Grainne is a 54-year-old traveler of Irish descent. Yesterday evening, she regaled me with stories of her travels. She speaks of energy, dreams, and freedom. She decided on impulse to walk the Camino after seeing the yellow arrows in the surfing city of San Sebastián. She had tried walking the Camino Frances a few years ago, but after walking the first day from St Jean Pied de Port through the Pyrenees, she was so sore and tired that she quit. Now, she’s back on a different Camino trail and taking it a bit easier, walking about 14 kms per day. She has come here, she says, to figure out what she should do next in life. She’s a dreamer and doesn’t feel grounded. She doesn’t even feel that she has a home. Before this trip, she was cat-sitting in a house in Berlin. Before that, unhappy in Paris for the last seven years. I think the Camino will provide for her. She’ll figure out what to do next in life.
The day so far has been all hills, down a forest path, across a creek, back up the other side, a short walk through a village, and then repeat. I’ve stopped in Cadaredo after walking more than 20 kms. It’s only 10:30am, so I guess I was pretty focused this morning. I’m surrounded by pilgrims I have never seen before in a cafe right along the route.
Everyone has got either their guidebook or Camino app open. This is the end of a stage, but it was a short one. The next stage is only about 15 kms long, so everyone is probably trying to decide whether to stay in Cadaredo or to carry on walking.
A small bird is caught inside the small grocery store near where I am sitting. It’s trapped between the window and the laundry detergent. A customer reaches in and catches the bird in her hand. She comes to the door, whispers something to the bird, and releases it into the air.
Birte, Greg, Kaitlin and I went out for beer and pizza tonight. We usually make supper at the albergue, but tonight we wanted someone else to cook us a hot meal. The gentleman who served us has a tattoo of his son playing soccer, with an eye pictured above the boy as if watching. The tattoo also shows a pair of soccer cleats that the man had worn when he was a boy himself playing soccer in Argentina. He is so incredibly proud of his son, and of how he is portrayed in the tattoo.
