I am now 5 weeks into my pilgrimage and today was the first time I experienced walking alone (well sort of). The previous night I lay in the small albergue of Cadavedo anticipating my walk the next day. My group was half a stage behind and Aidan couldn’t walk due to an injury. My main concern was missing an arrow and getting lost. When I first started on the northern route, I spent half the time enjoying the coastal beauty and the other half feeling frustrated at the yellow spray painted arrows. These little yellow arrows did not provide as much guidance as I had experienced on the French route. Sometimes it felt like hundreds of meters would be traversed with no arrow in sight. At times I would break out into a cold sweat and feel my anxiety rise. Countless times I turned to Annie L and asked “Have you seen a yellow arrow at all?” She hesitantly replied “No, maybe we should ask someone if this is El Camino?” A few seconds later, A shell would appear on the ground or the spray painted arrow on a pole. It never failed. Have I mentioned that the arrow can be deceiving? I recall walking in an open pasture and abruptly the shell instructed the pilgrim to take a left. Annie and I stepped over muddy, rocky, wet overgrown grass only to be led to a dead end by the freeway. I turned to her and shouted “This is where the arrow told us to go! Grrr” I was walking on the right side of the trail and had seen fresh footsteps going forward. Yet I had failed to see the fresh footprints on the left side coming back from the dead end. Perhaps the most frustrating part about the marker was coming to a section where there was three different arrows pointing in three different directions. My arms would fling up towards the sky in despair. “No I don’t want options, just tell me where to go!” I often said. It wasn’t until Guemes that I learned to have more appreciation for the little yellow arrows. During our meeting in the albergue that night, the hospitalero said “You all are very creative people huh? The northern Camino is meant for creative people and that is why there are so many options.” Maybe he had a point. Regardless, I did not want to exercise creativity by finding my way in the complete darkness.
To my misfortune, I developed an upper respiratory infection that very night. I couldn’t breath out of my nose and my throat began to feel sore. The loud snoring from one pilgrim didn’t help either. I was abruptly awoken at 5:30 am by an argument brewing in the kitchen between a couple of pilgrims. I lay awake until 6 am and decided to finally get up. I quietly retrieved my pack and went into the brightly lit kitchen. My preparation that morning was minimal. I threw on some thick slacks over my leggings, put on my rain jacket, and slipped into my blue Solomon trail runners. I sat on the couch for awhile with Aidan as sleepy pilgrims began to emerge. I walked outside to watch the sunrise. Rays of pink, light purple, and orange lined the horizon like a watercolor canvas. The cool breeze whipped my hair around as I watched the sun glimmer and slowly fill the land with warmth. A stunning view. I went back inside as a pilgrim was fastening his pack to leave.
“Do you mind if I start walking with you?” I asked eagerly.
“Not at all.”
He was tall and slender with a full beard. As we walked, I learned that his name is Lucas and he is an architect from Argentina. He had started walking the Camino not to long ago from Gijon and planned on walking to Santiago. It became quickly apparent that he had a passion for animals, especially cats. He told me that growing up, he would go sleep outside with his pet because no animals were allowed inside. Along the first stretch of the walk, it seemed like we passed a dozen or so cats. He stopped to admire an orange Calico cat that was perched on top of a rock. The cat wrapped his brown and orange tail around his body as he seemingly posed for a picture. Lucas told me that a couple years ago he was driving and slammed on his breaks when he saw a dog with a cat in its mouth on the road. His father sitting in the passengers seat alarmingly asked “What’s wrong?”Lucas parked the car and ran into the street to save the defenseless little animal. Although the cat was badly injured, he eventually recovered with a little TLC. Lucas grinned as he showed me a picture of his cat on his cellphone.
We kept an even pace as we talked about our lives. He asked me what I did for a living and I explained that I was currently a full time student who was walking El Camino for spring quarter. He was very fascinated by my unique program and asked why I thought the college had students do such a thing. I thought about his question for a few seconds and responded
“They say that the Camino will change a person if he/she is willing to embrace change. I’ve personally never done anything this extreme. It’s my first time traveling out of the U.S., hiking, and being entirely alone. Walking the Camino with everything I need in my pack makes me realize that I don’t need much to be happy. I was used to living a life with a bunch of excessive thing-clothes, shoes, jewelry etc. When I get home, I plan on going through my belongings and donating what I don’t use. Walking the Camino has also given me a greater appreciation for simply having shelter and a warm bed. There was a night where I slept on the floor because the beds were full in the albergue. I was thankful to not be sleeping in the street. A few months ago, I wouldn’t have had the same perspective”
Going up a stretch of rocky hills, I began to fall behind until Lucas was completely out of sight. I sat down on a rock as I developed light headedness and tingly hands. I felt short of breath and then developed mild tunnel vision. I began to panic slightly at the thought of passing out alone in the woods. I drank some water and took a few deep breaths. It took a few moments for my symptoms to pass. I trudged on through the trail until I was back along the highway. About 50 meters ahead, I could see Lucas walking slowly and then looking back. I picked up the pace grateful that he had taken the time to wait for me. As I got closer, he looked back and raised his arms palms up and shrugged as if saying “where’d you go?”
We arrived at the quiet fishing port of Luarca around 10 am. This itself felt like a great accomplishment being that I’ve only completed a stage this early twice in my entire Camino. We took a seat outside a local bar and I ordered my usual-zumo de pina with a croissant. Lucas ordered the classic café con leche y un bocadillo. After a short break, Lucas decided to walk an extra 20 km. Although we had only known each other for a few hours, I could sense the feeling of unity that the Camino had created. We embraced like old pals and I thanked him for walking with me. “Buen Camino!” I exclaimed as he walked away. Would I ever see my new Argentine friend again?