Camino 2013

Charlie : I was sick all day yesterday, slept most of the day but I feel pretty good today. We walked 5 miles or so into Molinaseca and Wynette was starting to feel sick. So we took a taxi into Pontferrada and are staying at a hotel. We’ll see how Wynette feels tomorrow. We still have time to get to Santiago and then spend a few days on the coast and do some more walking there.

Today was one of the prettiest walks we have had (see the videos). Beautiful valleys, a river, lots of wildflowers and wonderful blossom smells the whole way.

We have walked 260 miles so far and the are still 130 miles to Santiago. So we are about two thirds of the way. We have been here for 5 weeks and have 3 weeks to go.

Wynette: We saw this yesterday, not long after we left the Cruz de Ferro. Another “Finding The Way“ moment. It was in Manjarin, a crumbled town with nothing but a rustic albergue, no electricity or running water. We had our picnic lunch at one of their outdoor tables (see videos for May 5).

Wynette: Charlie hasn’t wanted a single orange on this trip. Last night for dinner he wanted two which he gobbled down. And he only wanted a light supper so he could go to bed early. He thought he was tired from not sleeping well the night before. But then he started running a fever. He had an achy feverish night. He told me in the middle of the night he thought he had mild sun stroke. But now we think he has a little virus of some sort. He has been in bed sleeping most of the day.

We asked if we could have our room one more day and they said yes. It’s a good place to have a sick day because we have access to a little cocina (kitchen), there is a tienda downstairs where we can buy oranges and milk and other good things to eat, and the young couple who own this place, Juan and Zarza, are so kind.

After breakfast I went to the bar across the street for a café con leche. After I drank it, I asked for another one para llevar (to go) for Charlie. The man behind the bar said they couldn’t do that. Then I told him mi esposo está enfermo en el hotel (my husband is sick in the hotel). He cut me off at that point and made a coffee for Charlie and let me take it in the regular coffee cup which I returned later.

This photo is of Juan and Zarza at La Rosa del Agua.

Wynette: Today, Sunday, May 5, we started out in Rabanal at elevation 1150 meters, went up to the Cruz de Ferro at 1505 meters, went down again to 1400 meters then back up to 1500 meters then straight back down again to 1100 meters. The final descent was extremely rocky and rutty and steep. We were tired when we got to Acebo. Only about 11 miles but it felt like one of our hardest days.

It was great to see the Cruz de Ferro. In The Way this is where they left the rocks and read a prayer. It was moving to be there though maybe not as dramatic as the movie. It feels like an important milestone and I got a little teary-eyed. The Cruz is the highest point on the Camino. People bring something to leave. We left some stones we brought from home. In Following the Milky Way, by Elyn Aviva, I read that in pre-Christian times in order to placate the gods travelers put a rock in the pile at this mountain alto. Pilgrims continued the tradition and I assume at some point added the wooden pole with the iron cross.

Today we finished crossing the mountain range we started up yesterday. We passed snowcapped peaks a few miles away. Looked down on deep green valleys. Saw lots of heather blooming and several small herds of contented cows. Heard a cuckoo cuckooing his (her?) heart out.

Now we are tucked into a cozy casa rural for the night. (They have muesli for breakfast!) Tomorrow is supposed to be cloudy so we are going to sleep as late as we want since we don’t have to get up early to beat the heat.

PS. Before we left, we read Elyn Aviva’s book about her pilgrimage here 30 years ago. Interesting to read about what the camino was like then. It was not nearly as well-marked and much harder to find food and a bed and a warm shower at the end of the day. Last night we slept on comfortable new mattresses, she often slept on cold cement floors. I’ve been rereading her book as we go (via Kindle), staying just ahead of where we are hiking. She says a lot about the history of places we go through as well.

Wynette: In Spanish, “el camino” means “the way”. Also “the road”, “the path”, “the journey”. My friend Rebecca asked how accurately the movie The Way portrays the Camino. I’m sure many have already blogged about this, but I’ll give it a try.

First, on a sad note, we have heard that this spring at least one pilgrim died trying to cross the Pyrenes on the way from St. Jean to Roncesvalles, just before we arrived. Nearly everyone we talked to who did that crossing said it was a huge challenge. One woman,  Anna from South Africa, said she cried at the end from exhaustion. One man, Glenn from Canada, said he honestly didn’t think he was going to make it. We have not regretted our decision to start in Roncesvalles.

On a lighter note, we have seen lots of boomers. And some had earphones which I suspect were connected to ipods. Charlie and I have our ipods. (Well, Charlie’s is a phone with music player.) I have not listened to music while walking as much as I expected. That probably explains why James Taylor hasn’t yet come up in my shuffle. But today music kept me happy through a long walk and boomer music did come up: Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd, Leonard Cohen. But some not quite so old: Tom Petty, Gipsy Kings, Edie Brickell, James Blunt. And even some new stuff, new to me at least: Gotye, Christina Perri, Calexico, Anna Ternheim, Tift Merritt, and the amazing Mexican singer Julieta Venegas. Check her out.

All the above mentioned songs and more provided a fine soundtrack for today’s walk. Just like the movie had a really nice soundtrack.

The movie was mostly about the relationship between the characters. I think that for many pilgrims the relationships formed are important. I’m not sure how often people hook up like those four did but I know many adjust their hiking speed to stay with a particular group or person. One thing we’ve really enjoyed is seeing people over and over. We met the Bulgarian couple above several days ago. Then we ran into them again yesterday. It was like a homecoming. They both reached out and hugged us.

Lots of eating and drinking (mostly drinking) on tables set up in the street.

We’ve stayed in albergues twice now. One was similar to the one Martin Sheen and Joost from Amsterdam stayed in first night.

The physical toll of so much walking is barely acknowledged in the movie. Especially foot problems. Today where we stopped for coffee midmorning, we saw a woman sitting on a bench, with her shoes off, crying. 

Weather is pretty much ignored in the movie. That was filmed in the fall so maybe it is less dramatic then. We’ve had lots of extremes. Very cold, very hot, very windy, and at times, very perfect.

We spend a fair amount of time deciding on places to stay, places to eat. But we might do this more than most pilgrims. They didn’t seem to think much about it in the movie, except for the discussion about the parador.

I’m pretty sure the guy below was Jack from Ireland, spotted in Astorga, Gaudi Castle gift shop. Charlie is skeptical.

We did meet a man from Ireland named Patty. But he wasn’t like Jack. All the Canadians we have met have been really nice from the moment we met them.

Wynette: The past two nights (April 29 and 30) we stayed in Hostal San Martín in the old town of León. 40 euros for a large and charming old high-ceilinged room. The proprietors of our previous hostal in Moratinos recommended it. Turned out all three of our guide books recommended it as well. So we felt lucky they had a habitación doble available for two nights. Above is view from reception room window. Below is Charlie going into front door. Note the zapateria to left of hostal door. This was a shoemaker’s shop. One tiny dusty room with piles of old dusty shoes. I asked the shoemaker if my shoes could be altered so that they fit more snuggly in the heels. He took a look and said no. This confirmed what a shoemaker in Burgos had told me.

We were glad we decided to take a rest/sightseeing day in León. It drizzled the whole time we were there and was very cold (low 40s). Not great for sightseeing but would have been hard for walking.

Wynette: Tonight (Tuesday, May 1) we are staying at Uncle Pepe’s. Our room is over a bar and as I write this (10:10 pm), there is a very loud fútbol (soccer) game on the TV and lots of people in the bar watching it while talking loudly. Every once in a while everyone cheers. The bar closes in 20 minutes, at 10:30. Do you think everything will be quiet then?

Update: Quietened down around 10:45. Can’t complain too much. Most of our places have been very quiet.

Charlie: My last post was a riff on what it feels to be on the Camino. As such I took some liberties with the facts to get at the truth.

In fact the towns on the Camino are quite different. We always walk through each one and find interesting little things about each one. This is one of the pleasures that makes up the recurring daily cycle. So they are the same in terms of being in the “Camino zone” and not the same in terms of the daily ritual of exploring the town we are in, which itself is part of being in the zone.

We are surprised how each day is different. The terrain changes each day. For all the talk about changeable weather the weather has actually been pretty consistent. We get a lot of clouds. It is cool and nice walking when it is cloudy. When the sun comes out it tends to get a little too hot, but that only happens a few hours each day. We seem to have some mostly sunny days coming up. I expect it will be a bit hot.

The question for me keeps coming back to “why am I here?” It seems like I should have worked that out before I came but I didn’t. It just seemed like the right thing to do.

Charlie: Another song about being on the road is Jackson Browne’s “The Loadout/Stay”.  Besides a creative cover of the Maurice Williams hit “Stay” changing it into a road song, the song talks about what life on the road is like, the sameness, the waiting, “We’ve got to drive all night and do a show in Chicago/or Detroit, I don’t know/We do so many shows in a row/And the towns all look the same”.

Both Willy Nelson and Jackson Browne agree that it is all about the music, that the joy of playing for a crowd makes it all worth it.

Few people have the talent to go on the road playing music with their friends but most of us can walk the Camino which is analogous in some important ways.

The Camino is all about the walking.  The essence of the Camino is the repetition and the nested cycles. There is the journey and the destination. You take one step at a time. You see the top of the hill up ahead, you walk and you get there. You stop for a rest and a drink. You see the town up ahead, you walk and you get there. You stop for coffee and a bathroom break. You do this several times and you get to the town you will spend the night in. You get settled in and look around the town. You have the pilgrims menu, write in your journal and go to sleep. The next day you get up and do it again.

The towns do all look the same, like they did for Jackson Browne. You go from town to town but basically the Camino is all one place. I mentioned before that pilgrims often cannot remember the name of the town where they spent the previous night. But that’s okay because it isn’t about the towns, it is about being on the road, about the repeated yin and yang of journey and destination. Both are necessary, neither is more important, one cannot exist without the other. 

On the Camino you are out of space and time. It is a great feeling, a time out. You don’t think much about your life back home. But you have the luxury of plenty of time to think about anything you want.

The final destination is Santiago de Compostela. It is the goal but most pilgrims say that that the closer they get to Santiago the sadder they feel because they don’t want the journey to end.

Charlie: Other pilgrims, especially from the US for some reason, sometimes ask how we heard about the Camino. Most people had a friend who had gone on it. We didn’t though. We had not met anyone who had been on the Camino.

The first time we heard about the Camino was in a TV miniseries called “Spain… On the road again”  (2008). It was a cooking oriented travel series where they toured several parts of Spain. The group was: chef Mario Batalli, Gwyneth Paltrow, NYTimes columnist Mark Bittman and the very cute (trust me on this) Spanish actor Claudia Bassols. The series is worth watching just for the opening and closing videos of Willy Nelson singing “On the road again”. They did a segment on the Camino and even walked it for a ways.

“On the road again” was already one of my favorite songs and now it is my Camino theme song. It think about it every morning as we get started walking.

Of course, everyone on the Camino had seen “the movie”. Just this morning we were talking to a guy from Florida who was talking about quitting smoking in the Camino and we mentioned the Canadian woman and he thought he would have about as much success as she had. I think we are responsible for maybe a dozen people seeing “The Way”. We might make another post about the movie but, for now, the main things they left out were the blisters and the bad weather.

We are on Villar de Mazarife resting on our room. We are going to have a vegetarian pilgrims menu tonight.

And it really is true that “I just can’t wait to get back on the road again.”