viana

From Viana to Logroño.

11,5kms. 2,5h.

Today, the Way wasn’t going to be full of kms. The time has come to rest my feet, so I did a short stage, but full of beautiful encounters and celebrations.

What am I celebrating ? Today 16 of may, it’s been a week I’ve been on the Way of Saint James. A week ago, it began at Saint-Jean-Pied-de-Port ; Cédric Hernandez did a beautiful report about these first moments. And I’m still here.

So today I’ll dedicate my lines to show you these moments, words, anecdotes, but most of all one picture that has never left me today : the Way.

I heard by chance someone listening to it and it became the anthem : “Si quieres cambio verdadero, camina distinto” by Calle 13 (“If you want a real change, walk differently”).

Cheers for all of this, cheers to all of those who laughed or cried these last days with my stories and we stay in touch here…

Anecdotes of the Way :

Las chicas solidarias: INT. Hostal. 18h.

Enters a chinese pilgrim : Free bed ?

Attendant 1 : No, sorry.

Pilgrim : Oh, thank you.

In front of me, two pilgrims were having a dinner. They watch each other, chat a while and one of them stands up.

Attendant 2 to Attendant 1 : Hey, this girl says there’s a free bed.

Attendant 1 : How is it possible, if we accounted an hour ago ?

Attendant 2 : (after checking the room with the girl) : It’s ok ! The girls told me her bed was free because she was going to sleep with her friend !

Attendant 1 : How so, in the same bed ?

Attendant 2 : So it seems.

Attendant 1 : Together in the same bed ?

The two attendants look at them, incredulous.

Attendant 2 : Well.

Attendant 1 : Well… miss it’s ok : there is indeed a free bed.

And the Chinese pilgrim had a roof that night.

The Pilgrim on the phone: INT. Hostal. 21:45.

In a dining room, a pilgrim talks to the phone:

– Yes, yes, I hang up.
(15 minutes later…)
– I wanted to tell you about the picture I sent to you – yes, the one with the boots – weel, this is because we have to take off the shoes at the entrance and we have to let them at some place, but nobody never steals anything… Aha, the other picture is the dinning room : all of this is so beautiful : we eat together, we serve each other… Yes, yes, I hang up… ah, wait, I didn’t tell you that I met a praiseworthy person. He’s doing the Way for the forth time. He fulfils a promise because his wife and daughter were about to die and he promised he would do the Way if they survived. He knows very well the Way. I’ll try to stay with him as much as I can…
(He keeps away the phone from the ear and say something to some pilgrim passing by)
– Yes, sorry, it’s because there’s this guy who was about to quit because of this knee, and I promised him I’ll inject him one of my steroids… He’s going to be like new…
(at 22:30, the pilgrim was still on the phone)

Moments of the Way

: Drinking some wine at 8AM at Fuente de Irache. Day 6. With Carlo (Italy) and some Brazilian I forgot the name.

: Enjoying a good fabada Oleñka made. Day 6. With Isabella (Puerto Rico) and Jorge (Spain) at Los Arcos.

: Cheering while we’re doing a wine and tapas route at Logroño. Day 8, 1 week on the Way. With Isabella (Puerto Rico) and Jorge (Spain).

Words of the Way

Saint James, here I come!

Versión española

Version française

From Los Arcos to ~~Logroño~~ Viana
18kms. 4h.

Today, while I was walking crawling my steps as the dew wasn’t done yet, I walked through one of those deserted villages that are piled up in my head along with the kms. Here, in this eternal solitude of a forgotten morning, I bumped into this house. She was alone, too, and we could guess through the windows the nudity of her structure now in ruins, in closure. I thought about me being attracted by this kind of houses, of places. They allow me to tell me stories about who lived there, how, when. How old would be this construction, how many rains would have she resisted.

Then I bumped into a monumental cathedral in ruins, and I told myself that maybe it was the day of understanding the solitude, of these places’ deshabitation… as well as mine.

Although my spirit remains intact, my feet don’t stop suffering each step I make. I feel my heart is moving forward a thousand kms but my feet can’t escort him. That’s why I had to say stop and for the first time since I began the Way, I didn’t finish the planed stage (29 kms) and decided to spend the night 18 kms after the departure line. I felt sort of resignation mixed with defeat. A kind of autobelief, of frustrated sadness. Although the Way doesn’t need without marks or timeline, it has them, and you feel week when you don’t finish a stage.

I decided I would recover the original spirit to do it: live the Way with my diary, my pictures, without trying to fly over the stages.

When you begin the Way, in a certain way, you begin a family with all those you met the first day. You feel protected, joined, known… While looking at them leaving, today, as I was wishing them a nice Way and a long life, I couldn’t refrain feeling deshabitated, liked the house, like the church…

… the time has come to habitate myself again and open the doors to those who come the next kms.

Viana is the place where all of this happend, and although I had those feelings, my decision has been confirmed all along since I entered this village. While starting to climb the slopes, the streets were spreading sweet biscuits flavors without any bakery around; the bells doubled up without stopping and showed me the way to the church were I’ve been received with wine and olives – “this is celebration day, today”. And, out of nowhere, one of the most beautiful gifts I’ve received appeared : Paulino Harina.

85 years old and in love of a Venezuela he traveled better than me. Young, his mother asked him “But, why do you leave? Is there anything missing here at home?” “It’s not that I miss something, mum, I just want to see the world…”

After having sung many a capela songs, we promised each other not to forget us.