Palas de Rei, Melide, Walking

Sorting Out the Camino

Group 2 — Savannah, Maureen, and Weslee

CaminoDayThree1

Today we finished our third day of hiking the Camino. Each of us hiked separately: Maureen with Nadia; Weslee with Chad; and Savannah with Trent, Bri, and Dr. Sheffler. It was a shorter hike so some of us bounced between groups a bit. After the first two days (15 miles each!) this shorter day was welcome. Since our group’s last post, we’ve adapted to the Camino, learned some of its quirks, petted some of its dogs, and collected some of its wildflowers.

Hill with logged trees in foreground
Logged trees found in the farmlands of Galicia

Savannah was struck by the proximity of the trail to so many permanent residences. It was almost strange to see the transient and permanent side-by-side. For generations, families have been farming the countryside between our base-towns, and for centuries, pilgrims like us have been wandering along their property lines. Of course many of these farms came after, likely settling and building along a main road for easier access to markets.

Roof Top in Melide
Roof top in Melide

Maureen noted that yesterday was more of a social day as far as talking to other pilgrims. She talked with a man from Ireland for a while, “It was nice to just chat with someone about our lives and why we were here. He seemed like he was doing this because he genuinely was trying to figure some stuff out and all his friends had recommended the Camino to him.” Wes spoke with a girl from Lithuania for a while who has done three different versions of the Camino, and, according to the guy Maureen met, she’s amazing.

Today, the walk was more quiet. Maybe it’s because some of us started a bit later in the day but we didn’t really come across many people who weren’t in our group. Instead we talked with our classmates. We’re still getting to know each other and our reasons for coming on this trip, and maybe — on some level — still sorting those reasons out.