Sept. 9, 2010 - Santo Domingo de Calzado to Belorado

Left around 6:30. There were several small villages along the way, stopped for a bit in each one. Got to Belorado around 1:30 (7 hours to do 23 km). I think I need to take a break, my feet are tired. Maybe I´ll spend an extra day in Burgos (that´s 2 days away - 25 km), I´ll see.

Walked on and off most of the day with Stephan1 & Stephan2. Chatted for awhile with Maria from Mexico and Gothar from Sweden (Gothar slept in the bed next to mine last night). Kept passing a guy from Switzerland who had 2 bad knees and could hardly walk. I thanked God for my good knees and wondered if I would continue if I was in his condition.

Had an interesting conversation with Stephan1 yesterday which I pondered a lot today. On the camino you feel like gypsies, always on the move and don´t have a place to call home. He says that to him the presence of certain people he continually meets everyday on the camino is to him his home. I was touched to be included in the circle of people he considered home. I knew exactly what he meant. Even though you meet many people and everyone is so friendly and helpful, there are a select few that you feel comfortable enough with to share what is on your mind, or you can sit or walk with for an hour or so and not feel you have to make conversation.

Think I´ll do the menu del dia at 7:00 (served in the albergue I am staying at), go for mass at 8:00 and to bed by 9:00 (Don´t know why I enjoy going to the mass so much - totally don´t understand a thing that is said)

Had dinner with Jolinda and Al from San Pedro California and Andrew from Germany who has been walking for 2 months from his home in Germany. Really enjoyed mass. They had a mass for pilgrims after the regular mass and actually attempted to translate it into several languages. I did the reading in English that talked about 3 reasons why people do the pilgrimage.

1. One of the reasons given was to give thanks for all their blessings. This definitely can be one of my reasons because I have so very much to be thankful for!
2. i)  Second reason talked about how sometimes we have to make a major decision in our life and walking the camino helps to sort out our options.
   ii)  Also included in this is that sometimes people don't know why they are called to walk the camino. They just know it is something they have to do (this also definitely fits with one of my reasons for doing the camino).
3. Third reason was a little harder to understand. Camino de Santiago de Compostela - My understanding is that 'de Compostela' is field of stars (the route to Santiago follows the Milky Way - which is millions of stars). So according to the reading, each pilgrim is also one of the stars on the way to Santiago. When we are done the camino we are to go out into the world and let our lite shine for others.

 Also included in the readings was Psalm 121. This is my favorite Psalm and the one I have chosen to be read at my funeral.