I wrote this while on the Camino last June and added to it today. The older, original version is still on my blog (CaminoJoe.com). I thought it might bring back a memory to those of you who have walked the Camino--and serve as food for thought to those of you who are planning your first adventure...Buen Camino!
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The Camino Is...
The Camino is an endless repetition, a universal calling, a long walk, a longer prayer.
The Camino is not what you think it is.
And not what you think it should be.
It is everything and it is nothing.
It forces you and moves you, teases you and slams you, questions you and fights you.
It blisters you, depletes you, weakens you and at the same time toughens you, builds you, strengthens you.
The Camino is prayer and tears, redemption and forgiveness, cathedrals and scallop shells, blessings and oh so pure silence.
It questions you, talks to you, listens to you and quietens the noise within.
It is the outside of the inside of you and everything in between.
The Camino is sinner and Saint, history and legends, believers and non-believers. It is scores of nationalities all marching in the same direction, all for the same and yet different reasons, all following the same road toward the same destination.
It is friendships made, shared, poured out, emptied for each other through laughter, tears and a companionship etched in stones from the road.
The Camino is 500 miles of taking in, sorting out, letting go.
It is a physical, mental, and emotional reality check of what you think and who you think you are.
The Camino fills you, then empties you. It teases you, calms you, laughs at you, becomes you.
And does it again and again with each amazing day.
Walk. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.
There is redemption in repetition.
---------------
The Camino Is...
The Camino is an endless repetition, a universal calling, a long walk, a longer prayer.
The Camino is not what you think it is.
And not what you think it should be.
It is everything and it is nothing.
It forces you and moves you, teases you and slams you, questions you and fights you.
It blisters you, depletes you, weakens you and at the same time toughens you, builds you, strengthens you.
The Camino is prayer and tears, redemption and forgiveness, cathedrals and scallop shells, blessings and oh so pure silence.
It questions you, talks to you, listens to you and quietens the noise within.
It is the outside of the inside of you and everything in between.
The Camino is sinner and Saint, history and legends, believers and non-believers. It is scores of nationalities all marching in the same direction, all for the same and yet different reasons, all following the same road toward the same destination.
It is friendships made, shared, poured out, emptied for each other through laughter, tears and a companionship etched in stones from the road.
The Camino is 500 miles of taking in, sorting out, letting go.
It is a physical, mental, and emotional reality check of what you think and who you think you are.
The Camino fills you, then empties you. It teases you, calms you, laughs at you, becomes you.
And does it again and again with each amazing day.
Walk. Eat. Sleep. Repeat.
There is redemption in repetition.
