A Pilgrim’s Progress: Pastor Joe’s Camino Chronicles

Blog for September 16, 2023

Nájera to Santo Domingo de la Calzada

I have tried to not bring up the snoring matter for a few days, but it is still a sore subject!  I deal with this night after night after night. So be gentle with me if I mention it again, but last night was another snoring nightmare!   My bunkmate (I was on the bottom and he was on the top) was a very talented snorer.  He initially came across as a chainsaw snorer, as he had great volume and could stretch it out for a long period of time. But what made his talent unique is that he added some style points on the end of his snore – they were sounds I can’t even describe.  It was fascinating – for about 30 seconds. After the thirty seconds I wanted to say, “Buddy, put a sock in it – in fact let me just put one of my smelly socks in it!” But I didn’t do that – didn’t figure that would be Christ-like.

But then add to that snoring the fact that another one of my roomies talked in his sleep!  He didn’t just say a word or two in his sleep; he yelled out several sentences.  And then he would taper off and just mumble and mutter for awhile.  Again, fascinating, but tough to sleep through! I tried to figure out which language it was, but it was foreign to me.

The hostels don’t want our smelly shoes in the bunk rooms – we have to put them on shelves. Same with the trekking poles.

But then, what probably was the worst part of my night took place outside the room.  In Spain, they have outdoor bars. They will set up tables and chairs outside in the streets. Unbeknownst to me, there were two of those bars behind our hostel, which would have been just right outside my window. The noise went on all night. Literally, all night!  There was yelling, laughing, singing (a choir of drunk people slurring their songs), arguing loudly – you name it. All night long they disturbed my peace.  Initially, I thought that it would shut down at 1:00 or 2:00 AM.  But I guess there are no such laws in this country.  This took place all night long – did I say that it was all night long? I was never so glad to see 5:30 AM roll around. Now, I had made the decision to leave a little bit later this morning. Even though I like walking in the dark, my problem is that I get to my lodging before noon, and most places won’t check you in until 1:00 or 2:00. That means I have to stand around waiting an hour or two. So I thought I’d leave a little bit later this morning. But with the events of my night, I was ready to get out of this house of horror.

So I stepped out into the streets, looked at my app, and figured out which way the Camino went. I  was to go left half a block and then make another left.  And as I did so, I couldn’t believe my eyes. The Camino went right through that area where these people had partied all night.  Here early in the morning, there were still probably 100 people outside the building, standing around drinking and just doing what they had done all night.

Now, so far I have walked about 135 miles on the Camino. I have walked many hours in the dark where I didn’t see a soul for two hours.  I have walked in big cities, and as a whole, I have felt relatively safe.  At times I felt a little apprehensive when I wasn’t sure if I was on the trail. But this moment made me very uneasy.  I was going to have to go right through a crowd of a hundred mainly intoxicated people. I knew they probably wouldn’t hurt me, but you get that many people together under the influence, and they do silly things.  So I paused, kind of mapped out my route, lowered my head so as not to make eye contact with anyone, and headed into the crowd. I know Jesus probably wouldn’t have done what I did, but I was in no mood to try to witness to a hundred intoxicated people at the moment. It probably only took me about 10 seconds to get through the crowd, but it seemed like an eternity. I was so glad when they were behind me, and even more happy when they were out of sight.

Once I got out of town, I relaxed and turned on praise and worship music.  It seemed that my legs were a bit heavy today. They didn’t hurt, they just didn’t seem to have a lot of pop in them.  Maybe it was due to the sleepless night, or maybe it was due to the fact that yesterday had been an extra long mileage day, or maybe even the fact that I haven’t taken a zero-mile day yet.  But with my dead legs I resigned myself to the fact that today might just be a little bit of a slog.  And it was.  But it was ok, because during those 5 hours on the trail where I felt I was dragging a bit, God was still walking beside me.  And in really good time, I arrived at my home for the night at the Casa del Santo (House of the Holy or the Saint) in Santo Domingo de la Calzada.

So as you go about your day, it may be a bit of a slog, but remember it’s ok, as long as you get to spend it with Jesus walking beside you!