Life's a Stitch

I'll be posting on the practical aspects like SIM cards and expenses, but first basic reflections with some pretty pictures of Mallorca. Large touristy cities are not for me, but thanks to a good public transit system we explored the Cueves del Drach (Dragon Caves) and pretty pockets of beaches. It never occurred to us to have included driver's licenses on the Camino so a car rental was not an option.

So different, the farther we get from the Camino routine. We are no longer amongst lots of people with whom we have so much in common, similar motivations and values despite the fact that those we met were from 31 different countries. The Camino is a nearly perfect insulated world. The locals have had practice meeting the needs of pilgrims for centuries.

In retrospect it's hard to believe we walked for so long. It just became incorporated into daily life to a point that we didn't think about it, sort of like breathing, putting one foot in front of the other.

I get a chuckle when I think of how clueless we were at the start, but then you find a rhythm that works. It was a time of working together to solve daily puzzles.

People ask what we talked about walking five or six hours together. There was mostly silence when we walked together in peaceful reflection. Many times C was ahead of me, in sight, making new friends. I found it easier, especially in the beginning, just to walk. Walking and talking didn't want to go together.

People undertake the Camino for different reasons, primarily religious, spiritual and/or physical. Your motivation might begin in one category and bleed into the others. It would be difficult to walk for 765k without some shifts in motivation and thought.

What did I get out of the Camino? The parallels to life primarily. When you are on foot you are forced to take things as they come, there are no quick fixes. Pain and obstacle are necessary parts of pilgrimage. The physical aspects did not get better with time but you learn to deal with what you've been given in order to get to your goal.

The intent of the visit to the Cruce de Ferro helped sort through a couple of things that I have the ability to change and those I don't; maybe resolutions aren't possibilities in this lifetime. That's big for a save the world counsellor/social worker type who has spent her entire career mending issues.

There are Camino disappointments. Having been so wrapped up in walking I missed a must see cathedral not realizing I was in the town where it was located. Once I discovered it there was no going back. I was disappointed that so many churches were locked tight, having looked forward to visiting the earlier Christian examples. The reasons given were too much stealing to it being off season. Imagine a church being out of season.

… to be continued tomorrow.

Our last day in Mallorca, I'll share some photos and then we're headed from whence we came, El Vendrell, an hour from Barcelona.

Sunrise over the cruise terminal:

Stormy skies from our room:

The beach at Porto Christo:

These look like fun:

The Cueves del Drach, 1200 meters in length, up to 25 meters high, its existence was documented in the Middle Ages. At the end of the walk a classical quartet plays a mini concert from a rowboat on the underground lake. Breathtaking.

On the bus home we witnessed a rare cumulonimbus cloud with pileus, a type of lenticular cloud that caps the severe storm cloud. I've always been a cloud nut: