Day 7:
Estella-Los Arcos
Yesterday was raining super intensively and there were warnings of thunderstorms. So I made the difficult decision to not walk and take a bus to my next location. So it sort of threw my day off. I missed the walking and missed the routine of being out on a path by myself in the middle of nowhere! Smelling pasture, smelling straw. Listening to birds. reconnecting to story. reconnecting to self. reconnecting to all the feelings of what it means to show up fully by myself in a place I'm learning to love and so I arrived early at the Albergue and the gate was still closed. I went and had a hot chocolate at the bar. It was still raining. I checked in at Casa Tiago was warmly welcomed. (I am now marveling at the size and height of the massive asparagus that's growing to the left of me as I'm walking up a steep short hill outside of looking and walking towards Los Arcos).
I spent the afternoon on a terrace playing my guitar and learning a new open tuning in DADADE that my dad is teaching me for a song that he wrote about a year ago and shared a beautiful recording of with me. So I practiced that, coming up with new chord shapes and tones and cool walking baselines to get out of my comfort zone on the guitar a little bit. I hung out with my French Albergue mates a little bit, then took a nice long walk to make up for the walk I didn't do yesterday morning. (this beautiful yellow G broombrush is on my right again and this golden golden wheat field. Now the wheat is officially yellow, yellow against the striking green. (A pilgrim came up behind me and I didn't see them). So they surprised me and I surprised them. (Smelling this incredible plant as I walk). I listened to a podcast from back home and also talked to a dear friend which is difficult given an eight hour time difference. I'm also missing my companion John a lot.
And as I think of yesterday, it's the sort of natural ebb and flow of a peak experience like this where I needed to just be still and do some grieving. Do some letting go and sending some difficult communications that needed to happen and which I've been avoiding.
(a nice a couple just stopped to take their jackets off). I'm sleeping deeply had a delicious cup of herbal anise and mint tea before I went to bed and this morning our host offered us cinnamon tea, which is a pretty great way to start the day. And I also got to cook yesterday, which was super regulating: I made a dish and make often when I'm in Italy have little sautéed zucchini to pasta and olive oil and the olive oil here is so fresh and so delicious and has that sharp bite in the back of your mouth as you swallow and I ate it for both meals. I decided to not eat any meals out was really good and really nourishing. Our bodies as ecosystems are so delicate. And it feels to me like everything is a microcosm. So either you're thriving and living your best life on the Camino or you're down in the dumps. It seems harder to find middle ground. The even keel of middle ground maybe that's what the walking does is it allows you to find even keel it allows you to find middle ground.
Now just gone under an underpass. You can probably hear the tracks in the background and the birds. I hope that you can hear the birds as well. For me, there's something about mornings. It's always been magical. The day is still unfolding. It's still ahead of you and you don't know what's gonna come your way and you don't know how you might surprise yourself and what you might show up for today, I'll stop by a food truck before Los Arcos that helps pilgrims in a long long stretch where there's very little food and water and I'm hoping to talk to the owners of the food truck about the possibility of playing a concert on the Camino in one of the towns coming up sometime before I leave.
I just passed this past a gentleman seated with his big old pack, taking a break and smoking a cigarette and I'm not a smoker, But boy does that cigarette smell good and although it makes no sense on one level to be walking and smoking right before you go up a huge hill can also understand in some way. It's a way to pace oneself or reward oneself for work that's hard earned and done with intention and love. I am gonna sign off here, thanks for listening and reading. Thanks for being such good humans. To me. May your day be filled with light and love.
-singing chorus from ‘Time that’s wasted is time well spent,’ written with Pia Toft Sand, from the cloister of the church of Santa Mari, LOS ARCOS, Navarra.
One quick addendum. I want to note that the owner of our Albergue goes by Tiago, but his name is actually Santiago. So I think it's pretty amazing that an Albergue on the Camino de Santiago was named Santiago by his grandparents who were actually walking the Camino when he was born and intervened in the naming process with his parents and said, you will name your son, Santiago. He sees it as a sort of blessing and full circle. He's a drummer and plays in a band called the ‘room of the crime.’
The second note is I'm trying a new format for today's blog in which I'm exporting not only the transcript but the recording of the transcript so that folks who wish to can hear it in real time, or listen and read in real time simultaneously if you wish. So you'll hear little interruptions you'll hear greetings you'll hear me surprising someone on the trail as they're trying to take a photo. Other little moments like that, but I thought it might bring folks especially into the soundscape of this place to be able to listen to the recording so I'd love your feedback on that. And if that's a medium that works for you. I'm such a big podcast listener these days, and sometimes I like to just listen and not read because it allows me to walk and be more mobile. Let me know if that's true for you as well. And see you tomorrow.
disclaimer: All posts written on the camino are written from my cell phone from transcriptions of a recording, and therefore have very minimal editing. They are meant to be a snapshot/soundscapeand a representation of daily life while walking, rather than a polished publication. Please take that into account when reading.
#Camino #CaminodeSantiago #SongwriterontheCamino #Singer songwriter #Singmebackhomeretreats #SongsofSantiago #Ethnographic #AnthropologistInSpain #AnthropologyOnTheCamino #3MilesAnHour #estella #Navarra #Rueda #cantautora #losarcos #casatiago #alberguedelaabuela
I love love LOVE the audio format! The birds singing, your boots crunching gravel, other pilgrims on the Camino. So lovely. Buen Camino, dear one.
So beautiful. I feel the ups and downs. Somehow the Camino, especially alone, lets us experience so much without distractions. Decisions are ours alone and ours to live with.