Tag Archives: Camino de Santiago

Hit Me With a Your Best Shot

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Sick as a dog

Sick as a dog

Humbling Experience

June 29, 2014

Sick…just awful sick. I have had horrible stomach, lower right back pain for 4 hours. I have been throwing up for 3 hours. What I haven’t been able to purge from my one end, it is going out the other end.

It is early Sunday morning. I am two days away from Santiago. Right now, my eye is focused on the destination at hand. And here I sit, at 2 am in the toilet stall, on the floor, with my face pressed against the cold tile on the wall. The restroom smells of mold due to lack of ventilation. I am listening to the snoring coming from the sleeping room and faint Spanish music wafting up through the walls. Weird. Bizarre.

This does suck. No way to put it in nice friendly humorous terms. It is all part of the adventure/journey. I don’t like this part. This is the way we started our Camino. Abby was sick. And here we are, just shy from completing it, and I am sick.

I’m sure people in the dorm are just thrilled to hear the echoes of my sickness, just as much as me. I am embarrassed by the sounds coming from my body. I would apologize to the other pilgrims as they get up in 3 hours, but I do not speak French. Yes, all the beds on this level are filled with French people. I spent 10€ for a bed on the bathroom floor. That should be a headline for a commercial.

I am hoping to walk…oh…who am I kidding? I can’t walk today. Let me rephrase that statement. I am hoping that this Albergue will allow me to stay another night in order to regain my physical strength to be able to move on.

Abby will have to play nurse and negotiate for our extra day. All I can muster up is a Linda Blair look, complete with spewing from the pie hole. Ah…my humor is returning. Perhaps the worse has passed?

2:30 pm. I am beginning to feel semi-normal. Not 100% there yet, but getting things together. The thought of eating doesn’t send me running to the bathroom to heave.

Abby was able to convey to the owner that I was sick and made arrangements for us to stay another night. The owner (?) came to clean the room and look in on me. She told me to sleep and stay in bed and not to come out of the room. And they kept checking in on me throughout the day to make sure I was sleeping and not dead or dancing.

This morning, a Polish man staying here heard me in the bathroom (who didn’t?) and said that he was a doctor. He went through his medicine bag and loaded me up with drugs ( anti diarrhea- which I threw up) and electrolyte drink mixes. He also checked my stomach out to see if I had appendicitis or any problems with my kidney. He sat on my bed to examine me. I told him that he had good bedside manners.

Then this afternoon, an Irish family checked in. They could hear the sounds coming from the bathroom and expressed sympathy and set about right then and there to fix me up. Phillip- the dad- poured me a shot of Spanish alcohol ( really…he has a shot glass) and in spite of my saying no to it, insisted that this would cure me. “Kills all the bugs inside your tummy.” He said. I drank it. Whew! It was strong for me as I don’t drink alcohol, but it was sweet too. “It is made with herbs,” he informed me. When he comes to Spain, he buys a case of it before leaving back to Ireland as it cures all that ails you.
And then he too went through his med bag to find me some Alka- Seltzer. Afterwards, he read me a poem he wrote about the 9-11 First Responders. He is a very talented writer.

The Camino does provide. Even on a Sunday with all the markets shut down. Abby walked all over town looking for an opened one to buy herself food and me some mineral water. I’m making do with cans of Aquarius ( a type of sparkle water/soda) that she obtained from a vending machine.

And that is that. Sleep. Rest. Let others help take care of me. I can’t do any more than just turn myself over to others.

6 pm. I took a walk up to the end of the street. I look like a zombie. But I am going to walk a few miles tomorrow and rest. Just keep plodding along.

 

 

Do I Really Need a Reason to Justify Doing the Camino?

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Bonding as we journey

Bonding as we journey

And Your Point Is?

June 11, 2014

I was asked why I’m doing the Camino de Santiago. Was this for a religious reason?
I have many reasons and not just one will suffice.

I like to explore. It can be at home in my own backyard, but I enjoy venturing out and partaking in life. Everyday is an adventure. Going on a pilgrimage, such as this is for me an epic adventure. It is fun. Exciting. Scary. This is outside of my comfort zone. I need to rely on others to help me along the way. This is a humbling experience because usually I am the one who is steering the boat, so to speak.

I believe that I should instill in my children a thirst for attaining knowledge. Traveling broadens their horizons. Going on a pilgrimage with my 19, soon to be 20 year old daughter is a bonding experience. I’m showing her that it is a good thing to challenge oneself and go interact with others in the world. What a great experience to do this together. I don’t have all the answers. I don’t know everything, but I’m willing to ask for help. I believe that by showing my daughter that we can go venture into the unknown, we are empowering ourselves with fortitude, strength and humility. When I’m old, we will look at pictures together of this adventure and tell lots of stories to the next generation. What a great opportunity to do this together when we can, before life becomes more complicated.

We both had a cancer scare. It smacked us up side our heads by surprise. A very eye wakening experience for the two of us. Life can end at any time in any place. Why put off until tomorrow what can be done today. And with this thought in mind, the seed was planted to go and live life now, not wait for some day. We should take glory in the present and rejoice in the life that God has created for us.

What do I hope to gain from this pilgrimage? So many thoughts to that question.

A feeling of freedom. A belief in myself for being able to endure all things, even be able to overcome difficult situations that I don’t haven control over, but that I will have the fortitude to move forward and persevere. That my daughter will witness this and see how we can overcome problems together and not just by ourselves.
We will have a sense of accomplishment. When the going got tough, we kept on going and that it was/is ok to acknowledge that situations do not always go as planned. Change the course and make your own path. Create your own journey.

When we are born, we don’t have a playbook/guidebook/travel guide to follow. We are dependent upon others to mentor us along the way. We make mistakes. We learn from them. We gain more wisdom and knowledge as we grow older. Only through first- hand experience can we obtain these lessons.
This pilgrimage, is a reflection of life’s journey for me. We are on the road discovering sights and sounds that we can’t witness first-hand, sitting at home on the couch, reading about others adventures or watching the travelogue special.

Bottom-line, life is meant to be lived and enjoyed. The world is a beautiful place. The people who populate it are fascinating. By going outside our comfort zone, we are embracing the unknown and welcoming whatever we find on our path. The good, the bad and the ugly. And the best part, we are not alone, doing this by ourself. Just as we mature, we have others to lean on. All we have to do is humble ourselves, open our mouths and ask.

Just like from the beginning of birth, leaving our Heavenly Father’s presence and security of being with him, to come test ourself on Earth and to the end of life when we die to return Home to his presence once again, we are not alone. Guidebooks are full of suggestions, but it is up to each of us to decide how we are going to travel on our own journey. To own it. Buena Camino!