Tuesday, September 8, 2020

Feelings on Camino

Now that Camino is over physically, the journey itself, the more special part remains to be analyzed, the emotional experience. It seems entirely natural to me the nervousness and anxiety at the beginning of the trip, but also the frustration and helplessness when one by one the flights were canceled. Once the possibility to go by bus came our way,  I said now or never, it is the gateway to the great adventure, and our desire is overwhelming.

Arriving in Zaragoza after 36 hours by bus, the flame of love seems to ignite slowly. After years the longing to return to Spain becomes another reality, given that we spent our youth there. Walking slowly through the busy streets of Zaragoza, something attracted me to a certain place, only to later understand that the true experience is born and remains in the heart.

All my life I had the problem of not accepting something with a full heart, if I could not give something in return. This time everything started to change, the love with which I received as a gift the trip on the Camino, in fact, was the beginning of a trip to myself.

With the physical fatigue that gradually set in, the existential thoughts and questions: "what is the purpose of the journey", "why continue the journey", "why right now", did not give us peace. I understood that these disturbances were not ours as beings, but of all the pilgrims who at one point made the Camino, because we knew all too well why we were there.

We were part of the long line of pilgrims who for centuries learned and made the great initiation of the Earth's love. You learn to listen to your thoughts, body, nature as a whole, from which you as an individual are like a speck of dust. Fatigue gradually disconnected the nervous system from the machine called body and gave you time to relate and live with the multitude of pilgrims who carried over the centuries the entire inner transformation of humanity.

Gradually you forget about the fancy physical desires and you are satisfied with the minimum related to food and rest. You experience the joy of a sip of water, which cools your body under the scorching summer sun or the pleasant breeze.

We had the opportunity to walk hundreds of miles without seeing the shadow of a man outside the locals, who worked in the fields, but I never felt alone.

We have become deeply grateful whenever divine intervention manifests itself visibly, taking care of us and guiding us, of course, through people.

I learned not to react, even if someone else's behavior left something to be desired.

I learned not to be touchy and to understand that through us some people manage to keep their business afloat. 

I learned that life itself is a special Camino that you have to live consciously, to rejoice and cry, not to give in when it gets harder, but to find the strength to move on.

Buen Camino, peregrino!

 







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Feelings on Camino

Now that Camino is over physically, the journey itself, the more special part remains to be analyzed, the emotional experience. It seems ent...