Thursday, April 24, 2014

Week 2 on the Camino

April 24, 2014
Ventosa, Spain
I'd better start writing more often or I'll remember nothing to say. This hike has so many different people walking it. And they walk it as they need to. It's an upscale hike with showers every day and cleaner clothes (for others...April and I still don't launder very often...wearing one set for hiking, one set for evening after shower, and sleepwear.). Some are hiking for a week or two, others to Santiago (800 kms) and others to Finisterre at the coast (another ~80 kms...that's where April and I are going...and Val and Phil, if they have time...they're daughter is expecting twins in a month or so,so no telling how long they can stay.)

This is like an international Appalachian Trail that goes through several small towns a day and ends in a bit larger town for the night. There are a lot of albergues along even in the smaller towns. Maybe we need to alter our rhythm so we end the day in one of those with fewer pilgrims.

I've had some great trail magic that I want to share. The first was when we got to the town of Los Arcos. Phil had called me to tell me he had our beds secured at the municipal albergue and that there was a small grocery store before the bridge if we wanted to get some food. So we stopped there. Later in the evening I joined Val and Phil going back to the store to get lunch for the next day. I'm standing at the register and glance across the shop. What do I see resting against the wall? My hiking pole! I hadn't even missed it. Oy vay! Would I have been upset in the morning!

The following day, more trail magic. At the first stop that morning at a cafe I went to read my map. Where are my glasses? I didn't have my visor or my knit cap on so my glasses wouldn't stay on my head. What have I done with then? So I emptied my whole pack, checked all my pockets...nothing. Argh! Where have I left them? I know I had them when we started today. We were 7 kms (2 hrs hiking) up the trail. I must have set them down when we stopped to take off our coats shortly after starting. Oh no! Am I going to have to hike back there and back here again? 4 extra hours? No way! I'll hitchhike. But I don't speak Spanish. How will I tell them where I want to go? And then how will I get back. Just then, Patricia arrives. She's a Spanish friend with great English. Maybe she can help me. Doesn't she find someone working on remodeling the aubergue in town to drive me back. And guess what? They were sitting on the curb right where I left them. Thank you Ausier!!
I was so ecstatic!!!!!! ( I have no spares with me, they're in Madrid.)


Another day. I'm not taking a lot of photos. I'm not documenting this trail like so many others. And I feel negligent. But I just want to be.

Today we had our first real raindrops, but not much. The irises and lilacs are in bloom. I had fresh strawberries without the hard white centers like in the States. Delicious! And the grape vines are budding with leaves.

The pavement and dirt trail is hard on the legs. Many are injured. Val and Phil bussed down the Camino today while April and I walked 20 kms.

Tonight we're in Ventosa a small town with a beautiful refurbished albergue. Good window to open. Good mattress. Should be a wonderful night.


Livin' the life,

BagLady

p.s. Photos are just not uploading. I may have to figure out a new way to blog because this is so frustrating!!!!!!!!!

Friday, April 18, 2014

St Jean Pied de Port to Pamplona

April 18, 2014
Good Friday
Pamplona, Spain



Why did I think this was going to be an easy hike? Arrogance, I guess. The Pyrenees were stunning and challenging. Switchbacks weren't invented yet:). The steepest uphills and downhills I've ever encountered!!



But I can see from my photo collection on my phone that I was too busy hiking to get any great shots.





First night out we had reservations at Kayola, the overflow cottage to Orrison Refuge, 6 miles out of St Jean. That was a good idea. And after walking 15 minutes uphill to the Albergue for dinner, we all decided we liked our little place better. Highly recommended!!

Dinners for pligrims (as we're called) are called a Pilgrim's Meal and have a fixed price of 9 to 13 euros. Soup, sometimes salad, entree of pork or chicken, desert. And always bread. Sometimes All You Can Eat. Communal dining. And lots of wine!!

The next night we went to Roncevalles and stayed in a converted monastery. Very modern with built in bunks on the center wall. It slept over 200 pilgrims. I promise to try and do better getting photos of these places. That town had only a couple of restaurants and hostels, but no shops.

Onward to Zubiri, about 14 miles. And now my memory is failing as to what the trail was like. We stayed in the public albergue there with 22 bunks in one room. Amazingly the snoring has been nonexistent. This village was a bit larger with a few shops, small grocery, and several albergues. The restaurants are usually in the private albergues where the Pilgrim Meals are served.

Phil is a very fast walker and gets into town around noon and then has to sweet talk the person at the albergue into letting him check in for all of us. It's always a bit of a game but so far he's winning. Usually he just has to be patient and they see he's not going away and they let him in.










Yesterday we hiked in to Pamplona. I've realized that I always said that name wrong, with a second "m" in it. Suburban hiking is a novelty:). Much more challenging to find the trail signs.






I brought a very small pack thinking there was little I needed to carry, but found it was crammed full and hard to close. So I decided to ship stuff like extra clothes and my iPad to Monica's. Probably took 5 lbs out. Most excited about the extra space!

The adventure was getting to an open PO since it was a holiday yesterday. I found out a PO in a shopping mall outside of town was open until 10 pm. An hour's walk. Then I was told I could get the bus. I'm not public transport savvy and always feel it's an adventure. The hostel owner wrote down where I was going in Spanish for me and put in Google Maps where to catch the bus. And off I went. It felt exciting to be on my own and challenged to get this done. At the bus stop some local girls with minimal English said they were going to the same place and told me the cost of the bus. On the bus a man spoke English to me about how long it would take and how to get the return bus. Important thing to know. I wrote down the name of the street where I got on so I could show it to the bus driver on the way back. My pronunciation is so poor I'm not ever understood!

When I got off I was in a modern, commercial area of town. Large blank wall buildings. Parking garage. McDonalds, of course. No sign of the Correos, PO. Lots of asking and pointing and nodding and finally someone shows me the building where it is inside...like a Walmart. Ahhhh! So proud of myself! Done.

On the return trip, the tattoo'd, nose and lip pierced, gum chewing, bubble popping bus driver helped me find the right place to get off!

Every Maundy Thursday at 17:30 the church of San Agustín is the scene of the renewal of the 'Voto de las Cinco Llagas' (literal translation: vow of the five wounds). The ceremony goes back to 1599 when the city pleaded for divine intervention to be freed of the plague, which devastated entire cities at the time. After passing through the streets of Pamplona in procession with the symbol of the five wounds of Christ and the crown of thorns, the plague fortunately disappeared.










And the people partied in the streets!! It was a wild night in Pamplona!


Livin' the life,

BagLady

Thursday, April 10, 2014

A Wild Week in Madrid

April 9, 2014
Madrid, Spain



Saturday's big adventure was riding our trikes to Brunette, where Mónica's parents live to store them. She told me to lead and just go down the hill and go straight. I did. Right on to the highway and into a long, long tunnel with no shoulder and the 2 more lanes merged in from the right...OMG! Frightening to say the least! April did not follow, smart woman! And I could only keep going straight and find the first exit a km or so later. No shoulder! Cars driving 70 km/h! Lucky to have survived that one!! And after I got out a cop stopped, speaking no English, tells me to not bicycle in the tunnel! (Passer bys translated). Duh!!!

The kindness of strangers is all around even if I can't communicate. I called Monica when I got out of the tunnel but couldn't tell her where I was so I stopped an old man to talk to her. He spoke no English. You should have seen us talking to each other:). I texted her a picture of my GPS location so that she could figure out where I was!


I'm not feeling like blogging and I apologize. I'm tired from a busy schedule. The technology is frustrating the hell out of me: losing whole blog posts, trying to figure out how to manage and back up photos, and I really just want to live in the moment. Plus with so many people around after a quiet and lonely winter, I'm on overload. Hard to find a moment to myself. The joy of blogging is just not there. Especially when I'm not alone. So you may not be able to enjoy this journey vicariously like the others. My suggestion is to become Facebook friends. It's easier right now to quickly put up a post and a picture than to sit here all evening typing on this ipad trying to find cute pictures to share. Maybe I'll find my blogging mojo, maybe I won't. No promises.

My friends from Minnesota arrived today: Willing and Abal (trail names)...or Val and Phil. So our Camino plans are coming together. This is Wed (Apr 9th)...Saturday we will bus to St Jean Pied de Port, France where the Camino Frances starts officially. Monica and Marudo have graciously given over their apt to us and moved to her parents house for a few days. How kind is that? So we're enjoying this gorgeous apt in the center of Madrid within walking distance of everything.

April and I have been struggling over the visa issue here. It's pretty crazy but legally we can stay in Europe only 90 days every 180 days...26 countries are in the Shengen visa area. Alone I would just stay. Many bikers do and nothing happens, but April is the mother of a son who works for the State Dept and he's worried if she gets in trouble it jeopardizes his job. I'm also pissed about the stupidity of the law and the fact that they won't give us a 90 day extension to stay legally. Because so many countries are involved, there's no simple place to get answers. So we're heading to the UK for the summer. With luck it won't be too rainy. After April leaves, I'll have to figure out what to do, but that's months away. There's much in the UK to still be seen and the language will be easier for us both. After the Camino, we'll pedal up through France for a few weeks to get the ferry across.

Here are a few pics for your viewing pleasure.

Monica and Marudo:





With friends for drinks on the plaza...love "summer wine"!!





The apartment!




The sights!!!











Livin' the life!

BagLady