21/38 The Last Leg

Video still: religious painting

I met a pilgrim today from France. He walked to Santiago from his home in Brittany and was now heading back, walking all the way with just a piece of bread for dinner. He was one of the few pilgrims I met who openly talked about his internal processes that walking El Camino had set in motion. "The way to Santiago is about the past, the way from Santaigo about the future" he said. I was not sure if I would ever make it to Santiago, let alone contemplate walking all the way back to where I came from (thank God I did not have enough time).

We met in La Mesa, the last village I reached on foot along EL Camino Primitivo. My leg was beginning to hurt so much that walking was no longer possible. With no traffic passing through in this out-of-the-way hamlet I stopped the only vehicle that passed that afternoon. The driver was very kind and took me to a main road from where I hitched a ride to the next town.
Pastel sketch, Santa Maria Magdalena, La Mesa