Tapas e Tinto....

I'm in Lagrono, a bigger modern town that has a historic central part. I´m staying in a nicer hotel tonight near the old town square called Marques de Vallejo. Just got back from Tapas, the Spanish version of Dim Sum or appetizers where you order one or two standing with a glass of wine and then move on to another place and do the same. It's nice, you make dinner out of it since the restaurants don't open until 10pm. The Camino was nice most of today with wide gravel paths and pretty flat terrain. But there are sections that challenge you physically and mentally. The weather has turned warm in the afternoons reaching up to the low 80's. I'm realizing that the Camino is taking a toll on me and what I am carrying. I am going to be in a world of hurt riding 6-8 hrs s day and I'm getting sunburned with my legs hurting and my butt sore. I'm thinking about doing his for another 10-14 days and realizing how hard it's going to be. Also, many things I brought with me are showing the hardship of the Camino. Someone dropped my iPhone after taking a picture of me and cracked the glass, my pannier was rubbing against the tire and wore a hole in it damaging my iPad. One of my best Nikon lens for my camera is showing some moisture inside from what I assume was from my bath in the river and my bike seat is slightly broken from when I picked my bike up and the weight of the panniers was too much and so cracked the under plastic frame of the seat. My bike is also creaking in new places. Anyway, the Camino is starting to wear on both me and what I have with me.

I did have a realization today, that in many ways the Camino is a metaphor for life. Sometimes it's good and you are with others and have direction and sometimes it's hard and you are standing by yourself in the middle of nowhere not knowing where to go and feeling pretty alone.

I met a few people today that I chatted with for a few minutes in which you become instant friends. One girl from Australia who is doing the Camino while waiting for her visa to marry her boyfriend in Ft Collins, Co. Another couple from Anchorage Alaska that I had lunch with and who stay in Alburgue or hostels which are common for Pilgrims along the way that have 20 - 100 beds in open rooms. I have wanted to do this as part of the Camino experience , but really like my quiet rooms at night.

"May the Angel of Wildness disturb the places where your life is domesticated and safe, take you to the territorries of true otherness where all that is awkward in you, can fall into it´s own rhythm."  John O´Donohue - To Bless the Space Between Us

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