More thoughts

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We met pilgrims from around the world – Poland, UK, Ireland, Spain, Germany, Australia (adventurous women travel), and Canada.  We only met a few folks from los Estados Unidos – Miami and Alexandria.  We started recognizing folks along the way that we would see each day – the adventurous women, the mother daughter pair from the UK, the four men one of which straggled every day (we named them the four horsemen of the apocalypse), the girl with the giant barn jacket coat, the women from Canada.  It was fun to see people progress and awesome to see many of them in Santiago at the end. 

How beautiful are the feet of the messengers of God . . . you can recognize a pilgrim even when they are cleaned up and in plain clothes by their shoes – FLIP FLOPS.  It was a last-minute shopping trip to make sure each of us had adequate flip flops.  It was on the packing list – but I thought it was for staying in hostels and showering.  NO – nothing feels better at the end of the day than a pair of flip flops.  It is a small pleasure to prolong the boot wearing in the morning with one last walk in flip flops to breakfast.  The trail ranged from mud, to cobble stones, to pounded sand/dirt, to tarmac – it was hard on the feet. 


Siestas are serious business.  We are missing out on something in the US by not taking a break to rest in the middle of the day. We sometimes took siestas on the side of the trail on our handy DWR blanket.  We often took siestas when we arrived at our new destination.  It helped keep us going until the 8:30 pm dinner hour.    

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