El Peregrino

"Buen Camino!" is the greeting of the peregrino (pilgrim). They come from everywhere and few speak English. It can be exhausting as you try to gnash an intelligible conversation. I remind myself that I never really made an effort to learn another language so what am I to expect. I just try to do my best. 

Peregrinos are mostly young and exploring. There are some retired couples that are taking a slow journey. And then there are a number of older men - like me - solitary and showing some wear. We meet and labor to get to know each other. Many are drifters and have been walking for years. Divorced, estranged, on pension - they walk the many caminos of the world and proudly show their various credentials, but no family pictures to share.

Bo from Sweden (61), Fernando from Seville (53) and Markus from Germany (59) all on a long stroll.

The vast majority of peregrinos walk. With bicycle, I am an anomaly and travel at a different speed. There's not a lot of relationship building going on. And I don't speak Spanish, Croatian or Corean (odd, they spell it Corea!)

Here is my take on the peregrinos. They all have a backpack that is 35 liter capacity or greater. It is made of nylon rip stock. It has 6 zipper pockets on each side or 12 in all and one main zipper for the top opening. In this back pack is everything that is needed. 

Now each peregrino has 6 zip lock poly bags and in each are 3 almonds and a prune. The 6 poly bags with nuts and prunes are stuffed into polyester cinch bags with socks, nail clippers, dentu-grip, and whatever - and then vouchsafed into any one of the random 12 zipper pockets of the backpack.

Peregrinos are accountants and half employ LIFO while the other half use FIFO. In the evenings, after lights out, they commence with inventory. With headlamps on, they mine the almonds and prunes digging and rustling. Zippers open - zippers close in oscillation. Bags are fiddled and diddled. Almonds counted, prunes inspected - are these fresh or stale? Grunts and heaving create a cacophony of exertions. Headlamps strobe and reflect.

By midnight inventories are complete and accounts balanced. But it all starts over again about 4:30 the next morning. I was awoken the other morning by two Korean girls beside each other in their bunks and it looked like a dirty bomb had exploded and these were the first almonds they'd ever seen.

So now I always go to bunk with 2 pair of earplugs in my gym shorts and two Excedrin PM. All I need now is a sleep mask.