Those Hokas featured so prominently in the last post, way back in April? Didn’t even bring them. Still have and wear and love them, but there wasn’t a need this time around. We did not walk for a week or more. We had someone drive us 6 or 7 miles out from our Santiago de Compostela hotel in the cold, dark pre-dawn and simply walked back to the cathedral over the course of a couple of hours. And that was enough. What changed?
As those posts back in April conveyed, we were fully immersed in prep for our Camino. But the hope of being able to work through some physical obstacles was not fulfilled, and we shifted the planning to a different kind of pilgrimage. Plenty of walking, to be sure: our most prolific day was over 25,000 steps, with several days of 20k+ over the course of the two weeks in Spain. But the kind of exertion that covering over 100km in under a week demanded was not something we were going to be able to sustain; as a result, we were left with the spiritual dimension of the voyage, which was as fulfilling (albeit in a different way) than an arbitrary amount of kilometers walked over the course of a set period. Along the way, we discovered beautiful cultures, new (to us) and amazing foods, and a historical, Catholic Church-based tour de force that was more satisfying than I ever dreamed it could be; mind you, I harbor some fairly lofty dreams!
In the coming posts, I’ll share my impressions and experiences in the major stops along the way: Madrid, El Escorial, Tolédo, San Sebastián, Loiola, Burgos, Léon, Santiago de Compostela, and Salamanca. Some for a matter of hours, others for a couple of days. Madrid, where our journey began and ended, quite unexpectedly captured our hearts, minds, and spirit for 6 glorious nights and the days in between. The country had us wondering, then questioning, and ultimately seriously contemplating: why, and then later, why not? As in: why would we leave everything behind – jobs, family, friends, all of it – in favor of a new place, particularly THIS new place? Well, that one was pretty simple. We simply fell in love, and love conquers all, right? The more vexing one was the why NOT? Because there is no single, logical reason / deterrent that could not be overcome by the simple act of our saying “yes” to Spain and then figuring it out, if only for a season (be it a month, a spring or fall, or longer). Not forever. Ok, PROBABLY not forever.
Why not, indeed?
Somewhere In the Middle 