Behind the Albergue Door: Inspiration Agony Adventure on the Camino de Santiago

Maddening. Of course, some days this unpredictability worked in our favour. Approaching the high point of the entire trek, the mystical Cruz de Ferro, in the dark of the morning still ensconced in a deep fog was nothing short of enchanting. Then, not an hour later, the clouds parted in titillating playfulness just as we were emerging from the rough rocky highland area to romantic views of El Bierzo valley unparalleled by anything this side of a romantic Seal music video. By the time we reached the heart of wine country along the valley floor the clouds had been wiped from the skies like old formulas from a finicky science teacher’s chalkboard. Days of pure blue skies followed, the kind of blue that makes you dream of children’s crayons and the Argentine national football team.
    Then for our final few days it was like the Camino gods (St. James, Herculito, and G-Pan, the god of white bread) decided to give us one last taste of everything as though to remind us of our powerlessness in the face of their wrath, and that it really is possible to get used to drizzle after a couple hours as long as you are properly dressed. Because we got it all – rain, wind, sun, fog, heat, cold - and through it all we realized the one inescapable truth that applies to both the weather and sharing a pizza - you can’t please everyone. Too hot, too cold, too windy, too wet, too dusty, too many people getting hit by lightning, the list goes on. Unlike that guy reaching up to test the wind with his new metal walking poles.

Virgil
    Virgil is a fictitious character. I made him up. Therefore, it follows that none of these emails were actually sent by him. Nor did any of these things actually happen to him. And there’s no point in trying to Google him. At least I don’t think there is, I never actually tried. Anyway, the however of it is that although the character of Virgil is not technically real, he is an amalgamation of people we actually met while hiking the Camino de Santiago, and all of the stories and anecdotes in these imaginary emails actually took place involving some pilgrim or another. So, I know that is a lot of bolded words in one sentence, and I’m not sure where that leaves us, except that I am happy to be able to pass along a number of amusing stories and, hopefully, won’t end up offending any of our friends.
    ****************
    Virgil Larrimore is a 48 year-old Canadian who was recently divorced by his wife of 26 years. He has two kids who have been going to college for 11 years combined (and which he’s paying for). He worked hard to get in shape for the Camino and lost over 20 pounds, but is still a little overweight. He has never really hiked before, though, so it’s all pretty new to him. Although he probably wouldn’t admit it, he feels that completing the Camino will help him rebuild his self-esteem and prove to all the people at home who have been feeling sorry for him that he really is doing fine. And if some sexy European chick takes a shine to him, well, all the better.

    To Everyone (group)
    Bring on the Camino!
    On Sun, Sep 30 at 8:10 PM, Virgil Larrimore wrote:
    Made it to St. Jean Pied de Port, great little town right on the border between France and Spain. Gonna start hiking the Camino de Santiago tomorrow bright and early and should cross the border into Spain before lunch. Pretty crazy, huh? The first day is supposed to be pretty tough, 27 kilometres I think, and most of it uphill. But, hey, I didn’t spend all that time on the treadmill for nothing. Wish me luck!

    To Everyone (group)
    Oh, the horror
    On Mon, Oct 1 at 6:12 PM, Virgil Larrimore wrote:
    That was insane. I don’t think I’ve ever been so tired in my life. Everything hurts, right down to the inside of my bones, I think. But mostly my feet. Glad to have that part over with but it’s hard to think that this is only just the very beginning. My backpack felt so good wearing it around the house but by 10 am it felt like I was carrying a dead pony on my back. Ok, I should go rest up, and I’m gonna go through my bag and see if there is anything I can leave behind, or send ahead, or something. Anything I can do to make that god-awful thing bearable.

    To Everyone (group)
    Amazing!
    On Tue, Oct 2 at 5:06 PM, Virgil Larrimore wrote:
    Today wasn’t nearly as hard as the first day, although I’m starting to get some pretty ugly blisters. Someone told me that