I’m squeezing in one more post before I arrive in Santiago tomorrow!

First, a note on food! Here is a typical day on the Camino: the standard breakfast is coffee and either toasted bread with butter and jam, or a croissant (bigger than your hand). Somedays I splurge and get a fresh squeezed orange juice. The oranges here are amazing. Lunch for me is usually picked up at a little cafe on the way, either a “bocadillo,” which is a sandwich on baguette, or a spanish omelette called “tortilla.” Tortilla is basically a big pan omelette with potatoes and sometimes cheese or onions. Their quality and tastiness vary greatly, but it’s the perfect carb and protein snack. Sometimes I even get a tortilla bocadillo. Yes, that’s basically a potato sandwich. Delicious.

Most nights that we don’t cook (either because there is no kitchen or it’s a Sunday and the stores are all closed) I get a “Pilgrim’s Menu.” They also vary in quality but always have three courses, wine, and bread. First course is usually a choice of green salad, a potato salad (which they call Russian salad), pasta with red sauce, and either soup or a plate of meats and cheeses. Second course options are usually chicken and fries, pork and fries, beef and fries, or fried eggs with sausage and fries. Not very exciting but it fills you up. Dessert is usually ice cream, flan, rice pudding, fruit, or yogurt.

We have had a few memorable variations. Twice I’ve gotten delicious fish (once cod, once a little fresh trout), once we had real paella. And upon arriving in the Galicia region we’re now getting regional specialties! The most famous dish is “pulpo,” octopus!

The other night I had squid cooked in their own ink. It didn’t look very appetizing but was actually very tender and tasty.

Now back to the Camino!
Rain today, tomorrow, and forecasted for the next 4 days. But I have acquired a poncho from a friend who acquired a new raincoat, so I’m dry! (Have I mentioned that the ten year old jacket I brought isn’t waterproof anymore? I’ve been wrapping myself in Hefty trashbags which actually work pretty well when there isn’t wind.) And today I was thinking that it’s a very fitting way to finish my Camino the same way I started it. I’ve been replaying moments from that first rainy cold week in France with dear Diana and realizing how I’ve changed (and not just fashionably).

Nicole in her trash bag rain suit!

As for the mob, I’ve made a game of trying to guess which people will respond to my customary greeting of “Buen Camino.” Before Sarria we all said it to anyone we saw walking or sitting next to a pack. And almost everyone responded back with “Buen Camino” (meaning “Good Camino”) or the older form “Ultreya.” That first day after Sarria I got so disgusted with the sideways looks I was getting that I stopped saying it. But yesterday morning I was in such a bright mood that every time I was passed or passing other pilgrims I fixed a big bright smile on and cheerily declared “Buen Camino” to everyone. I’d guess maybe 80% of walkers respond appropriately, with the remaining 20% either saying “Hi” or “Si” awkwardly or just plumb ignoring me. For bikers the successful percentage drops to maybe 60% (and I suspect that some of those just use it in place of “Get out of the way!!” As they bomb down the hill behind me.) Today I actually corrected a british man who is walking with his son, who I’ve noticed refuse to use any Spanish. After giving out “Buen Camino” for the third day in a row and just getting “Hello” back I said “Here, when someone says “Buen Camino” you should respond “Buen Camino.” And I even had to further coax it out of them.

To me we are all pilgrims here (at least all who are walking on the trail with me). This isn’t a vacation, this is a pilgrimage. We’re all going to the same place. We share this enormous goal in common. And for me this simple greeting is a way of recognizing that and celebrating it.

Now one of my favorite parts of the day is being surprised by someone who is just plodding along, bent over and downtrodden, who looks me straight in the eye and gives me a bright bright smile and agrees with me. Yes, it is a hard trail. It is wet and painful and difficult. But it is a Buen Camino.

“It is not in the still calm of life, or the repose of a pacific station, that great characters are formed…the habits of a vigorous mind are formed contending with difficulties. All history will convince you of this, and that wisdom and penetration are the fruit of experience, not the lessons of retirement and leisure. Great necessities call out great virtues.” -Abigail Adams via Janet 🙂

Walking through eucalyptus-thinking of you Hawaii girls!!