Alquescar

Walking....sometimes after walking is easy to write, others not as easy. 

Arriving at the albergue is always a great feeling and relief. Most of my days now are between 24-27 km

The length of the day, it is marked by the town distances. Most of the time there is nothing in between towns and you just walk. Always the last few km's are hard. Some how...many villages are on top of hills and it is that hill, the one that is the hardest. Also it is generally around 2 pm, a very hot, part of the day.

The first thing I do when I get to the albergue is to take of my shoes. My feet are doing incredibly well, no blisters or redness, except one nail that is black and it will fall off. Not sure what happened there, but it was in the first two days.

The showers have been nice and hot, then I wash my walking clothes, hang them to dry, secured by safety pins....and soon close my eyes and rest my body.

Piligrims arrive at the albergue at all different times. Most of us walk by ourselves and meet at the albergue at the end of the day and it is then that we share our day or talk about the following day. Some piligrims walk longer distances, others take rest days...and you may not see them again. Manytimes we buy food, cook it in the albergue and share the meal together. In the Via de la Plata (VDLP) there have been between 6- 12 piligrims per day walking.

Walking and living the Camino it is an incredible experience, but not an easy experience. There are moments that as I walk, my body is tired. I am thirsty or looking for shelter from the sun or the rain. Some of you may wonder, but why are you doing this? If it is not easy?

Life is not easy, and just because is hard, does not mean that we don't love it.

I love life, everyday. It is exciting and I am so grateful for every moment of my life. The difficult moments and the beautiful easy moments. It is through the difficulties, that I learned the most about life and about my self.

The satisfaction of completing the walking day is a great feeling. I guess like running, hiking or any other adventure a bit extreme.

I say extreme, because even myself, I thought of walking 1000 km a bit extreme, crazy.

I love the feeling of adventure, unknown walking through history and time. Also for me walking is a spiritual practice.

Yesterday in Alcuescar, five of us piligrims stayed in a religious albergue. A monastery. Next to it, they have a home for ean that have no body to care for them. Men with physical and mental disabilities and limitations. Men that are homeless. They shelter them, care for them, provide medical and nursing care and they told us that most of them, stay there, until they die. It is all done through donations and volunteers.

In the evening we shared a meal. The doors and lights closed at 9 pm.