Thursday Tidbits

Posted on May 8, 2019 under Thursday Tidbits with 5 comments

It it the end of day 5 and I’ve had to go down a notch on my belt. I guess when you’ve walked 162k and put on 228,330 steps, you’re bound to lose a few pounds!
So, I’m walking out of a town yesterday and someone whistled at me and said Buen Camino. NO ONE has ever whistled at me before. When this was repeated, I thought I had a secret admirer. I looked up in the window of a house and there was …. a parrot! So much for secret admirers.
The Camino is full of folks carrying backpacks and personal baggage. People are dealing with loss, emotional issues, health and relationship problems.
To survive the Camino , you must be adaptable or you probably won’t have a very good time. For example, snoring is the music of the Alburgues , the hostels where we share rooms with bunk beds. You do get used to it and after a long day on the trail, sleep eventually comes.
Today, exiting another town, a young woman in front of me was singing “What do you do with a drunken sailor.” Of course, I couldn’t resist chiming in. Katerina is a young woman from Slovakia and unless another candidate emerges, she will get my nod, hands down, as the most spirited person on the Camino. Her walking partner, a 60 something from Holland were the fastest walkers I’ve met so far. The wind howled all day from the west at 50k. I followed them for 10 breathtaking kilometres. Katerina swooped and soared like a bird. She sang and she danced and she begged 18 wheelers to honk their horns. Most of the 10k was uphill, into the wind but I scarcely noticed as I was mesmerized by her zest for life. When I finally caught up at a cafe, she told me she had come to the Camino to have fun. No kidding!
I don’t have wifi at my Alburgue tonight so I’m sending this now from a bar.
With the high winds, I had a very bad hair day, but then again, everyday is a bad hair for me.
Have a great weekend.

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