Oporto, Portugal: Salsa, Rest and Romance

The Camino is over! After walking 40 days to Santiago de Compostela my body feels like it has been awkwardly pulled and strained in all directions, I am worn out and tired. I’ve been offered a place, not far from Santiago, to rest and to start understanding the life lessons from the Camino. Sofia, whom I met in the last days of the pilgrimage, with whom I shared some intense and transformational experiences, has welcomed me to her home in Oporto, Portugal. In the Camino I had 3 intense love experiences: the mother, the lover, the sister. In the days in Portugal I will experience a fusion of all 3, a love story with an intensity I had not known. It will put to question the meaning of love itself.

– The following events occurred on the first week of June 2013

I will write four blog posts to cover this experience in Portugal, each with its own theme. The theme of this first post is:

New: A Love to Fall In

Vigo: A Spanish City by the Coast

On the way to visit Sofia I stop by Vigo, Spain. There I had the pleasure to see the coast after such a long time walking inland. I meet with Maria, to whom I sent some of the extra weight I didn’t need for the Camino. She is a friend from my time in Urbino, Italy. Back in 2007 I went to Urbino for a month to learn the italian language. What I found most interesting about learning a foreign language was that my learning increased exponentially when I started dating an italian woman in Italy. In that situation you are forced to speak more than just “Hello my name is Juan. I’m from Puerto Rico. The weather is good today.” Instead we would talk about specific interests, politics, etc… Now I’m heading for Portugal where a similar situation would arise.

With Maria in Vigo

It was a sweet blessing to meet with Maria. We shared the afternoon and evening around the city. She is an inspiration for me as a Christian. She lives in a place where she knows no community of people her age to spiritually grow together and to support each other. Instead all she gets is people, who are way past the retirement age, that attend church on Sundays and she can’t relate to. I don’t know how I could’ve kept my faith if I were in such a situation.

Oporto

Oporto is the second largest city in Portugal after Lisbon, and home to one of Portugal’s most internationally famous exports, Port Wine. It is a fortified wine with an alcohol percentage of about 20%.

Salsa

I arrive late in the evening, tired and wanting to sleep. Sofia picks me up in her car, but she is not tired and wants to take me out for dinner and dancing. I grudgingly accept. We ate fish while listening to some live Portuguese music. Then we went out to a nightclub for latin dancing and Kizomba. It has been a long time since I’ve done this. I went with the only clothes I had: pilgrim clothes. And also sporting this huge beard, and messy hair. I felt so out-of-place. Nonetheless, I danced the night away and was glad to be dancing with people who do this regularly. Tanya Fiske, my friend and salsa instructor from the Washington DC area, recommended this place and it was well worth it. After a few hours I asked that we leave since my feet couldn’t take it, they still hadn’t recovered from the Camino, and I felt like I was going to get blisters. I didn’t get a single one in the Camino and I didn’t want to get one dancing.

Rest

The days spent in Oporto rejuvenated me. In the last 40 days I’ve been packing up everything I own every morning and sleeping in a different place every night. Having one place to stay for several days was a gift and a blessing. I did feel strange walking around without my heavy backpack on my back, it felt like a part of my body was missing. Sofia and her mother prepared meals for me, they washed my clothes, my shoes, they were so caring of me in those days. I was overjoyed to be constantly exposed to Portuguese that I delighted in reading the advertisement signs on the streets and watching TV. With Sofia I went to the town fair, ate typical food, rode the ferris wheel, attended a concert, went to the mall, played games. We simply shared life.

Romance

With the experiences we shared in the Camino, we shared a love that was pure, gentle and with no romantic interests. The days in Oporto started to move this love in a different direction. She would sometimes refer to me as her little boy, something she said to hide how she was really starting to feel towards me. We had already begun to flirt, and the way we looked at each others eyes during the ferris wheel ride was captivating and mesmerizing. The last evening in Oporto, after eating some traditional giant sardines, we had a talk as we strolled down the beach on the way home. She wanted to know if I felt the attraction and desire she did. I told her that adding passion to our relationship now that I am leaving tomorrow would risk tarnishing the simple beauty of the love we shared. It would only add more suffering after our separation. She agreed that what we shared was worth preserving. She was disappointed nonetheless as it was not what she wanted to hear. But I was leaving, and it wouldn’t be right, I had my journey ahead of me and I was in no position to commit to anything or form bonds in vain.

When we arrived home we went to sleep. About half an hour later I get up and go to her. I wake her up with a sweet and soft kiss. I’ve given in to passion.

The Path to Penance and Reconciliation

I depart and bid Sofia farewell believing I won’t be seeing her again. I meet with my friend Fatima from the Canary Islands with whom I planned to visit the shrine to Our Lady of Fatima. It is one of the most well known Marian shrines in the world.

Fatima in front of the signs showing both ways

In Fatima, less than 100 years ago, thousands of people (skeptics and reporters included) witnessed the miracle of the sun. There I will be meeting three women from my past. One of us will be shedding blood for another.

With Fatima finding Camino arrows in Oporto