Tuesday, September 30, 2014

To Walk the Camino or Not to Walk the Camino?

Torte de Santiago
When I started the Camino in early August I wondered if I would enjoy it this second time around. Now that I have completed it a week ago and have had time to reflect I would say an absolutely YES. 
It was very different this time around, many more hikers, probably 5 times as many, but also much more infrastructure to support the pilgrims. The last week of the hike it was so busy that at times I wondered if I was walking down the Camino or the Kalverstraat in downtown Amsterdam or Robson street in Vancouver. 
At times, that last week, I wondered if the entire world had descended on the Camino. However overall it was the same experience I had the first time around, one of solitude, sometimes loneliness, but one of simplicity and peacefulness. At times I was very tired, but satisfied that I had completed another section. Sometimes there was boredom because the terrain was not very interesting. Other times it was awe inspiring because the skies or the landscape were so fantastic. 
Sometimes it was the people you met, or the fact that you did not talk to a soul for 12 hours. It is so different from what we are used in daily life, that it was fun most of the time and boring at other times; always different and exiting and challenging. 
So would I do it again???? YES, at the drop of a hat I would do it again. But first I would hike some more trails in Holland because those are flat and not so exhausting :-)
Hope to see you on a trail somewhere!
Kees

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