Wednesday, July 2, 2014

MY Camino

What keeps the sacred sacred. What is it that allows a religion to last thousands of years, through generations of change, yet stay the same. Be a constant. Be a pillar. Be a reason. Be the heart. Be forever. The answer...that is the sacred part.

Last year I made a decision to walk across the country of Spain on a thousand year pilgrimage in pursuit of...well, I don't really know what I was after.

After my contract finished at the English school and I had the time, I took a plane to Madrid, a bus to Astorga and my feet to Santiago. The way of Saint James, something holy for Catholics, magical for the spiritual, and challenging to the health nuts. To me, it was a long walk to find my destination.

What I expected on this trip was much alone time, a lot of deep thoughts, meeting angels along the way in form of others. Lots of crying. Writing a novel. Nobel prize winning novel. Then becoming a millionaire. Not what I got.

I met so many people, it wasn't much alone time at all. My thoughts mainly came to my feet. My aching feet. I met people from around the world, Italians, Spanish, Brazilians, Germans, Americans, and all of them made me think of people I already knew. People that were my home.
I did write everyday, about what I experienced that day, how each day was different, yet I ran into the same people. I didn't discover one overall feeling the entire trip, but many everyday. Really the camino is life, in a short period of time.

The camino is where you meet people you will most likely never see again. For a few days they are your best friends in the world, and days later you struggle to remember their names. It is life a quick pace. People come and go.

It is a place that throws you into the unknown, and makes your motivation utterly painful. I want to learn languages, because I (the loud speaker of the world) craved talking to people.

I didn't find a profound meaning to life. I just found life. I was sad somedays. Sometimes I sang so much I couldn't stop smiling. Sometimes I didn't think of more the huge blister on the back of my foot due to ill-preparation. Stupid me. My back hurt. My skin dried. My hip popped. My feet really hurt. Also, my heart fluttered. My smile widened. My thoughts relaxed.

And while going through life so quickly was wonderful, arriving to Santiago to see people I had met only days before was a real triumph. I was extremely happy to congratulate them. Happiness for others I have only felt a few times in life. But hey this is life quickly.

Santiago was many people's destination. Some went further to the see. But my destination was not there. Not in Spain. Not within a 1000kms. My destination was home. My camino brought me home to Italy. To the food I missed. The make-up I missed wearing. The family I missed talking to. Yes, my camino, MY Camino brought me home.

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