New perspective

I embarked on the Camino expedition chasing a fresh perspective on life. A common way to find one is creating distance from your regular life, or let’s call it “taking a real holiday”. While flying to Portugal easily created the physical distance, the mental one was more difficult. Nevertheless, “thanks” to pain and exhaustion, I managed to feel more grounded in my adventure and open to something new. More lessons were coming, for both Maria and me. So far we spent five days walking towards our goal(s). The road was not smooth, but we tackled the bumps with strength and determination. However, pulling through is not always the best strategy to reach the goal. When things get hard, how do you recognize that you need to stop trying?

Maria and I woke up early and started the preparation to leave Portugal. I walked through Caminha’s historical center and sat down in a random café. I was waiting for Maria, reading my Portuguese newspaper and eating pastries. In the meantime, she was getting a professional blister treatment from Kathy in our albergue. It took quite some time and I was getting impatient, but we made it just in time to catch a boat taxi to Spain.

The Portugal -Spain border runs through the river Minho. With no tall bridge anywhere in sight, the river crossing needs to happen by ferry or boat taxi. We saw that the ferry was parked on the shore, most likely due to low water level. We were left with the second (adventurous) option – a small motorboat manned by a practical man. He looked like someone you would probably meet in a local pub. Packing pilgrims with their backpacks into a small boat wasn’t an easy task and it required his coordination.

We were asked to climb on stairs made out of beer crates (impressive MacGyver solution) and make a leap of faith into the boat.

We all made it to the other side, enjoying a surprisingly smooth river ride. Crossing the border felt magical, kind of like reaching a milestone on this journey.

We reunited with the Romanians and started discussing our route. There were two options – through the Tecla mountain or around it. Not every mountain needs to be climbed, but would we rather walk longer? This was a tough question, especially for Maria with blisters. Since we could not decide, we asked a local Spanish woman for advice. She was clear about her recommendation – the detour was very beautiful and worth the extra distance. I am glad we took her advice, because the little coastal forest under the mountain turned out to be straight from my dreams.

This is how I imagined the coastal Camino long before I came. I played a suitable soundtrack for this experience, we hugged a tree and everything was right with the world.

The forest was also full of art! If you stood at a specific location, some trees aligned to show tribal drawings 💕

Maria was struggling with blisters again. This time pretty early in the day, which was not a good sign. We slowly reached A Guarda, the first Spanish town on our Camino. We stopped there for second breakfast together with the Romanians on the main square. You could tell that a longer break was very much appreciated by everyone. I celebrated my presence in Spain by going to the first available supermarket and immediately buying jamón ibérico for lunch. This is in my opinion the best meat product in the world. I missed Spain, one of my homes. People became louder since we crossed the border, I swear!

We restocked on cash, pilgrim passports and medication. My throat was hurting a bit from the wind, so I got some lozenges and Maria got new blister plasters. A pharmacist showed her how to use them and gave her extra tips. Despite all the help so far, the blisters had not improved. We sent the Romanians ahead to walk at their own pace. We would meet in the evening anyway.

As we continued walking on an asphalt road with a yellow sidewalk, Maria reached her pain limit.

We walked very slowly, supported by the beats of German rap. I admired Maria’s strength and stubbornness to keep going, but I also felt really sorry for her. There was nothing I could do to help. It finally became clear to both of us that she had to buy new shoes. Sneakers, not sandals. I saw people walking the Camino with sandals before, so I did not discourage Maria from bringing them with her.

She decided to walk a bit more, off the main road. It was time for lunch and she needed a break to think about her next steps. We found an amazing lunch spot with a sea view, which was technically someone’s garden with a pizza oven, but that someone wasn’t around. Kathy passed by. Diane could not walk further and she was about to call a taxi from a nearby bar. Again, Kathy strongly recommended Maria not to suffer anymore and just share a taxi with Diane. Maria finally agreed to take some rest and try to heal her blisters. She’s a fighter, and I am super proud of her for walking this far. Also proud of her for making this big step on her own Way to Santiago. Something had to change. Great that they could support each other with Diane!

Maria was communicating with the owner of our accommodation for the night and she asked him about food options. He mentioned that the village supermarket was closed and there was no restaurant nearby. There was a supermarket with snacks at a gas station. The Romanians and us were not happy about this, because

we sincerely believed that we deserved a great dinner together. We would make it happen! The nearest supermarket with proper dinner ingredients was around 10 km away from our house.

We agreed with the Romanians to meet there, in a little village called Oia.

I walked a bit of the Camino together with Kathy. Our deep conversation about relationships was flowing easily and we exchanged our favorite emotional music. Suddenly I started paying attention to the foot pain that I was ignoring all day, because it was definitely not as problematic as Maria’s. It was the same old pain; my plantar fascia was irritated again. I used this type of distraction a lot during my burnout, specifically watching all episodes of Mayday, Air Crash Investigations. Sometimes you just need to put your problems in perspective.

We met Marian, Costel and Firita in the supermarket. Since we had issues discussing the recipes in simple English, I let them pick anything they liked and picked some food myself. Everything looked great! That’s how we ended up with multiple bags full of eggs, cheese, salami, paté, bread and many bottles of wine. It looked like way too much food, but the Romanians took the dinner mission very seriously. They picked up the bags with dedication and started walking again. They wanted to take a shorter route along an asphalt road, which I didn’t like, and I convinced them to go back to the Camino and see a Cistercian monastery. What a beautiful sight from every angle!

I’m happy we walked by the ocean, enjoying the breeze and late afternoon sunlight. We managed to have a nice chat with Marian, using some English and Google translate. I was a bit disappointed how little Romanian I understood, considering the fact that I speak some Romance and Slavic languages. But here’s a typical Camino lesson – if people want to understand each other, it works.

All this time the Romanian gentlemen did not let me carry any of the food bags. I asked several times, but the answer was always no. But I also don’t give up so easily. We reached a point where we had to leave the coast and turn inland towards our village. Marian and Costel were waiting for Firita to catch up. This is where I seized the opportunity, grabbed two heavy bags and continued walking uphill 😀 Maria was worried about us and she called because it was getting late. We arrived at the house around 7 pm.

A quaint Galician village of Mougás offered a calming view of the ocean. I was greeted by a friendly cat and smiling Maria. Apparently, a warm afternoon next to our pool did her well. I couldn’t wait to dip my feet into the pool as well. An old stone house looked absolutely gorgeous, and I only wish I had a chance to enjoy it more.

The Romanians arrived a bit later and cooked a huge dinner, it felt like a real feast. There were leftovers for breakfast, but not as much as I expected. Never underestimate a pilgrim’s hunger!

We watched the late sunset above the ocean, and I couldn’t stop thinking how lucky I was to just be there. The evening developed into more wine and laughter. Maria was ready to try another common method of healing blisters – threading.  She put her trust in the experienced blister nurse Marian, who performed the procedure with patience and confidence. Maria needed wine and breaks because it was extremely painful. Unfortunately, the nearest big town with a good choice of sport shoes was Vigo, which was still two days away. Until then she planned to walk as much as she physically could.

The bedrooms were upstairs. We shared a bed with Maria, which was unfortunately too small. I quickly realized that none of us would get a good sleep, so I gathered a stash of blankets and made my bed on the ground. I was so exhausted that I did not mind the hard floor, but I fell asleep with mixed feelings.

It was becoming clear to me that Maria and I had to split up soon.

We had a great time together despite the circumstances, but I had to walk my own Camino. I was determined to walk the Spiritual Camino over a bigger mountain, which would be very difficult for Maria’s current state. We agreed to take a rest day in Vigo and split up afterwards. Who can say where the road goes? Where the day flows? Only time.