The Camino has a powerful attraction and once bitten forever smitten - JohnnieWalker

It wasn't difficult to make this decision. Hi my name is Lillian and I am a serial camino walker.
Third in as many years.
Please do not ask me to explain this obsession. Could it be I have developed some sort of psychological condition? I laughed when I heard it is called OCD (usually known as Obesessive Compulsive Disorder), aka Obsessive Camino Disorder. Yep, there is a name to my malady, but is it that bad? Well...
It has its shares of pros and cons, ups and downs (literally, hahaha) goods and bads.
It can be painful from blisters or tendonitis or everyday sore feet...it can be so hot that you can get dehydrated or sunburned.... so cold your teeth chatter or the goose bumps ache... so long that it feels like you will never finish it and you are so ready for it to, but that round the bend leads to another round the bend, or there is a hill after that hill.... so rainy you can get soaked or your shoes and other things will never dry..... so hard to sleep if you cannot handle snorers...face it, it is not a walk in the park.
But then there's this: excitement every morning as I put on my backpack and wonder what I will see that day.... walking into bars and asking for that fresh squeezed orange juice and some kind of tapa.... running into people I had not seen for a few days as they sit on a rock overlooking a stunning valley down below.... looking for the signs:our yellow arrows or scallop shell markers... walking through forests, fields of flowers, over mountains and hills, through rivers and stony paths... walking into villages, towns or cities and seeing history in the form of old Roman roads or carefully stacked stone walls, cathedrals or tiny chapels, museums, castles or government buildings.... meeting a new pilgrim from Belgium or Ireland or Canada or Australia or Korea or Brazil.... going into an albergue (hostal for pilgrim walkers) and meeting the volunteers who were once pilgrim walkers themselves and want to give back to the Camino.... dinner with old and new friends, sharing our stories, listening to the one who picks up the guitar.... vino tinto or orujo or patxaran or cidra or shandy, all new tastes... and the foods: tortilla, chorizos, quesos, pulpo gallego(octopus), paella, rabbit, mojama.... and sleeping next to strangers, men or women... and shutting my eyes at night with a smile for a day well done.
And tomorrow I get to do it all over again.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,

But I have promises to keep,

And miles to go before I sleep,

And miles to go before I sleep.