…try telling God YOUR plans.”

So goes the old saying. My Camino experience has been nothing like what I anticipated. Actually, I don’t even know what I was expecting. I had a plan, and then another plan, and then no plan…and now I’m just getting up every day and walking 10 – 12 kilometers.

Stopping when I need to stop, eating when I need to eat, letting others pass me on the Way. Drinking in the sights and sounds and smells and hoping my feet hold out for a couple more days.

Coming out of Boente this morning I came to a little church. The caretaker told me that this little church once had the distinction of being the “end” of the Camino. During the time of the Spanish flu, Santiago was closed. This church was believed to have been visited by Saint James, and so for a couple of years, Pilgrims considered it to be the end of their journey.

In addition to the cafes and bars in the little villages, there are sometimes little stands with fruit, water, coffee and other items to help the weary pilgrim. This was one I came upon yesterday. He had cut-up fruit platters, some kind of cheese slices spread with quince and…hard-boiled eggs! And get a load of the bright pink car!

There was also a church which had coffee and cake…and a priest who rang a bell and shouted “Buen Camino!” to passing pilgrims.

I have two more days before I reach Santiago. I have walked about half the kilometers originally planned…but each step has been hard-won and authentic. Walk your own walk, they say. And that is what I intend to do.