Please note, typed with my thumbs so be kind…bad grammar and misspellings are a certainty!
It was a day of failure. See, I look at failure differently. Failure for me on this pilgrimage started with taking a bus on the very first leg from SJPDP to Roncesvalles due to the oppressive rains that moved in…and stayed. Look, we’re Colorado mountain kids. Hiking that distance, with that climb, and at this elevation, would actually be pretty easy for us. But I’ve been conditioned to be safe in the mountains, and where we come from, when you combine rain, snow, and mountain passes, you don’t take unnecessary risk. People tend to die when that shit happens in our part of the world.
No. My failure is not the fact that I bussed the first leg. My failure is that some part of me is worried of what others will think of me when I tell them I bussed the first leg. It doesn’t matter that I’ve summited more mountains, and climbed more elevation than most of these people will ever know. It’s simply that I didn’t do what they did, or what they see as part of the process. The fact that I care what they think (as if they think of us at all) is the failure.
On accidental intermittent fasting…
My next failure for the day was our dining selection. As someone with almost crippling social anxiety, I really struggle with new situations with new people, especially when communication isn’t perfect…AKA I’m not exactly fluent in French or Spanish. So, though I take my eating very seriously, practice vegetarianism whenever possible, and usually require fresh fruits and vegetables as the basis of each meal, when someone asks me if I want the pilgrim menu I tend to say yes just to end the conversation. Result: some kind of fish stew and what can only be described as some sort of seafood mousse with some sort of cream sauce burnt to being almost unrecognizable. Let’s not even mention the fact that Lael really doesn’t like fish. Pretty sure I’ll have the 💩💩💩 tomorrow as I seek out a salad, hopefully without having to talk to anyone. As veterans of the restaurant industry, I cannot help but wonder, does “pilgrim menu” actually mean leftovers? I will now “fast” for the next 16 hours because of my fears, choices, and growing stomach gasses.
Lastly, we have at least a few more days of rain in the forecast as we walk on from town to town. So, I figured I should make a playlist for when you’re walking in the rain that seemingly will never stop.
So, my top 20 walking in the rain playlist…in no particular order:
November Rain- Guns N’ Roses
Rain Rain Beautiful Rain- Ladysmith Black Mambazo
Raindrops – Cillo
Rain Come Down – Eastmountainsouth
Rainy Days And Mondays- Carpenters
I Can’t Stand the Rain – Ann Peebles
Make It Rain – Foy Vance
Feels Like Rain – Buddy Guy
Have You Ever Seen The Rain – Credence Clearwater Revival
Let It Rain – Eric Clapton
After The Rain – John Coltrane
Shadows In The Rain – The Police
After the Rain – The Samples
Covered In Rain – John Mayer
Black Sheets of Rain – Ryan Adams
January Rain – David Gray
The Rain Song – Led Zeppelin
Here Comes the Rain Again – Eurythmics
A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall – Bob Dylan
I Wish It Would Rain – The Temptations
