Taking a plunge into the deep end.
Going with the flow means sometimes taking a plunge into the deep end. I completed the Camino de Santiago leg through Aragon. Little did I know that with reaching the Aragon-Navarra border the energy on the trail would change so dramatically. Here the trail is joined by the main trail coming from France (from St.Jean Pied a Port), the one I intended to take. I am glad I got side-tracked via Lourdes onto the leg I just finished. There were only 10-15 pilgrims a day in Aragon on any given section, reaching Puenta de Reina just south of Pamplona that suddenly changed to about 200!!! The rural solitude I enjoyed is no longer there. Pilgrims race from inn to inn to secure a place for the night.
My last night was in a small inn with 7 pilgrims, next to a 12th century octagonal domed church. Hundreds visit it during the day. Tour busses unload their hordes of tourist with guides who regurgitate facts of what can be seen. None encourage the visitors to experience the essence the site has to offer. In naming facts one is mislead to believe one knows, but what is it that one knows?. The tourist chat chat chat their way around the site and hop back on the bus without being given a chance to experience Being at the site, with the site. Unlike the many pictures taken, this Being can be absorbed ito one´s Being forever and who knows maybe even taken into a next life.
The inn keeper took us to the chapel after dinner when all tourist were gone and night had fallen. With just a few candles lit, it would have been little different from 1200 years ago when the first pilgrims stayed here. We were invited to pray, meditate, just be still, whatever felt right. The inn keeper sang at the end Ave Maria in italian, which echoed around the dome with a chilling vibration. The solid, almost windowless walls felt very safe, with just one statue of Maria and Infant to focus on one can not help but be in awe and experience spiritual essence as expressed here in Spain through catholisism. This last inn on the Aragon leg of the Camino was a fitting finale of a tough but wonderful 6 days of being on El Camino Aragon.
I decide not to continue from here to Santiago but sidestep to Camoino Del Norte or Camino Primitivo. Actually I had to take a leap of faith, a plunge into the deep end as I have no maps, guidebooks etc. I walked to Puente de Reina which took about one hour where I found a bus to Bilbao north and the Guggenheim Museum. Bilbao was just awfull. The energy of the big city was a real culture shock. To see how people live stacked on top of each other disconnected from the earth was really sad, the contrast from rural and deserted Aragon could not have been more drastic. The museum was disappointing full of artistical egocentric rubbish, time to head for the Camino again. After some searching I ended up on a bus to Oviedo, no idea how and why I made that choice. It was a sudden one, with the bus leaving in 2 minutes, no time to think, no idea if this was my flow to follow. Got there at 11pm, too late to get to the albergue, so I had to look for a hotel. It was a bit expensive for me, but after getting a pilgrim´s discount I decided to take the first available room and not search any further that late at night. Just as I settled in a thunderstorm hit fearociously. Then I knew I reached the right eddy, meaning I must also be in the right flow. Is there such a thing as the wrong flow, or was I ever out of it?
From Oviedo it is only 370 KM to Santiago, a distance that I can comfortably cover in the time left without needing to get on another bus to make up for lack of time. This leg of the Camino is called El Camino Primitivo, meaning it is the original route, not necessarily a primitive one. It is apparently quiet and away from developed areas though and I found good information in English to help me organise myself better. Tomorrow I will start walking again. I am looking forward to that. The one night luxury was nice but I miss the energy of the Camino grooved into the landscape by centuries of pilgrims walking with Intend to Santiago. Tonight I happily sleep in the albergue (inn) with snoring fellow pilgrims. My guess is that on any given day at the moment -and September is high season I discovered- about 1000 pilgrims are on their way on various legs of El Camino. Everyday there are moments where I get goosebumbs when I think about it. Signs on houses, on stones, sealed symbols in pavements, well wishes from locals calling ´Buen Camino´, little piles of stones created by pigrims along the way, they are all signs of encouragement for this amazing journey for the soul called in short El Camino.
I am learning to walk in such a way that my feet absorb sufficient amounts of energy from the earth needed to propel my body into the next step. In doing so I can begin to be One with the earth, a step closer to feeling One with All. Just one second of remembering such moments of Being is enough to bring me chills and tears. What a privaledge it is to slow down.
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