These are the Sacristies of all the churches that I visited and was allowed to take pictures in from where we began our walk in Sarria all the way to Santiago.
After three extremely long and painful days of walking on the Camino, I felt thankful to only have to walk 10 miles to our home for the night today. After walking around 15 miles, give or take, for three days straight, 10 miles felt very short. However, while the walk was shorter, the pain from the last last three days remains in the forms of blisters and sore legs. Despite the pain, I couldn’t help but feel as if I could have done more today. We walked 10 miles, but what if my destination was 15 miles away again? Could I have made it? Would my body give in and no longer carry me? I’ve wondered this each day, but giving up has never been an option I’ve considered. Surprisingly, I’ve learned that the more tired I become physically, the more motivated I feel to continue the journey. I’ve made it this far and now I owe it to myself to finish what I started. My body aches and my feet continue to blister, but it is worth it for the Camino. Interesting sighting on the C...
In less than a week we will be walking the final 100km of the Camino de Santiago! As we walk, we will discuss the history, art, and literature of this medieval pilgrimage route. And, we will be practicing writing about our experiences with traveling by foot, about our encounters with the past, with the landscape, and with the strangers we meet along the way. This blog is our place for documenting these sites and experiences in word and image. The way will not be easy, but as the thousands of pilgrimages, explorers, and wanderers who have followed this path before know, it will be meaningful. To be a pilgrim is to be open: open to the path itself with its many twists and turns; open to how external journeys might shape internal ones; open to learning unexpected lessons; and open to encountering both the stranger and the self along the way. Buon Camino!
I am sitting on the edge of my hotel bathtub, soaking my feet in a warm salt water bath wondering how I exactly I got here. Maybe it was the 75 miles walked in 5 days. Maybe it was all the downhill walking. Maybe it was my slightly too small hiking shoes. Maybe it was my lack of preparedness for the challenge I signed up for. More than likely it was a combination of all these things. Regardless of what went wrong, I am now suffering from several blisters. An especially painful one lodged underneath my left big toenail specifically. The pain in my toe has been hiding suspiciously under my nail, unbeknownst to me for a day or two. It wasn’t until I took my shoes off after walking today that I saw the bubble pushing my toenail forward and realized where the pain was coming from. Seeing the blister beneath my toenail was quite unsettling. First of all, it hurts. Secondly, it makes walking normally very uncomfortable and I came here to walk. Lastly, as my toenail is b...
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