I am reading this very funny book about walking the Camino. It is called "The Year We Seized the Day" by Elizabeth Best & Colin Bowles. I would definitely recommend it. It is not only about walking the Camino but how it feels, how it changes one, how it moves one to speak their truth. It is a true pilgrimage.
They each write short chapters sharing their experiences. They let it all show up and speak what is going on in their minds. For example Eli is sharing her beginning feelings: "...the Camino is life. It's like stumbling into a scene from Alice in Wonderland and learning the rules as you go. No one really 'belongs' out here, and that's the point. We are all visitors, all equal, all trying to reach our destination, as best we can. To do and be better in some way than we were the day before.
...It was at that very moment, amidst a busload of boisterous Spaniards deep in the foothills of the Pyrenees, that the naive pilgrim wannabe realised one of life's greatest ironies: dreams seldom coincide with reality.
My moment of truth had finally arrived. And I freaked out."
It seems that Eli and Colin decided to walk the Camino in a matter of days. They talked about it. Eli wanted to train. Colin wanted to leave that next week. Colin won. From there it is one hilarious event after another as the untrained individuals began walking the Camino.
They started in Roncesvalles, which is the other side of the Pyrenees from where I am going to start. I shudder to think what it would have been like for them if they had started out by going over the Pyrenees. Colin is a minimalist and Eli is the good motherly type with 'everything one could possibly need'. It is so hard to walk the Camino with a heavy pack. Colin said "Why did you bring all this ..." I think he was about to say 'crap but restrained himself'...this rubbish?" Then Eli says "Well, you never know what you might need on a rainy day." And here in lies the truth about both of them. It progresses with great zeal.
From here we walk through thoughts of various ideas of what a walk like this is and how each feels about it. Their personalities begin to show. As they walk on Colin writes: "We descend into a valley within the crinkled folds of the Pyrenees. I look back at Eli. She is stuggling already. I admie the risks she is taking, professional and personal, in doing this. Being brave is a courageous thing to do. It starts with a decision; the hard part is getting your body to follow you into your battles.
She stops when we reach our first incline. 'No,' she yells. 'I don't do hills!'
But we do hills...Our guidebook has already become a study in bathos and understatement; 'an undulating path' is in reality a tortuous series of ascents and descents that has the thigh muscles creaking like wet rope on a rusting freighter; 'a long and winding ascent' is an endless climb that squeezes sweat out of you so that your mouth turns as dry as a vacuum cleaner bag; 'a rapid ascent' is a scramble down shale so broken and loose that every step feels like someone shoving tent pegs through your knees and into the little hallows of your thigh bones so that the marrow oozes out through your hips. (Here I am laughing hilariously - I love the way they both write) Then they end the first day with this; We walk until lunchtime, a total of 18 kilometres
(approx 11.18468 miles), until we reach Zubiri...We are exhausted. We have another seven hundred and eighty-two kilometres still to walk. At this rate I will be two and a half weeks late for my flight home.
I am sick of this already.''
This is the end of their first day on the trail. I have noticed in many books that they mostly feel like this as most people have not hiked much. BUT, I have read some that have hiked a lot before and they still end the first day exhausted and sore. Feet hurting and blisters beginning to form. Then their are those that have no blisters and only slightly sore. It is my theory that it really is all about our inner selves and the outer reveals the truth.
I will be sharing more of the cute blurbs from this book and I am loving reading it and want to share it with all of you.
It has been a strange week with traveling and leaving my family behind to come home to a place I no longer want to be. I have found myself bouncing around these walls with emotions I prefer to leave behind me, you know, in a past life or something. I prefer to be happy. I have been out of sink with walking but I have been working on my diet. I finally got myself over the lack of walking thing and know now that I can walk 10 miles a day at least. This is a good start.
Now I am working on my calories. I have put together a 1500 calorie eating regime. Today is day 4 and I seem to be doing just fine. I learned the first day that I need to have 4 meals a day not 3. So I have divided the calories accordingly. I have added back in sprouted bread and eggs and it is doing wonders for me. I am even able to forgo any chocolate. Now that is like saying the man dying of thirst walked away from the water. I am a avid dark chocolate eater. I will eat anything dark chocolate. The one good thing about it is that dark chocolate does not have all the sugar (I eat 70& dark) and milk in it so it is not as addictive as milk chocolate is. But I never thought this day would come.
My son is coming for a short 2 day work visit this next week. He will take me out for dinner one night so that day I will need to save my calories for the evening meal. I think I will eat things like carrots and celery and plan lettuce all day to keep my calories down so the evening meal won't mess up my calorie day too much.
I hope you all have a wonderful week end and I will leave you today with a few beautiful pictures of Spain, the Camino.
Buen Camino
b
I want to thank www.ourcamino.com for sharing their beautiful pictures
No comments:
Post a Comment