Good morning!  Cris from Buenos Aires wrote this comment recently.  I just moved it wholesale from the comment section so that you would have a better chance of seeing it. Then maybe tomorrow we could talk about the things that jump out at us.  So, everything after this paragraph is her writing.  Thanks Cris, Felipe.x

Hola Felipe,

Hope today’s walk was a nice one! This thing about being a pilgrim outside the Camino is close to my heart. My life changed after the Camino and it was because “I was a pilgrim”. After my first time walking, I wrote the lines below… I do believe we can be a pilgrim after the Camino, but the Camino is not essential to be a pilgrim, I think the requirement is to see life as a pilgrim would do, the Camino just give you the chance “to try it” for a certain number of days…

Hugs to you all up there from down here,
Cris

“As a Pilgrim I trust in people and I know there is a lot of people out there offering their help and their hearts. I am open to the things they offer without judgement, I try to recognize they are a fellow traveller (some of them starting their journey, some of them in the middle, some of them not yet started), I try to have in mind that not everybody has had the advantages that I have had (even when there were the sad events in my life that pushed me to my journey, but also the amazing companions I met to guide me -among so many other things-).

As a Pilgrim I am sure I do not need too many things to be happy: just a good pair of walking shoes, a comfortable backpack, and allow the time to stop and have the “cafe con leche con tostadas” in the early morning.

As a Pilgrim I know there are yellow arrows everywhere the point is to be attentive enough to see them (even in the Camino where the arrows were painted, we lost the path several times).

As a Pilgrim I learnt:
-The fellow pilgrims are the best gift we can receive.
-The walking starts with the first step.
-You have to wish the Camino to be long (Konstantino Kavafis)
-Everywhere is walking distance if you allow the time.
-The answers come when it is time to understand them (Rilke).
-There is no road, the road is made by walking (Antonio Machado).
-Being attentive is a great attitude.

As a Pilgrim I experienced that the walking was not always thru stunning landscapes, easy fields, sunny and warm days, nice albergues, or nice hospitaleros, though, we kept walking and eventually, we arrived to Santiago. Then, life has not to be different: eventually, we arrive where we are expected (as it is in the cover of “The elephant´s journey” from Saramago, referring to the book of the itineraries).

In the Camino I learnt that if you ARE a pilgrim, you are a Pilgrim for ever.”

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