~ To the Meseta! ~
Burgos
Burgos is a beautiful big city. The most striking thing about it, aside from the river running through the middle of it, is the gothic Cathedral of Santa Maria. This massive structure towers above the city with its detailed spires and super funky gargoyles. The banner at the top of this post is a photo of a section of the cathedral against the gorgeous blue fall sky.
I rented an Airbnb for two nights so I could hang out a bit. After many nights in rooms of bunks with lots of humans, it was nice to have a place to myself. Plus a kitchen which allowed me to get caught up on my veggies! The sun streamed through the wide windows that opened up onto a plaza humming and buzzing with human activity. A very pleasant place to stay!
Below you’ll see the night sky through the window of the Airbnb, a gargoyle and the fountain outside the apartment door.
To Hornillos
This was a 13 mile day. A lot of it was flat but it wasn’t full on meseta till the last couple of miles. The morning was cool and beautiful. Leaving the city in the dark-turning-to-dawn was lovely. The first chunk of miles was full of trees and walking by a river with a few hills to go up and then down, but by around 11 AM the meseta opened up. There were fields and fields of sunflower plants, most of them dead, and loads of rolling hills and windmills. Lots of windmills!
Kindnesses
When pilgrims arrive in their hostels, most of us have the same routine – shower, laundry, organize bedding for the night, take care of feet…today the chores were no different. As I pulled out my first aid kit to attend to a few weirdly positioned blisters, a bunkmate slid over and started cooing. Chou is from South Korea and spoke no English just as I speak zero Korean. With gestures and smiles, she tended to my feet with such loving kindness I was blown away. I teased that she was my new doctor and we laugh now every time we come across one another. I call her Dr. Chou. She also gave me a beautiful little traditional bag called a “lucky bouquet” (at least I think that’s what she was telling me?) I’m using it for my earbuds and mini adapters and think of her every time I pull it out. In the dinner photo below, she’s the one pointing.
You’ll also see the morning view of the Airbnb as I left Burgos, the pilgrim art that decorates the streets, and sunflowers!
To Castrojeriz
It was quite dark at 6:30 that morning when my feet stepped out onto the Camino. The stars shone and the world was very quiet. There was no problem seeing because eyes grow accustomed after a while. I felt the vastness of the universe as well as the recognition of my tiny place in it. Very serene. Very connected. After about a half hour I noticed a headlamp making its way up to me. I felt myself getting irritated by the brightness and the intrusion. So I stepped off the road to let the person pass.
The guy asked if I was ok. I told him that yes, everything was fine. He stopped, headlamp shining in my eyes. “Don’t you want a headlamp?” I said no, that I was enjoying the dark and that I was waiting to let him pass me by. “You should have a headlamp. You’ll probably fall and hurt yourself.” And off he walked.
Now I was really irritated. Like, really irritated! As an Empowerment Self Defense teacher, a feminist and a person in recovery, this pissed me off on many levels.
Some time passed and it occurred to me that I was now obsessing about this thing that had just happened and noticed the way I was letting it disturb my morning tranquility. “Let go, Silvia,” the voice in my head said to myself. That was irritating too.
Throughout my life, I have read, heard about and been advised to “just let it go.” This is curious to me. It usually comes about eventually…but never because I willed myself to “just let it go” or pushed or forced or powered my way through it. In fact, that phrase often feels incredibly judgmental and sometimes just makes it feel worse – or harder.
In pondering this, it occurred to me that instead of ‘trying’ so hard to let my obsessive thoughts go, I could instead replace them with something else. Gratitude seemed to be a potentially good substitution-thought.
Immersing myself in gratitude worked. I got back into the moment and walked along while turning often to watch an incredible sunrise. Soon, I found myself singing “Morning Has Broken” and decided to pull up the song by Cat Stevens on Spotify.
Before I knew it, I was singing and crying and feeling every emotion under the sun – including gratitude, grief, abundance, belonging and joy. And as the sun peeked over the hills behind me, it occurred to me that the letting go had happened without “working” at it, “pushing” the thoughts away, belittling myself for taking too long, obsessing over the negative thoughts…none of it. The letting go was much more than that. It was a letting IN to a vast space as big as the sky where the negativity held no sway. And it felt like magic.
Below, please enjoy some photos of the sunrise.
Dinner that night was with some dear new friends from Thailand and South Korea. 🙂
To Boadilla del Camino
…and here’s where I get to spend tonight (Wednesday 9/27). At a lovely hostel with a bunch of other peregrinos. We have a beautiful garden full of art, trees and flowers. And best of all we have a very cold pool to soak our toes, feet, knees and bodies in!
Here’s to the creation of many spaces where the negative thoughts and intrusions just can’t grab hold. Hugs.
