Camino de Santiago Portugues - Day 20

Daily Overview

• Summary of the Day: We left the outskirts of Padron in the dark this morning with a full moon beginning to fall behind the mountain. It was a beautiful walk today through country lanes and forest paths and the back alleys in little villages. Padron is the last convergence point between the Espiritual and the Camino Coastal and Camino central. The Coastal and Central converge at Pontevedra, and they all finally come together in Padron. This means there were a lot of people walking this morning and into the day. The path can get crowded, and different people will stop to get a picture which can slow everyone down. Sandy and I were struggling a little today. Not feeling bad but not keeping as good of a pace. I keep feeling like it’s just the cumulative effects of the mileage over the last weeks.

  We got into Milladoiro around 2:30 and crashed at the little apartment we’re staying in for a couple hours. Later we went to a grocery store to pick up a few things for breakfast and then out to get something for dinner.

  “I know! Let’s go out and walk around town”

  Let’s don’t, and say we did…

  
  

• What we planned to do: Today we planned to walk eleven miles from Padron to Milladoiro. We’ll spend the night there and walk the rest of the way (last six miles) to Santiago in the morning.

The Day's Focus

• Topic: Beginning and ending - I honestly had no idea how I would feel on the eve of finishing our journey and walking into Santiago. This pilgrimage has been in my heart for so long that the notion of finishing it was never as important to me as starting it. So many times I just want to get there, wherever “there” is, but more and more I realize that there is no ending with anything in God, only a new beginning that expresses what seemed finished in new way. Today my full circle with God on this Camino is coming to a close, but another circle is starting, and who knows where it might lead.

• Word for the Day: Beginning

  
  

• Scripture: Isaiah 46:10:

  "I declare the end from the beginning, and from ancient times what is not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.”

• Spiritual Practice: How has the ending of one thing in your life become the basis for something new that God is doing that is not separate from what was before but intertwined with it?

Moments and Images

• Images from the Way Today: 

  

  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  
  

  

  
  
  

• Beautiful Spot of the Day: 

  

  This forest path we encountered today was beautiful.

  
  

• Spiritual Meditative Moment: Sitting in the church felt very warm and inviting. A very strong feeling of being close to heaven.

  
  

• What Church We Visited: 

Satuario da Virxe da Escravitude Church - A person at this church was seated inside doing stamps for all the pilgrims that came into the church. We stopped and rested here for awhile.

• People we experienced: There were literally a hundred people on our eleven mile stretch of the Camino today. People of every kind from every place, but mid morning I saw a couple walk past us and noticed that the woman was just in front and to the side, and the man was just behind her with his hand on her elbow. As they walked on maintaining this posture, I realized he was blind and she was leading him. That man became my hero for today.

  
  

• Unexpected Surprises: So there we were, walking a mile or two out outside of Milladoiro pretty much in the middle of nowhere. when we spotted a police SUV parked up ahead at the junction of the Camino and the road. We thought, well this can’t be good, but when we got there, a very big and tall police officer was letting people put a stamp in their credential right there on the hood of his car. Now we each have a stamp in our credential from the police department. And we didn’t have to get arrested or anything.

  
  

• Animal/Nature or local life: The houses here in Spain (and Portugal) are much more “hardened” than houses in the US. Meaning gated entrances, retractable metal shutters over every window and door, and alarm systems even on houses in the countryside. You’re not going to just go up and knock on someone’s door. Lots of houses here have guard dogs in their yards, not just the sign, I mean the real thing. This was one yard where the dog living there has made peace with the never ending stream of pilgrims.

  

Reflections and Learnings

• Reflections from Today: Life is full of dramatic beginnings and endings. The start of something new or the end of something wonderful. For some reason I can tend to place more emphasis on that than I should because what happens in between all of the endings and beginnings is what truly matters.

  
  

• "Well, that was hard": Sandy and I both struggled with the walk today because our feet hurt, not from blisters or anything like that, but I think just from the cumulative effects of the last one hundred and seventy-five miles.

  
  

• "What helped me today":

  We had a wonderful meal at a Venezuelan restaurant in Milladoiro. A lot of the time we’ve been eating food from cafes or grocery stores. This was a wonderful treat!

  

  
  

• "Something I learned": I can’t completely verify this, but at this point I have come to believe that ice cubes in Spain only come in one size. Large. That is when you can get them. They do, however, make up for the ice situation a little bit by having candy vending machines that are refrigerated.

  

  
  

• "Insight for the day":  No one likes pain, but pain is more often than not part of the equation with anything that really matters. The first stamp Jon got in his Compostela on the Camino said, “Sin dolor, no hay gloria”. Without pain there is no glory.

  
  

• "Mystical occurrences":  Watching the full moon go down behind the mountain. I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before.

Daily Conclusion

• A View of Our Compostela

  

  One stamp today from a church and one stamp today from the police, an interesting combination

• Gratitudes (1–3 things I'm thankful for):

  Finding a nice place to eat lunch today near a church with a water fountain and a massive stone picnic table

  A little cafe along the way with a bathroom and peach Aquarius (a drink Jon likes that isn’t available in the states)

  Having a host who got us into our room much more efficiently today