I did it!!!

[Emma]

Hi Folks,

Well I did it! I finished my first Camino (not my last but my last full one for a good few years due to other commitments but I will be back to do bits of it again!)

I am in the process of writing it up and when I am done, I will post the blog address on here so if you are interested in reading about my experiences you can check it out.

I just wanted to say thanks to all on here who gave me advice in the run up to my trip. Many times, I found myself thinking back about what people advised while on the Camino.

And yes, even though I packed light (extremely light for me!) I ended up sending on 3.5kg of stuff to myself in Santiago.

I got blisters from the first day to the last but the difference was on the second day (I ignored them the first and hoped they'd go away - they didn't!!) I couldn't even look as a new-found friend burst them for me with needle and thread. By the end, I was puncturing them myself with my (newly-bought) penknife in between bites of my tortilla bocadillo without batting an eyelid

I'm running away with myself here, all that will be in the blog!

In the meantime, if anyone wants advice from a freshly returned peregrina, please feel free to email me and I will endeavour to reply quicker than I walk!

Buen Camino one and all!

Emma

[HuskyNerd]

Congratulations, Emma!

[grayland]

Good on you, Emma.
You are now experiencing a strange feeling of exhilaration at having completed a difficult task....and feeling a loss at it being over. The hard part now is finding people who will listen.

[Irene Schmidt]

Good on you, Emma.
You are now experiencing a strange feeling of exhilaration at having completed a difficult task....and feeling a loss at it being over. The hard part now is finding people who will listen.

I will listen...

[Emma]

You know so many people have been asking me about my experiences since coming home but it's just so hard to truly capture it by explaining how you walk for hours, wash yourself, wash your clothes, have a sneaky siesta before shared dinner and drinks, going to bed by 10pm and getting up before 7am - on your holidays!!! - without sounding totally crazy. Then again, maybe we all are a bit crazy!

I went for a walk today (only 10km, one small hill down and up) and felt weird without my 'mochilla'. Kept feeling like I had to shift my raincoat to get comfortable but think it was just the lack of backpack and stick that all felt kind of weird. Still felt a sense of peace settling in as I walked. How I missed that!!

[Emma]

I will listen...

Irene, are you heading off soon or have you done it already?

[Irene Schmidt]

Emma, I did it from Roncesvalles in 2006 and I'm going back April of next year. And you're right: the experience of the Camino CANNOT be shared. It's like describing colors to a person born blind. And that creates a certain isolation, a yearning you have to learn to live with, because it's unavoidable. Nothing I read before going could even approximate the experience, and the description of the pilgrim's daily routine certainly doesn't. The most important experiences of our lives cannot be shared because they happen deep within ourselves. For me it's enough your saying "I did it!!!" I kind of know what you're talking about, I imagine what you're feeling, but that's just because I have done it too.

When I finished it I thought the experience had been complete and I'd never return. I was wrong. It took me 6 years to understand what the Camino did to me, but the mystery, the ineffable remains, and I'm ready for more.

BTW, that's why art exists: it's an attempt to express what cannot be expressed through everyday speech. My attempt is here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nosdamo...7594162889226/

[cedarhollow03]

Your photos are true art. I can feel the magic of the camino. We are planning on walking at the end of June 2012. I hope to be able to express myself at least half as well as you did.

Thank you. Jamie

[Irene Schmidt]

Polvo, barro, sol y lluvia
es Camino de Santiago.
Millares de peregrinos
y mas de un millar de años.
Peregrino, quién te llama?
Qué fuerza oculta te atrae?
Ni el Campo de las Estrellas
ni la grandes catedrales
No es la bravura navarra
ni el vino de los riojanos
ni los mariscos gallegos
ni los campos castellanos.
Peregrino, quién te llama?
Qué fuerza oculta te atrae?
Ni las gentes del camino
ni las costumbres rurales.
No es la historia y la cultura
ni el gallo de La Calzada
ni el palacio de Gaudí
ni el Castillo de Ponferrada.
Todo lo veo al pasar
y es un gozo verlo todo
mas la voz que a mi me llama
la siento mucho más hondo.
La fuerza que a mi me empuja
la fuerza que a mi me atrae
no sé explicarla ni yo.
Sólo el de Arriba lo sabe!

written on a wall outside Nájera
anonymous (Pe. Eugenio Garibay?)

Loose translation:

Dust, mud, rain and sunshine
Is Camino de Santiago.
Thousands of pilgrims
and more than a thousand years.
Pilgrim, who calls you?
What hidden force attracts you?
It’s neither the Field of Stars
nor the great cathedrals.
It’s not the bravery of the Navarrese
nor the wine of La Rioja
neither the Galician mussels
nor the Castilian fields.
Pilgrim, who calls you?
What hidden force attracts you?
Neither the people along the way
nor the rural customs.
It’s not the history and culture
nor the rooster in La Calzada
neither the Gaudí Palace
nor the Castle in Ponferrada.
I see everything passing
and it’s a joy to see it all
but I feel much deeper within me
the voice that calls me.
The force that pushes me
the force that attracts me
I myself cannot explain.
Only the One above knows it!

[Larry]

Congratulations!! I fondly remember my trip. It is so great an experience. I've posted some of my pics on Facebook; Larry Pardun.

[kjm]

Bien Hecho Senorita ! I did it in June this year and was blown away by the experience and the weather was stunning. Leaving the albergues at 6.30 am and walking through the early morning was exhilarating. I started off staying in hotels for the first two nights but after that I was swayed over to the Albergues .... this was the real spirit of the walk for me. Best places for me were Astorga, Molinaseca, Rioja region and parts of Galicia, getting through Leon was a struggle and sometimes the walk goes along the road too much but I'm going to have another go soon !! Hasta KJ

[Lipka149]

Dear, dear Emma !

Well done, good and faithful woman !

El Camino is an experience that can be best shared with those who have experienced it themselves. Well, perhaps it is more accurate to say that sharing with someone who has the same experience is more satisfying.

We identify with each other because we know EXACTLY what you are talking about regarding blisters, siestas, and friendships found. And we need that, as a community of peregrinos.

The next level of "experience", however, is to convey what we have found to those in our lives that have not Walked.

I encourage you to share what the experience has been to you, and after the excitement, interest, and emotion is gone ... to live what you have learned. It is those who see you live it that will benefit most from your experience.

Buen Camino, hermana !

[Precious1]

Hi Folks,

Well I did it! I finished my first Camino (not my last but my last full one for a good few years due to other commitments but I will be back to do bits of it again!)

I am in the process of writing it up and when I am done, I will post the blog address on here so if you are interested in reading about my experiences you can check it out.

I just wanted to say thanks to all on here who gave me advice in the run up to my trip. Many times, I found myself thinking back about what people advised while on the Camino.

And yes, even though I packed light (extremely light for me!) I ended up sending on 3.5kg of stuff to myself in Santiago.

I got blisters from the first day to the last but the difference was on the second day (I ignored them the first and hoped they'd go away - they didn't!!) I couldn't even look as a new-found friend burst them for me with needle and thread. By the end, I was puncturing them myself with my (newly-bought) penknife in between bites of my tortilla bocadillo without batting an eyelid

I'm running away with myself here, all that will be in the blog!

In the meantime, if anyone wants advice from a freshly returned peregrina, please feel free to email me and I will endeavour to reply quicker than I walk!

Buen Camino one and all!

Emma

Hi Emma, Yeah!! Congrats Emma. Looking forward to your blog. Though it's true, nothing can render an experience as it is lived, especially the magic of the Camino... I am one of those that believes good writing can evoke the experience and take the reader to that world in a living dream. About the blisters..I too had thought you were supposed to burst them...did it years ago and it hurt even more for many days. Then before going to Sarria this June, I googled it and all the info is NOT to burst them...I first just used a band-aid with an antibiotic cream, till my Camino buddy let me use his blister thing that is like another skin...you probably know the name. Anyway, the pain became like a dull irritation, then a small irritation, then nada.....though the blisters grew quite big, under the special cover, which I left on till they (one on the inside of each toe lol) completely dried up shortly after I got back to the States.That was my experience anyway. I'm writing about the Camino as well, more a story than a blog. When it will be done, who can tell. All the names have been changed to protect the innocent..lol Cya Emma, Kate

[Precious1]

Edit: "I'm writing about the Camino as well, more a story than a blog. When it will be done, who can tell. " That's not true either, lol. St. Patrick's day is the deadline. Yikes...

[freedom13]

Well done on your Camino Emma :-]

[Ash]

Hi Emma,
Congrats and well done. I have just got back but only did SJPD to Los Arcos but I will be back to finish it next year.

[BHinSanDiego]

Congratulations Emma! When reading your post about your recent walk it sounded so familar (something missing-mochilla?) Something that really stood out to me upon my return was if I was sitting or driving I would look at a distance hill and estimate in my mind how long it would take to walk to the top, and not thinking in the least how difficult or time consuming it would be.

[Precious1]

BHinSanDiego said...."Look at a distance hill and estimate in my mind how long it would take to walk to the top, and not thinking in the least how difficult or time consuming it would be."

An apt metaphor for a good life, methinks: Get up early, make yourself presentable to the world, nourish the body, then examine your long term and short term goals and work it, knowing you will get there....with the support of "family", for no one succeeds without their friends, "people live in one another's shelter", while making time each day to be alone.

Then, in the evening, relax and make merry. :]