June 13: Loving the Meseta

We are in CastroJeriz this afternoon. We have luxuriated in walking the Meseta for the last 2 days since leaving Burgos. We both feel such peace and (for me) joy within this landscape.

Genesis I has been a theme for the last week or so, starting with a conversation with Randy and Michelle (a retired couple from California who are also traveling with Mac’s Adventures) over dinner in St Juan de Ortega. There was a poem yesterday about glimpsing the joy of Creator. Today, I spoke with a nun from Toronto, walking with her priest and younger (biological) sister, about Genesis I reflected in this landscape: stewardship, productivity, biodiversity, sustainability.

We have been a loose sextet (with Peter and Mary, whom we first met in Akerreta, but whom they have traveled with since Lagroño). We have been in the same accommodation since St Juan. We are all late 50s to early 60s, retired, Anglo, couples. It has been my first experience of “Camino family”, although it is really the four of them, plus us.

Carey and I enjoy dipping in and out of companionship with others (and Carey is the first to help anyone he meets who might need it). But, we are also more withdrawn than the other four: both of us on our own journeys. I am writing, listening to my own mind in dialogue with the landscape. Carey, despite his warmth and excellent social skills, is, truly, an introvert, energised by movement in his own space. We walk as a couple, interacting with others and each other, but frequently “alone together”, one might say.

For myself, I love to be in Carey’s orbit, sharing experiences with someone from whom I have no secrets, with whom I can have no pretentions, fully comfortable in silence, or conversation, or distance (emotional and physical), or intimacy, whatever feels right in the specific place and time. It is such a gift and a privilege to have that with another person, including the right to say nothing at all for hours on end! Carey would probably dispute this last bit. His airpods are both a haven and a signal that chatting is not appreciated. I don’t need a visual aid, because he is a man of few words on camino. When he speaks, I listen.

I have often wanted to be more sociable (and more successful at it – yesterday evening Michelle said that I should go on Jeopardy!, because I know so much stuff. She meant no harm by it, but I was reminded that I am A LOT and rarely see it until it is too late. That’s why I rely upon Carey’s interventions so heavily. He can read a room.).

I am what I am – a gabby intellectual who finds everything fascinating and assumes that others will too. Finally self-aware enough to know that this is NOT a usual configuration of human, I am now working on being more comfortable (and mindful) with it, rather than trying to effect change.

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Inspired by our 2024 Camino Francais, Karen has a periodic podcast called "I sent you a bloody boat", personal thoughts on faith by a person who believes in thinking. Also, known as "The Reluctant Christian". You can listen to it on Spotify and on Apple Podcasts at: