Laughing, laughing, laughing

16.09-22.09.2013

The first part of the Camino de Santiago has been a period of the first 'times'. The first person you meet, the first night in an albergue (Spanish word for a pilgrim shelter), the first impression when you walk out of an albergue at 7 am when it is still dark, the first time when your clothes are completely wet because it was raining the whole day, the first blisters, the first smiles and conversations with fellow pilgrims. And the first lessons that you are given. Even before I fully left Lourdes I run into my first companion. Older than 60, me not even 25, we were able to communicate without the slightest problem from the first moment. This is one of the things about this pilgrimage, you can just start talking with anyone about anything and they will be replying and sharing their own life experiences. Just like that. No need for lengthy getting to know each other process. Just like that. He was, like me, from Poland. The first person I met was from the same country! And to think that we started talking because we were both asked, most likely, to participate in a service quality survey by a girl working for the train station. We did not speak French so we did not answer her questions. Continuing, even before I arrived at the albergue I already had my first group of friends / pilgrims. In the end we were 7 people, 5 different countries (Canada, Germany, Italy, Poland, the US) from two continents, the youngest 19, the oldest around 65, some changing jobs, some before going to the university, some just finishing university, some retired. A mixture of everything. And we had great time. Especially me and a guy from the US and a girl from Germany, we were just laughing, laughing and laughing. All the time! We split few days later but the e-mails have been exchanged. The initial stage of the Camino de Santiago is also time for trying your body and for your body to try to adapt. In my case, I have tried my limits already on the day two and I have overdone my body. I was walking after that day but for the next three or four days I have felt that I was not fully rested. I felt the consequences of going too much too soon without listening to your organism. Only when I got to Logrońo after walking 20 km from the previous albergue, only then I felt I was fully prepared for the next day. I just mentioned an albergue, they are really different from each other. There is no point in trying to come up with a basic list describing the types of albergues. Some will be located in schools, some in municipal building, some will be private and modern, others in the old churches or convents. There will be even those in the ruins of a monasterio or in between the trees in the middle of nowhere. Each has its own character and collecting stamps on your credencial (pilgrim passport confirming that you are on a pilgrimage and can access the albergues) becomes more than a regular procedure to follow. It is more like an old tradition you can participate in now. Some of them will even have something unique inside that you would not be able to see normally. For instance, in an albergue in Trinidad de Arre, just 5 km before the first big city on the Camino de Santiago, Pamplona, inside there is a chapel from the 12th century. If you have not slept in that place, you would have never known about it. Experiencing new things every day, getting used to the effort, being amazed by what I was seeing – in this way I arrived in Logrońo six days after setting off from Saint-Jean- Pied-de-Port.

Photo: La meseta, the Camino de Santiago