Saturday, September 26, 2009

The First Setback

is quite difficult. As the day wore on today, my knee felt less and less comfortable - just behind the right side of my right kneecap, something ain´t right, alright? In Villahurta, I consulted my Finnish friend Veera´s Runes. My draw: 7, 6 (reversed) and 23. The verbatim descriptiong: Standstill and Ice. Booked a bed in a wild albergue run by Brazilian hippies, which has given me a nice opportunity to get a leg massage, plenty of advice from the free spirits staying here and a long, long nap on the hammocks outside.

I´m surprised about why this is difficult, because the pain itself is very bearable. I struggle with unmet expectations. Stopping yourself now to be able to complete the rest of the camino is much, much harder than walking on. A strong community develops; one that travels together each day. Staying behind means losing that group. I´d become especially close to my man Eduardo from Colombia, Veera from Finland, Paulo from One-ness University (and Brazil) and Heinz LikeTheKetchup from Austria. The stay in Villahuerta has been quite rewarding in other ways, though: I received a personal tour of the local cathedral from a sweet old lady. I have three "angels" looking after me in Carmen, Marialuisa and Maria Ilda, three Spanish retired sisters I ate dinner with, and I was able to upload photos. Enjoy!

4 comments:

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  2. Three things come to mind when I see your latest album:

    1) I see you standing by that corn field! It could almost be Nebraska. Haha.
    2) "The one thing I have going for me is my love of chorizo."
    3) With all of the awesome arrows pointing the way, I think it's really appropriate that you're reading The Crying of Lot 49 right now. Mucho Maas!

    Glad to see you're doing well.

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  3. I owned the Crying of Lot 49 in one train ride. Reading Don Quixote right now and it is soooooo good. Too bad I have to tear pages out along the way to keep the weight down!

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  4. What?! Fede, are you turning into one of those outdoorsy types who cuts all the straps off of his pack in the name of a few ounces? You are, aren't you?

    Listen, Hansel, the good news is that Camino of yours is a one-way road. There's no need to drop pƔginas in order to find your way back home. ;)

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