Editor’s note: Rick McKay, Joe Masonick, and Jack Karolewski, have been travel companions for more than 50 years to a variety of sites with many goals. This week’s adventure is the 28th in the series, a hike in 2005 across northern Spain’s intriguing Camino de Santiago, known as the Way of Santiago, for a religious retreat and pilgrimage. Visiting various villages on the journey requires continual hiking and climbing. Previously the trio’s exploits were focused on an 11-week trans-Asia trip in 1977. This week journal is Day 14 on the journey through Spain’s, Arzua to Arca Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005 and close to the destination, Santiago.
The previous part is atthevoice.us/leny-grandmama-of-camino-recalls-world-war-ii-fright
By Rick McKay
Day 14: Arzua to Arca—Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005
Last night we strolled to the town plaza for dinner. In the alleyway, between it and the church, a group of children 9, 10, to 11 years old played soccer against the church wall, scrambling about, laughing, tumbling, and rolling on the cobblestones, boys and girls without any apparent care in the world. They had been there when we first passed through the plaza an hour or so earlier, and they were still there when we left after dinner, the skies nearly dark at the tolling of the 8 o’clock bell.
During dinner we watched them and mused about how simple their lives seemed, in a land where divorce is little known and family values and traditions apparently strong. How their lives seem to differ from the children we have known and ministered to back home, where 50% of marriages fail and the expectations created by media and pop culture foster a sense of selfishness and materialism, often devoid of moral imperative.
Of course our stay is too brief to confirm this conjecture. But it is such a breath of fresh air to see children, with no adult supervision, improvising games and entertaining themselves literally for hours on end—no video games, no organized leagues, no outside direction necessary.
We saw ourselves in these children at play, as we were so many years ago. We even grew nostalgic for the time of our youth when everything seemed so much more simple. But, of course, it does no good to yearn for that lost era. It is forever gone. However, we can aspire to make each present moment special, such that it too will be fondly recalled when reflected upon from some future vantage point.
Suddenly, a soccer ball came bounding toward us. Joe jumped up, retrieved it, and signaled the pursuing boy to stop, which he did, perhaps 10 yards away. Joe set the ball down and gave it a mighty kick, the ball soaring past the young man’s outstretched hands. The boy turned and chased after it, and the game continued against the church wall while we watched from a distance. Slept well!
After breakfast we were on the Camino once again. No more than two miles from outside of Arzua we came upon a girl lying along the path, two of her companions bent over her. She was in the throes of an epileptic seizure, her arms, hands, legs, and feet twitching uncontrollably. Her friends were beside themselves, not knowing what to do. In broken English, one said the girl did not tell them that she had this condition.
Jack reassured them that she would be all right, that they should continue to make her as comfortable as possible until the seizure passed, that she might be tired when it was over, and to let her rest, if so.
Meanwhile others of the same group raced back down the hill towards us, having climbed to a higher elevation with better reception, where they could use their cell phones to call for assistance. We greeted and assured them she would be okay, then moved on, the situation appearing to be under control and the girl gradually calming down.
Later I overtook Rob from Toronto and Joseph from Ireland. We walked along together for a short while. Soon Rob stopped to rest and Joseph and I went on ahead. I asked Joseph to tell me a little about his background. He told me he worked in law in his home country and was semi-retired. Then he decided to hike the Camino. His family thought it was hilarious when he told them of his intent. They thought it was totally out of character, and they expected to see him back on the first bus or train.
I shared with him part of the story which Christina had related to me a few days prior. He chuckled, much surprised that his tale appeared to have spread up and down the Camino. If you recall, he had collapsed on the trail with what turned out to be a bleeding ulcer. He added and corrected a few details, telling me he was nine days in the hospital. He said, “The only question they asked of me was my first name. Never asked about insurance, money for services, nothing. Just did what needed to be done, and when I was well enough, wished me best of luck.” He shook his head, obviously still in disbelief.
He said he felt he could not have been in better hands. The doctors did numerous procedures and the nurses tended him with loving care. He doubted if he ever would have received such care at home.
I asked why he had come on the Camino and what he had learned. As to why he had come, he said he couldn’t say for sure, that he came without any expectations whatsoever. What he had learned was acceptance: Acceptance of his limitations, acceptance of disappointment. But he said he never felt discouraged. Never once did he think, “I’ve got to get on a plane and get out of here.”
When asked what I had learned, I told him humility. There is something powerful and transforming about this whole journey, and it has made me feel humble before it. I truly feel a spiritual hand at work here, and I am in awe!
We arrived in Arca about 3:p.m.. My right leg is very sore, not only in the lower shin, but now just above the knee, as well. Wrapping it with an elastic band helped me to finish the last two miles of today’s 12.
Upon entering Arca, Jack, Joe, and I stopped at the municipal albergue situated along the route. It seemed quite acceptable, so we checked in for the night. Out back, a trail led steeply down into a stand of oak trees near a stream where I am now sitting, writing this journal entry. Every few moments, an acorn drops nearby and makes a plopping sound on the soft earth. Fall is truly here!
One more day to Santiago!
Continued at thevoice.us/final-steps-achieved-on-the-road-to-cathedral-of-santiago