“Be it on the pilgrimage side or the courtyard side of life, we all have the potential to rise up against the dictatorship of our childhood-chosen destinies, the potential to become rebels with a greater cause, the potential to alter the course of our existence. In truth, life deliberately means ‘choice’ and in kind life […]
I eventually make into the city of Sarria thereafter, and was originally intending to throw my bag over my other shoulder, pause briefly for a drink of water, and then flow onward. And yet as was so often the case on the Camino (and as is so often the case in Life), the “will” of […]
Segue #03 on my serendipitous stretch through Sarria had me stopping by the pathside Iglesia del Salvador, a truly glowing sanctuary where Love itself seemed to be flowing from the walls and harmony itself seemed to be falling gently from its ceilings. True to form, the hospitalera on call there was as effusive in her […]
I walked onward thereafter with Soul fully aglow and almost intermediately met a sweet elderly man by the wayside who was asking for food. I paused without hesitation, gave him the rice cakes & avocado that Beatrice had given me only a few minutes before, and wished him the very best of days. Somehow he […]
“Seek to Love more than to be loved, to appreciate more than to describe, to Serve more than to be served. Seek tasks more than jobs, recipients more than friendships, and pilgrimages more than pathways. And as you live, if you should find more opportunities to love in movement, do not stop moving. And if […]
Soon thereafter I made it to the small village of Barbadelo, where the entire vibe of the Way dramatically & palpably shifts. It seems that this town marks the “official” 100km cut-off of the Camino de Santiago – the minimum distance that a pilgrim must walk to be officially recognized as such by the Roman […]
I then came up upon Sebastian & Melanie, and amicably walked with them for quite awhile thereafter – chatting quite joyfully with them about Levity & Life & Love while I did so – until it then became clear that our tempos were diverging, and we parted ways just as lovingly, with we all giving […]
“Whatever we might think about the future or our status quo, whatever judgments we might maintain about where we are or whatever plans we might have about where we are going, there are exactly two forces out there that can & will completely change everything – kindness & travel (&/or an intentional combination of the […]
I walked thereafter through a long series of unidentified small villages through the stiflingly hot & dusty afternoon; finally coming to the first of many “faux donativo” stands I would encounter over the course of the next few days – stands that purported to be actual donativos (i.e. pure offerings to pilgrims, whereby the traveler […]
After walking into & through the small towns of Ferreiros & Mirallos, and despite my hunger & thirst & fatigue not feeling in any way called to pause there, I soon came upon the waymarker that told me there was only 100km left to go until Santiago. And here I did briefly pause. Yes, 100km […]
And then I came across yet another “faux donativo”, this time one inhabited by an overly gregarious gaggle of Italian pilgrims – pilgrims who were interested in my Walk only as an opportunity for their next selfie; only as yet another story they could tell their friends back home. And yet even though they took […]
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