Forget "Eat, Pray, Love" and try "Eat, Walk, ...pipi". That is what the French friend that I met on the Camino says it is all about and as I have found out in 40 days of walking every single day, come rain or shine, perfect days and shin splints, it is perfectly true.
When you are at home, or work, or any usual situation, eating is no big deal. If you are hungry, you find some food and you eat, why would it be any different on the Camino? Well, it is not quite as easy as that, especially on the Via de la Plata. Restaurants, bars and shops in the little towns we walked through, don't open for the convenience of pilgrims, but all have their own age-old rhythm that suit the owner and the townsfolk. The towns are also quite far apart on some stretches so planning whether to carry food and what to take occupies a great deal of time.
Being vegetarian adds a further challenge as one can't simply take for granted that anything that states "vegetables only" means vegetables only, as it seems that tuna is classified as a vegetable in Spain. Thank goodness for one of Spain's national dishes, the tortilla patata (potato omelette), although there were times when I couldn' face another one of these delicacies. Fortunately most of the little shops had good fruit and lovely cheese so no need to go hungry. And then I discovered a sweet that is a favourite in Spain at Christmas time - turron blando - a blend of finely chopped almonds, honey and sugar. Instant energy, and I had my lunch sorted out for the last two weeks of my walk.
No surprises that walking is important - some of us do the Camino specifically to be able to walk for days on end. But on the Camino walking is never simply walking. I found out too late that it really is better to do a few stretches and warm up exercises before starting to walk in the morning. Not doing that resulted in me having to walk most of the time with really painful shin splints that never had a chance to really heal as I never stopped for a day. The painful legs however, brought me the gift of walking much more slowly than my normal pace and in the end I loved the almost dreamy quality of my walks through the misty and at times wet, Galician oak forests where surely there have to be a few druids collecting plants for magical potions.
The last subject was.... well, interesting at times. A fair bit of the way is walked along the carretera, dodging cars and trucks that seem to be aimed straight at you. Some of it even early morning in the dark with a little headlamp - hoping that the tiny speck of light is enough indication to the fast drivers that there is a different life form out there. To get back to the delicate subject though - where do you go? When there is no cover, passing motorists all the time and you HAVE to, well ... go. During one particularly long walk along the road, the only solution was the cover of a rain poncho. Otherwise pray for a lull in the traffic - and be quick;-)
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