The weather has turned hot, making the walking more taxing. But I am feeling a lot better, though still somewhat congested. We met an interesting woman and her partner who have a cafe along the Camino but also lead tours. One of them said that people do the walk for many reasons, as I suspected and have discovered. But they often ask her not to make it 'too religious.' Yet, she said, often people feel they have to suffer. One man, an atheist, developed terrible blisters. She said he could stay in the hotel until they healed but he felt he had to go on. Since the Camino IS hard, I was wondering what people's motivations might be. Of course there are young people who want to prove themseves, or have bragging rights when they get home. But why would a non-religious person undertake an arduous and even painful journey if they did not believe in things like penance, plenary indulgences, and/or salvation? I suspect the feeling that one is not perfect, maybe even failing in some aspects of life, is universal...even if so many contemporary persons abhor the word sin and see most if not all guilt as 'false'. The original purpose of the Camino was as a penance, although others did it to insure their salvation or shorten a loved one's time in purgatory. Are our modern obsessions with self-improvement through physical regimens, special diets, and such things as 'boot camps' be a contemporary version, yet without some God to satisfy, but instead the self or other humans?? Or is it, in the end, a denial of death?