One Footestep at a Time

First Day on the Camino 2.0

Posted on October 6, 2013 by bethlindfoote

One of the perks of jet lag is waking up early. So when festival revelers woke me up singing drinking songs in the street at 5:00, I was ready to go. After much internal debate about where to start and how far to go, I did my online morning prayer and came up with the following: walk through Leon to the Parador, where I left the Camino in June, and then call a taxi out if town, skipping the suburbs and sparing my feet on day 1. It always feels good to have a plan.

So I left Hotel Q after desayuno in the dark at 8:00, and walked the Camino route through the medieval city. From all directions there was the tap tap of hiking poles. My fellow pilgrims were also headed out. I have been so consumed with travel arrangements and whittling down the contents of my pack, that had forgotten the impact of common purpose and fellowship between Peregrinos. “Buen Camino!” We said in the dark as we converged on the Way. That was my first tearing up episode. Then, a few minutes later as I paused in the Plaza San Isidore searching for which way to go, a guy standing outside the church pointed the way the Camino exited the irregularly shaped plaza. That was the second tearing up, followed by approaching the Parador, where I had decided to go home after my ankle injury. I asked a fellow pilgrim to take my picture by the statue, then went inside to have them call a taxi. All was the same as June. The taxi came and I started I Virgen del Camino, where the path leaves the suburbs. Suddenly I was back on the Way, and inexpressibly happy. The weather was clear, about 65, beautiful walking weather. A high point of the
day was talking to an old shepherd who had three German Shepherds herding gigantic cattle, in my rudimentary Espanol.

Categories: Camino de Santiago, October 2013, Return to Camino, Uncategorized | Tags: Camino joy, Camino tears, Pilgrimage, Walking the Camino | 7 Comments

Leon again.

Posted on October 6, 2013 by bethlindfoote

Yesterday I arrived in Leon by high speed train, pretty knackered from my journey. But Leon gave me a second wind. HotelQ, which I’d booked online, turned out to be one that was full last time when I was hobbling looking for a room in June, so there was a certain sense of closure there. Tons of people out in the evening for a street festival with Bagpipe bands, dancers, and booths set up along the way to St. Isidore’s, people of all ages together, and kids playing everywhere. It felt like coming home to Spanish life. Though reveling went on outside all night, I was able up sleep 7 hours, and feel ready to do some walking this morning to Villar de Mazzarife.

Categories: Camino, October 2013, Return to Camino | Tags: Camino joy, Pilgrimage, Walking the Camino | 1 Comment

A good day to start

Posted on October 4, 2013 by bethlindfoote

I began Camino 2.0 today, taking off from SFO in the morning light. Out the window across the aisle I could glimpse the City shining in the sun, and the Golden Gate Bridge. Always a pang leaving the Bay Area. Hale got up way too early to drive me to the airport in the dark. No traffic at 4:30 a.m., and the lighting of the new Bay Bridge Tower and cables was stunning.

Today is the Feast of St. Francis, Patron Saint of San Francisco. It seems like a good date to start. I just read that Francis himself walked the Camino!

I will remember him and the 13th century conditions when I start to complain about the bunk beds in the albergues.

I’m doing laps in the Atlanta airport before my flight to Madrid.
Buen Camino! Here’s some art in the airport of some very American Saints.

Categories: October 2013, Uncategorized | Tags: Walking the Camino | 4 Comments

Signage on the Camino and in Life

Posted on July 8, 2013 by bethlindfoote

yellow arrow, Najera

The Camino is very well-marked. Much of it, in fact, is an exclusive use path through the countryside, and all along the entirety of Camino, yellow arrows and the familiar blue and yellow shell signs point Pilgrims ever forward towards Santiago.

But sometimes the Way plays Peekaboo with its Peregrinos.

Descending through the forest to Roncevalles early on, the path dwindles into a muddy clearing. Passing through the city of Logrono, the Camino appears to stop at a busy roundabout. Sometimes even out in the open countryside when the Camino is an actual path, a fork appears that looks just like the path you’re on.

Camino shell in pavement, Burgos

“fork” in the Camino

“Where is the Camino? Or better, in Spanish:

“Donde esta el Camino?”

That question made me stop, and look with fresh eyes at the scene around me, and comb the environment for clues. Invariably, something would pop out of the landscape, like seeing Waldo in a “Where’s Waldo?” picture book.

There! I see a yellow arrow on a tree, or on a curb a block ahead. There! I see a bronze shell imbedded in the pavement. There! I see a blue and yellow Camino symbol up on the side of a building.

For a few days I took photos of yellow arrows, shells, and signage in general, which changed with each town and region. Some villages even painted a yellow stripe on the pavement through town to make it abundantly clear where the Camino was.

The Camino made me understand that I like knowing where I’m going. I already knew this, but the Camino made me understand it in a kinesthetic way. (I also learned, late in life, that I’m more of a kinesthetic learner than I realized.)

The Camino also taught me some valuable skills about finding my way forward when life brings you to a crossroads, or when the path you’re on forks, becomes muddled, muddy, or leads you to what seems like a never-ending roundabout you can’t seem to exit.

roundabout in Logrono

Here’s what I learned:

Stop. Take a sip of water. Pray. Consult the literature. Talk to your fellow pilgrims. Look up. Scan the landscape for markers, arrows, street signs, graffiti or kairns of stones left by others. If necessary, remove your boots and socks, and sit down. Push away the desire to know right away. Pray. Have a snack. Ask the locals. Pray some more. Then look again. The Camino is there. Walk.

Camino arrows leading Pilgrims out of Leon from the Parador and Bridal photo shoot

Inconspicuous Camino sign in center of Leon

Categories: Camino, Reflections, Spiritual Growth, Spirituality | Tags: Camino joy, Pilgrimage, Walking the Camino | 7 Comments

Walking through a Painting

Posted on July 5, 2013 by bethlindfoote

Back home in the Bay Area, bright orange California poppies make a brief appearance in the Spring. I expect poppies to be that distinctive color of our official state flower. In Spain, I was surprised to find poppies of a different color! The Camino led me through fields of green wheat lit with brilliant red poppies. I felt like I was walking through a painting. Where had I seen this before? In Monet, of course!

Categories: Camino, June 2013, Reflections | Tags: Camino joy, Pilgrimage, Walking the Camino | 3 Comments

I am the Vine, you are the branches.

Posted on July 1, 2013 by bethlindfoote

I’ve seen grapevines all my life in Wine Country of Napa and Sonoma Counties. But walking through the Wine Region of Rioja in Spain was a different experience. We were not whizzing by in a car. I could reach out and touch those vines, feel the texture of the leaves. I stepped on the same soil they were growing in. It was much more real.

We often saw workers in the vineyards trimming and pruning the vines by hand. It reminded me of this passage in John’s Gospel.

“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinegrower. ²He removes every branch in me that bears no fruit. Every branch that bears fruit he prunes to make it bear more fruit. ³You have already been cleansed^[ by the word that I have spoken to you. ⁴Abide in me as I abide in you. Just as the branch cannot bear fruit by itself unless it abides in the vine, neither can you unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me and I in them bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing. ⁶Whoever does not abide in me is thrown away like a branch and withers; such branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. John 15: 1-6

Entering into the rhythm of the Camino, “abiding” in it, brought me joy and meaning. As I walked, I felt an unspoken connection with other Pilgrims walking with me towards a common goal. I also walked in the joy of the present moment. With each step, I felt very much like a branch connected to the Vine of life, being nourished and encouraged to grow spiritually and physically.

I walked by ancient grapevines, twisted and rough. Bright green, pliant vines were bursting out of their knarled fists of bark.

One day we passed a pile of grapevines that had been pulled out, and stacked by the side of the Camino. Their fruitful life had ended. New grapevines were being planted in their place. That, too, was a symbol of Resurrection, and gave me new insight into Jesus’ words in the Gospel of John.

Categories: Camino, Gospel of John, Reflections, Spiritual Growth, Spirituality | Tags: Camino joy, Camino Spirituality, Pilgrimage, Walking the Camino | Leave a comment

Well-packaged

Posted on June 28, 2013 by bethlindfoote

Yesterday at the Madrid airport I had to encase my pack in plastic wrap so that I could check my trekking poles. I couldn’t carry them on board, and they didn’t fit inside.

The end result looks a lot like a Spanish ham, or Jamon!

Right now I’m savoring how, for once in my adult life, I travelled light.

I don’t want to “break the seal” quite yet, and unpack my Camino pack. I’m still coming in for landing back to my Bay Area life.

The process of unpacking the Camino experience will be ongoing, as life moves forward.

Categories: Camino | Tags: Camino gear, Returning from Camino | 4 Comments

Doors along the Camino

Posted on June 27, 2013 by bethlindfoote

For several days I took photos of the beautifully weathered doors I saw as we passed through villages and towns. It’s interesting that modern Spanish buildings favor automatic glass doors.

Categories: Camino, Spirituality | Tags: Doors on the Camino, Walking the Camino | 8 Comments

Traveling Prayer

Posted on June 27, 2013 by bethlindfoote

Nancie commented that I’m still on the Camino, but on a different road. I think she’s right.

One of the reasons I wanted to go on the Camino had to do with my commute on 880. It was a beast. An hour each way, most of the time in slow traffic. Towards the end, I surrendered and only drove before or after rush hour. But even then it was a long haul, and a lot of sitting. It took its toll on my body.

So walking the Camino seemed like the perfect antidote to my commuter’s funk—30 days of hiking and reconnecting with my physical self, and the rich cultural context.

It worked. I felt so fit and happy those two weeks I was trekking. It showed me a way out of the numbness and stress of the commute, and its consequences, which I always underplayed. But they were there.

As I spend this 24 period traveling home, I’m grateful for the Camino experience in so many ways, but today I give thanks for the way it reconnected me with my healthy body.

The spirituality of the Camino was a celebration of the way the physical and the spiritual are intertwined in our daily lives. Walking 5 hours from one town to another, and crossing mountains, and hiking in the rain reconnected me with that reality. We are made to move.

I reached Roncevalles, Zubiri, and all those other towns on my own, at a human pace: about 4 kilometers an hour. When I took the train to Madrid on Tuesday, it went 248 kilometers an hour! What a different reality! And today the plane home will go much faster.

I’m thankful for the technology that makes it possible to travel to Europe and for high speed trains. And I’m newly aware of how we need to give thanks for our physical bodies, and enjoy the way they transport us from place to place.

So I see the Camino opening up ahead of me in new ways. It will change the way I live my daily life. I’ll forever be more appreciative of my body and the spirituality that lives within my physical self.

Today at the Madrid airport I saw two Muslim men praying towards Mecca. I admire how they embody their faith, bowing down at regular intervals wherever they are. And I admire their faithfulness.

The routine of the Camino made me aware of God’s presence in much the same way. The walking and connection with other pilgrims healed my soul and my body, and made me keenly aware that the body and spirit are created together, and that we are essentially good.

Categories: Camino, Spirituality | 3 Comments

A time to walk and a time to heal

Posted on June 25, 2013 by bethlindfoote

Yesterday I took a taxi to the Universidad de Leon Hospital and limped into the ER to have a medical professional look at my foot. It was a fascinating window into the Spanish medical system. They don’t take your blood pressure or weigh you or make you fill out any forms. They have a “concierge” guy at the door of the ER who directs you where to go, and a very no nonsense triage guy. It’s so much quieter than an American ER, no TV or paging, and the lighting was subdued, not hospital bright.

I can’t believe I did it all in Spanish! Because no one at the hospital spoke English. The female doctor spoke a little. Had an X-ray done, and also tried to pay. I’m supposed to give the documentation to Kaiser.

Her diagnosis was Plantar Fasciatis. She said I should not try to continue the Camino.

The treatment is RICE: rest, ice, elevation, compression and anti-inflammatory drugs.

My Camino friends from Chicago arrived at the hotel in the afternoon, and we sat in their room and I heard about their days of walking and how tired they were. As we talked, I realized that, for me, walking the Camino was over. I could follow along by bus, but that wasn’t really a pilgrimage. I found so much joy in the walking, and talking on the path, and watching for the yellow arrows, and coming into tiny villages—the whole experience.

It made me sad to come to grips with my situation, even though I knew I wasn’t alone. Many people in our “class of Orisson” were going home with injuries.

So I went upstairs and prayed about what to do, and cried. I had to have a destination for the morning. Astorga or Santiago by bus? Madrid and then SFO? Hang out somewhere for 3 weeks? I talked to Hale on Skype. Coming home seemed like the right decision. I called Delta on Skype and was able to change my ticket.

I met Gina and Caroline in the bar and we talked like Camino friends talk, honestly and with love. They are gifts of the Camino; I’ve learned so much from both of them.

We met in the morning for the awesome Parador hotel breakfast buffet. I decided to give Gina my Camelbak and my copy of the Brierley guidebook for the rest of the journey. The Camino has made me more generous. It feels good to know she has them as she moves into Galicia. We posed at the statue outside the Parador, and then it was time for my taxi to the train station.

I’m in Madrid now. I will keep posting my reflections on my experience of the Camino as I move forward, as well as more photos.

I know that it will continue to teach me and inform my ministry.

Today in Madrid I looked up at the cathedral and saw a statue on the roof of St. James with his staff and shell. Later, I had tapas at an outdoor cafe and noticed that we were on Calle Santiago. He is looking out for me, I think.

Categories: Camino, June 2013, Leon, Spirituality | Tags: Camino friends, Camino Injury, Camino Spirituality, End of Camino, Leon, Parador, Pilgrimage, Walking the Camino | 10 Comments

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