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Published: July 13th 2010
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The Burgos Cathedral
Hit me in the face when I saw it standing there. I have some catching up to do. I broke from my "every other" habit. That is okay, because the camino is at a transition point.
Burgos marked the end of the first third of the journey. It is said that the first part is your past, the second is your present and the third is your future. As I began the second part, leaving Burgos in the wee hours yesterday, I passed through the strewn garbage from the celebration of World Cup victory. There were a few straddlers still heading home. The Spaniards were very very very happy, needless to say. I had the great pleasure of experiencing this event in Plaza Major, a big city plaza with a huge outdoor screen. There must have been 10,000 people gathered, all in red with the spanish flag pasted on their faces. The energy was at a high pitch. Spain absolutely had to win, or we were going to take cover and run. When the single goal was scored, I jumped up and down in pure lunacy with the rest of them. Admittedly I also bounced to that catchy Shakira song. They love her here, naturally.
So, walking out of the city the
In the Cathedral
Exquisite detail work everywhere. Mind blowing detail. following morning, onto the next phase. Not feeling very well rested, kind of dreading the walk. My feeling for distances has been wonky. Sometimes 10 km will feel like a breeze, sometimes 3km will feel like an eternity walking barefoot on hot coals. On this day, I felt pretty bad and as happens began questioning the whole operation.
"Just what the hell am I doing this for anyway?"
I remarked (to myself of course) that I´ve often done cool things because I imagined I was a protagonist in a great novel being written and hey, wouldn´t it be cool to be someone who did something cool like this?!!!, etc. etc. Anyway it´s not a bad instinct; it´s led me to have some really awesome experiences. And I imagine it will continue to. But as the "idea" of doing the camino began to fade, a kind of unknowing settled in. A friend had written to me the words:
"Not sure at all why you are doing this, but....."
and those words were sticking in me like cogs in a wheel. Grinding me down. Why walk this? Do I have to have a reason? Do I have to articulate it
clearly? What if I don´t know? What if my reasons are bullshit? What is a bullshit reason, anyway? And just who am I explaining myself to after all? I went through all that stuff. I finally settled on an answer: I don´t know. Just keep walking.
In Burgos I met a guy on a bench, basking in the sun. He was also a pellegrino. He spoke Italian and broken Spanish. I spoke English, French and less than broken Spanish. We managed. I told him I was feeling bored with this. That I was feeling kind of "so what?" about it. I told him I was asking myself "why am I doing it?"
"Ask the camino" he replied. "Ask the question to the camino and don´t answer it yourself. Wait for an answer and it will come.
So, walking yesterday with that question kind of floating somewhere just out of sight, but still within grasp, I kept walking. I started breathing and noticing my steps. Something began to settle down inside. I´d watch as my mind filled with chatter and then I´d kindly remind myelf to return my attention to my steps. Step. Step. Step. Step. Like that. The
steps were my feet breathing. Breath, breath, breath, breath. The terrain had changed. Now I was entering La Maseta, which sounds to me alot like Masada (in Israel). I associate Masada with desert. Here in La Maseta, it is pure golden wheat. With the sun high in the sky, the colors are pure desert. Golden and Blue. Endlessly. The road is flat here. When there is not much to look at, not much dramatic change in landscape, the attention naturally goes inward. This is probably also why they call this phase the part where you find yourself. This can mean a whole ton of wild, mystical, magical, epic, spiritual things, but really it is more simple than that. I just means you go: "Oh, here I am" and maybe you put some exclamation points on it like this: "Oh! Here I am!"
Walking along like this, I passed through a town where some of the other people I´ve been moving along with had decided to stay for the night. I was hearing myself a bit more clearly now and knew I needed to keep on a bit further. Walk walk walk. I came to a crossroad. To the left
Lunch
Wholesome and Savory a patch of trees and a medium sized hut. According to the guide book it was called San Bol and was apparently a dump. 8 beds, no running water, one meal cooked for you. I decided to take a look anyway. As I approached I could see it was a kind of natural oasis, a grove of very tall trees situated in the middle of this "desert" valley. The shade of the trees, combined with the presence of a well of mineral water created this delicous patch of pure joy. My soul did a dance. I knew I´d arrived in the promise land, at least for a day. I knew that my question had been answered. Why walk? I don´t know the whole answer, but something like this can happen! I quickly went down, washed my clothes in the mineral spring and slipped myself into the well, full body. My body and my mind and my spirit all had a very very good drink of water. Thus began a mellow day apart from the pack, drifting quietly in this magical secret oasis. As it turns out the amenities were top notch. It was like a bona fide meditation retreat hut.
The guide book was outdated and wrong! So much for following the written word. So much for blindly following another´s experience.
Last night, I drifted off to sleep outdoors in my sleeping bag, on top of my blue yoga mat, and the last thing I saw were the swaying treetops with their shivering leaves catching the last light of day. I imagined that one of the trees could fall on me and I´d be dead. The fearful thought dissolved in the gentle motion of the trees in the wind and the soft swishing sound lulled me to sleep. A few hours later I awoke. The stars had gathered in the night sky for me to see. The air was chilly. My butt hurt. After some debate, I gathered my things and crept back into the shelter where a soft bed was waiting for me.
And so the transition. Burgos. Soccer game. Questions. Learning to walk, remembering to breathe. And the gift of San Bol.
Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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anna
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san bol
right on.......the journey will be your answer.....and how gorgeous your present is if it's this leg of the journey......great pix........so much for guide books! why? you are curious, you are not sure what doing in life, you can afford to, you like the adventure; you have always had wanderlust, you have always liked to write and adventures, experience of the rest of the world are necessary to share wisdom........? ab/ox