solo hay una competencia
and its not the one where pilgrims get up early morning to walk fast, skip lunch, forget to see others, take the shortest route to the next village or town, don’t see the beauty along the way, definitely don’t see the snails trying to avoid the heavy boots in their best sprint, don’t hear the birdsong, can’t observe the moss growing on the branches, don’t get to bathe their feet in the little stream along the way, that isn’t even an official camino.
hablo de un otro competencia: sobre como podemos ser el mejor versión de su mismo.
obviamente nadie está perfecto (quizas perfecta). y nadie puede ser perfecto permanente. (always trying to observe the difference between ser and estar).
pero tratar o probar a estar/ser un buen hombre (en mi caso), me da una forma de libertad. siempre tengo la libertad para pensar en cosas otra vez - reframe things - llegar a juicios meditados. hechos están duro a aceptar solo por nuestros juicios.
si otras juzgan las cosas y crees que sus juicios están inadecuado, no los juzguez. en lugar de eso consolarlos como lo deseen. tienen que pensar y llegar a sus proprios juicios.
que crees tú?
i was walking solo most of today. in my head i first had this karnivool song again. i think it is called reanimation. the lyrics go like this: feeling along in a crowded place… i change the lyrics and continue the walk:
feeling alone in a crowded space
feeling alive in a lonely place
when i reached frómista, i headed to the first bar on the way for my desayuno. café con leche, zumo de naranja natural y tostada con mermelada. prepared by rosi de la republica dominica.
we spoke about different countries. she said, she doesn’t like the permanent focus on economic growth. that a lot of coast line in her home country is now plastered with ressorts and holiday homes. she prefers the quiet life in españa vacia.
no se come olio, no se come mineria, she said. she’s right.
i leave again, passing through the small town and out the other side.
soon i walk alongside a familiar face - sabrina from taiwan / korea. we talk. she tells me the reasons why she wanted to walk the camino. we come upon a sello especial (donativo), beautifully applied into our credenciales by un hombre que ama lo que hace.
sabrina tells me that ours has been the longest and deepest conversation she has had with a person from the west on the camino. westerners, we can do better! she asks me a question: how do you deal with sadness?
i tell her what i do, but also that everybody has to find their own way. i think, she has already started her own way. good luck for you and your future back in taiwan!
solo again, along an inofficial variant of the camino. i suddenly realize, that i walked this path before, and as i did last time, i completely bypass villalcázar de sirga and walk across empty fields, los picos de europa to the north in the distance. hence, i can’t tell you anything about villalcázar. but i’m sure its beautiful.
only at the very end, for the last three kilometers or so, i join up with the official camino again and check into the strictly catholic albergue espiritú santo in carrión de los condes. dormitories separated by gender. i meet joan from london again, myrto from thessaloniki, mateo and barbara from piedmont, paul from switzerland, evelin and melody from nz/melbourne/taiwan, mother and daughter from korea, and the chico from valencia, whose name is Juan. there are probably more fellow pilgrims here, that i know by face, or name, but that i haven’t met yet. off for some food now - hasta mañana.
post scriptum: yes, more familiar faces, carola from hamburg is here too and she tells me she reads my blog. danke! another friendly face from ingolstadt, two from denmark. slowly but surely everybody knows everybody, and everything about everybody, all the rumours going around!
