Grañon → Tosantos
Distance: 13.2 miles / 21.2km
Elevation: +948ft, -675ft
Today was a very interesting day. It started off okay but kinda devolved as the day went on and ended up pretty tough. I first woke up to some crazy pilgrims getting up and getting ready to head out for the day at 5am. They must be walking to Portugal today bc I truly don’t understand what other reason there is for getting up so early. When I checked my phone and saw what time it was, I promptly put my earplugs back in and slept for another hour.
At around 6am, I finally woke up and started getting ready for the day. On the ground floor where I was sleeping, there’s only one single room bathroom, and the line for it was so long! I ended up getting ready for the day and packing most of my things up, and saved brushing my teeth for the end when the line had died down.
The donativo had breakfast so I went upstairs and got some coffee and toast with butter and jam to eat. I ended up heading out for the day around 7:10am. I walked alone for pretty much all of today, although it was a shorter day, only about 13 miles. It’s crazy to me that 13 miles is now a short day. There were many towns with cafes during those 13 miles though, so although I walked alone for all of it, every time I would come to a cafe, I would see a bunch of familiar faces. Even though today was a somewhat shorter day and it wasn’t as hot as yesterday, it was cloudy and a little dreary all day.
Some of the people I came across many times today were Mark (USAID worker from Budapest/NY), Jack (anesthesiologist from Ohio), Jennifer (walking with her dad “Sunday” - his Camino name). At one point, I stopped at a cafe and chatted with some people, and very soon after I left, I came across a little kitten that was so so friendly. I walked up to it and it immediately started crawling up my leg, so I sat down on a bench and it jumped right up into my lap and was purring so loudly. It wanted attention so badly and every time I would try to set it down, it would just crawl right back up into my lap and get comfortable. I sat with it for probably 30 minutes and it was so heartbreaking to leave it.
After leaving, it was a long and somewhat challenging day. Many people say the Camino is split into 3 sections: body, mind, and spirit. Each section tests a different part of you. Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port to Burgos is the first section (body). Even though I haven’t gotten to Burgos yet (about 2 days away), I can tell my body is adapting to the Camino, and slowly but surely getting used to the walking every day.
Today was one of the first days where I noticed that I was thinking a lot about my life, my goals, and my future, rather than just thinking about how far I am walking and how much my legs hurt. I spent some time thinking about my career, what I want my future to look like, and what I want to pursue. I spent the majority of time though thinking about the relationships in my life and the importance of them. By the end though, my body was certainly starting to win out again and I was very glad when I got to Tosantos - the town I’m staying in for the night.
I’m staying in another donativo, although this one is smaller and feels much more manageable than last night. They again have a fairly strict schedule (5pm tour of the ruins church, 6:30pm everyone cooking dinner, 8pm dinner, mass, clean up, and then 11pm lights out). After showering and doing laundry for the day, I went to the bar across the street and had some wine and a tortilla. I met Mark there again, and we spent a few hours there chatting.
At around 5pm, we went back to the albergue and got ready for the tour of the ruins church in the city. We had to walk up quite a steep hill and then got a tour of a church that was built within a cave in this small town. It was fascinating to see and to hear the history behind it. Afterward, we had about 30 minutes of downtime and I chatted with some other pilgrims and did some journaling. At 6:30pm, we all went up and started cooking dinner together.
I peeled garlic and potatoes to help with prep - then, after all the cooking prep was done, I sat in the garden for a while and did some meditating. At 8pm, we had dinner - it was salad, pasta, and lentil soup with bread. It was a decent dinner. I was still feeling overwhelmed by the day, and didn’t talk to anyone really during dinner. I listened to some of the conversations going on around me but otherwise just ate. I felt a little better after eating but it didn’t last too long.
After supper, I excused myself from the activities and took some alone time before going to bed.
