9/21 Maneru to Luquin

Our journey today took us through Basque wine country in a light rain. We went about 17 miles and need to make a few up to get back on schedule… The Roman Emperor and noted stoic Marcus Aurelius said something to the effect of “just expect your plans and your day is going to get screwed up” (Meditations 2.1). So far the journey has been one of ruptured plans – which is standard fare for the Camino – so we got that out of the way right off the bat. A lot of adjustments underway exploring how to bear weight on the sore left knee going down hill, while protecting the sore right toe, while watching the heat on the blister of the lateral heel, and did we leave the stove on at home??

Upon leaving Maneru this morning a short walk away is a town called Cirauqui. It’s a beautiful little village sitting up on a hill surrounded by vineyards. Upon entering the town we turned a corner and heard some reggae music from a small shop serving coffee and some breakfast so we stopped. It was a little surreal to be sitting in a small Spanish town listening to reggae surrounded by fellow travelers (pilgrims/peregrinos in Caminospeak) speaking tongues from all over… and then I heard a woman laugh and was reminded there are some things we can translate in every language. Go humans!

Mostly our walk today was wet and a minefield of rocks but we have met several people along the trail… Camille mentioned Laura from Sacramento yesterday I think? And today we met a Manuel from near Barcelona and a very chatty young Spanish teacher from Alexandria, MN. We had supper with her. She is staying with us in the albergue/hostel tonight… but not in our room… we sprung for the private room (<$40).

I jot down random thoughts on my phone while walking (in the safer areas)… several of them seem to carry the theme, “what’s the point of this?” But then again, as Camille would say, maybe not everything has to have a point before we start it? Sometimes those things become more clear after we’ve started (I hope she wasn’t talking about marriage). I can easily see why people may not complete the course and wondered today if our Camino may take us in a different direction? Why are we doing this?

Every trip can be a Camino if we are intentional about it (or is that my brain just trying to get out of 644 more km? Not a single one of them flat nor straight!). Not sure what pain adds to the experience but we seem to be figuring out ways to compensate for what ails at the moment. Every day I expect we will have it figured out tomorrow. (Take THAT, Marcus Aurelius!)

While we stomped through the rocks and mud today we did have a very nice guy whir by us on his bike shouting cheery “Buen Camino” to everyone and I instantly hated him. Well, “hate” might be a strong word. Whatever the feeling was I imagine it was the same feeling people had in centuries past when the big shot rode by on his horse and they were walking along with their bad water and moldy bread. We did pass (slowly) by some really impressive sites, especially in a town called Estella which had a large Jewish population (until some unfortunate political issues of the 11th, 12th and 15th century). The town claims to have some of St. Andrew’s remains in their church. I entertained the thought of switching our Camino from Santiago to SanAndres and just calling it good…. hmmm. Our walk today was rescued by passing a “wine fountain” at the monastery in Irache (Bodega Irache). I almost never see Camille run… Spain: Greatest culture ever??

Walking for 9 hours does give the brain time to wander (obviously), and time for talk too. Did you know Camille has a birthday? It’s in July apparently! So we visit and continue to travel down the trail together smirking at the variety of antalgic gaits. There was one slippery, sloped passage we traversed so slowly my Applewatch asked me if I had paused… Ouch. Et tu Pomme? Not all Camino pain is physical.

I spent a lot of time thinking about my brother, Mark’s, kids today… that part wasn’t painful. I tried to practice a form of spiritual “contemplation”, which is little like praying for whatever comes into your head. Guess among all the other detritus swirling around supratentorially there are some things worth contemplating. 644.6 km to go (I am not counting but someone on the App did!). Doubt we’ll have it all figured out by then but who knows? Sometimes insight doesn’t arrive until we are well into some endeavor and if it does, certainly not on our schedule.

Buen Camino!