I am a spritual being on a human journey...

Today we decided that you can be a person with joint disease and still do whatever you want in life, it just hurts like a bitch. After, well, let´s get real, the most excrusiating hip pain I have ever endured, and slogging with focused, tedious, step by step progress through a trough of thick cake like mud for nine hours, I thought to myself, I do have the will to do this. I sure didn´t anticipate my body rejecting the experience as it has, but I am pleased to say that yesterday was a turning point. I called home, I think to hear a familiar voice and to be assured that this whole thing is a little bit crazy, and I always have the choice for how much of a pilgrim I would like to be. I think the physical experience and how my body adapts will be a huge part of my pilgrimmage. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, culturally and cognitively I am being challenged and exposed to newness that I have never known before.

Let´s just start by saying I am very happy that I have invested in gortex and that I´m not doing this whole pilgrim thing in a terry clothe robe. Today was the first day of the journey without snow, hail or rain. Amazing the difference it makes to be dry for the day. After horses in the mist, paths degraded and washed out that resembled stream beds more than trail, mud, mud, mud like you wouldn´t believe, we have still managed quite well. Pamplona ruptured the myopic calm of el Camino with its traffic hums and bustle, brick buildings and speeding vehicles. Today, after a wonderful evening of tapas and a single beer that soothed my soul, we walked out of town. As subtly intrusive as the busy city had been over night, it´s rush soon dissipated, slowly fading into the peace of the trail. Birds squable audibly, and green lines trace the valley as we slowly and methodically push up the climb ahead. We are about a mile out of Puente de la Reina, and around four hundred and forty something miles to Santiago. Having met the day this morning with fresh legs, much less pain, and a sense of hope. I feel the road to Santiago is really not too far away.

On the lighter side of el Camino, I have loads of time to think. The sunshine accelorates this process as there is less focus necessary to maintain solid footing. I was thinking today there are many similarities between a worn pilgrim and a person who is intoxicated. For instance, getting drunk on pilgrim magic leads to an unsteady gait and a lack of balance, a feeling of euphoria, the ability to giggle uncontrollably over seemingly small occurances that aren´t that funny, slurred speech and occassional profanity, intense hunger, and a desire to drink beer. Oh, as the welts and swelling dissipate and the path continues to wind away, I wonder what other elaborate and profound thoughts I will conjur. More on hostel life, naked German men, and furry bellies to come. I am off to meet friends for a dinner of unidentified delicacies.