Smelling the Roses

“Oh wow you guys are really smelling the roses.” That is the exact response we got when we told the Australian man that we were taking three days to get to Santiago instead of the regular two.  Now we had seen this Australian man a couple different times along the way and this comment was passed when we bade him farewell at the end of dinner at Casa Millia. I know that he did not mean anything offensive by this comment, it was a mere reaction, however I have been thinking about it a lot.  Personally, I feel as though many people try to rush through the Camino.  It seems as though it’s almost a race against one’s self, trying to reach the destination as fast as physically possible. This is one of the things I do not like about the Camino.  It is almost frowned upon to “smell the roses.” I feel as though people do not take as much time to stop and take in everything that’s around them. To really absorb the beautiful scenery or have that hand-crafted cup of coffee. People focus on reaching the kilometers previously planned on, making good time, walking as far as possible, or completing the route in so many days.  For example, today we spent a lot of time stopping at every landmark, shrine, café, little shop, or breathtaking view we found worthy. Even more importantly we spent almost half of our walk laughing to the point where my abs were nearly as sore as my legs.  Yet comments were passed throughout the day that we were getting more and more lazy. In my opinion we were not more lazy today.  To be fair we were moving at an extremely slow pace, but I think we really took everything in today.  We spent the extra hour to have a peaceful lunch couple with a midday desert. We spared a few extra minutes to have a photoshoot in the mystical tunnel.  We made jokes out of everything we could possibly think of. For me the way we spent our day today was more meaningful than walking 11 miles in 4 hours. These little moments we experienced today are the ones I will always remember and go home to tell my friends about. When it comes down to it, it really doesn’t matter how long it takes you to walk the Camino and I truly think you’ll regret not taking a moment to slow down and smell the roses.