buen camino!

I can´t remember whether I have written about this expression, but it´s worth repeating, even if I have. On the Camino de Santiago, people often extend this greeting to one another. Actually, it can be a hello and goodbye at the same time. Pilgrims say it to someone who is getting up to leave a small bar to continue walking. Bicyclists speed past and yell it out. It´s a common way to wish other pilgrims on their way when we are separating.

I love it when townspeople say it to me. They always seem to say it with intention, as though they are acknowledging your journey and asking me to carry good wishes to Santiago. When locals say it to me, I feel special. It feels sacred, secret, meaningful.

The rough translation in English is "Good Walk," but that certainly doesn´t express the sentiment quite right. Some non-native English speaking pilgrims will wish me "Good Way," as the English translation for the "Camino de Santiago" is "Way of St. James."

Today, some other pilgrims and I decided that we could say "Happy Trails," but that would sound entirely obnoxious and wrong.

I´m not sure why the words lift me so, why hearing it from Spaniards makes me feel chosen. It´s lovely, though, lovely.