Camino Traditions, Switching Gears & Lessons from a Slug
Expected the Unexpected
The Galicia Region of Spain is renowned for its specialty food delicacy, Pulpo a la Gallego, also known as Pulpo á Feira, literally “fair-style octopus.” The origins of the dish trace back to the 16th century when the Monastery of Oseira made it a custom to serve cooked pieces of octopus at an important Cattle Fair in the town of O Carballiño. Today, the annual Pulpo Festival in O Carballiño serves 35,000 kilograms (77,162 pounds) of pulpo daily to visitors.
Galicians all along the Camino de Santiago sing praises for their traditional dish and encourage pilgrims to try it. Personally, I graciously thanked them for their recommendations and didn’t mention I am NOT a seafood fan.
It’s a Me Thing, I know, but I would have problems eating something with eight tentacles and two rows of suction cups on each tentacle. It gives me the heebie-jeebies just thinking about it.
Somehow, I imagine a suction cup sticking to the side of my mouth, and I’d have to reach in there and POP it off.
What is the proper etiquette for disposing of a pulpo suction cup after it is POPPED OFF the inside of your mouth?
Do you swallow it?
Do you discreetly put the napkin to your mouth and spit it out?
Do you cough and let it fly out of your mouth when no one is noticing?
For sure, I am no threat to the octopi population of this fair earth. FYI, a squid is equally as safe with me. Squids have eight tentacles but only one row of suction cups – that is still one row too many.
By the way, the proper scientific name for the suction cups is “suckers.” Yup. Even “suction cups” are more glamorous than that!
Suction cups and tentacles aside, I admit, it was a fascinating cultural experience when Hubs and I were the first patrons of the day to wander into a pulperia. It was too early to eat (thank goodness!), but we did receive a personal cooking lesson from the pulpiro (octopus cook).
There are plenty of recipes for Pulpo á Feira if you want to make it. Note that the older recipes tenderize the pulpo by “banging it against a stone wall.” I would hate to see what the walls of the Galician kitchens of past centuries looked like if that is how they tenderized ALL their meats! Worse yet… the sanitary conditions must have been enough to choke a horse!!
For centuries, pilgrims of the Camino de Santiago have carried a stone from their home destination with the intention of leaving it along the way. The tradition originated when pilgrims began leaving stones as markers to guide other pilgrims along the way. Over the years, the pilgrim’s stone took on a more spiritual meaning, symbolizing a burden or pain that was left behind as the pilgrim moved forward to Santiago de Compostela. Today, almost half the pilgrims attach the traditional spiritual meaning to their stones, while others assign personal meaning or symbolism to theirs.
Recall from my 05/29/23 Substack Posting: Here’s to You, Dad, that I picked up my stone on the shores of Chelatna Lake at the base of Mt. Denali, Alaska. I put the stone in my backpack and FORGOT all about it. The stowaway stone traveled incognito with me to twenty countries before I discovered it the night before Hubs and I flew to Spain to start our journey along the Camino.
I decided my stone would honor my dad and the love of travel he gave me.
All I had to do was find the RIGHT SPOT to place it.
I placed my stone safely OUT OF SIGHT underneath a fern. I wanted to make sure it didn’t weasel its way into another pilgrim’s backpack and go on another globetrotting adventure!
There’s no denying that walking the Camino is a transforming, enlightening experience.
I began with the mindset of “I can do it!” By lunchtime on the first day, my mindset changed to, “What have I got myself into?!” I had to switch gears and find a new pep talk, or I was out of the running.
I did EXACTLY what many others before me have done. They took a lesson from…
The childhood role model for tenacity and perseverance! Haven’t we all thought of the LITTLE ENGINE THAT COULD at one point or another and been inspired to keep going by telling ourselves, “I think I can… I think I can… I think I can…” God bless that little engine! He’s pulled a LOT of people through a LOT of challenges!
In my younger years, I might have been able to tackle the Camino on my sheer determination and physical grit, but I have outgrown my membership in that club.
As a “Woman of a Certain Age,” it would take more than THINKING like Thomas the Train if I planned to reach Santiago de Compostela before the snow flew.
Again, I had to switch gears. Physically, I was spent. Emotionally, I had used all the determination, affirmations, and positive self-talk I could muster from within, and I still had two days on the road. The pep talks didn’t make one iota of difference.
I could not walk one more step — I was done!
At that point, the spiritual component of the journey kicked in.
I prayed and asked for the strength and ability to do what I was physically and emotionally no longer able to do for myself.
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock; and the door will be opened to you.
My grace is sufficient for you, for my POWER is made perfect in weakness.
Yup, I meet the qualifications and I’d like to sign up for some of that “God POWER.”
I would love to tell you the walk became a breeze after I prayed and asked for help. I just jetted along the Camino turbo-charged by my injection of God power.
Nope. It didn’t work that way.
It took a lot of prayer and willingness to walk in faith that I would get the power and strength I needed to make it to my next destination. One inch, one foot, one mile, one day at a time.
At times, on steep hills, I reduced my stride to half-steps, and sometimes I could only move my feet forward six inches at a time. That was SLOW trudging, and it took a long time to make progress. But I kept going and that was only by the grace of God, I assure you. Logically, it seemed incomprehensible to be walking to a destination miles away, by moving forward only six inches at a time!
There it was! My “Daily Slug.” Every day, without fail, there was a big slug across my path on the Camino. I walked around it and kept going.
Listen to this song. YOU ARE THINKING ABOUT SKIPPING IT. Click the arrow. I put the song here for a reason….
Walk a Mile in My Shoes written by Joe South 1970
Well darn it! There’s a thing about spiritual enlightenment. It IMPACTS you!
What was it like to “Slide a Mile on the Foot” of a SLUG?
I began to worry about MY SLUG’s SAFETY. I knew there were two bikers close behind us, and chances were MY SLUG would get SMUSHED long before it could ever slide to safety.
I did an abrupt about-face as I announced to Hubs, “I’m going back to save the slug so those bikers don’t run over it.” Hubs welcomed the opportunity to take a break while I backtracked in a rush to save MY SLUG. “Hang in there, Slug! I’m coming to protect you!” I could barely walk, but I backtracked to save a slug!
I got to MY SLUG moments before the bikers whisked by me, one on each side. We bid each other “Buen Camino” as they quickly disappeared around a bend in the road.
I moved MY SLUG over to the side of the road where hopefully, it could resume a life of chomping on foliage.
Why bother with a slug? Well… because it made a difference to that slug’s life, at least for a couple of hours that I know about. In its natural environment MY SLUG had a lifespan of two years if it didn’t get mashed by pilgrims. I bid “Farewell” to MY SLUG and recommended it stick to chewing on foliage away from the Camino.
I retraced my steps back to Hubs, who was waiting patiently for me to return from my Gastropod Rescue Mission.
This pilgrim deal was getting more challenging by the hour. We still had two days to go, and I was compelled to rescue slugs. What was I thinking?
I wasn’t thinking. That’s the point. Compassion for another living creature sometimes has to come from a deeper level than logical thought. Do unto others as you would have others do unto you… even if the other is a slug.
It’s been a long journey, Readers! Watch for the next exciting postings of our final days on the Camino and the obstacles that challenge our pilgrimage along The Way!
An old adage is, "Before you judge a man, walk a mile in his shoes." Stephen Wright says he believes in that saying, because then, you're a mile away. . .and you have his shoes.
I can't eat pulpo any more Lois, after seeing My Octopus Teacher doc, and another doc from a scientist in Alaska who kept an octopus in a tank in his house for 2years (until it died, they have short lifespans) and how it bonded w/ his teen daughter--and it's intelligence level. They are little studied, but that is changing. And after seeing and reading more about them, they are just too intelligent (for me) to eat. Pulpo is big in MX, too. Maybe it's the Spanish connection, not sure. But--you are making great 'strides' pun intended on your camino, yay!