08/09/2011

The pilgrimage in pictures - part 1

My camera, which I love so much, was a burden to me for a month of my life. It was the heaviest item in my unnecessarily cumbersome backpack when I walked the Camino de Santiago from St Jean to Santiago, and it made each day more challenging for me than what it should have been. Poetic in a way, as I've carried so many burdens with me over the years, so it was a physical manifestation of the challenges I had to work through. I hated my camera, these photos documented each hard day I went through. Out of resentment I often would not take photos, even so, the camino spirit somehow came through either way, a soft, slow progression to the city of light.

There are 3 distinct stages of my journey, my start from St Jean to Burgos, my escape to the north from Bilbao to Gijon, and finally my return to the original camino, from Leon to Santiago. From dust to sea to green.

Some time has also passed since I arrived in Santiago, some distance has accumulated between myself and all the people I met during the month, as they have gone back to their own paths again and scattered across the world. And although we shared a common path (marked out for us by yellow arrows) for such a short space of time, my heart is thankful everyday for having walked with them all. The Camino taught me patience, humility, self love, and acceptance, and each day I was met with understanding from faces and hearts and souls all with the same aches I had, as I took each step in the right direction. It's a little disheartening carrying on my journey alone, having to forge my own path again, no arrows showing me the way, no smiling faces lifting me up as I struggled through another day of self doubt, negativity, pain, sadness and struggle. A month marked with tears of sweat, sadness, solace and satisfaction, and somehow I reflect back and wouldn't change anything. Well, a lighter backpack for the next one. Thank you all for showing me the right way to go.





















  

1 comment:

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...