Pain and Suffering, Emotions, Spiritual

This is what I have heard about the Camino. It comes in three stages. The first: Pain and Suffering. This couldn´t be closer to the truth. Your body is aching in places you didn´t even know existed, blisters have started forming, you are stuck sharing a room with 109 other people who all don´t have the same view on personal hygiene as you do and you find that walking is hard! I know you are laughing at me because I keep saying that walking is tough, but give it a shot. And I´m not even suggesting that you put a 20 pound pack on. Walk down to the store or maybe even just a mile down the road and back and tell me how you feel. But the main problem with the walking being hard is that when doing my research on the Camino and everyone was stressing that you should train, I laughed just like you are.

After you have gotten over how bad your feet and shoulders ache and you have quit giving so much attention to that one blister between your big toe and the one next to it and how bad it hurts and how you wish that amputation was an option, then the emotions start rolling in. These aren´t your everyday, run-of-the-mill emotions, these are the one´s you have put away for a rainy day. You are all over the place. My mom was sure that I was going through the change at 24. But there is a reason that this is the time for all the emotions. You are on the f-ing meseta and are bored out of your mind! A week and a half of wheat. It´s flat and there is wheat. Nothing else. Just wheat. Your brain has no way of dealing with all the wheat, so instead it takes you on an emotional rollercoaster to save you from how bored you are.

Now that you have experienced every emotion known to man, you finally arrive in Galicia. I´m not sure if it is really as beautiful as I think it is or if I am just happy to be off of the damn meseta, but it is amazing. Everything is so green and there are birds. You didn´t hear birds on the meseta, at least I didn´t. I don´t think there has been any spiritual movement inside of me but life is much better. Give me 3 days and I´ll let you know. That´s when I should be arriving in Santiago!