In 5 weeks I go back... looking again for the known, and unknown

[Damien Reynolds]

Every time at a business meeting when my associates learn I'll be taking several weeks off, and they ask where I'll be headed, those that know me wait patiently for the ensuing conversation...

Me: "I am going to Spain to walk across the country."

The newbies: "What?"

The friends: "You are going again? Why don't you do something else?"

Me: "You remember when you were in college, and you went to a club, and there were kids there who were very comfortable, like they are there every weekend and know their way around.. they knew the bartenders, and the dance moves, and you just wished you felt as comfortable as them? Well, Spain is my disco."

Newbies: "Huh?"

Me: "I take that back, that's only part of it. Its mostly about the people I meet. English, French, Spanish, Danes, Dutch, Italians, Germans, I love to interact with them. They all speak English, and I get to practice my Spanish too."

Me: "and then there is the exercise. 50,000 steps a day."

Newbies: 'Wow. you walk that much?"

Me: (Silent) (thinking) "Still looking to get there."

 

[Waka]

You are so right.

 

[alansykes]

2500 years ago, Heraclitus told us that we cannot step into the same stream twice - it has changed and we have changed, panta rhei. That applies to the camino, with knobs on.

 

[Alison Chandler]

Every time at a business meeting when my associates learn I'll be taking several weeks off, and they ask where I'll be headed, those that know me wait patiently for the ensuing conversation...

Me: "I am going to Spain to walk across the country."

The newbies: "What?"

The friends: "You are going again? Why don't you do something else?"

Me: "You remember when you were in college, and you went to a club, and there were kids there who were very comfortable, like they are there every weekend and know their way around.. they knew the bartenders, and the dance moves, and you just wished you felt as comfortable as them? Well, Spain is my disco."

Newbies: "Huh?"

Me: "I take that back, that's only part of it. Its mostly about the people I meet. English, French, Spanish, Danes, Dutch, Italians, Germans, I love to interact with them. They all speak English, and I get to practice my Spanish too."

Me: "and then there is the exercise. 50,000 steps a day."

Newbies: 'Wow. you walk that much?"

Me: (Silent) (thinking) "Still looking to get there."

I love this. I was a student in Santiago in 1977 and for decades has a recurring dream of trying to get back, waking through the streets. 38 years passed till this last October when I did the Sarria stretch. I haven't really come back. Everyone says I am obsessed. I don't tell them they're obsessed when they spend their time thinking about football or golf or dogs or anime or geneaology. I'm hoping to get back this year. I'm writing the book. I've been painting the pictures. I'm writing the poems. The moment I retire/inherit/win Lottery I will do the whole thing ... nice and slow!

 

[MaryLynn]

Exactly! When I travel alone, I will always return to the Camino Frances because I know my way around, I know some of the hospitaleros, I know the path, and I feel very comfortable because it is familiar - but just different enough each time to keep it interesting. Every day is the same, but a little different because of the season, the weather, the friends--and each year, I am different. I enjoy staying in the same towns and in the same albergues because it brings back good memories of earlier walks and earlier friends in a familiar place and, with new friends each year, a new layer of memories is created. I never feel alone.

 

[Mark Lee]

Ha ha....all that sounds so familiar to me.
I have gotten the old bit of "oh, you are doing that again? why?", or "why not do something different. why do that again?". Also puzzled looks as to why I would want to walk that far in the first place.
I find it interesting when asked those questions by people who do, and have been doing the same exact type of holidays for years, over and over again. Multiple cruise ship excursions or trips to places like Las Vegas or the Bahamas or Cancun, etc. It's like a few trips to Spain to walk the Camino is odd, but multiple trips to Cancun for the last twenty years isn't, ha ha.
Of course there are always those that find it interesting and think it quite cool, sometimes saying to themselves out loud, "wow, I'd like to do that someday".

 

[november_moon]

Of course there are always those that find it interesting and think it quite cool, sometimes saying to themselves out loud, "wow, I'd like to do that someday".

Fortunately, that's the response I get from most people - or something along those lines. I rarely get the puzzled looks. Most people think its an interesting thing to be doing. I guess that's one of the benefits of being a Californian - people do a lot of "weird" stuff here, so it takes more than walking across Spain to get a reaction. We have the Pacific Crest Trail practically running through the back yard, so from that perspective, walking the Camino is a light-weight activity. I get a lot of "But wait - you stay in hostels and eat in restaurants? And there are towns every few miles? You don't sleep on the ground in the wilderness? What kind of trek is that?" LOL.

 

[Mark Lee]

Fortunately, that's the response I get from most people - or something along those lines. I rarely get the puzzled looks. Most people think its an interesting thing to be doing. I guess that's one of the benefits of being a Californian - people do a lot of "weird" stuff here, so it takes more than walking across Spain to get a reaction. We have the Pacific Crest Trail practically running through the back yard, so from that perspective, walking the Camino is a light-weight activity. I get a lot of "But wait - you stay in hostels and eat in restaurants? And there are towns every few miles? You don't sleep on the ground in the wilderness? What kind of trek is that?" LOL.

I was born in California, but only lived there a few years while I was very young and didn't spend anymore time there until I went in the Marines years later.
Yeah, I've had to explain to people that the Camino is a completely different type of excursion than the Pacific Crest or the Appalachian Trail. Apples and oranges. You cannot compare the two and they aren't meant to be compared. Freaking outdoor snobs...

 

[Dutchwalk53]

Me: "You remember when you were in college, and you went to a club, and there were kids there who were very comfortable, like they are there every weekend and know their way around.. they knew the bartenders, and the dance moves, and you just wished you felt as comfortable as them? Well, Spain is my disco."

Never thought about it this way before ......The Camino as a "Disco". But yeah , I get it

 

[peregrina2000]

@mspath once introduced us to Jose Saramago's thoughts on this topic, very similar to what Heraclitis said. No matter who said it, it has always ringed true to me, too, but Portugal's Nobel laureate can say it better than I can:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/stepping-into-the-stream-again.34174/#post-311135

"The end of one journey is simply the start of another. You have to see what you missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in springtime what you saw in summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see crops growing, the fruit ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before. You have to go back to the footsteps already taken, to go over them again or add fresh ones alongside them.You have to start the journey anew. Always"
Jose Saramago, A Journey to Portugal

 

[jayree]

On my first camino while on the train from Bayonne to SJdP one pilgrim said, "This will be my second time." One German laughed and quipped, "What's wrong, didn't you understand it the first time?" I laughed, thinking why would someone do this twice. Many caminos later I now understand that you "understand" each camino differently, as so elegantly written by Jose Saramago, and posted above by @peregrina2000.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

27000 steps à day on average for me. Yes, I am short legged . But let' sur not Forget The quest for onés soulmate, Right .

 

[Anemone del Camino]

I love this. I was a student in Santiago in 1977 and for decades has a recurring dream of trying to get back, waking through the streets. 38 years passed till this last October when I did the Sarria stretch. I haven't really come back. Everyone says I am obsessed. I don't tell them they're obsessed when they spend their time thinking about football or golf or dogs or anime or geneaology. I'm hoping to get back this year. I'm writing the book. I've been painting the pictures. I'm writing the poems. The moment I retire/inherit/win Lottery I will do the whole thing ... nice and slow!

That is one récurrent dream I would welcome. Mine are losing teeth or else not being able to correctly dial a phone number. Any psycs willing to provide any analysis?

 

[Anemone del Camino]

@mspath once introduced us to Jose Saramago's thoughts on this topic, very similar to what Heraclitis said. No matter who said it, it has always ringed true to me, too, but Portugal's Nobel laureate can say it better than I can:

https://www.caminodesantiago.me/community/threads/stepping-into-the-stream-again.34174/#post-311135

"The end of one journey is simply the start of another. You have to see what you missed the first time, see again what you already saw, see in springtime what you saw in summer, in daylight what you saw at night, see the sun shining where you saw the rain falling, see crops growing, the fruit ripen, the stone which has moved, the shadow that was not there before. You have to go back to the footsteps already taken, to go over them again or add fresh ones alongside them.You have to start the journey anew. Always"
Jose Saramago, A Journey to Portugal

Thank you for tbis Laurie. My mum was an avid reader, or intellectual stuff, and lighter stuff, especially if it was avout or from Spain. She died before I ever thought about the Camino, In fact I walked it Right after her death, for her. She read everything ever written by Saramago and would have loved The idea of my walks linked to his writing.

 

[Damien Reynolds]

But let' sur not Forget The quest for onés soulmate, Right .

I like that I am never going to live that post down, if that was directed towards me. Still tho, odds are not in my favor this year considering its the VdlP.

If you meant something else, and everyone is confused, please disregard this response.

 

[Anemone del Camino]

I like that I am never going to live that post down, if that was directed towards me. Still tho, odds are not in my favor this year considering its the VdlP.

If you meant something else, and everyone is confused, please disregard this response.

Just what I meant, and VDLP may just do The trick. You know what they say about when you expected The least. And fewer, Oops, I meant more women with character In that Camino I would think