May 1, 2014
Hornillos del Camino,
For those who don't know anything about the Camino de Santiago, let me fill you in a bit. The trail I'm hiking is the most popular: Camino Frances that starts on the French side in the Pyrenees foothills. It's 790 kms long to Santiago de Compostella near the west coast. This trail has been hiked by pilgrims for over 1000 years. And it's an honored tradition in Spain to hike it. For me it's a history lesson and a European cultural experience. To walk through villages from the medieval times is amazing. I feel sometimes like I just want to rub my body up against the stones like a dog rolls in a stinky smell...just to soak it up. I can feel the labor of the men who worked so hard to build these structures that can last hundreds of years.
"Buen Camino" is the greeting of the trail. It's hello, goodbye, and just an acknowledgement when passing by by pilgrims and locals alike. At first I thought it would drive me crazy. Now it's a way if greeting because you never know what nationality anyone is. (Side story...this happened to Val who has studied Spanish 101 for 5 years, she says. She went into a touristo office to get information and trying to use and practice her Spanish she asked a question in Spanish. We guess it wasn't very good Spanish because the woman laughed and said with a laugh, " I don't even know what language to answer you in:)!")
So Buen Camino and buenos dias are my 2 most frequently used Spanish words. I'm learning others slowly. I can understand much kore than I can speak. I'm really tickled when I understand the price when spoken to me! The merchants are patient but rarely bi-lingual. It's actually funny how well understood we are if they try. And they do to get our money.
Our days begin early. Often there's someone rousing before 6 am. Ouch! Rustling, talking, lights on. I feel the hurry to get to the next sleeping village. Beds are limited. This weekend we're especially feeling the abundance of pilgrims as albergues are filling up early in the afternoon. After rousing, and packing, I try to find a cafe for "cafe con leche" (coffee with milk much like a latte). Then we hike. Our group started as April and me and Val and Phil (all friends from the Appalachian Trail). And Phil, our speedy hiker, would rush ahead and secure us beds by noons. It was great. Then in Pamplona our group added a couple of woman: Victoria from Montreal and Marjukke from Finland. Now Val and Phil are coping with injuries and have slowed down, so the other women and April and I are traveling together. The woman are younger but have not hiked a long trail before. We are having great laughs, but do miss Val and Phil...having to say goodbye this morning because we are ahead. Hopefully we'll see them again but they're going to bus ahead.
So we hike. And rush to town to get a bed. It's like a competition. We cannot dawdle or we'll be sleeping on the streets, no pads no tents.
May 2, 2014
Castrojeriz, Spain
Okay, time for a torment! I spent about an hour sitting quietly on some stone steps that led up to an elevated field writing my journal, writing about the life of a pilgrim...and before I could save it my phone went black and died! Really? In this day and age autosave isn't automatically part of a blogging app? Really? BlogPress, is that too much to ask????
Not sure I have it in me to write all that again. I'm struggling getting motivated to write at all. Not sure why. Does it have anything to do with why I'm hiking the Camino? I'm learning this hike is quite significant for many of the pilgrims. Hard for a hiker to understand that it's not about the hike. And the struggle. Struggle with packs too heavy. Struggle with bodies unfit. Struggle with problems back home. Hike for reasons they feel are too personal to share with a stranger. So what's my struggle? What am I here to learn? Patience is certainly one. With so many pilgrims, I can't always have what I want...when I want. Let go. Flow more. Stop resisting. I struggle with the lights going on at 6 am as pilgrims take off to trudge to the next village where they will sleep. I struggle as my feet hurt from km after km of walking on hard packed trails and paved roads. This isn't a trail through the woods, it's hiking ancient roads that have been hiked for over a 1000 years by all the pilgrims who've gone before. It's straight uphill and straight down, with no switchbacks. It's in the broiling sun with no shade. It's through ancient village after ancient village. With small cafés open for cafe con leche (a latte) and bocadillos (snacks) where we hikers gather in the sun and catch up.
Since we're only doing about 20 kms (12 miles) a day, we're in town between 1-2 in the afternoon. And sometimes we get the last beds in the albergue. Last night there were no beds left in the village. I don't know what people did. It was 20 kms to the next available bed. Taxi I guess. There are a lot of services like taxis and pack shuttles along this trail. Some have booked every room and their packs are shuttled forward daily while they hike with only a day pack. Some days that option looks darn inviting:)
Food is another struggle for me. Bread for breakfast. Bread for lunch. Then bread with dinner. Yup that about sums up the Spanish food. I'm so tired of bread and it's tired of me. Yes they have a few other options, but I tried yesterday to eat NO bread the whole day. I almost made it:). I slipped at dinner and had a slice with my salad. A Spanish breakfast appears to be coffee and bread, butter, and jam. Lunch is a loaf of bread with cured ham and cheese or a Spanish tortilla which is egg, potatoes, ham and cheese. For dinner, many places have a pilgrim meal for a fixed price of about 10 € ($14) that consists of a first course of soup or salad or spaghetti. Then a second course of pork or chicken or fish with potatoes. Finally dessert of flan or ice cream. And water and wine throughout. It's a fairly good deal but repetitive (and expensive) if eaten every night. This trail is not for poor pilgrims...at least not from the US with a lousy exchange rate. A small cup of coffee is over $2. A Big Mac ( the universal compare standard) was $6. It's not financially a good time to be traveling the world:/
And one last thing about pilgrims...they are a clean, well-perfumed, fashionable lot. They shower daily. Use perfume like crazy. And scarves are very in for men and women....as well as the latest colorful styles. No scrubby bunch, these hikers. Having a bitoif trouble fitting in. That much showering dries my skin. My clothes are laundered about once a week whether they need it or not. And I try to shower every other day.
Oh ya, all the languages! Sometimes my brain goes into it's foreign language storage area and comes up with the strangest things. My Spanish is slowly getting better, at least in reading comprehension. I'm using some French with Victoria. And sometimes it seems my brain wants to pull up the German I learned 40 years ago. So many languages are spoken along this trail. Quite fabulous!
And if you want to see more pictures friend me on Facebook: Kathryn Mossbrook Zimmerman.
Livin' the dream,
BagLady
