Our albergue, the Alpapador is situated besides a panaderia (breadhouse). Marybel bought us two of the freshest croissants this morning. We prepared our lunches and left the albergue at the decent hour of 9:30 am.

Gosh, guess what? It was raining again. I wanted to complain but I am reminded of David (remember the guy who lives in a tent on the camino). He did say this to me, “Sun is God, Rain is God, both are good, just how we see it can make us happy or make us sad”. Hence, I walked in the wonderful rain today. It was refreshing and smelled clean. It was not too cold, just right, to wet my face and lightly doused my hair not covered by my warm hat. “Rain is also God”.

On this trek, we came upon Iunti, who has only one leg and gives out stamps to all who passes his makeshift stall. He gives stamps on your pilgrim’s paasport like they do in the olden days with a hot wax candle drip and a stamp impression on the soft wax. He gets donations and uses the money to travel on the camino and the world. His motto is “all your dreams are possible if you believe them”. You will see his red stamp on my passport here almost to the end.

We arrived at our albergue Ultreia Arzua and also met Victoria from El Salvador who is a psychologist. She mentioned a worthy observation, “it is difficult to tell people what the camino is like….you are only really able to truly share with other pilgrims who have done the camino themselves” I agree with her. As I write this blog, attempting to share my experiences on the camino, I really do not do it justice as I am not able to give you my most personal details about the camino. Yet I know that other pilgrims can identify with them once I tell them. This is true for the moments of pain and suffering and the moments of joy and achievemnent.

I have also noticed that the camino is a calling for some people. The camino calls to them and once on the camino, it changes them and they go back to their lives with a different perception on how they should live their lives. It has certainly brought up my questions that some of you have already heard me ask, “what are you doing when you know death is chasing you?” “How do you want to live the rest of your life when you know you only have a limited time left?” You may live to a hundred years old, and if you think that is a long time, are you at least living it well and being happy? Such questions are the common themes of most pilgrims I encounter.

I may not have an answer to life’s purpose yet but I do have a newfound perception where I know that life is definitely for ‘living’ and not for ‘having’. I go to Santiago with this view on my soul.

peace and love,
Hilda 🙂