Thursday, September 10th
Today was our first full day walking the Camino—ten or so miles (depending on whose digital device was counting). From here on out, we’ll be walking all the way to Santiago.
After much anticipation, transcontinental journeys, and three days of preparation as a group, this was the morning we actually joined the flow of pilgrims walking the Camino de Santiago.
This being the start of our non-stop walking journey, Andre and I created a ritual for our group. After being dropped off at our starting point near the village of Peruscalla, just west of Sarria, we stood in a field in a circle. I read the assembled pilgrims our daily reading, this time a quote from A Philosophy of Walking by Frédéric Gros:
“None of your knowledge, your reading, your connections will be of any use here: two legs suffice, and big eyes to see with. Walk alone, across mountains or through forests. You are nobody to the hills or the thick boughs heavy with greenery. You are no longer a role, or a status, not even an individual, but a body, a body that feels sharp stones on the paths, the caress of long grass and the freshness of the wind. When you walk, the world has neither present nor future: nothing but the cycle of mornings and evenings. Always the same thing to do all day: walk. But the walker who marvels while walking (the blue of the rocks in a July evening light, the silvery green of olive leaves at noon, the violet morning hills) has no past, no plans, no experience. He has within him the eternal child. While walking I am but a simple gaze.”
—Frédéric Gros – A Philosophy of Walking
Then I passed out a bright yellow slip of paper to each group member with the following words:
I walk in beauty.
I walk alone.
I walk in community.
I walk with an open heart.
I walk with an open mind.
I read this out loud to the group and everyone recited it back in unison. Then, one a time, each member of our group faced the rest of us, and spoke the lines out loud:
I walk in beauty.
I walk alone.
I walk in community.
I walk with an open heart.
I walk with an open mind.
The group replied back in unison, “Blessings on your journey.”
Then each person spoke the word, “Ultreia” which means “Onward,” to which we all replied, “Et Suseia,” which means “Upwards.”
One at a time, each of us crossed a threshold demarcated by parallel lines on the grass laid with the thick red ribbon I’d carried all the way from Hart’s Fabric in Santa Cruz. Andre met each pilgrim, tied a red string on their wrist to wear throughout our pilgrimage, and celebrated her with the traditional words, “Buen Camino.”
It was a beautiful beginning, once again reminding all of us that is much more than just a hike. It’s a sacred pilgrimage.
Even though I’ve walked the Camino twice before, I still felt entranced by the wonder of it. I kept thinking, “I’m walking the Camino! I’m walking the Camino!”
As we moved through the day, I took layers off and put them back on again. We stopped for “second breakfast” and I shared a tortilla, a Spanish specialty of baked egg and potato, with Melisa. It tasted so good, we ordered a second one and split that one, too.
I took up the rear today, marveling in all the incredible stacked stone walls that line the trail. This one sported a yellow Camino arrow.
We saw a horse and many cows.
Lots of ripe corn. And this field of giant pumpkins.
We had a relaxing lunch at a restaurant along the Camino and then walked a couple more miles into Portomarin, where we’ll be staying for the next two days. Tomorrow is another writing and art day.
At one point mid-afternoon, we entered a long stretch of the path that had incredible walls of stone and living green earth on either side. Entranced by all the colors and textures, I excused myself from conversation and walked alone, stopping often to revel in the layering of stones, the incredible moss coating on walls, the old, stripped wood on gates and doorways.
I realized that I was stopping to look closely because I’d been sitting in on Brenda’s art classes. I’m not a visual artist, not by any stretch, but what I had learned from Brenda was making me pay attention to what was around me in a whole new way. I looked and looked some more, awash and delighted by beauty. I was noticing color and texture and light, line, relationships, and contrast is a whole new way. In just a few days, Brenda had taught me to see as an artist.
Here are a couple of additional shots from Portomarin. We’ll be here for the next two nights.
Below, you’ll see the church in the center of Portomarín. It’s got an amazing history. The historic 12th-century Church of San Nicolas was moved stone by stone in 1962 before the old riverside town was flooded by the Belesar reservoir. Workers and architects carefully took apart the fortress-like Romanesque building piece by piece. Every single stone block was painted with an individual number so it could fit back into its exact original spot. The entire church was then rebuilt uphill at its current central square in the new town of Portomarín.
