thoughts the past couple of days ... particularly in the early hours. Some thoughts for the list so far: Peace is... being patient while you wait for the sun to rise, arriving in a new town and feeling like you live there because other caminitas / caminitos are waving and saying hello, the first smell of fresh air in the morning in Galecia, miles and miles of fields in front of you and not a single sound (except a few echoing cowbells), strangers sharing advice about good Albergues or sandwiches (bocadillos), someone you´ve never seen before coming up to you to tell you that ´so and so´has a knee bandage and they heard you needed one so if you go down the road and on your left you´ll find them in the plaza square; while alone on a stretch of highway a Brazilian man I´d never seen before came up to me and through broken ´portuguese, spanish, english´ politely asked if we could walk the next 7km together as this was was a particularly dangerous section and we should look out for one another... These are just a few instances when I´ve felt peace... there are others, but this list helps perhaps to give sense...
Less than 100km to go now...
Buen Camino,
A.
1 comment:
I am loving the blog, ACR. Loving it! Peace for me is knowing that my good friend is enjoying herself on a once-in a lifetime experience ...
Miss you!
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