I’m sitting under an umbrella to shade me from the sun on the patio of the Alberge (hostel) in which I have stopped for the night. I walked 31km today, largely through farmland. My Camino is taking on a certain predictable rhythm. Up at 6 am, pack my knapsack, walk to the closest bar (they call everything a bar here- even though it is more of a cafe- but they do serve alcohol at any time of day and it isn’t uncommon to see a Spanish man drinking wine or sipping beer at 8 am), walk until lunch break, walk to my destination for the evening, unpack bag, shower, wash clothing, relax, eat dinner around 7pm and then in bed by 9pm. Of course, a lot of thinking ( or not thinking), socializing and enjoying nature happens in between the “mundane” of the routine. In the past hour as I sit typing this note (wifi service is variable and I already lost this once), I have already connected with my new roommate- a Scottish woman hurrying to meet her deadline and get to the end before she flies home, one of two older Dutch brothers I met the second day on my journey, but haven’t seen for several days, a Bavarian monk who shared a snack with me one night when I was feeling lonely ( he is quite an enthusiastic fellow- think of a German Mr. Bean, who loves talking, beer and The Lord!), a Brazilian woman, whose English, we discovered, is much better than my Spanish, a young German I spent a couple hours walking with, and an interesting woman from New Zealand that I shared a cab with on the day I arrived. All this is to say there are so many intersting people you meet along the way. I have reconnected with one of the original members of “The Fellowship”, but lost one along the way as he hung back to nurse a bad knee. We’ve joked that the Camino is like the United Nations. I would love to challenge the world leaders to take two weeks and walk the Camino together. What would the world be like if they came together communally, under a common roof, sharing squeaky bunk beds in a dorm room, preparing meals and eating together, enjoying a drink in the sun after a long walk together? Can you imagine?