"The Singing Canadian"

Why? Why am I here? Why do I get up at 6:17am every morning and walk on average 20km a day? When I woke up yesterday morning, these questions kept repeating themselves in my head. Not in a negative way, but in a more spiritual way. I mean, why am I walking the Camino de Santiago? What am I trying to achieve? I thought I was looking for solitude and a break from the real world, but what the camino has taught me so far is that family and friends are everything. When I am no surrounded by the people I love, I miss them. So then if it's not time alone that I'm looking for, then what brought me here? I guess I have 650km of walking left to ponder these questions. Anyways, yesterday was one of my best days so far on the camino. 21km, mostly flat, amazing views of the vineyards and mountains, several cafés along the way to stop and have a break, AND THE SUN WAS SHINING!! (or, at least it was for a majority of the day). In my guidebook it talks bout the mud in Rioja being incredibly sticky. I wasn't sure what they meant by "sticky", but I was soon to find out. For about 8km I walked along a very muddy trail, and it's true what they say, the mud is like leaches! By the end of the trail I had like two inches of mud build up on the bottom of my shoes!! And no matter how hard I tried to get it off, the amount of mud just kept on growing! I anticipated that I would arrive around 1:30, or maybe later depending on how many breaks I took. But, just like the previous day, I arrived earlier than expected! I made it to Santo Domingo just before 12pm!!! Wow! What a fast and easy day of walking! After settling into the albergue, I found a cozy café in the main plaza, ordered myself a glass of orange juice and read my book for a while. Right now I am reading "One Day", and during my walk each day, all I really look forward to is reading my book; it is soo good! I even discuss the book with myself while I am walking...which might look strange to my fellow pilgrims. Oh, and speaking of looking strange, when I am walking by myself (or I think I am by myself), I tend to sing/scream along to whatever is playing on my IPod. Anyways, yesterday while I was walking, I thought I was alone so I started singing (and maybe dancing a little) to some Carrie Underwood. Suddenly this French lady sped up ahead of me, turned around, and said "Ahhh, you are a singing Canadian...sounds good". Then she smiled and walked away. But when I arrived in Santo Domingo, I guess that French lady told people I was a singing Canadian because people I never met before would come up to me and call me "The Singing Canadian". I guess this is one way to meet new people. Now after my glass of orange juice, I felt that it was time for a little cat nap, so, I wandered over to a bench in the main square and fell asleep for a good hour! When I woke up, I was refreshed, and I was ready to take a look around town. I toured the cathedral, climbed the bell tower, and sat in the park for a while. The other day when I wasn't feeling too well, all I wanted to do was curl up in a blanket with a cup of tea. So, later that evening I sat at a café in the plaza while curled up in my sleep sheet, and I read until I was ready to go to bed. It is so fascinating just people watching all night. While I was reading my book there were a bunch of kids throwing and chasing a wine cork. They were too funny. And it is really interesting listening to them have conversations, even though I do not understand what they are saying, I get to make up what I think they are saying. All in all it was a very good day. Today was just the same old stuff. Nothing too interesting happened along the way. Come Sunday I will arrive in Burgos and I will be 1/3 of the way through the camino! Yay! Hope you are all having fun at home. By for now :)