new, old

Today I told someone where I started from, and he said, "So you´ve been walking for about a month?"

Wow.

I´ve never heard that question before. Yes. It´s been about a month.

Lately, there have been pilgrims starting out at cities that are closer to Santiago. It´s easy to spot the old ones. They´re tan and dirty, though neat sort of way. Their evening limps are practiced. Their pants are falling off.

Yesterday I had dinner with a mix of old and new folks. People with whom I have been traveling for awhile were marvelling that we only have a few days, around 10 or so, left. We started talking about slowing down so that we could prolong our Caminos. The new people had their mouths open as though we were nuts. I remember when 10 days of walking would have seemed like a year. It´s starting to seem too short.