Day 33: Negreia to Olveiroa (Bree)

Day 33: Negreira to Olveiroa
20.6 miles
Total:  523.1

As I sit to write, a rush of thoughts pour into my mind as we wrap up our journey with only one day left of walking.  Tomorrow we will be able to see the coast in the morning and will reach Finisterre the "End-of-the-World" by tomorrow evening!

Although my legs feel like they are getting tired after over a month of walking, my mind and body would prefer a daily routine that resembles what we've been doing.  It feels so good to be legitimately physically tired at the end of the day and extremely hungry when you eat.  My mind also enjoys the quiet hours of clear thoughts as opposed to distracted and jumbled lists of things I need to get accomplish during the day.  It constantly amazes me that my job can exhaust me more then a thirty mile day of walking.  

Today we had a 20 mile stretch that included some hills and secluded paths through the country side.  We left behind the big crowds in Santiago, so finding my little "pockets-of-peace" where I could quietly walk and let my mind freely wander, was much easier.   A quote from Christopher Mcdougall came to mind: "if you can't solve all of your life's problems on a four hour run (or walk), then you have some serious problems."  It's amazing to me how long walks or horseback rides have always allowed me to sort through my thoughts and feelings and arrive at a solution or at least some perspective or understanding along the way. 

I mention this because today was a perfect example of that for me.  Yesterday, I was super crabby all day and couldn't shake it for the entire day.  I still had some hard feelings or frustrations from a few days earlier that I couldn't settle in my mind.  I'm usually very good at dropping negative thoughts before they contaminate my thinking and experiences, but I wasn't excelling at that today.  In no way do I mean these thoughts to be harsh against the girls, but rather it was something I needed to make sense of in my own mind about people in general.

As I reflected on the happening of the last few days, I was so bothered by the fact that people were choosing to stop walking just a few hours before arriving in Santiago, a place they've been trying to reach for a month.  Close to fifty percent or more of the walkers decided to stay in a tiny town that offered nothing, when a few more hours would get them to a once in a lifetime festival that they would likely never have the opportunity to see again. For me, this was one of those situations where I really struggled to understand the other perspective.  I could only view it at the time as backing down from a challenge where the only real threat was getting a bit tired.  This one took me two entire days of walking to sort through in my mind and arrive at some understanding.  

First of all, I have to thank James tremendously for taking one for the team in a huge way.  He knows me well enough to understand that my soul would have died a slow and painful death had he wanted me to stay back with the group.  Instead, he gave me an incredible gift and allowed me to experience one of the most amazing nights of my life.  I can't thank him enough for giving me the go ahead to challenge myself to an exciting 30 mile adventure and the opportunity to experience what I had walked a month to see.  

I of course couldn't help feeling guilty as I enjoyed delicious food and watched the city celebrate with live music on every street and an incredible amount of excitement in the air.  As I watched one of the most amazing light and fireworks shows I have ever seen on the cathedral, I couldn't help but think what a shame it was that they were missing it.  

Luckily James, always in teacher mode, was understanding enough to realize that everyone has to walk their OWN Camino and I needed to realize that too, even if I could make no sense of the rational.  When he and the girls arrived the following night, I was glad when we found out that a condensed version of the light show would be playing tonight that they could see.  

It took me the last thirty-five miles to sort all of that out in my mind.  I realized that it's good to know where you lie on different spectrums in life and be content with where you are, or do something to change it.  This is truly what makes any physical adventure a challenge in a group is that everyone is in a different place. Again, I come to the realization that I am not normal in this department of life, and our accomplishments and challenges on this trip need to be taken with realistic perspective.  Having done trips similar to this before and having been in situations in my life where I've had to push myself and accept big challenges, I realize that has morphed my perceptions.  

Thinking about what the girls have accomplished on this trip, is truly amazing.  Considering the majority of Americans walk a mile or less a day, just turning their TV's off and going on a training walk of a few miles is more than many of their peers would ever consider.  Walking over 500 miles across a country where they don't know the language, having to eat different food, living without many "comforts" they are use to, being away from their family and friends, living like a homeless person, and pushing themselves physically harder than they ever have before, is a challenge that most people wouldn't even consider or have the guts to attempt.  

I hope they come away from this trip having learned a few lessons that will serve them well throughout their lives.  A few being: *many great successes and accomplishments in life are the result of daily, persistent effort pointed in the direction of your goals, that eventually adds up to something big. *you can live happily on very little (even just a small backpacks worth.) *only by pushing yourself beyond your comfort level and accepting new challenges, can you take advantage of amazing opportunities to grow and develop self-awareness.  *and most importantly, not to be confined to limits and expectations that are set by society on what you can accomplish. 

So as we wrap up our trip tomorrow, I hope they know how proud I am of their huge accomplishment and that their family and friends realize that they are about to successfully finish something that took incredible strengh and courage to even attempt.  

As we near the end, I am incredibly thankful that we have all been watched over on this journey, kept safe, healthy, and out of harms way!

To the End-of-the-World!
~Bree