Walked: 41Km
Yesterday I was outside a bar in the sun having a beer, waiting for lunch to be served, when a man appeared in a motorcycle. He said "hola" and I knew he was foreign because he said it not as an acknowledgment but as an actual greeting. He went inside the bar and came out with a beer. He looked at me as and I knew he wished to be invited to seat. I extended my hand towards the chair in front of me, he nodded and came to my table.
After negotiating a couple of words in Spanish we switched to English. The young man was Swiss, in-between jobs (deliberately under-employed), and had come to Spain on a road trip, staying in mountain shelters (refugios). His conversation was reminiscent of backpackers I've hosted through couchsurfing, years ago. It's usually heavy on the logistics (listing precise amounts of food, water, money and spare motorcycle parts), and dates in which he had to be in certain cities to meet up with friends.
He had worked as an electrician, a teacher, a lighting designer, a carpenter, and other odd jobs. He looked around thirty, and by the strain in his voice when saying certain things ("licensed teachers make 20% more") I could tell he was little bit regretful about not having a career.
We said farewell when I finished lunch. I thought the interaction was pleasant, even though I had barely said anything other than asking questions. I noticed I don't necessarily dislike people who don't reciprocate my curiosity. It's when I don't have curiosity and people start dumping whatever they have on their minds on me that I resent them.
When I got to the albergue yesterday, I met another Irish guy—clearly queer and incredibly good with people. We had dinner with the rather dull Irish guy I met yesterday. When we finished he stayed behind at the bar drinking beer, while the queer guy and I walked back to the albergue together. On the way, he asked me—
—"What do you make out of Paul?",
—"I'm actually curious to know what you think before I tell you, because your answer will reveal something", I replied.
—"Oh I find him draining, he doesn't listen, he just goes on and on and dumps whatever is on his mind, and he's not very bright".
—"Thank God you say that, that was my assessment too, but I've been running into too many people like that and I was worrying I might have become a misanthrope."
I feel as if the question I'm asking the camino is: how do I find the people whom I like, and how do I engage with them. The answer is being revealed progressively, I must still work on this to articulate an answer.
