Walking the Camino's Way

Below is the entrance to our hostel in Vianna … I‘m pretty sure this is the first
of many places where I woke up in the middle of the night amidst the external
cacophony of dozens of snorers and the internal chaos of loose and frenetic energy
(that all pilgrims tend to shed while processing the previous day‘s awakenings) … My
solution: get up and find some solitude — in this case by taking my sleeping bag to
the dining room and sleeping on one of the tables there.
―Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes … Let reality be reality.
Let things flow naturally forward.‖ ~ Lao Tsu
―We made it into Viana and was wondering along the way -- Who is this person
who is walking? Who is this trudging up and down and around mountains every day
for over eight hours a day? Who is this sleeping after all that walking sometimes
100, sometimes 20, sometimes 10, sometimes 4 pilgrims in two and three tier bunk
beds? And who is this praying -- .in abandoned monasteries where thousands have
prayed before, where the fountain water still bubbles up through layers of moss and
limestone? … I am asking these questions as somehow I seem like someone else at
times. Today I found shade under a young olive tree – and then I got lost – and then I
was rescued by two Spainards who were picking figs from a single tree in a pasture –
and then I was encouraged to continue on by a ‗patron‘ who rode up on a beautiful
white stallion … The Camino continues ever onward – it never ceases.‖
~ inspired by Suzanna
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