One of the great joys of my 2022 Camino Frances was time spent with the young folk.  They are enthused, spontaneous, generous, courageous and encouraging.  One such Peregrino was a young woman named Maggie.  There were actually two Maggie’s that I walked with on occasion, and both very talented in their own unique way.  But this Maggie had a tattoo of a bat just above her left knee cap.  She would refer to it as her Bat-Knee.  It is one her identifying characteristics and I know this because when I was walking from Astorga to Rabanal del Camino I encountered a man who was around my age.  He was walking very slowly, and I fell in with him and matched his pace for a bit.  He was very friendly but clear he was a slow walker, and he only tends to meet people once because they are all faster.  He said that a young woman walked with him for a few minutes who had a Bat Tattoo on her knee.  It was about 15 minutes before I arrived.  I wished him well and picked up my pace and managed to catch Maggie and walk with her to Rabanal.  She was actually going further with a group of her peers. 

              It was in Santo Domingo on day 9 that Maggie talked about her tattoos including her Bat-Knee and perked my interest.  I mentioned that it would be great to get a Camino Tattoo and so she grabbed her art pencils and drew a tattoo of the scallop shell and the arrow on my right shoulder.  I walked around with it for a couple of days before it washed off, and I got comfortable with the idea of getting a tattoo.  When I planned my trip I scheduled a rest day in Leon, which is 13 days or so from Santiago.  A good time for a rest.  When I arrived in Leon and realized my companions were going on the next day, I had a moment of equivocation about my day off.  I didn’t really feel I needed it, and it meant getting a day behind.  But ultimately, I felt it important to honor my schedule and decided to do the rest day.  On my rest day I was out looking for a place for breakfast and ran into several of my “Camino kids and grandkids” and had breakfast with them.  I mentioned the idea of a tattoo and of course they became very enthusiastic about the idea.  I asked them if it hurt, and they assured me that it was no big deal.  I found a tattoo parlor and stopped in and had a nice conversation with a young tattoo artist and he came up with a design.  For 100 Euros he would do the tattoo later that afternoon.  I set an appointment and returned at the scheduled time.  I was a little nervous and excited, it seemed like I was doing something significant for me.

              If someone ever tells you that getting a tattoo is no big deal and does not hurt don’t listen to them.  It took a lot of concentration to go with the flow and deal with the pain of the needles.  It was manageable, but not a walk in the park.  He put some plastic wrap over the finished product, gave me some instructions to follow while it healed, and sent me on my way.  When people saw my tattoo on the trail, they loved it.  When they asked me why I did it, my sarcastic response was “That is what happens when they leave me alone in Leon unsupervised”.  Three days later I caught Maggie and her Bat-Knee and showed her my accomplishment in Leon, and she loved it.  All the “kids” on the Camino would come up to me and ask to see my “Tat”.  It healed in just a couple of days and has become an enduring part of my Camino reminding me of my incredible experience.  Despite the pain endured in getting it, I am glad I did, it was well worth the 100 Euros.  In addition, it reminds me of Maggie and her artistic work on my shoulder that started the ball rolling.  These are enduring moments on the Camino, moments that just show up in the middle of a great pilgrimage.  You can’t script them, they just happen. 

Buen Camino,

Stephen Towles