CAMINO DE SANTIAGO FINAL POST

FINAL ENTRY 17 JUNE, 2025

Well, it is Tuesday morning and I am going home after 49 days in Spain. I am glad to be going home, but I am also a bit sad. I have been to many places in my lifetime, but this trip has been the best one I have ever taken by far. I have learned a lot, seen a lot, and I think I have even grown up a little more. I know that is a strange thing for a 58 year old man to say, but I think it is true. As I sit here in the airport in Madrid, I feel like I am more calm and perhaps more reserved than when I came to Spain at the end of April. Little things don't seem to irritate me like they did before. I think I learned a bit of this while on the Camino.  
While a Pilgrim is walking, he really doesn't have control of anything but his walk. The weather can change, people he doesn't care for can walk by, virtually anything can happen at any moment. What I think a Pilgrim learns is the ability to deal with the issues at hand and not to worry so much about the "what if's". I think a Pilgrim figures out how to prioritize issues as they come up and deal with them as they happen. I am a person who likes to know about and plan for, or at least think about all of the possibilities that can arise in a situation. I am learning to prioritize and live a little more in the moment. This is a big change for me and I hope I don't stop when I get back to my regular life. I am going to try my best to keep working on it because I like it.
My plane leaves Spain this morning at ten ten local time. When I land in ATL it will be just after one p.m. I am told it is very humid and warm. I will miss the dry air, but I am going to be at home and humidity is part of my life. I am also going to very much miss Spanish coffee. If you have followed all of this blog you know that I was never a coffee drinker before I came to walk the Camino. I have been told there is a Spanish coffee house in Gainesville. I am going to go and find it one day and see if it measures up!
I will say that if anyone who reads this blog decides a Camino walk may perhaps be in their future, please contact me if you like. I will help you all that I can. I promise you that you will not regret going. Remember, at its most basic, a Camino trip is just a walking trip. If you can walk in your neighborhood,  you can walk a Camino walk. 
A Camino walk is hard, it is easy, it is hot and it is freezing. You will get dirty, you will get soaked with sweat. Dogs will bark, cars will speed by you. You will sing, you will laugh, you will cry. You will get blisters, sunburn, and sore feet. You will amaze yourself at what you can accomplish. You will meet interesting people. You will meet people that you will never want to see again. You will see magnificent buildings and you will see houses dug into the side of a dirt bank. The Camino is a study in contrasts. A Camino walk will test you and a Camino walk will reward you. All you have to do is show up, tie your shoes and be willing to try. The rest of the magic will happen if you let it.

John Walls
17 June 2025

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