Why?

CAMINO STAGE 3: Zarautz to Deba

“Who says there has to be a point?” Or a reason. Maybe it’s just something you have to do.” Sarah Dessen

On the fifteenth straight up climb on cliff edges and mountains today, on the coastal variant Camino Del Norte route of the Camino de Santiago Steve jokingly asked, “Why are we doing this? In the middle of challenges, asking “why” is a thought to gnaw on. But sometimes “the why” is just because.

For as long as there’s anyone to ask ‘Why?’ the answer will always be, ‘Why not? Vera Nazarian,

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We met a fellow pilgrim, on what felt like the hardest day yet, named Sebastián from Germany who walked with Steve and I for 5 miles before heading to his albergue. Asking about his story while we walked, he shared how he worked long hours at an engineering firm to save for a wife and home for one day. One afternoon while working with his friend and coworker, the friend was rushed to the hospital and died. This shook Sebastián to the core and he quit his job and started walking the Camino for answers to “why” and the purpose of life. When his mom asked him why he had to go traipse across Spain, he said “why not?”

“The why must never be obvious. That is the whole point.” Agatha Christie

After parting ways and feeling motivated to take the GR coastal variant we were rewarded with spectacular views but very challenging up and downhills. We’ve hiked many times in Colorado, Utah, Virginia, Italy and Guam and Germany but this one long extended hike was a whole other animal. We bumped into some American students again who were just starting for the day and feeling exhausted already. They joined us as we crossed over a ridge in Zumaia. The beach below had the most incredible rock formations from a meteor impact crater from eons ago. (The beach was also a film site for Game of Thrones.) cresting the beachhead left us breathless in more ways than one. After a hot tiring climb, one of the students asked “why do we go up just to immediately go back down and up over and over? Isn’t there a better way?” Her companion said “don’t ask why, it just is.”

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“Slow down and enjoy life. It’s not only the scenery you miss by going to fast – you also miss the sense of where you are going and WHY.” Eddie Cantor

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We parted ways as they stopped for lunch and as we headed on we had two more groups who started following us. There’s comfort in struggling with others. 16 grueling miles before we made it down the mountain for the day. Our “why are we doing this” became clear again and again as we paused from time to time to catch our breath and cheer each other on. Every break we were rewarded with spellbinding views. The journey into “why” was put on hold to ruminate on during tomorrow’s climb.

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