Day 8 Begins!

Good morning! I actually have a chance to write as I am ready and rather than just wait, I remembered that we have Internet access here. We are in Arzua, just about 42 kilometers from Santiago. We have walked over 120 kilometers over that past 7 days...

We have walked through mist, rain, cold, heat, sun, shade - over mountains, through river valleys, up and down rolling hills and along some highways. We are in the area called Galithia - I am not sure if I have spelled it correctly, that is known for it sausage, Caldo soup (made with ham and kale), a delicious white wine that we had yesterday for lunch with ¨polpos¨ - octopus -in Melide. I have some great pictures of the woman taking 2 octopuses out of a huge pan filled with them and then snipping the legs up into bite size pieces and heavily drizzling them in olive oil. And, they were delicious.

Yesterday afternoon I got to really own being a ¨peligrina¨ or pilgrim. In the late afternoon, after we stopped for ice cream and got our 2nd pilgrim stamp of the day in our passport book, I took off thinking that I was following Vanda, our young (40 year old) and fastest walker. While I thought that she was really cruising, I thought that as long as she was ahead, then I would just keep on going. So I just kept on going. I found my own speed, my own rhythm and for 6 or 7 kilometers I just moved, sang my way up the big hills, delighted in the scenery, marveled (again) that I am actually walking the Camino, and walked, and walked. I was in my own space, in my own heart, in my own walk.

I am a pilgrim. I am a pelegrina.

I arrived in Ribadiso, a sweet little hamlet down by the river Iso, only to find that Vanda was not there. Oh. I guess she wasn´t ahead of me after all. So, I knew I had a little while before the others arrived. I called home as I had been looking for a phone at around 4-5pm for the past couple of days. We are 8 hours ahead of Colorado here. I got to talk with Alea and Michael which was so wonderful. Great to hear their voices and be with them over the phone and to hear about the end of school. I then got myself a large cold beer and sat down in a very visible spot. I got my journal out to start remembering the day. I was totally happy, totally content, and feeling so much gratitude and awe at this journey called the El Camino de Santiago.

I am a pilgrim. I am a pelegrina.

We arrive in Santiago tomorrow. While I am excited that we will be arriving, I am sad because this journey is going so fast.

I love getting up, walking, eating, laughing, sweating, walking, drinking, resting, walking, meeting other pilgrims. We keep meeting up with a group I call the Canadian Quartet, even though there is one Aussie in the group. A group of delightful women in their mid 50´s who have walked the whole thing and who met us literally as we took our first steps in Vega de Valcarce. And it turns out that Judy is walking because of Sue Kenney, with whom I am walking and who wrote ¨My Camino¨. They are all from Toronto.

What a gift. What a blessing. What a journey. What a path. I am so blessed. Thank you to all of you for your love, support and encouragement. Because of you, I am here.

Today we walk. And it is time to go.

Buen Camino.