Day 33, Tuesday , September 24th, 2019: Mercadoiro to Lestedo

Sep 24

Sep 24 Day 33, Tuesday , September 24th, 2019: Mercadoiro to Lestedo

We lost power to the lights in our room before bedtime last night and it never came back on. It was isolated to certain circuits, but when an Albergue closes down for the night, there is no one there until 7-8 the next morning. Fortunately, one outlet had power, so we could charge our phones and watches. In the morning, we used our flashlights and a candle to get packed up and gone.

I must say the first 8 miles this morning in an annoying drizzle that would not quit were most miserable. Incredibly miserable! I would much rather hike up a steep mountain trail for two solid hours than hike the Camino for the same two hours in the rain.

Additionally, the throngs of people who have just started walking the Camino from Sarria, as that is all that is required to receive the Compostela in Santiago, have made this last part of the Camino just awful. Some people walk the Camino over a number of years in 1-2 week stages because they have to die to vacation time or physical ability constraints. These I understand.

But the Camino is now crowded with sulky people who only seem to be interested in getting the requisite stamps on their credential so they can tell everyone back home they walked the Camino. They don’t greet others with “Buen Camino,” they walk with headphones on and don’t respond when we say “Buen Camino,” and seem either self-absorbed or small-group-absorbed. And this part of the Camino actually has the easiest trails to hike to cater to these “Sarria-grinos.” (“Sarria-grinos” are those people who only put in the minimum effort by starting in Sarria, Spain.) If I do not come back to ever walk the Camino again, it will be because of the commercialization and crowdedness of these last 100 km. It’s a shame, really, that the Camino experience is diminished, like many things in the world, for the sake of the mighty dollar. It seems that many just want to put in the minimum effort required...a disease of today’s “instant gratification” world.

So, today’s “Camino Lesson:” we must all have our own standards in life and cannot expect others to care as much, work as hard, or love as much as we do. Our motives should be our own and we should only seek to be true to ourselves. Others opinions of what we do or who they think we are are immaterial. We establish our worth ourselves and the accomplishments we achieve are ours to embrace and enjoy, regardless of others. Remain tolerant and respectful, but draw the line at valuing someone else’s opinion of you over yours.

I will still greet every Peregrino with “Buen Camino” and pray they don’t waste the opportunity to connect with the Camino because they were too busy listening to music to hear the bird song at sunrise as they hunted down their next stamp.