A Wonderful Day
Today we woke up in the dark (Spain is on the side of the time zone with a late sunrise and sunset) and some people chose to come to yoga in the hotel to start the day. We gently woke up our bodies and listened to some inspiring poetry by Danna Faulds. At breakfast at 7, we were startled that the breakfast room, which had been largely empty the day before, was full of a tour group wearing matching shirts. Some of us learned that this group had just completed 150km of the Camino Primativo and were planning to return to get to Santiago at a different time. We all found quiet corners to eat and get nourished for the day.
Jose met us and took us on a walk to meet our bus (buses are not allowed in the old part of the city where we were staying.) We had our first morning meeting on the bus, where Hugh introduced the focal words for the day - “wonder and awareness.” He explained how there is so much going on in the world that we cannot see and yet, even though we can only perceive a fraction of what is out there, we still can miss so much as we go about our days. He invited us to use today to stop and bring our awareness and sense of wonder into our walk today.
Jose then gave us all our Camino passports, each already filled out with our names, Nancy gave Reiki blessings, and then we were off! Finally. On the Camino. There were many other pilgrims walking with us, and the day started with a perfect fog, which highlighted spider webs and occasional tiny darting insects moving almost faster than the eye could follow. The flowers were gorgeous, the animals were intriguing. We were greeted by a donkey to start the way, we saw many cows and sheep, cats and dogs and some of us saw 20 or so dairy cows being moved across the path from one place to another.
Our first lunch hosted by Jose was amazing! What a delicious spread of yummy food, hand prepared by him. Chorizo, “Triple A” Salad (Apples, Almonds, & Artichokes), Galician titilla cheese, and more. While eating lunch, we were surprised by a group of pilgrims on horseback tying up their horses on the same field in which we were eating. We had never seen a Camino horse group, so it was fascinating. One can get a compostela certificate by either walking the last 100 km, or by covering that distance on horseback (or by biking the final 200km.
The day at that point was sunny with nice, heat relieving clouds, so we all enjoyed a nice walk into Portomarin. We took in the flowers, the cafes, the other pilgrims, and the overall beauty of the day and the way. There were even clouds which had arranged themselves to look exactly like a Camino shell. Some of us took the alternative route and some took the very steep original route.
We had a great meeting at the end of the day, and it was fun to hear everyone’s experiences. There were elements we shared and elements that only some of us noticed. We all explored the town on our own, and now we are all tucked into the Portomarin hotel, with beautiful views of the countryside, looking forward to a nice rest!
Copyright 2022 Nancy and Hugh Murray
Nancy C Murray is a practitioner of shamanic energy medicine, Reiki master joy professor and spiritual leader. She leads public and private yoga classes and healing sessions, transformational courses, and also retreats and spiritual journeys.
