Well, these last few days have been so different than I imagined. Since I last had access to internet, I have been through the city of Ourense, spent the night in a 16th century wing of a monastery, walked through Galician splendor, seen beautiful towns and churches, and wow, here I am in Santiago again!
Since my departure from Spain is set for Wednesday the 23rd, and I have a plane ticket to Madrid on the 22nd, I knew that if I walked a bit faster and covered more distance, I would have time to spend three or four days walking beyond Santiago to the coast, either to Finisterre (the end of the world, though the Portuguese would dispute that) or to Muxía, or maybe both. And I confess that I wanted to ditch a couple of people for a variety of reasons. So, a long day of 35 km meant that they were out of my camino bubble. And it also meant walking to a place that has a monastery, two bars, and three houses. The monastery of Oseira, started in the 13th century, has an albergue of sorts for peregrinos. There are about 40 beds in a huge room that would hold 200 if full, a bathroom and not much more. The room is quite similar to the albergue in Roncesvalles, but with only a fraction of the beds. There are showers, but you have to go to the monastery ticket office, where they take you up and around and finally you arrive at several shower stalls. I never really figured out how it fit into the architecture of the monastery. But the showers were hot, so no complaints. The room where we slept, however, was definitely not hot, in fact I'd say it was cold and clammy. There were two Germans, one francés, and moi, and since I was the only woman, I got the extra blanket that was hidden somewhere in the albergue.
Luckily, the nice monks who live in the monastery will provide blankets to peregrinos, so after about a 40 minute wait for blankets, some finally arrived (in the meantime, we kept seeing the same monk going in and out of the door where we were waiting, every time he asked us what we wanted, we said mantas (blankets) and he told us "No soy el encargado de las mantas." (I'm not the one in charge of blankets). But we finally got them, and even I wasn't cold during the night. But you have to see the pictures of this place to believe it, I think that many of my friends and family would not be happy sleeping there.
Though the weather has been rain rain rain, none of it, or very little of it, has fallen on me. I feel like I'm in a protective bubble or something, and I'm very happy for that. The weather changes from moment to moment, and lots of rain has fallen, but I have had only one day of intermittent rain and one day with some drizzle, so I am not complaining.
This Camino has not been one of immediate human contact, I don't know why. This is really the first Camino in which I have developed strong negative feelings about some of the more ponderous peregrinos, who have scolded me for many things -- I walk too fast, I visit too many churches, I don't wait for them, etc, etc. But Yolanda, the madrileña, is a very nice woman and I'm so glad to have met her. We will have a fine walk out to the coast.
Tuesday, June 15, 2010
Thursday, June 10, 2010
Short day to Xunqueira
I think I set my record for sleeping in on the Camino today -- didn't wake up till 7:30. Must have been the quiet (only two other people in two huge rooms) and the steady beating of the rain. When I got up, it was still raining, but after drinking two cups of the bad instant coffee that I am carrying (which is made only slightly more palatable when I squeeze in some of the "condensed milk in a tube"), the rain had stopped. We (Herman the German) and I left at 8:30 and had a day of perfect weather. The sun even poked through a few times, and the landscape was more of the beautiful old oak tree tunnels next to stone walls, with bazillions of beautiful ferns. The shapes of some of these trees are just incredible, twisted trunks, branches shooting in all weird directions, kind of reminded me of Hansel and Gretel's forest.
It was a very short 13 km to Xunqueira, and by 12:30 we were in the albergue, and that included a long coffee stop in a bar in some isolated little hamlet and several photo ops. It's a weird looking albergue, you enter through what looks like a rusted tin can, but it is modern and clean. And in Galicia it seems that the bathrooms in the albergues are all sex-segregated. This is GREAT for me, since there are about 8-10 males for every female on this Camino. And they all have electric hand dryers, which is great for trying to dry out your boots or whatever clothes are wet.
There is a beautiful romanesque church in the village, which I will of course visit this afternoon. Plus the town has TWO little food stores, not often the case in these places, so I am hopeful I'll be able to replenish my food bag with yoghurts and fruit.
I am resisting the temptation to look at the weather; there are still black clouds in many directions and the cloud cover is total, but I think the worst is supposedly over, for this front anyway. Maybe some of my wash will dry this afternoon, that would be nice!
It was a very short 13 km to Xunqueira, and by 12:30 we were in the albergue, and that included a long coffee stop in a bar in some isolated little hamlet and several photo ops. It's a weird looking albergue, you enter through what looks like a rusted tin can, but it is modern and clean. And in Galicia it seems that the bathrooms in the albergues are all sex-segregated. This is GREAT for me, since there are about 8-10 males for every female on this Camino. And they all have electric hand dryers, which is great for trying to dry out your boots or whatever clothes are wet.
There is a beautiful romanesque church in the village, which I will of course visit this afternoon. Plus the town has TWO little food stores, not often the case in these places, so I am hopeful I'll be able to replenish my food bag with yoghurts and fruit.
I am resisting the temptation to look at the weather; there are still black clouds in many directions and the cloud cover is total, but I think the worst is supposedly over, for this front anyway. Maybe some of my wash will dry this afternoon, that would be nice!
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Gloomy days
Just so no one will get the impression that the Camino is a walk in the park, through beautiful villages, spectacular natural settings, seasoned with good food and wine, let me tell you about the last few days. Yesterday, as we left A Gudiña, prepared for rain, it began to drizzle, so the ponchos went on. Soon it had stopped, though, and we spent the next four or more hours walking in dark cloudy (but dry) weather, feeling like we were in an airplane looking down on the deforested Galician mountains below. As we began our descent to what we thought was going to be our destination, it started to rain, and the km or so of sliding on slate and rocks in the rain was not fun. Once in the town, we went to the pensión where we intended to stay, only to be told that all the rooms were booked (I guess I had gotten lulled into thinking that the empty albergues meant no pilgrims on the road). At this point, the options were two -- to continue another 14 km to a town with a big albergue or take a cab to that point. Three opted for a cab, one opted to continue. You probably know who took the walking option.
The rain was light but pretty steady, but it went through some pretty towns, nice valleys, and I was singing "she'll be coming round the mountain" pretty loud since there were no human beings anywhere to be seen. Arriving at the albergue was very nice, but you ought to think about what it means to be in a place that is filled with wet clothes that 32 people have been wearing for at least the past day. Nothing on the lines outside of course, it's raining, so the chairs and bunk beds were draped with wet socks, wet pants, etc, the boots all soggy and stuffed with newspaper. It was not exactly a beautiful scene, but the showers were hot and I had some dry clothes.
The weather was a downer, but nothing compared to the news that Dana was leaving the Camino and heading home for family reasons. She is now, I hope, in Madrid or close to it and will soon be on a big plane home. It was pretty grim at the albergue last night and everyone was very kind to me as I sat there worried about Dana and feeling sorry for myself. But danagrina, the camino isn't going anywhere, and we will be back.
Today promised to have more rain, so when the people in the next bunk got up at 5 (and we thought 5:30 was early!) and started rustling around, I just decided to get up and see what was going on. Incredibly, about 22 people were out getting dressed and ready to plunge out into the pretty steady rain. The two people I was walking with were not in favor of that, so at 8 am, with the rain lightening up a bit, we went and had breakfast and then decided to make a run for the next albergue, about 24 km away. Somehow, we made the ascent (about 1500´) on the road (to avoid wet paths) without any real rain. Though when you walk through fog for several hours, you get wet anyway. Got dried off at a bar on the top, a well known place with thousands of scallop shells signed by pilgrims hanging on every surface inside (I hung one myself) and then started the 9 remaining kms to the next town. As we left the bar, the rain was coming down, but within 5 minutes it had stopped and for the rest of the way we had absolutely not a drop of rain, even some clear skies. We were able to get back on the camino and off the highway, and when we arrived at the albergue in Vilar do Barrio, we were astonished to see we three are the only ones here. Everyone else, who left in the rain at 6, must have gone on.
No sooner had we gotten settled in the albergue and the skies opened and we had a pounding rain for more than an hour. Maybe more tomorrow, but for now I'm dry and warm and even had my first pulpo gallego on the way in. There is a fair in this town on the 9th of every month, and two octopus sellers come to town and set up tents. Yum yum, just octopus, olive oil, and paprika, a few hunks of bread, all served on a wooden plate, and you are good to go.
The rain was light but pretty steady, but it went through some pretty towns, nice valleys, and I was singing "she'll be coming round the mountain" pretty loud since there were no human beings anywhere to be seen. Arriving at the albergue was very nice, but you ought to think about what it means to be in a place that is filled with wet clothes that 32 people have been wearing for at least the past day. Nothing on the lines outside of course, it's raining, so the chairs and bunk beds were draped with wet socks, wet pants, etc, the boots all soggy and stuffed with newspaper. It was not exactly a beautiful scene, but the showers were hot and I had some dry clothes.
The weather was a downer, but nothing compared to the news that Dana was leaving the Camino and heading home for family reasons. She is now, I hope, in Madrid or close to it and will soon be on a big plane home. It was pretty grim at the albergue last night and everyone was very kind to me as I sat there worried about Dana and feeling sorry for myself. But danagrina, the camino isn't going anywhere, and we will be back.
Today promised to have more rain, so when the people in the next bunk got up at 5 (and we thought 5:30 was early!) and started rustling around, I just decided to get up and see what was going on. Incredibly, about 22 people were out getting dressed and ready to plunge out into the pretty steady rain. The two people I was walking with were not in favor of that, so at 8 am, with the rain lightening up a bit, we went and had breakfast and then decided to make a run for the next albergue, about 24 km away. Somehow, we made the ascent (about 1500´) on the road (to avoid wet paths) without any real rain. Though when you walk through fog for several hours, you get wet anyway. Got dried off at a bar on the top, a well known place with thousands of scallop shells signed by pilgrims hanging on every surface inside (I hung one myself) and then started the 9 remaining kms to the next town. As we left the bar, the rain was coming down, but within 5 minutes it had stopped and for the rest of the way we had absolutely not a drop of rain, even some clear skies. We were able to get back on the camino and off the highway, and when we arrived at the albergue in Vilar do Barrio, we were astonished to see we three are the only ones here. Everyone else, who left in the rain at 6, must have gone on.
No sooner had we gotten settled in the albergue and the skies opened and we had a pounding rain for more than an hour. Maybe more tomorrow, but for now I'm dry and warm and even had my first pulpo gallego on the way in. There is a fair in this town on the 9th of every month, and two octopus sellers come to town and set up tents. Yum yum, just octopus, olive oil, and paprika, a few hunks of bread, all served on a wooden plate, and you are good to go.
Monday, June 7, 2010
In Galicia
We have left Castilla y León behind and entered the region of Galicia. We left our B&B at about 7:30 after a very bad breakfast, and by 9:00 we came out of an old oak tree tunnel that had taken us all the way up the mountain to the Canda pass, and we saw the sign that told us we had ascended to 1281 meters and that we had entered Galicia. At about 3 pm today, after a long day with a few more ups and downs, and one incident where Dana, Herman (a German man we occasionally walk with), and I got split up looking for a bar, we finally arrived in the town of A Gudiña.
These last few days have been just incredible, we have been walking along rivers, down old lanes with ancient stone walls covered with moss, and tree trunks that are goblin-like in appearance. There have been plenty of opportunities for soaking our feet in ice cold running water, either in streams or in the little canals of water that run throughout the towns we've been walking through. The amount of water running through this region is pretty incredible.
We did have a moon-like stretch today through a part of Galicia where no water seemed to reach. Kind of desert terrain with huge boulders all over the place. But for the most part, we are in green, wet Galicia.
Our last three nights' accommodation have been in private albergue (fantastic, spotless, with clean sheets washed daily), then in a private Casa Rural, the Casa Pachaca (very nice, in an old remodeled stone house, with a great pork chop dinner -- yes I ate pork chops!), and then today we are in the municipal albergue where they give you paper sheets and pillow cover for the bedding (I assume this is an anti-bed bug measure). We have seen a definite increase in the numbers, in fact, today I think there are almost 20 people in the albergue.
Yesterday, in our nice little hamlet of stone houses, barroque chapels, and lots of fountains, we had intended to go to the albergue. When we arrived, and I went upstairs, I saw that we would be pretty squished, well, ok, we can deal with that, and there were lots of people, well ok, but then I heard that the toilet wasn't working -- as Dana said, that's a deal killer. So we headed out to hunt down the pretty little Casa Rural and had a very nice, almost luxurious room in comparison to what awaited us in the albergue. How 20 people can stand to spend the night in a place with no running water and no toilet is beyond me -- and to top it off, the person in charge came and collected 5 € from everyone!
In two weeks we will be arriving in Santiago, I can't believe it. We have some mountainous days ahead of us, and probably rain, but we are well
These last few days have been just incredible, we have been walking along rivers, down old lanes with ancient stone walls covered with moss, and tree trunks that are goblin-like in appearance. There have been plenty of opportunities for soaking our feet in ice cold running water, either in streams or in the little canals of water that run throughout the towns we've been walking through. The amount of water running through this region is pretty incredible.
We did have a moon-like stretch today through a part of Galicia where no water seemed to reach. Kind of desert terrain with huge boulders all over the place. But for the most part, we are in green, wet Galicia.
Our last three nights' accommodation have been in private albergue (fantastic, spotless, with clean sheets washed daily), then in a private Casa Rural, the Casa Pachaca (very nice, in an old remodeled stone house, with a great pork chop dinner -- yes I ate pork chops!), and then today we are in the municipal albergue where they give you paper sheets and pillow cover for the bedding (I assume this is an anti-bed bug measure). We have seen a definite increase in the numbers, in fact, today I think there are almost 20 people in the albergue.
Yesterday, in our nice little hamlet of stone houses, barroque chapels, and lots of fountains, we had intended to go to the albergue. When we arrived, and I went upstairs, I saw that we would be pretty squished, well, ok, we can deal with that, and there were lots of people, well ok, but then I heard that the toilet wasn't working -- as Dana said, that's a deal killer. So we headed out to hunt down the pretty little Casa Rural and had a very nice, almost luxurious room in comparison to what awaited us in the albergue. How 20 people can stand to spend the night in a place with no running water and no toilet is beyond me -- and to top it off, the person in charge came and collected 5 € from everyone!
In two weeks we will be arriving in Santiago, I can't believe it. We have some mountainous days ahead of us, and probably rain, but we are well
Friday, June 4, 2010
Rest Day in Puebla de Sanabria
Well, almost a rest day. We had a very beautiful 13 km stroll from our last night's resting place. The terrain is changing, we are now walking through much more wooded areas, lots of streams (and muddy paths to navigate), and the architecture is now the typical northern Spain construction of big stones, slate roofs, and wooden balconies. No more orange terra cotta round roof tiles in sight. We have been through a lot of little towns with many beautiful homes in ruins, and now here we are in a big tourist town with lots of beautiful homes that have been redone. I think that today in our walk we passed through 6 towns and saw a total of fewer than ten people. But all that changed when we crossed the river and arrived in Puebla de Sanabria. We are staying in the Posada La Pascasia, http://www.lapascasia.com/, right on the main drag and with a great view to the river below. The old town has almost entirely old stone houses, lots of flowers on the balconies, and today is market day. There is a romanesque church that is very beautiful, and tonight it will be open for us to peek inside.
It seems like there can't be a Camino without some kind of construction. This time it's not highway construction we're running into, but construction of the high speed train the AVE, which will go from Madrid to Santiago de Compostela. It hasn't been too bad, but the people in charge obviously care nothing about peregrinos, and we are sent looping up and down, around and back, just to keep us out of the way of their heavy machinery. Not that I want a run-in with a steam roller, but there have got to be better paths they could send us on.
We are off to check in to our little posada, will visit the castle and the museum this afternoon, and buy food for the next few days. And of course the clothes washing routine, something we've grown quite fond of. To top it all off, a good meal perhaps, there seem to be a lot of organic restaurants in this place for some reason. And lots of tourists to make sure the prices are high, but it's a splurge day.
It seems like there can't be a Camino without some kind of construction. This time it's not highway construction we're running into, but construction of the high speed train the AVE, which will go from Madrid to Santiago de Compostela. It hasn't been too bad, but the people in charge obviously care nothing about peregrinos, and we are sent looping up and down, around and back, just to keep us out of the way of their heavy machinery. Not that I want a run-in with a steam roller, but there have got to be better paths they could send us on.
We are off to check in to our little posada, will visit the castle and the museum this afternoon, and buy food for the next few days. And of course the clothes washing routine, something we've grown quite fond of. To top it all off, a good meal perhaps, there seem to be a lot of organic restaurants in this place for some reason. And lots of tourists to make sure the prices are high, but it's a splurge day.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
Alone in Rionegro del Puente
We had a long day today (28 km), and it was hot, but there were many very nice parts. We started out walking along the Tera River, through cottonwood trees and it was cool and breezy. But by 11 or so, the sun was really beating down, and we took rest stops in two of the three little towns we walked through. Not one of them had a bar or store, but we managed to find shady spots -- one on the stairs leading up to the church's bell tower, and another on a bench in the shade near a reservoir.
The town we're in now has two bars, no stores, no pharmacy, but luckily the bars serve meals so we will get something to eat. There is a new albergue, done beautifully in a very old stone building. There are two floors with rooms of beds, a balcony, modern bathrooms, kitchen, drying patios, reading rooms, etc. -- and two pilgrims! We think some cyclists might arrive, or maybe two old German guys who were in our albergue last night, but this is really kind of weird having no company at all. We will lock the door when we go to bed, for sure.
As we were leaving our last little town of the day, something de Farfón, we saw a sign for water with an arrow pointing to the left, and there was a fountain. As we went to fill our bottles, a head popped out of the garage door speaking English. Turns out this guy and his wife (maybe from South Africa, we weren't sure of the accent) and their two daughters are renovating a fallen down adobe house and making a home in this town, where there are three or four other inhabitants. They are home-schooling their daughters and hope to open an albergue in their house within the year. The man was very nice (we didn't meet anyone else), but it seems like a pretty daunting task. The woman who owns the bar here in Rionegro knows all about them and thinks they're nuts. I'm not sure what I think, but I did think about their situation as I was walking the last 6 kms of the day and decided I wouldn't want to move my family into a town with four other people and the nearest grocery store 45 km away. But I sure hope they make it work.
Tomorrow we will have another long day, and we're hoping that this afternoon's torrential downpour (which began after we arrived and gave us an excuse to go drink beer and eat potato chips) will cool things down a bit. We'll be in Palacios de Sanabria, which sounds like a very regal place but all we're hoping for is a grocery store.
The town we're in now has two bars, no stores, no pharmacy, but luckily the bars serve meals so we will get something to eat. There is a new albergue, done beautifully in a very old stone building. There are two floors with rooms of beds, a balcony, modern bathrooms, kitchen, drying patios, reading rooms, etc. -- and two pilgrims! We think some cyclists might arrive, or maybe two old German guys who were in our albergue last night, but this is really kind of weird having no company at all. We will lock the door when we go to bed, for sure.
As we were leaving our last little town of the day, something de Farfón, we saw a sign for water with an arrow pointing to the left, and there was a fountain. As we went to fill our bottles, a head popped out of the garage door speaking English. Turns out this guy and his wife (maybe from South Africa, we weren't sure of the accent) and their two daughters are renovating a fallen down adobe house and making a home in this town, where there are three or four other inhabitants. They are home-schooling their daughters and hope to open an albergue in their house within the year. The man was very nice (we didn't meet anyone else), but it seems like a pretty daunting task. The woman who owns the bar here in Rionegro knows all about them and thinks they're nuts. I'm not sure what I think, but I did think about their situation as I was walking the last 6 kms of the day and decided I wouldn't want to move my family into a town with four other people and the nearest grocery store 45 km away. But I sure hope they make it work.
Tomorrow we will have another long day, and we're hoping that this afternoon's torrential downpour (which began after we arrived and gave us an excuse to go drink beer and eat potato chips) will cool things down a bit. We'll be in Palacios de Sanabria, which sounds like a very regal place but all we're hoping for is a grocery store.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The oldest statue of Santiago
We are in a fabulous private albergue tonight. Clean bathrooms, hot showers, free internet, washing machine for the clothes, and good food cooking for us to eat soon. All for 19€, and no extra charge for the snoring. As usual, the other walkers are German and the few cyclists are all Spanish. But there are only 9 or 10 of us in an albergue with space for 50, so I guess the crowds are either ahead of us or behind us.
We are still in Castilla, so the land is relatively flat, though one guide book correctly describes this part as one of "llanos falsos" (false flats) -- you think it's flat but you are always going up and down and those 100 meter ascents add up at the end of the day. The land alternates between mediterranean scrub forest (if that makes any sense -- oaks, pines, bushes, flowers) and cultivated land, mainly wheat or hay. I did see several abandoned corn fields and that hurt my east central Illinois aesthetic. We´ve had relatively manageable days, in terms of kilometers (between 22 and 27), but the heat makes even the short day a bit harder to manage.
This afternoon we were lucky to be able to visit the church in the town next door, and there we saw what is reputed to be the oldest statue of Saint James Pilgrim (Santiago Peregrino). From the 11th Century, sitting on the portal of an even older church. The inside of the church was beautiful -- small, irregular arches, lots of beautifully preserved capitals -- just romanesque perfection!
We have a few more days till we get into Galicia, and I think that's where the ups and downs begin in earnest!
We are still in Castilla, so the land is relatively flat, though one guide book correctly describes this part as one of "llanos falsos" (false flats) -- you think it's flat but you are always going up and down and those 100 meter ascents add up at the end of the day. The land alternates between mediterranean scrub forest (if that makes any sense -- oaks, pines, bushes, flowers) and cultivated land, mainly wheat or hay. I did see several abandoned corn fields and that hurt my east central Illinois aesthetic. We´ve had relatively manageable days, in terms of kilometers (between 22 and 27), but the heat makes even the short day a bit harder to manage.
This afternoon we were lucky to be able to visit the church in the town next door, and there we saw what is reputed to be the oldest statue of Saint James Pilgrim (Santiago Peregrino). From the 11th Century, sitting on the portal of an even older church. The inside of the church was beautiful -- small, irregular arches, lots of beautifully preserved capitals -- just romanesque perfection!
We have a few more days till we get into Galicia, and I think that's where the ups and downs begin in earnest!
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