La Tortuga 🐢

[I had not planned to post this frequently but three days of almost no walking means I’ve got time on my hands, and I left my book behind a few towns back. If all goes well, I’ll be back to walking tomorrow and you won’t hear from me for a week…]

When I was walking in San Francisco, I’d often walk the same streets throughout the year to see the changes - the new flowers in bloom, different flyers stapled to the telephone poles, the ever-changing outfits of the skeleton in the front yard of a house in the Sunset.

It was my time to concentrate on observing all the strange and wonderful things the city had to offer. I had an awareness of my surroundings that I lacked in other parts of my life (if you’ve been driving with me you know what I’m talking about).

But those walks in SF don’t compare to the walk I did today. The slowness with which I was forced to walk allowed me to notice EVERYTHING. The vineyards spread out before me - some with old, gnarled, witchy vines that stood squatly on their own and others with tall and graceful vines, laced between stakes and dripping with grapes. The wildflowers and snails hanging out on stucco walls and lizards darting into the red clay earth. Everything looked green - so different from California wine country (though I learned later that unprecedented rains probably explain the verdant landscape). Taking over two hours to walk less than 7km really forced me to take it all in.

Some of the pilgrims who passed by were concerned by my gait. “You hurt your foot?” “You need Compeed??” “You have supplies?” Once I explained I was fine, just taking things slow after some bad blisters, they all nodded in understanding.

“Everyone is on their own Camino. It takes as long as it takes,” said a woman who has a daughter who lives near Dolores Park (small world). “You must go slow and steady” said another woman.

These conversations made me realize that nearly everyone has had some sort of physical problem at this point in the Camino. In fact, yesterday - only hours after I posted that we had fallen behind everyone we knew - we ran into two people we had met a few towns back. I guess I’m not the only one taking it slow.