It would be an almost perfect love affair, wouldn't it? that between the pilgrim and the road. No mistake, it is a beautiful thing, the camino. It stretches away from you. It leads to real gold: Look at the way it shines. And it asks only one thing. Which happens to be the one thing you long to give. You step forward. You shiver in the light. Nothing is left in you but desire for that perfect economy of action, using up the whole heart, no residue, no mistake: camino. It would be as simple as water, wouldn't it? If there were any such thing as simple action for animals like us.
Pilgrims were people glad to take off their clothing, which was on fire.
- Anne Carson, "Kinds of Water: An Essay on the Road to Compostela"