Today is a brand new day.
Caldas de Reis is my least favorite town on the camino so far. I guess it was mainly because of the albergue (too big, too commercialized) and the restaurant situation. Given all these things I was more than happy to leave Caldas de Reis behind and eager to get started with my walk.
I walked through more villages than usual in this route, but I couldn’t complain, because I saw more animals too. Mostly dogs and cats in the neighborhood. I stopped a lot of times to just take pictures of them:
I feel like today was the day when I had finally gotten used to the rhythm of the camino. The first few days of the camino were grueling and I had moments where I thought to myself: will I actually do this again and find it enjoyable? Now I know for sure that the answer is a resounding yes: yes, it’s hard, but 100% I would do it again.
But why would I walk 20-30 km per day for an entire week with a 7 kg backpack in a heartbeat? Plenty reasons why: the moments of solitude to reflect on many things. The opportunity to push the limits of my physical fitness, and getting rewarded with pretty views while doing so. The unexpected encounters with the people that I meet along the way, regardless whether I’d be seeing them again or not. The opportunity to get close to nature and explore the small, rural villages I wouldn’t have known if I didn’t do the camino.
Ironically, I realized this only on my fifth day of the camino. Tomorrow, I still have 20 km of walk to go, but the day after tomorrow would be a different story: I would be on my flight home to Berlin instead. No more 20 km walks under the heat of the sun, and I kind of feel sad about it.
I’m going to miss this so much.
I made it to Padrón by lunchtime. The last stretch of road felt super difficult, but when I entered the town and saw Paseo Do Espolón—a calm, pleasant park with a lot of shades—I knew that Padrón would be my favorite stop in the Camino.
Yesterday I promised myself I wouldn’t eat out, but of course I couldn’t help it. After trying pulpo in Pontevedra, I think this is my new addiction, so of course I ordered pulpo again for lunch. I also ordered padrón pepper, of course. There is no way I’m leaving Padrón without trying out the padrón peppers in Padrón itself!
After lunch, I took some time to paint the Rosalía de Castro monument in the park. Rosalía de Castro is a Galician poet and novelist, and she is considered as one of the most important figures in the Spanish literature.
While I was painting, two women stopped by and spoke to me, first in Spanish but then they switched to English once I told them that I couldn’t understand them (I wish, though). They said that they saw me painting throughout the trail. One of the women put her hands on her heart and she told me, “bless you!”
It’s quite wild to think how this trip would have been utterly different if I didn’t take my sketching kit with me. It’s not just about the compliments—I’m not going to lie that they are nice, though—but it’s mainly about the interactions that I had the privilege to experience. Especially as an introvert, I’m not good at striking up small talks with strangers. Without my sketching kit, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have talked with anyone else except Paula. My sketchbook and watercolor set are definitely worth the extra grams.
Paula asked me where I am and I told her that I’m painting in the park, but I was almost done and I’d be heading to my hostel soon for a quick nap. She said she was still on her way, she still has one hour to go, so we decided to meet up later for drinks and dinner. “I don’t know yet if I’ll take the bus tomorrow or if I’ll walk to Santiago,” she said. Her feet are still hurting, and she was bringing her work laptop with her which clearly didn’t help. “I’ll think about it, I have one hour and then I’ll decide.”
We ended up having drinks in the very same park, under the shades of tree. I tried Estrella Galicia for the first time—I didn’t know how come I hadn’t tried Estrella Galicia until my 5th day, but better late than never! She also decided to walk to Santiago tomorrow, which I’m very happy about. For dinner, we walked around the tiny city center and ended up in yet another pulperia. Paula doesn’t like pulpo (I know, right!?) because of the texture, so we decided to order some other seafood.
We were chatting when a guy next to us interrupted our talking. “Peregrinas?” he asked. Paula gave an affirmative, and he told us in Spanish that he is a peregrino, too.
“Wow,” he said. “I don’t think I’ve seen people my age on the trail!” Now that he mentioned it, he was right. I’ve seen younger people, older people, but barely anyone that looks like they are in their 20s. Not that it matters, for me at least.
He joined us and introduced himself: Andrés, from Mallaga. When he found out that I can’t speak Spanish, he switched to English with a very strong British accent. He explained that his father is an English teacher. We took turns sharing about our job, and he told us that he was working on finance and payrolls, but he is now studying to become an airport traffic controller. I really think this is the first time I’m actually talking to someone who is (or is en route to become) one. Just another camino surprise, I guess.
We had fun chatting throughout dinner, and we ended up sharing each other’s meal. He ordered some padrón peppers too. The fun thing about padrón peppers is that while generally they are not spicy (especially according to my Indonesian standards), there is usually one or two sneaky ones with unbearable heat. This adds to the fun of eating padrón peppers, of course. I didn’t experience this during lunch, so I was unusually lucky, but apparently Andrés didn’t have the same fortune. His very last padrón pepper turned out to be extra spicy to the point where he choked and cried.
“So last day tomorrow,” Paula said. Seems like I’m not the only one who has been doing so much reflection about the end of the camino. “How are you guys feeling?”
“I’m going to miss it definitely,” I said. I told her how I feel I have just begun settling into my routine, only for the journey to end just as I start feeling comfortable. Andrés agreed, too. For him it felt like it was too fast and abrupt. His mom also told him the same thing: he was just starting to feel the camino.
Afterward we headed to each of our hostel. I know I’ll be seeing Paula again tomorrow, but we didn’t exchange contact with Andrés so who knows if we’ll all see each other again. But as I’ve learned myself, there are plenty of surprises in the camino, so who knows what tomorrow will bring.