You can't do the Camino wrong.
It doesn't matter how fast you walk...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5pHArZkjkMtVf8KwzRzh2sAl25iRuZKiDFPtsZtoZkm-yUDmQIyS2qKUrgUpnY2oOQkct8epaiSW0oRizfYISL-68ODhxQH3Y3oGBgbXt6KtPnsUC42cFXYiikq7mmgxOXn3tyyKmxPZ/s320/good_speed_adj.jpg)
___________________
[Above: Graffiti along the Camino de Santiago, and me, dozing at Cee, Spain, on the next-to-last day of the pilgrimage (photo by Annika)]
...if you carry the "wrong" backpack
[Pamplona: Me sewing a Star Trek patch (made by Art Sparker) onto my external-frame backpack---which a Spanish guy later declared only fit for Boy Scouts--and Mz tossing grapes to catch in her mouth, waiting for the bus to the beginning of the trail in Roncesvalles]
...what you eat
[Fried egg sandwich and beer, here.]
...or if your bed is comfortable.
[Not.]
If you keep going, you'll get somewhere.
Maybe to where you thought you were going.
You'll probably be happy,
ABOVE: bink (who took most of the pix here), me, and Marz at the fishing port of Finisterre, Spain.
...but maybe you'll also be sad that you can't walk any farther.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEy-U7WlFYqhi2BAwsEtETKm75o0CDfQRLmp4DpRgemvwexC7m7AVHYu20hAbU9OyCRSd8HehT4YL_td6llQxXzzjzAwwWQEgp520WptLq4ojdDDNhojKxXxepzXyUEqey5Rnp4dIshQa/s1600/F_EndbyEeva.jpg)
ABOVE: Me ^ (can you see me?) at the End of the World, handing to the ocean-going winds the ashes of the words I'd carried across Spain. Photo by Eeva.
Not to worry. The Camino never really ends.
____________________
Today is a happy day.
Marz (below, left) is arriving on the Greyhound bus, to visit or maybe even move here.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguq23z0zUKn6CKYmNljipgnKmnURLAIzW4ZAsbVqBwYSDsHwa7p5t7eZ5jFuI0ZkFzqstq2RQmuY67a21n1DGr6zPbvgXC4BrBcA7_DSsKQtTehPgV9ga3dAMY4-EB5NqEGHcs1Pi6sAkg/s1600/marz_babyrhino.png)
Yesterday I took my old backpack to Steeple People Thrift Store. The Spanish guy was right to be dubious--it was far less comfortable than everyone else's modern internal frame packs. Further, a strap broke and I walked with a lopsided pack the last couple weeks.
Nevertheless I felt sad to part with it,
but as I was dropping it off, I overheard workers in the back pricing a bicycle at $25. Marz will need transportation, so I ducked into the workers' area and nabbed it for her.
It's just an old 3-speed, but it'll do for this flat terrain.
Now I have to go finish putting away my stuff so Marz has a place to put hers.
It doesn't matter how fast you walk...
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEge5pHArZkjkMtVf8KwzRzh2sAl25iRuZKiDFPtsZtoZkm-yUDmQIyS2qKUrgUpnY2oOQkct8epaiSW0oRizfYISL-68ODhxQH3Y3oGBgbXt6KtPnsUC42cFXYiikq7mmgxOXn3tyyKmxPZ/s320/good_speed_adj.jpg)
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgUVttvAHljaPbp2JN6m9PVGA5U4JDm6IBkN03a8SnjspN76GMN3lbMFz_Val-tiE_pfe5U0z7aZEFz_uilzlu7ClVdWg7vuHlzslagL5BNyLxFGm1r_T1HpLLMxqf_3chBb1rPXHCp-Pou/s1600/F_asleep_adj.jpg)
[Above: Graffiti along the Camino de Santiago, and me, dozing at Cee, Spain, on the next-to-last day of the pilgrimage (photo by Annika)]
...if you carry the "wrong" backpack
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEju5wtDNdJyi3cv6gR6gZij7xleBrpwIMaJqOj2LOSzsk2tT4BwJZR_KEeRBjDcsuFdGuUO8rQ4fFBKydztA4c5fas8yJQ7Vhsg8mMq10ba9rK9_oJo7uGIBNOhOxn7XSWDig1dyNPHqYpa/s1600/backpack.png)
...what you eat
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNEC2qBdgJfVqMWemZAvCmsu3olKbHO77UeECaHjDuBt7frKXUDzsEOSg9bVzlkh89PpS1vpPey7qWkRJrXAOKNWXugcbBPTXtzXeP0FL5anjtaZ1w3QiJr7Xz4bTSrMIg7jHBoA8b-N6i/s400/cerveza.png)
...or if your bed is comfortable.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWk1RwNMvnhTJitPMLAjl-QsvwfZVXEq7ekpP5JQNk8a2-C9LsIYG7OQDaHJyTMKIjTWuhblppZ56Jc7hN3CcfOO8ncpQKovkTod8RnWaFAvUx-DIbjNpfsKZpZy1-hOpy3ghT3bLizAgB/s1600/topBunk.jpg)
If you keep going, you'll get somewhere.
Maybe to where you thought you were going.
You'll probably be happy,
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4V2gVYKes-GGRKleAaf5nwROdjdcpgryIpMrwOwzSwLg6QE7P2GHY8XK-A0eUdoMHVi8mc3aI2wUHpMaR1r8-FDOdsHzt-ZOc-VtaGnQkuIBxacTR_YgtlrUfaPzQ6dgtSbm6F8n7plcn/s1600/fin_de_Camino_adj.jpg)
...but maybe you'll also be sad that you can't walk any farther.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgYEy-U7WlFYqhi2BAwsEtETKm75o0CDfQRLmp4DpRgemvwexC7m7AVHYu20hAbU9OyCRSd8HehT4YL_td6llQxXzzjzAwwWQEgp520WptLq4ojdDDNhojKxXxepzXyUEqey5Rnp4dIshQa/s1600/F_EndbyEeva.jpg)
ABOVE: Me ^ (can you see me?) at the End of the World, handing to the ocean-going winds the ashes of the words I'd carried across Spain. Photo by Eeva.
Not to worry. The Camino never really ends.
____________________
Today is a happy day.
Marz (below, left) is arriving on the Greyhound bus, to visit or maybe even move here.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEguq23z0zUKn6CKYmNljipgnKmnURLAIzW4ZAsbVqBwYSDsHwa7p5t7eZ5jFuI0ZkFzqstq2RQmuY67a21n1DGr6zPbvgXC4BrBcA7_DSsKQtTehPgV9ga3dAMY4-EB5NqEGHcs1Pi6sAkg/s1600/marz_babyrhino.png)
Yesterday I took my old backpack to Steeple People Thrift Store. The Spanish guy was right to be dubious--it was far less comfortable than everyone else's modern internal frame packs. Further, a strap broke and I walked with a lopsided pack the last couple weeks.
Nevertheless I felt sad to part with it,
but as I was dropping it off, I overheard workers in the back pricing a bicycle at $25. Marz will need transportation, so I ducked into the workers' area and nabbed it for her.
It's just an old 3-speed, but it'll do for this flat terrain.
Now I have to go finish putting away my stuff so Marz has a place to put hers.
Hey_-I wish I'd known re the Marz thang...we have a ton of old bikes I think in our garage given the girls over the years. Suitable for a taller-framed gal as she appears to be. Kaya's movin' out in August , if she and friends get the ap't they want. So there may or may not be a variety of give-away useful stuff from our household, should she need stuff.
ReplyDeleteAH, veriword is "mativen" which sounds like a Finnish word for something tho do with Catholic stuff and Camino..just makin' it all up. Speaing of Finnish stuff, i ate little bites of herring tonight for supper and thought of you, dear.
Fun to see the pix put into a story. Keep going...
ReplyDeleteI laughed myself silly at the photo of you on the bed. That forlorn, dishevelled expression, the hard-looking matress, and the looong row of socks...it begs to be made into a macro!
ReplyDeleteOther than that, I'm so grateful for having been part of the walk. If that makes sense.