Finish Line
Too busy having fun to write this on time.
While it felt like -4° F (-20° C) during this “polar bomb,” I still felt that I needed to finish my 900 km outside. I would finish it on the same neighborhood walk that I first became acquainted with by taking turns with my brother riding in a stroller while eating snacks or answering quiz questions from my mom while walking. Part of this walk would be how I got home from the bus stop, where I played “mini” (basketball) with friends, where I trained for a marathon in 2019, and now where my family continues to gather daily for around 3 miles of walking and hearing my mom plan her schedule for the rest of the day.
Day 90: 900 km Total
The end. Three and a half years ago, Christian and I walked together to a lighthouse “at the end of the world” to mark 36 days of walking an average of around 26 km per day. This was Christian’s fourth and he still felt the magic of the moment. Once again, time felt still and euphoria took over. We smiled and laughed while looking out at the ocean that encircled the little peninsula on which we sat. We reveled in our victory for a while before returning to the small town of Finisterre.
We took a train back to the lighthouse for the sunset. As the sun set, we ran into an older couple from South Dakota that I had met a few weeks ago (Gene and Colleen). Gene and Colleen stayed with us for a walk back to the town and for many more drinks before we made it back to our last albergue of the Camino. Gene had retired at 50 after his life-long best friend had died. He had realized he had spent too much of his life working too hard and decided it was time to have fun until the end. He and his wife were in good shape and were enjoying traveling the world or fishing together in Florida. Christian and I both were impressed by how well they moved on the Camino and their attitude about life and each other. I wonder if my parents have good enough joints to impress some youngsters on their own caminos in the future (a challenge, mom & dad).
6 km around the neighborhood on Christmas Eve, 2022. I guess the burden of “having” to walk to keep pace with my goal is lifted, but I am still wanting to move. I am a walker (and a gringo). However, I don’t think that I need another walking goal until I (hopefully) one day return to Spain to walk another of its Caminos.
I will return to walking the streets of Santa Cruz for a couple weeks and then back to Buenos Aires to settle down and get back to “working” (not sure I remember how to do that at this point).
I am thinking about what new goals & challenges I should give myself. I believe that I have a somewhat healthy relationship with a stated goal. I didn’t live for reaching 900 km and I think I often enjoyed the process of getting to my strange goal. Yes, there were days that I forced myself to walk and didn’t look forward to the amount of time that it would take to walk 10 km, but I discovered new areas of the city and parts of the country that maybe I wouldn’t have if not. Keeping the goal in mind but enjoying the journey was a huge lesson from the El Camino and one to continue to be mindful of for all of my future plans.
I thought of the poem “Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening” during the polar bomb and was reminded of these last few lines which played in my head often while walking the Camino in 2019:
But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep.
Happy New Year to All! Maybe you should also write substack posts in this new year!
world cup weinerzzz!!!!
fire