Day 2 of the Camino de Santiago: woke up at 9, while everyone else besides me had left at 6.30, got ready quickly and left with a new aim 30-something kilometres away: el Ganso, the meeting point I and the other pilgrims with whom I spent last evening had agreed to meet at.
The way was rocky and I had to walk a lot , all of the people who are walking getting far ahead of me. Met a group of American grad school students from Vanderbilt University just to find out that one of them had graduated from Middlebury college!
Arriving at Astorga and just on my way out of the city I greeted an old pilgrim who offered me to buy me a coca cola and stay for a chat. The guy was 70 years old Irish man who did the whole Camino de Santiago on foot for the second time in less than 9 months! Terry (as he is called) is merely an exception: in fact, most of the people doing the camino are quite old…, but that only adds to the incredible feeling for human strenght, courage and determination!
The roadway after Astorga was not very difficult and far less crowded. Many people are astonished by the fact that Im doing the camino alone and that Im only (?) 19. Terry said I was the youngest pilgrim he had met. In fact, fear is the last emotion you can possibly feel on the camino… It is an individual journey, but yet there are may people around and especially when you need them!
People are immensely important! We all the time help each other, stopping for a while to chat or simply telling each other: ¨Courage! You can do it!¨
Bulgarian*Bitch 