judgement day
i got up with the sparrow’s fart today (an expression i picked up from a fellow aussie). i start my walk today through old-town pamplona, where there are remnants of the labour day protests yesterday. nothing bad, just some broken chains on the ground and a fully-capitalist anti-capitalist souvenir shop.
i leave pamplona behind and the path starts to wind upwards to cizur minor. there i find a panaderia that opens a las ocho and have my cafe con leche and a zumo de naranja that the woman presses from fresh oranges - delicious.
as i start again, the skies have darkened. there will be rain today. so i start to walk at a brisk pace up towards alto de perdon.
then it starts.
conversations. speak little and well, say the stoics. they didn’t say anything about writing though - so here goes. while stoicism also says that one shall not be judgemental, i will let rip here a bittle (a little bit - invented by my daughter at an early age).
when you start a conversation with somebody, it is like testing the water when you are about to go in. what is it like? cold or not so cold? can you see the bottom? are there any dangers lurking under the surface? beware the crocodiles! normally there aren’t any, however, sometimes the water seems nice, but something is off.
the conversation starts with the usual - where are you from? what do you do for a living? i’m sorry, but i don’t know anything about your country - tell me about it. and i listen, as you are supposed to, right?
at first it is mostly historical facts, then mixed-in remarks about why he is on the camino. nothing wrong with reading the bible, even the old testament is fine, don’t have to take it literally. then he sparkles on top some supposed historical connections to the present day that aren’t necessarily there. he says that anti-fascism is the facism of our times, and that people like him will be sent to concentration camps by politicians like the spanish pm pedro sanchez.
seriously mate, are you for real?
i wait for three breaths, i ask myself what to do, if to answer, what to answer.
and i am lucky, so lucky. saved by the virgen maria of uterga, appearing at the side of the camino. i didn’t even pray. luckily he wants to (pray) and i can move on without telling him that i think he is wrong (my thoughts were more profane than that).
an hour later the rain has truly arrived. along with it lightning and thunder, a mere few hundred meters away. a bit scary actually. i wonder if lightning will strike me for being judgmental.
luckily, i survive to tell the story. drenched, but happy to have found a bed again.
prepare the bed, go and shower, dress in fresh(er) clothes, hang up the wet stuff, then off to the communal and kitchen area to download photos from the camera, and to think about what to write today. pretty much what you are reading here. i promised no filters.
the next conversation i don’t participate in, i just listen. a guy and a gal. and i guess my ears are somewhat judgmental too.
it is just small-talk, benign. then there is an interesting question - what are you trying to achieve by doing the camino? the answer is so short and quiet, that i can’t hear it. the next question throws me though - what car do you drive, he asks. she shruggs her shoulders, thinks for a while and then says - a corolla. he is excited - i drive a japanese car too. they are not so expensive, sensible, i save thousands every year, way better than what i had before. then the conversation is over, they get up and leave (seperately).
why talk at all when there is nothing to say?
anyway, while i think about being judgmental and while i probably am judgmental writing my report, and just as i think how it is possible to not be judgmental, when the thought has already entered the brain, a kind soul carrying a plate of risotto comes over and offers me late lunch.
how nice, i won’t need to worry about going out into the rain again to find something to eat, and i won’t risk being struck by lightning after all, not tonight at least.
apart from being engaged in judgmental thoughts for some time today, i quite enjoyed the walk. first up to alto de perdon, this iconic location with sheet-metal statues of pilgrim donkeys and humans, then down through the hilly fields of uterga towards puente. more rain tomorrow - i’ll see, what enters my brain tomorrow, no pressure i’m thinking, but maybe a bit less judgmental, not even to myself.
on to estella tomorrow. and it will be sunday, time for my weekly vaso con vino tinto.
