A 26kms day... I got going a little before 7ish.. I could feel it would not a strong walking day again. Perhaps the speed i'd been keeping with S was beginning to impact me after all... I felt a bit like I am annoying S because I was walk too slow...more and more I fell behind, and I was okay with that...she would impatiently wait for me at points...i still felt like somehow I had not read the contract to this relationship, and somehow I had signed up for something I was not really wanting to deal with...and yet, I was not taking any action to change the situation, because it did not feel I could pin down what was going on... At a break, I had coffee and started talking to this older german man.. a familiar face on the Camino, i had met a few times. Hes done the camino ten times, which is wonder-some, first it is impressive, but second I do wonder at people who only walk the camino, and seem to take no other vacations or spiritual paths... but I do know people get addicted to the camino, and I wonder if I too, would be drawn to doing it again..once I forgot the painful bits..... he talked about 'du-zing', the german custom of changing from the formal to the informal you...a lot of older german speakers on the camino insist that here we could say 'du' to each other... this man, kind of made it seem like I was lucky for it.. he had certain airs..but he knew his stuff, he was a professor back home.... he also talked about the two different worlds of camino and home life...i was enjoying the conversation in a language I was fluent in...then S reminds me it was time to move on. Despite the fact that she prefers to speak french when ever possible and even to me at times, she seems vaguely irritated when I speak german.....i notice I start thinking more negatively of S although I still have not taken action to initiate change.. I think I am confounded by the fact that there really isn't anything major wrong... and I don't get that just me not being into the constant company is enough of a cause to ask to be alone... I dont set a boundary because I am perplexed by how someone who does really so little wrong can still bugs me somehow... so I stay with the situation longer....see how it unfolds.... we run into A, the german woman who is the suspect alcoholic, on our little camino circuit and I like her so much more for it to spite S's fundamentalism around alcohol, although, she herself does drink.. We pass A a few times.... She had a scare with a man the other day when she took rest. She'd been under some trees and this half dressed man just kind of pops up in front of her and he looks in both directions to see if there are witnesses...she gets away from there as quickly as possible and starts heading back from where she came in hopes of running into other pilgrims.. she does...and walks close to them for safety.... so, now she wants to walk near but not with others.. I think back on my multi-month walk across three countries and realized that I did not have any big scares like that, and I am lucky for it... but it did make me think about how often I was alone on hills, in woods, in open landscapes, if I hurt myself or if an ill meaning human approached me I would have been very very vulnerable, and yet while I was in those situations I did not think about the potential dangers at all....
A is no longer with the belgium man, but asks about him.. in the following days, I would find her often asking others about him...
I had a a big lunch 'cuz I was feeling hungry after yesterdays meager meals... Today's tempo was more to my liking, we walked and took breaks in such a pace, that we arrived at 3.20ish, which is good for my siesta time.. Reliegos was the destination town. It felt like a very long 13kms to get there after lunch ...Our route, was along side the road, but on a separate path.. The landscape is rolling hills here under passes with graffiti that is both racist and transphobic..the latter surprised me, first, that there was enough of awareness of this groups existence and that in this rather rural place someone saw fit to react against the community...we were in the radius of a bigger city and I suspect a city with a strong gay presence which apparently threatened a vocal small group of people in the outskirts.. anyway, I realized seeing this kind of hate graffiti along the camino route, which was suppose to be a spiritual path angered me...it's also a path that not just local people use, but a rather international group of people that would see these words and images...but it was a reminder real life issues and the spiritual path are not separate at all, ever..... I tried to talk about it with S, but she either did not understand or was not really moved by the same issues I was...over the course of several day of walking with her with limited conversation I had realized that she know a lot more about me than I know about her. When I did ask about her, (usually I prefer for people to unfold themselves as they wished, but if that did not happen I did start asking some questions) ...with S, I got short simple answers that did not lead to further conversation.. either it was the language barrier or other things I could only speculate on... and I did...In the town I ran into the german professor and this time he was with his wife, they did not always walk together ..... he might have an edge but she just has a wall.. it seems you cant say anything to her without some harsh reprimand... i learned through others mistakes as poor A asked about why she did not walk with her husband she got her head bit off.. for some reason they both liked me though.. We got into argument about illegal immigration.. its an issue in europe as well... and I have to say that man has much better, well thought out points than I did.. I still hold my opinion, that we are a human family and we need to take care of each other and I believe most people on this planet would not choose to leave their homes if conditions where not so bad..and I believe the reason so many poorer political unstable countries are what they are has so much to do with what we northern western countries have done historically to these cultures...but it is a sensative topic... a lot of europeans and americans fear being overrun by the foreigners and especially in europe with much better social services, they feel that these people are using the system and not contributing etc etc... … I would love to see a world with out borders... where people had choice, like I have.. I would love to share my privileged... but what if the flood gates where completely open, ...would it be a catastrophe and for how long? Would things naturally level out as they tend to in nature? But again, I realized that I had not studied the problem very deeply, I was just arguing from my gut, so from the standpoint of a good debate I definitely lost...but I was grateful for the opportunity to be forced to think of my views more deeply..
Mansila de las Mullas was only a few more kms.. the auberge there, was municipal, which sometimes means meager, impoverished..dingy... but this one was charming with a courtyard.. with flowers and a cute warm dyke running the place. Even tried to help me with my computer later. We got a still empty room so we had 1st dips on the bed... and I got a lower bunk... near the window. Funny how delighted I was to have this choice, my wishes are getting more simple.. nothing makes me happier than a lower bunk! I showered and laundered.. and took siesta.. the young italian couple was there and we now have a good rapport..checking in with each other on our days...
I did have a a nap if not a long one. S tried to siesta but could not ..she seems to have no body problems nor is she in need of rest.. in eve I really try to sneak out for dinner, but got roped in by S again.. huge communal meal, mostly men who are older spanish and french...meal tuns out to have ham... I get this look from s like I should just eat it anyway.. I bolt and get a beer and salad nearby.. .. I do return after my meal and rejoin the table, they had a little party with lots of wine.. melon and cookies.. there is guitar and song and an italian lady was dancing quite well. It was a fun little party, and S was actually drinking wine, trying to refuse but with little will, she seemed embarrassed by her giggleness, but clearly she was also having fun...I still managed to get to bed by ten. .
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