You know what’s crazy? I’ll tell you what’s crazy™
El Camino de Santiago.
What is El Camino?
It’s many things to many people.
It’s a beautiful, brutal walk across the countryside of Spain.
It’s Jeopardy for the mind.
It’s an iron-man for the body.
It’s a cathartic cleansing of the soul.
According to the history books;
El Camino de Santiago means“The Way of Saint James.” It is the pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain, where legend has it that the remains of Jesus’s apostle Saint James the Elder is buried.
2 months ago, I had never heard of this pilgrimage.
Even though tens of thousands of people have made this trek dating back hundreds of years, I was not enlightened.
Even though this spiritual journey has replenished many a soul, I had no idea.
But I am learning.
Day by day, I follow these intrepid explorers on Facebook and through emails.
The pictures are fabulous.
Sometimes they show a vista on the edge of perfection.
Sometimes they show a road that stretches on forever into a foreboding horizon.
I am amazed every day as these intrepid explorers walk and walk and walk.
“I don’t have blisters. Everyone else has blisters,” The Peregrino will say in a text.
A blister on a foot that will walk 500 miles is a big deal.
It’s like flying in a blimp that is on fire. Sooner or later something bad is going to happen.
These band of hikers, traveling across the Spanish countryside call themselves Peregrinos.
The dictionary describes Peregrino as a traveler, a pilgrim, someone who is migratory.
That’s a perfect definition.
These Peregrinos are wandering across time and space.
These Peregrinos are traveling a journey that has a beginning and final destination, but it is what they find in between that is the true quest.
This journey is not a straight line. It is a walk of discovery, where truth is just beyond the next ridge.
It is a hike of endurance where self is revealed layer by layer, mile by mile.
These brave souls are stepping where most would not dare. El Camino is a trip through the mountains, across the hills, through little towns and muddy trails.
Armed with a burning in their soul and a pack strapped to their shoulders,these pilgrims walk 500 plus miles from the border of France to the Atlantic Ocean.
It takes 5 plus weeks and it is a grueling test of man versus nature, man versus the elements, man versus themselves.
The Peregrinos are currently 2 weeks into such a walk. Only 3 more weeks to go.
I have heard about cold weather and drizzle and rain storms.
I have heard about youth hostels and bed bugs and laughter over a glass of wine.
The trip is a daily grind averaging 10-15 miles a day.
The road is sometimes paved. Sometimes there is no road, only mud and sheep and vistas that few of us will ever see.
The Peregrinos bring only what they can carry.
If it gets wet, they will dry it. If it gets dirty, they will wash it.
If they can’t go on any further, they will pull into the nearest town and have a plate of cheese and a beer and talk to humans from every corner of the planet.
Though the languages are different, the need to seek truth is the one true need. Inner salvation is the one true language of man.
And so they hike, and persevere and walk the interminable walk.
They follow a map from point to point, but the compass in their soul is the real final destination that each Peregrino must find.
The facebook posts don’t do the trip justice. But they are all I have.
I see the pictures and read the emails and I envision a day that is truly memorable.
Did you have a day that was truly memorable today?
Did you live life? Did you breathe it in and find something within in you you didn’t know you had?
No? Riding in the HOV lane with one person is not the same thing.
Most of us will never know.
We are not Peregrinos.
We will not inhale fresh air that dances down from the mountains, that is fermented in the clouds, that is saturated with sunshine and spiritual enrichment.
Compared to the Peregrinos, we are automatons, making widgets in a widget factory run by George Orwell.
We are sheltered and complain about warmth. We are full and we complain about food.
Will you be tested tomorrow?
Will you wonder how far can you go?
How much pain can you endure?
The Peregrinos will face these questions as they persevere and walk the trail like so many tens of thousands before them.
What if you have blisters?
What if you cry?
What if it rains?
What if the wind blows in your face and you want to spit at the sky and curse God’s audacity to test you.
You can quit.
You can take a taxi.
It’s not a race. It’s not a test.
It’s a journey.
Getting there is only part of the quest.
So to you Peregrinos, I raise a toast.
I salute you and applaud your journey.
I will follow your quest from my couch, as you march forward every step of the way.
Life’s Crazy™