el camino interior
empecé el día en la misma manera que ayer - que es decir en una manera lentamente. comí un desayuno en el albergue en castrojeriz antes de empezar con la etapa de hoy. solo unos veinte kilometros hasta boadilla del camino, porque no hay camas en frómista hoy. pero, me gusta caminar un poco despacio, porque ahora ya fueran quince días de caminar.
eventualmente voy a haber un día para descansar completamente. quizas en sahagún o despues en león.
initialmente saliendo de catrojeriz hay una subida hasta el alto de mostelares. vistas muy bonitas hasta el horizonte en cada dirección. unos ocho kilometros despues llegaremos en la eremita de san nicolás de puente fítero, gestionado de hospitaleros de perugia, italia. es un albergue donativo.
pasamos el rio pisuerga con muchos pajaros diferentes. pablo de suiza está caminando conmigo hoy. me dío unas explicaciones en aleman sobre pajaros.
una lista de pajaros que vimos en aleman:
schwarzkehlchen, grauammer, raubwürger, goldammer, wendehals, nachtigall, buchfink, trauersteinschmätzer.
nos encontramos con dos mujeres coreanas - heewon jeen y su madre miran. y tambien encontramos mateo y barbara del piemonte, italia. mateo tiene una carretilla especial que pone con todas las cosas para dos. hizo un problema hace dos o tres días, en la etapa antes de burgos, cuando rotó la báscula (i had to look this one up) de los ruedas. pero el camino siempre ofrece ayuda, no? un mechanico les ayudó a reparar la carretilla.
caminé todo el día con pablo. el tiene ochenta años y yo dije antes que queria caminar lentamente. pablo camina al menos diez kilometros cada día en suiza y aqui en el camino camina muy rapidooo.
en ingles para el resto:
after arriving into boadilla at the albergue en el camino, after showers and handing off the laundry to the hospitalero eduardo (who seems to have una veina artistica judging by the albergue’s courtyard and the paintings on the walls), we go and have a late lunch. i had the opportunity to observe eduardo for a bit - he looks at new arrivals once and greets them in their language. he wasn’t wrong once, while i observed him. no idea how he does it.
i have a conversation with fernando from aranjuez, south of madrid, between madrid and toledo. i haven’t ever been there, but if the opportunity arrises, i will visit. he recommends classical music - el concierto de aranjuez - by the spanish composer joaquín rodrigo. i look it up on spotify and the first link is to the concierto being played by a brass band from my home-state of tyrol, austria. i will listen to it tonight before going to sleep. gracias fernando!
today, i finally have time (and the will) again to go back to some thoughts about philosophy. continuing from the earlier post ‘after the rain comes the mud’.
attention - philosophy warning…
there i wrote about the basic virtues in stoicism, the three disciplines of desire, action and assent, about the dichotomy of control - that only our considered judgements, our opinions, our goals, the values we adopt, and finally the decisions to act or not to act are up to us.
everything else, our bodies and their health, relationships, careers, reputation, material wealth, are not.
other people may influence us, but in the end the buck stops with us (you, me). one can try to influence something, but in the end you don’t get to decide. hence, it is a wise idea to shift the focus from external to internal, to try and deliver your best, try and be the most loving being you can be, try to deliver abundance of heart - yoyu. in that sense yoyu is about trying, and trying again.
remember, that anything you own is on loan from the universe and can be gone just like that - in fragments of time. things can be lost, people move away, take a different path, souls move on. be thankful for every moment lived well.
in relation to challenges along the camino - first and foremost, snoring fellow pilgrims come to mind - i wrote about coping strategies earlier. the mental preparedness and of course the noise-cancelling headphones. they do help!
but even more help can be found by developing equanimity - you are not disturbed by things in themselves, but by your judgement of things. so, look around. are you blaming others? yourself? don’t judge! take everything with a pinch of salt. try to see the funny side of things.
be greatful for what is. don’t add self-inflicted injury to what already happened.
warning over.
this brings me back to what else happened today. i had time to observe six (!) pairs of storcks (cigüeñas) on top the iglesia, building their nests and feeding their young ones. of course i tried to photograph them, but they fly rather fast - so not much success.
instead more photos of my surroundings at the albergue that don’t move so fast.
and yes, i told the cats to leave the birds alone, paul!
to be continued tomorrow - i will carry on the walk to carrión de los condes, approximately 26 kilometros from here.
please let me know if these thoughts on philosophy continue to be of any use. in case you don’t want to comment publicly, there is a contact form available here on the webpage also.
lastly, sorry for the photo bomb, but i used the camera a lot today. if you made it to the end, you have my respect!
