Art, Nude Beaches, and Leaving as Much Litter on the Road as Possible (Parts 1 & 2)

A three-part review of starting my Camino de Santiago pilgrimage

September 28, 2021

Part 1: Pursuing Purgatory Points, Hushing Protestant Perfection, and the Peaceful Solace of Art

I woke up this morning a bit early and looked at my plan for the day. I knew I was going to have a late start because, as it turns out, I really do not like being lost in a foreign country without cell phone, data, language, or any type of sense of direction. I learned about myself that I mark routes by the people I see and, guess what—the people move so then when I’m trying to find my way back I end up miserably lost. And then I wonder around in a foreign city for hours as the sun sets and I wonder if I’ll ever find my hostel, my backpack, my things, my pillow or my way back to my Chachis. This is all a true story.

So… all that to say that I knew I would get a late start from Leon because I was NOT leaving the city without first going to mass at the Cathedral and then getting a SIM card from a reputable carrier here in Spain. Well, I got one of the two (mass didn’t happen at the Cathedral today, maybe because of the global pandemic and all) so I waited until 10:00 for the Orange store (mobile phone company) to open.

All this put me on the road late. Last night my super fit and super healthy roommate took one look at this full-sized, full-on full American and said, “you’re not walking 20 miles tomorrow on your first day out. You scheduled yourself to walk that far, but it’s not going to happen on the first day.” She said it in the most kind, lovely, and becoming French accent that while I enjoyed hearing it, I had to think to myself, “Well, sure I am, nice lady. I walked a lot last year with the pandemic and all. I can totally do this. You don’t know what the French you’re talking about.”

But, turns out she did. And she should know. Because she’s been walking the Camino off an on for 18 months and has already covered like 750 miles (she’s doing the bonus All the Way Through France, Too” Camino).

So, knowing with my delay it was unlikely I’d walk 15 or 22 or 25 or 37 miles today, I looked for Plan B.

After getting my SIM card around 11 am, I caught a bus in Leon and let it whisk me nine miles from downtown to outside the city. I fought with myself for all nine miles about rules and cheating and my entire Protestant upbringing, but then I remembered that I only have to walk 100 km total to get the Purgatory Points and I told my Protestant upbringing to hush up and sit down in the seat beside me on the bus because, as everyone tells me, this is my Camino and it’ll be whatever I make it and need it to be.

So, from my drop-off point on the outskirts of town, I buckled up my backpack and started walking. Through fields, alongside roads, and over Roman bridges I trekked about 11 miles on foot before reaching some town with the word “Hospital” in its name. And there, my friends, I found Arturo from Venezuela and a Pilgrim’s hostile so “me” it almost brought tears to my eyes.

Arturo and his wife hiked the Camino in 2012, coming all the way from South America to do so. They were so moved by the experience that they wanted to make it a way of life. So, in 2014 they came back, purchased this place, and have what many call the most beautiful, hospitable and welcoming place for Pilgrims on the trail.

One thing that makes this hostel truly unique is the artwork. Like a museum, the walls are covered with paintings—some rough, some radiant—and all painted by travelers walking on the pilgrimage and stopping here for a night.

Arturo invited me to paint something. It’s now 5:40 pm and lights go out at 10:00. Perhaps after I write, shower, and make my bed I will put paint to canvas and join a generation of people who want to leave worries behind while leaving their paint-filled mark in history somewhere on the road to Santiago.

Enjoy the pics and join me in this moment. These are my people.

Rebecca's note:

I still have some Pausing of Perfectionism to do. As I type and post in retrospect, here on this icy February day, I have looked at the title for this posting no less than eight (or 132) times to decide how I could best communicate the three-part writing series for my first full day on the Camino de Santiago hike through Spain. Mercy. As a recovering perfectionist, I still have some reform left to do, my friends. So, I am posting as-is, right now, without the perfected title. I want none of it to get lost, but if you're going to skip a segment, skip Part 2. It's just musings about this dude I met who had discretionary issues. Here's Part 2. If you want to read it, hit the triangle and it will show:

Part 2: Nude Beaches

I’ve never been to a nude beach. I’ve been BY a nude beach while on Spring Break with my boys when they were 5 and 7, but that’s another story.

That said, yesterday I got invited to a museum with a very nice retired man named Mike or Chris or Billy Ray or something.

The dude had just finished his own Camino trail and had one more leg to his two-month journey through Spain. He was flipping through photos on his phone to show me something (I’ve forgotten what he was showing me, because…) and he kept flipping past photos of naked women from the nude beach he’d visited.

Now, i cannot claim to be an expert or even a novice at nude beaches because I‘be never been to one and all, but isn’t there some kind of CODE, either written or unwritten, about respect at nude beaches? Shouldn’t people be able to do their thing, chill in the sun, and stave off tan lines without the assumption that nonconsentual pics will be taken of them and stored on Mike-Chris-Billy Ray’s phone?

Without having to disclose your nude beach status (seriously—don’t care if you like tan lines or no—you do you), I’d love too have people weigh in on the ethics of Billy Ray’s sneak pics and the fact that his camera has a mad zoom. It’s possible I need to tell my Protestant upbringing to sit down and hush again in the seat next to me, but this time I don’t think so.

More of Rebecca's note--this one to subscribers:

That said, I'm still figuring out this web hosting, blogging, draft-and-delayed-publishing feature of my website, so to my subscribers who got a notification that something was posted, clicked the link, and then couldn't find it, my apologies. Thank you for letting me know and thanks for helping me learn. Bonus points to John for reaching out!