A Week’s Worth of Pictures, In Mind Only

Day Twenty - (Camino de San Salvador Completo) Camino Primitivo Day Thirteen - Boente to Lavacolla

“There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.” — Willa Cather

I’ve spent a week without a phone now, over some of the most beautiful days along a Camino. The connectivity hasn’t been an issue - my family know I can follow the arrows. What has been challenging is the inability to take pictures. There are so many moments that I’ve wanted to capture - and it’s simply impossible to remember all of them. So I have done my best to file away the most beautiful. The old woman bent over a basket of apples, throwing the peel to a selfish rooster. The adorable puppy along the side of the road outside Boente. The magnificent horses that passed me, their riders posting beautifully as they rode the Camino. Sharing a beer with a woman from Poland, a man from Belgium and another from Germany. The woman from Northern Ireland walking the Camino with her cheeky elderly father. I wish I had pictures of all of these places and people, but in absence of a concrete photo, I am required now to actively remember them on my own. It jumbles into the most beautiful picture, and I’m a bit sad to know the Primitivo ends for me tomorrow - but I’m joining with friends from my Camino last year, to walk on to Finisterre. So thankful to Tom for fixing my phone tonight (is there anything he can’t fix??), so that I can save memories going forward.

Today was a day spent walking (a LOT - 38km), and enjoying the last day before Santiago. I left the Primitivo and joined the Frances yesterday - I’ll admit I think the journey out of Lugo is nicer than the one out of Sarria. I didn’t mind joining onto the Frances though. There’s a swirl of energy as people get closer to the cathedral that I enjoy. Whether hopping onto a tour bus, starting out in Sarria or Lugo, or beginning in SJPDP, we are all traveling on our own journey of discovery. You cannot qualify someone’s experience by how far they’ve walked, if they’ve carried their pack 800km or forwarded it 100, if they’ve stayed in albergues or slept in hotels. This is about more than distance. This is about a heart open to whatever work the path wants to do in it.