Signing back in for a moment before I'm off to begin another strenuous semester in a hot and dry California.
I've been meaning to say this for a while: Thank you for the wonderful posts on this forum. They were extremely helpful and encouraging as I made my way alone from Madrid to Fisterra. What a great journey it all was. Only after a week or so I was able to fully 'disconnect' and walk everyday in digital darkness (no guide, no map, only arrows) and without this forums help in the first stages I don't know when I would've gotten to that wonderful place of walking.
I remember on day two I woke up around 4 am and struggled to pack my bag in the Ayuntamiento underground hallway. I walked out of Tres Cantos to a full moon, and eventually a rising sun, both present at the same time. I took a rest, ate my breakfast, then continued through Colmenar Viejo. The streets were almost empty and I was dedicated to making good time (something I gave up only weeks later, honestly) so I walked fast, turning, turning, a bit lost, finding arrows out of the corner of my eye, almost to the edge of town when a trash crew cuts in front of me. Just two guys pushing a few cans on a trailer. I get a nod from the first guy. I nod back. Then the second man looks me straight in the eyes and wishes me 'buen camino'. While it was probably because this was the first time I heard these two words spoken sincerely, or maybe because I was tired, or maybe because in that morning quiet any solidarity means a bit more, I felt deeply moved.
And that occasion stuck with me, day in day out, through the ridiculous heat of the Meseta until Fisterra when I said my 'last' Buen Camino. All the bits and pieces of meaning wrapped up in those words that neither goodbye nor goodluck, or even a piece-be-with-you can really encompass. When understood they are a true recognition of those you are connected to, for however briefly... and on that morning, on day two, it was cold and I was lonely and the day ahead was going to be extremely hot and that recognition meant everything to me.
so with that all said...
Buen Camino
Conner