Day 11

‘It’s not a fashion show, Molly!”

We (bunch of random pilgrims and myself) were sitting around a bunch of folding tables under a big tree, about 6 miles from the next town of Los Arcos. It was time to get going, so everyone had started gathering up the food cart snack wrappers and putting away their bulging blister care pouches. We were getting ready to head out into Spain-at-noon sun, which is no joke. I had just whipped out my gray, weird-smelling (made of tires?) sun hat, and announced that it was the ugliest one on the trail.

This is when Steve, retired teacher and grandpa from Leeds, reminds me in his primo north English accent that nobody on the Camino looks good. Not a fashion show is right! The whole table took one look at each other and burst out into hoots and hollers. Among five of us at one table, we noted around 15 different patterns and colors of apparel, nobody with makeup, and ...bandaids count as jewelry right?

We are on the road for a month and we have to carry everything we need for 500 miles. After that first day going over the mountain, you start to look real hard at everything in your pack. Yes, I DO look less like a corpse with foundation on and fewer children flee in terror when they see me, but it’s 2 ounces. I could snap this eyeliner in half. Can I take a part a Swiss army knife so I keep only the good bits? After a few days some stuff is gone, but as you learn more about what you need, more stuff has replaced it. None of it matches. It is all waterproof. It all makes swishing, rustling-plastic noises when you move. Reflective tape is our version of bling now. Also, everyone has that one item that they packed specifically because they knew the Camino would ruin it and they didn’t care because it was their least favorite in that clothing category at home. Mine is my brown scarf with gold glitter running through it...which I wear every day here. Every morning, from dawn til about 11.

Steve also told us a rumor about a place in Santiago where you could burn your stuff when you finish the Camino. My brown scarf knows its density now!