vol 1. Episode 5: The Camino--An Interior Journey

In this episode, Erik, a pilgrim from Kalamazoo, Michigan, speaks about the unexpected physical challenges of the pilgrimage. He also qualifies the trek as more of an interior journey rather than an exterior jaunt across northern Spain. Finally, he shares his love of the Spanish countryside with details about the flora and fauna encountered along the road. 

Transcript

  Hello and welcome to another episode of These Holy Bones, a podcast about the ancient pilgrimage to the Cathedral of Santiago. Where the bones of St. James are interred beneath the high altar. I am your host, Robert Nerny, and today I'm talking to a fellow United States Pilgrim, Eric, and I met him some time ago, and we've spent some really awesome moments together.

So Eric, if you could just introduce yourself, tell us a little bit about you.  Hello, Robert. It's, uh, it's been an amazing journey so, so far. And, uh, it's been amazing meeting you, speaking with you. And, um, yeah, I'm from Kalamazoo, Michigan.  I'm a 43 years old. Um, I'm an English teacher, teacher of English as an alternative language.

I, uh, did that in Istanbul, Turkey for about six years. And since COVID time, basically, I've been living back in the States and various, you know, family events kind of took me back there. And, uh, I've had a sort of, you know, I've, I've missed world culture since returning to say the least. And so, you know, that's kind of my immediate impulsion to, you know, be on the Camino, but there's a lot more.

All right, Eric, this is a question that I know it's kind of difficult, kind of, uh, an all encompassing question, but how would you characterize this, this walk? Well, You know, it seems like, uh, kind of an internal journey for many people who. Choose to do it. And then, you know, everyone who is here seems to, you know, we all kind of try to do our due diligence and learn what we can about it.

We learned that, you know, it's got long history since the late middle ages. And St. James is kind of a strange figure. The legend around him is pretty wild, you know? And so, and there's so much, you know, culture around it, I guess, for lack of a better term. And, uh, Yeah. It's just exhilarating to kind of suddenly be amidst all of that, even though you may not have known the whole story initially, you know?

All right, Eric, do you think it's a religious walk, a spiritual walk? Do you think that even has to be part of the, uh, a person's experience? How would you kind of like address that question? Yeah, that's a really interesting consideration because it's yeah, it's inevitably religious because of the, you know, namesake and everything and the history of it.

But, you know, I feel like these days.  You know, it's like many people who do it aren't Catholic and, um, you know, many people who claim to be spiritual are not.  Uh, kind of accordant or practicing with any particular religion. And I feel like it's a strange moment in human history when like people are kind of looking for something more than what, uh, seems to be on the table.

And yeah, it seems like that's what been a major sort of draw of the Camino, you know, for myself and for many others, it seems like everybody's seeking and the search, even though it's like you're walking across Northern Spain. It's internal and so you kind of like have the external  Challenges and stuff and, and you don't, I didn't think it would be too challenging to be honest, admittedly.

Uh, but it's a lot more challenging than I thought physically, you know, like carrying the pack, making kilometers, trying to, uh, you know, get all your, Necessities taken care of at the end of the day, all these different elements. It's fascinating. Definitely. What surprised you the most about this walk? So we're, we're well over, we're beyond Burgos.

We're on the Meseta. I love the Meseta. I love the wheat. It reminds me of the Eucharist. And so for me, it's a very, very, um, religious experience. I don't want to push that on people, but it definitely, um, the wheat resonates with, with my spirituality. And, uh, so we've done more than 200 miles. I don't speak in kilometers or Celsius.

Give me three of the most important things in your pack. Let's go right to bare bones, uh, compede,  um, let's see what else.  Oh, and then after that, I mean, it's like the shoes, but I'm kind of pissed at my shoes at the same time because I'm getting blisters. It's like the shoes are like this necessary evil, you know, like got to wear something on the feet, you know, carrying weight.

So I guess compete in the shoes, which is like, okay, the pro and the con of the foot. And then beyond the foot, maybe for me, it would have to be my journal. All right. A few weeks we'll be in Santiago. And, uh, we'll be celebrating. What do you hope to take back with you? I know that's a question that's been asked.

We've discussed it a little bit. It's a mystery. Like how, you know, how do you take the Camino back into, uh, into your everyday life, or is it, is that not even an appropriate thing to ask? That's really good question, man. Really interesting because you know, there's definitely several physical things I'm going to take back some crucial, you know, tourist things.

I've got my Maiden Legrono leather bota.  I was, uh, reading a bit of Hemingway before, and it was perfect preparation, so I'm psyched to take that back. I've got  a clam painted by this dude, Angel, on the top of the mountain outside of, uh, San Juan de Ortega. Beautiful natural park in the middle of a pine forest.

We walk up to the dude, he's playing Shine On You Crazy Diamond. And, uh,  we got everything we needed from angel, you know, alimentation, as they say here,  food and drink and, uh, art and angel was an artist, kind of a kooky artist. He liked to do animals and stuff. And he painted a bunch of different shells.

And so I was like, I'm getting one of his shells for sure. And, um, it's five Euro. I was poised between the owl and the peace dove by, uh, John Miro, Spanish artists. And, um, I, I went for the dove. So I've got the, the dove painted shell and the, uh, Legrono Bota. But then beyond that, what am I taking back?

Probably has a metaphorical, you know, subtext. So I guess, you know, yeah, that's the biggest question of all. And it's kind of why I came here. And you know, what, if I came for something, am I leaving with that thing? You know, and I guess, I don't know, I guess it would have to be like maybe a  more self understanding.

Through, you know, kind of, uh, undergoing the pilgrimage and the sort of  rite of passage that that. Kind of represents  Eric I know the environment is important to you. It's important to me. I love the mountains. I told you today We were speaking about this topic. What about the environment here in Spain across the francaise?

How would you how does it resonate with you?  How does it does it impart something to you? Do you feel? You know A kinship with it. Yeah. The, uh, the entire landscape here is just incredibly captivating. And like, you know, right now we have what flocks of swallows. Going all over the birds are flying  all through the air out here.

They're, you know, squeaking up a storm and They're flying in front of the moon. It's like a waxing gibbous moon. Yeah, but yet it's light out So like the Sun doesn't set here till like 10 o'clock this time of year and so it's light until you know, almost past 10 like 10 15 and interestingly enough When you stay in the albergues, there's a 10 o'clock curfew.

And this is one of my kind of bugbears is that I'm a night owl and I have a hard time getting to sleep before 1am. Most nights I need to unwind. I need to think. And so the albergues have been this sort of thorn in my side. Cause I go in, you know, just under the bell, the lights are all off. You've got four people snoring before you hit the mattress at like 10 Oh five or whatever.

And then, and those, those are the people, the mole, the people who are going to wake up at like. Five in the morning.  Anyways, um, I'm getting a little off track here. The nature, the, the landscape is incredible. It's totally captivating. I mean, I could kind of go on for hours about it, but it reminds me of a little bit of like Marin County, but you know, like a day ago it was a little different.

And day before that it was a little different. And so it's constantly changing. There are a number of amazing birds. There's, you know, some, I haven't seen many mammals, wild mammals. We don't have like, you know, they've got mice and they've got rabbits. As far as I've seen.  Um, and of course there's other things out there.

I saw a dead snake the other day that was interesting.  Um, but yeah, man, the, the nature is just incredibly beautiful and the, uh,  the forests have just been wonderfully old and rich. We walk through, uh, an amazing oak forest that turned into a pine forest the other day.  There have been beach forests, I'm pretty sure. 

Um, then they grow a bunch of like. Kind of ornamental plane trees or sycamore like trees like to line the avenues and stuff Those are all really gorgeous all the all the nature. I'm seeing I love the trees the animals the mountains everything It's incredibly beautiful.  I tend to ramble when I asked about nature.

Sorry about that No, that's an important part for me at least I know for you. It's very important. Well, listen Eric. I want to thank you And of course, I want to say Buen Camino,  Buen Camino, buddy.  Thanks again.