San Sebastian

Well, I went to the doctor yesterday and it was exactly what I feared – achilles tendinitis. He said no walking at all for 2-4 days and suggested I take a bus to Santiago. Between my bad spanish and his bad english I was pretty sure he was telling me my camino was over. Yesterday was filled with lots of tears. I felt totally hopeless. But friends and family and lots of total strangers came together and lifted me up and now I am resting at a family friend´s house on a balcony overlooking beautiful San Sebastian with my feet up and iced and the sweetest dog I´ve ever met at my side. It´s a long story how I got here but the important thing is that I´m okay and feeling much better.

This past week I´ve met a lot of amazing people and have heard a lot of talk about  your camino. They say you do the camino however you can – whether its by foot or bike or horse or bus, whether its 30 km a day or 3, whether you carry your own pack or not, whether you walk every little step or just the last few, whether you stay in the albuergues or in 5 star hotels – you do the camino however you can, and that is your camino. That is the right way to do it.

I´ve come to terms now with the fact that my camino will not be exactly how I thought it would be. But it will still be my camino and it will be exactly how it should be. After a few days of rest I will go back to Estella and start where I left off. But this time I will go slow and aim for 10-20 kms a day instead of 20-30. Maybe I will try and lighten my pack. The important thing is that I will not give up. I will continue this journey and get to Santiago – one way or another. And it will be the way that is right for me.