Sol y Nieve

So, glorious Catherine brought the glorious weather with her for her first day of walking. We took the bus back to where I left off in Villafranca on Saturday morning and got started around 10:30. We probably had the best weather of the whole trip. It was sunny and warm but not too warm and the route was pretty hilly with beautiful views of the green rolling hills and farmland. We had planned to go about 30 km. to O´Cebreiro but I had told Ina and S.K. that we might, in fact, go just abou 20 km. to a small town called Ruitelán. After a few hours, we caught up with Ina who was leaving a note for me (we sometimes write notes and place them on the road with stones to hold them in place) saying that she and S.K. who was ahead of us had decided to stay in Ruitelán instead of continuing the steep climb up to O´Cebriero. Christian (who is now miles ahead of us as we learned that he walked 60 km.--approximately 36 miles--one day) had heard that the albergue in Ruitelán was supposed to be great. We arrived there and it was wonderful. We arrived, threw in a load of wash, went to the local bar, sat in the sun and had some beers (Catherine´s treat). It was very relaxing. Then we returned and the two guys running the place cooked what might have been the best meal of our trip. We had a great carrot soup, a wonderful salad with fresh cheese & roasted red peppers, spaghetti carbonara, dessert and wine. Us four girls shared a room and Raúl and three Spanish men were in the other room. Raúl is continuing to limp along but we look forward to seeing him at each location where we all examine his swollen knee and completely torn up feet. The albergue played great music. They told us that due to the time change, not to get up until 8 and not until we heard the music. At 8 we heard "Ave Maria" sung by Montserrat Caballé streaming into our room. We had a great breakfast and headed out into the light rain. Ina lent Catherine her giant red rain poncho/backpack cover which completely dwarfed Catherine. She looked very funny. Catherine was great. Even though it was raining she was so enthusiastic and excited to be on the Camino. As we climbed higher and higher to reach O´Cebreiro, the views became more and more fantastic. I think C. joined as at just the right time to see what just might be the most beautiful part of the Camino. As we got higher it started to snow a little. We got to O´Cebreiro which is the first town in the region of Galicia. Galicia is beautiful--it is very green and very celtic--just like Ireland. But, like Ireland, the reason that it is so green is that it rains all the time. O´Cebreiro is a small and charming village with most buildings made of gray stone. There seemed to be some Spanish day trippers there for a Sunday excursion. We went to a great little restaurant where we had Caldo Gallego (a soup with potato, white beans and greens sort of like Swiss chard) and some local soft cheese with honey and bread. We also had wine which they serve at all meals by the bottle (for something like 3 dollars). Catherine felt we shouldn´t let it go to waste but I didn´t think it would help with the remaining miles. When we left the weather took a turn. It started to thunder very loudly and then pour down....snow! It was the craziest thing. Then there were some ice pellets but mainly snow. We walked and walked and although we thought once we reached O´Cebriero that the rest would be down hill, this wasn´t exactly the case. It continued to snow and once again, we amended our plan. Instead of making it a 30 km. day to Triacastela, we decided to stop in Fonfria (about 20 km.). The three older Spanish men who we really get a kick out of, were also there. Nicole arrived with Hungarian Eva and new friend, Portuguese Carlos. As you may or may not know, I love Portugal and now Carlos is well aware of this as about every minute I´d announce some other Portuguese town, food, drink, etc. that I love.
The albergue appeared very nice but was freezing cold--even though they had heat it wasn´t on much and it was by far the coldest night that I have spent on the Camino.
This morning we left the albergue and it was extremely cold, foggy and damp but as we walked the day turned out to be lovely. The views, again, were amazing and I was so glad that Catherine joined us when she did as I really think this is the prettiest part of the Camino. The sun came out, the sky got blue, the temperatures warmed up quite a bit and we continued on our way. If our remaining days will be as nice as today we would be very happy walkers. We arrived this afternoon in the village of Sarria. I went to the convent to get another pilgrim passport (you collect stamps in your passport as you walk through each village and mine is now full). Shortly after we arrived, the whole gang filtered in: Nicole, Hungarian, Carlos, Raúl, a Spanish couple from way back in Rabanal. I trust the three Spanish men will be there when we get back. Ina would like pizza tonight so we are trying to find a place but the prospects look a little bleak.
Speaking of food, I had hoped and expected to have the pounds just falling off of me on this Camino. I´m not very good at determining my own weight without a scale or noticing how my clothes fit. On this trip I have no scale and I´m wearing loose fitting drawstring pants so I really have no gauge. The first couple of weeks I think I probably lost quite a bit--I wasn´t eating so much and I was doing those very long, back-to-back 20+ mile days. But in the last week or so, I´ve been walking less and...eating more. The more social our group has become, the more we eat. It seems logical that one would lose weight. When I lived in Korea, all of the Americans living there lost tons of weight...all of them except my friend Pia and me. We were the only ones to gain weight--something that we were vaguely proud of. Our Korean neighbor even said, "I can hear you gaining weight." So, logic seems to have little to do with it in my case. It might be like the time I worked in Duluth, Minnesota with my friend Valerie for about 6 weeks. Once again, I was wearing very loose clothes and had no mirror or scale. It wasn´t until we were driving home and stopped at a wretched Motel 6 in Gary, Indiana, that I went into the bathroom to take a shower and gasped as I saw a big fat lady in the mirror. I was genuinely startled and alarmed by my reflection and it wasn´t until I got home that the scale verified that I had gained about 30 pounds. I though maybe I had gained 5. So, what with all the ham and wine consumption, it´s a real crapshoot.
We´ve been away for internet for a bit. Many have reported worrying if they don´t hear anything on this blog--we´re always okay--just not able to communicate it.

Catherine has arrived safely!

We met up in Ponferrada last night and stayed there. We have taken the bus to Villafranca del Bierzo to start from where I left yesterday. The hardest day of the Camino (or 2nd hardest) is today--Catherine´s first. --All up hill...all day. Catherine says....

Laura is a goddess! She came all the way back to the previous town just to meet me at the bus. We walked to an albuerge and were greeted by friendly older folks with big volunteer signs on their chests. Potts and I had our own room w bunkbed! It feels like camp, with Gregorian monks chanting instead of a rooster waking us up at dawn! Last night when I got off the bus and LP called my name I was so happy! All is well, sun is out, we begin our walk together! Somebody, please call Brenda and let her know I am safe! Gracias!

Muy Duro

I´ve missed a few days here as we have been in some places without internet access. We had a good time in Mazarife, the last place that I mentioned, as there were just 7 of us there. I really enjoy it more when it is a small group. We walked to Astorga that day which is a really nice little city. The albergue there was great. In our room it was just our group (Christian, Ina, Sang Kyoung, me, "Nicole"--another Korean girl). An actually very nice restaurant had a special discounted pilgrim´s menu and the five of us went there. It wasn´t a super fancy place but so much nicer than what we have grown accostomed to. We actually felt sort of foolish in our hiking clothes. We were told to bring our ¨Pilgrim´s Credential" in order to get the good deal but one look at us and the waiter was pretty sure we qualified. Christian, especially, looked funny with his loud African drum pants. We had a wonderful meal and it was nice to have a table cloth and a waiter with a tie, etc. It felt very special. It was in Astorga that we noticed that Ina´s ankle had swelled to the size of a softball. The guy who ran the place gave her ice packs and rubbed olive oil on it. Olive oil, I suspect, is a Spanish cure all. He urged her to stay one extra night and we volunteered to stay with her but she is as stubborn as a mule so she went on with us.
For some days we had noticed beautiful snowcapped mountains in the distance. As the days passed the distance became less, the mountain range seemed wider, and there seemed to be no gap in the mountains. With this information, Ina went out on a limb and suggested that we would, in fact, have to cross the snowy mountains and as it turned out, she was correct. We left Astorga in our group, along with Raúl, a Spaniard that we met in Astorga. I walked with Christian as he and I tend to walk pretty fast. The day was something of a mess--as we went a little higher it rained, then got sunny, then a rainbow, then more rain, then many ice pellets, sleet, snow--a "wintry mix" if you will. It was quite horrible and windy and cold. It was a short day´s walk (about 13 miles) and Christian and I made it there very quickly. Shortly before he arrived in the village of Rabanal, Christian said that I walked too fast. I did walk fast but it was because 1) I was behind him and following his pace 2)the weather was horrible and I just wanted to get to the albergue 3) I really had to go to the bathroom. Of course, he might have said something else. Ina and I surmise that about 21% of what we communicate to Christian is actually understood--and vice versa. I speak no French, he speaks little English. Everything we know about him involves a "may or may not". His daughter may or may not prepare dogs for dog shows. His sons may or may not be cooks. He may or may not have said that he is going to go to India to work for Mother Teresa´s outfit. He may or may not prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate. It´s all a big guessing game.
The albergue was pretty nice but I was so cold and I never felt warm again that day. I also was annoyed as there were tons of people there and as we arrived the snow really picked up so nobody was wandering around the villlage--just hanging out at the albergue walking around. I thought I was going to go crazy with the opening and closing of doors every 5 seconds. I got into my bed in my sleeping bag for about two hours and lovely Ina thankfully offered me her MP3 player to listen to some music. At 7 we went to the small chapel to hear the Gregorian monks chant their evening prayers. It was very nice, actually. I noted that everytime I have been to church on this trip, it has snowed. Lesson learned--I won´t go to church anymore. We went back to the albergue and had dinner. The next day´s leg (today--from Rabanal to Molinaseca) had been reported to me to be "muy duro"--very hard, by José Luis, a Spanish guy who we met some days before. He went through my guide book and told me it is probably the hardest part of the Camino (due to the crossing of the snowy mountains) but also the most beautiful (again, I´m guessing, because of the crossing of the snowy mountains). That night at the albergue the snow plow drivers arrived and told us that the road was impassable and that we would probably have to stay another day in Rabanal. So, we got up a little later than usual, ate breakfast and learned that during the night, the temperature had gone up, it had rained all night and much of the snow had melted. Christian had been with us for the previous 5 or 6 days and I think he slowed down to be with us as he usually covers a bit more ground than us. For these last few days, we all gather with our guide books and then decide where we will meet to stay that night. (It is at this point that Ina will write the name of a village and albergue on a scrap of paper for Sang Kyoung who carries no guide book). This morning, Christian said he wasn´t sure where he would go so I figured he was going to forge on ahead farther than what we were planning. When he left, he said to me in English (which is very rare for him), "I see for you." --I took this to mean "I will look for you." (as in, on the Camino, over the next few days). But, then again, he could have said, "I sing for you." which sounds strange but we do make him sing French songs for us including but not limited to, "Somewhere, Beyond the Sea" (your favorite song Lichan) but, you know, the French version by Charles Trenet and not the Bobby Darrin version. He also could have said, "I ski for you." or "I seem for you." It´s pretty much always like this with him. A sidenote on Christian. I really am hard pressed to believe that the French stereotype is true but I always ask just to check and sure enough, at the mere mention of Jerry Lewis, Christian´s face lit up. He, like all of the French, loves Jerry Lewis. He also went on to say (we think) that he likes Robert Stack and Dean Martin. I asked if he liked any American actors who were not dead or did not have one foot in the grave. He couldn´t really come up with anyone but about 6 hours later mentioned Dustin Hoffman. So there you go.
So, I started out on my own this moring and as José Luis said, it was Muy Duro. It was particulary hard due to the severe wind. It was like being in a wind tunnel--at times I could not go forward. Brian, remember when we were at the sand dunes in Michigan and the wind blew so hard it broke my camera. It was just like that, only except for sand stinging my face, it was bitterly cold rain. Oh, and instead of it lasting 10 minutes like in Michigan, it lasted about 4 hours. And, I´m thinking the other 5 times that José Luis walked the Camino and deemed it the most beautiful part, that perhaps the visibility was greater than 30 feet. You could see nothing. I (and everyone else, I think, except for superhero Christian) went on the main road in lieu of the Camino proper as the main road was clear of snow. But, you just walked up and up and had the stinging rain and no view and the wind was "muy duro". After a few hours I got to a village and stopped for a coffee and Christian was just leaving so he waited for me and then walked with me on the descent the last 6 or 7 miles to the next village (Molinaseca). The fog lifted a little bit and the wind died down a little bit and the view was really very beautiful. I stayed in Molinaseca (where I now am) and Christian continued on to the next town. Ina and Jennifer arrived shortly after I did and that about brings us up to date. The albergue here is very new and nice and clean and comfortable and the village is quite charming. In a bit will go into the village for dinner.
I´m trying to think of answers to questions that you´ve asked. Lichan the place in Spain where we stayed with your parents, was La Manga (de mar menor) where we went to the bar with the happy hour that said,"A great time for the kids". I speak Spanish with the Spanish people and now that Holy week is over , there aren´t that many of them. Usually I am speaking English but I´m generally the only native English speaker. I translate a lot when people have questions for the Spanish people. With Christian it is some sort of Spanish, French, English medley but it isn´t understood so ... Oh, Marisol, if you were here, you could be the official translator for Christian. Marisol is my wonderful Spanish friend who speaks French and Spanish like a native and I´m pretty sure her English is better than mine. I'm sorry I didn´t get to see you this time Marisol. I don´t listen to an ipod--just the crazy thoughts in my head. The places usually have pillows and blankets
CCW --I willl send you an e-mail but I think that the night of the 28th I will probably stay in Villafranca del Bierzo--leaving the morning of the 29th for Ruitelán where the albergue is supposed to be great--I should sleep there the night of the 29th. But, Let me know where you will go and I can probably go back to Ponferrada or Viallafranca del Bierzo by bus or train to meet you. We also have to get you a pilgrim credential so that you can stay at the albergues and they don´t have them at all of the towns. They will probably let you stay without one for one night though. I will pass through Ponferrada tomorrow and can find out about buses,etc.

Lazyish Days

Well, Christian´s dinner was great--a wonderful salad, potatoes, pork ribs in a really great sauce, lots of wine and some yogurts for dessert. The funny thing is that Sang Kyoung doesn´t really eat pork but does when Christian cooks. After dinner we were all going to go to mass at 8 p.m. (the night before Easter) at the village church. When we got there, however, we found out that it was not until 10 so we were forced to go to the bar for two hours to bide our time. We went to the mass which was nice but I think Ina thought it was a bust as she thought what with Easter there should be more people--she counted only 45 and 7 of them were us. The mass was rather long what with the blessing of the holy water and all of the locals bringing up their empty Coke bottles and what not to be filled with said holy water.
We woke up to a light dusting of snow which really just made everything pretty and Christian, Ina, Sang Kyoung and I made the short walk (about 11) miles to Leon which is a nice city. We were able to check in at the albergue early. We were pleased to find that the dorms were separated for men and women which really reduced the snoring for us on the women´s side. We walked around Leon, had some drinks and tapas, went out to dinner, etc. The albergue in Leon is run by the nuns and they had a nice little end of evening prayer service last night at 9:30. I generally understand Spanish pretty well but I must say that these nuns spoke such a crystal clear Spanish that they might as well have been speaking English as it was so easy to understand.
Ina, sadly, had her camera stolen and Sang Kyoung´s broke so this morning we decided to have another easy day (about 14 miles) and instead of starting out early, went to El Corte Inglés Department store where they bought new cameras. Sang Kyoung also bought an incredibly enormous, gold colored, man´s Swatch watch that is hysterically funny due to her tiny arm. We have promised to ask her the time at least 5 times per day. A funny sidenote was when we were walking with Christian and Sang Kyoung offered him a cookie and he declined, Sang Kyoung said, ¨You should take it. I ate the pork¨." She says these things for my benefit as the English is rather lost on Christian. We got a late start from Leon but had a gorgeous day and a beautiful walk with lots of snow covered mountains in the distance. When we arrived in town a little while ago (Villar de Mazarife), Christian was waiting for us on the front porch with beer and dark chocolate. The woman who runs the place is making a paella dinner and Ina, Sang Kyoung and I have a load of clothes in the wash so we are pretty excited. Tomorrow we will go about 18 miles to the city of Astorga. It´s nice not having the super long days of walking and being able to relax.

The Best Day Ever!

I started out this morning from Sahagún and for the second day in a row as I set out at about 7 a.m., I saw the Spanish youth filing out of the discos and bars from a night of revelling. It brought back memories of when I lived in Salamanca and after a night out, my friend, Lisa, and I would go to this all night snackbar for bocadillos de tortilla de patata and then to the churros and chococlate place. I chatted with them for a awhile and once again realized that the time schedule of the walker on the Caminio in no way coincides with that of any normal Spanish person. Today was probably the most rural or isolated of any of my walks. The route went on the old Calzada Romana, a Roman road. For about 15 miles it passed through fields with no villages, no roads, no cars, really nothing. It was a windy but beautiful day with bright, blue skies, fluffy white clouds, and far off in the distance I could see the snowcapped Picos de Europa mountains. I saw no other walkers all day but enjoyed MOST of the 23 miles. I can´t imagine doing this in the summer-no shade at all--the amount of water you would have to carry would be prohibitively heavy. I was feeling a bit lonesome and was missing my new friends. I´d had an e-mail from Ina and she and Sang Kyoung and Christian were a day ahead of me. She said that they would try to stay in Leon for an extra night so that I could catch up with them there on Easter. The last 4 or 5 miles of these long days are always kind of hard and today as I neared the village, I could see that the fluffy white clouds had changed into dark clouds and rain seemed iminent. The worse part was that I had to walk directly toward the storm. It seemed to be some frozen rain or sleet or something that was comprised of tiny white pellets bouncing off of me. It only lasted a few minutes but was none too fun.
I continued into the village, Mansillas de Mulas, and as I approached the albergue, I saw Sang Kyoung sitting in the window at a café. She and Ina stayed in this town an extra night to wait for me. I couldn´t believe it--I was so happy to see them. And that wasn´t all--they alerted me that Christian stayed and extra night and so did Toby (our German friend) and Kim (from Holland). You cannot imagine how happy I am to be able to spend time with these new friends. Christian is preparing a big dinner for all of us--it should be good--he´s been working on it for hours. I am as happy as a clam that we are all together. The albergue is really nice as well and as the other five were all here last night and had the run of the place. They asked to be moved to the best room where they saved a bed for me. I couldn´t be happier. This day´s walk was unusual as there were two routes to choose from --usually there is just the one. I chose the one that was about a mile longer but reportedly more scenic. This morning, anticipating my arrival, Ina and S.K. went out to the other route to leave messages for me (hearts in orange peel, etc.). They also had my bed decorated with an orange peel heart and had bought me a dark chocolate bar and Hit biscuits which I love. They are calling me to dinner now so I must run. I wish you all the happiness that I have today.

A Little Weary

Last night there were some processions for Easter in the village of Carrion. Big cities in Spain have a lot of these events during Holy Week. You may have seen photos of these processions. There are large groups of people who wear what I can only describe as Klansmen hoods and masks. These costumes are not meant to be evil, however. In Carrion, the people do not wear these costumes but wear black wool capes that old Spanish men routinely wear in winter. They carry big statues of religious icons. I watched for a bit but it was very cold.
Today I had a very long day from Carrion to Sahagun. I have passed the halfway point. I walked about 24 miles today--actually probably 26 due to my backtracking when I was somewhat lost. I´m a bit weak of body and spirit today. I¨d hoped to catch some of my friends here but so far I don´t recognize anyone. If I feel up to it, I might do another long day tomorrow as then I could do a short walk Sunday morning to León and be there on Easter which might be nice. This morning was very cold--I´m not sure of the temperature but I did fill up my water bottles when I left the albergue. Two hours later, one of them had started to freeze up. It was a nice walk though and like all of the days, full of beautiful scenery. It was chilly most of the day but now the sun is very strong and feels wonderful. I sat here in this town´s Plaza Mayor soaking up the sun and watching the kids play in the square. I later went back with my book and sat and read and chatted with the 80 year old men--who are always wherever the sun is in Spain. It was fun to chat with them.
That´s all for now. Beth A. --don´t know if you are keeping up with this or not...if so, Maite and Maria José´s kids are lovely.

Starting Over

I had a fabulous time in Valladolid with my wonderful friends. Last night we all went to Maria Jose and Alberto´s house for my favorite Spanish meal. We had tons of really good food--kind of tapas style--big plates of jamon serrano, about 4 other cured meats, 3 or 4 kinds of cheese, empanadas, olives, lots of wine, other stuff that I´m forgetting. It was really fun and was so glad that I got to spend time with these amazing friends who always look after me so well when I visit. It was great to meet their wonderful girls who I had not met before. Another friend of ours, Cati, and her husband and child were out of town so sadly I missed them but apart from that, all was perfect. Some friends of this group were driving to Santander this morning so they drove me to Fromista (where I left the Camino on Tuesday) and dropped me off there as it was right on their way. I got started right where I left off on Tuesday. It seemed so strange though--just like I was starting over again. I felt a little bit lonesome as all of the other people that I passed on the Camino were strangers to me.
I had a pretty short walk to Carrion de los Condes (about 12 or 13 miles) and checked into the very nice albergue run by the Claras (nuns). Then I went into town and for once I was at a restaurant at an appropriate Spanish lunch time. It is a holiday here (Holy Thursday) and there were a lot of people out and about. It seems I picked the most poplular restaurant in town. It was super crowded and as a result I was seated at a table with others--this used to happen to me sometime when I lived here and I loved it. I sat across from an old local guy who eats at this restaurant everyday and as such often sits at the table for single diners and is accostomed to chatting with strangers. It seems all the others who sat around us were people on holiday from Madrid. So, I had some fun dining companions. I had a great meal--a garlic soup and then some very good beef--kind of like a stew, I guess. They also just plant a bottle of red wine in front of you and you can have what you like--the charge is the same whether you have one glass or say, three or four. I also had a tasty strawberry mousse dessert. It was a lovely meal and afterwards I headed back to the albergue to see some familiar faces. Some of the group from the "family" dinner that Alex made last week were there. Alex, German Elena, and the two Hungarian girls, Eva and Leda. I though these last two were students but no, we have a psychiatrist and a dentist so I guess if I go over the deep end, or chip a tooth, I´ll be in good hands. There is a mass tonight at the convent where we are staying but I¨m not sure if I´ll be able to stay awake for it. I had a late night in Valladolid last night and I´m very sleepy.
Oh, throughout this trip, I have carried my passport, credit card, larger bills, etc. in a safe place but have had change and spending money in a snack sized ziplock bag. Ina, I´m pretty sure, has been mortified every time I pull it out to pay. Today at a bar where I stopped for a coffee, the lady working there took pity on me and gave me a little coin purse with the name of the bar on it. It is the perfect size and I love it. I have clean clothes, a great room tonight (only three beds--no bunks--sharing with the Hungarian girls) and I have a wonderful coin purse. I´m very excited. I think I will do a long walk tomorrow (maybe 40 km from Carrion de Condes to Sahagun) --Oh, and tomorrow, I will pass the half way point. I can´t beleive it.
I hope you are all enjoying your holidays--I sure am. I think if I push it, I can be in Leon ( a great city) on Easter morning where I might catch up with some of the others.