The End and the Beginning

Leon Spain is the end of the Camino for me as Grace and I walked Leon to Santiago last year. But Hailey is starting a  whole new trip - to stay with friends in Madrid and eastern Spain. We have had hard times - here is Hailey unable to walk another step in the driving wind and rain on the cobblestone Roman road to Manzanilla:

And we have had good times - here we are in Leon drinking beer and coffee near the great Cathedral of Leon:

It has been a great adventure with my amazing daughter Hailey, but now it's over and I can't wait to get back to Canada, London, my home, my wife, and  "normal" life, whatever that is!

Camping along the way...

There are several things I liked about camping along the Camino: 

No snoring!!!

No bunk beds!!!

No bed bugs!!!

Moving at your own pace - none of the daily stress to race to the town 20 kms away to be the first to get the best bed (ie. a bottom bunk furthest away from the blinding light of the fire exit sign) which involves leaving before everyone else and arriving at your destination around 1 pm with little to nothing to do except go online on your phone or do your laundry (most small towns along the way are practically deserted with nothing open between 2-5 pm for siesta). When I was camping I was able to walk as fast or as slowly as I wanted and actually stop and smell the roses as I went. The only thing I had to mind was the sunset, as it's much easier setting up your tent in the daylight.

Eating different food when camping we cooked and prepared whatever we wanted whereas in albergues there is usually only one option - the Menu de Peregrino" (pilgrim's menu) which was always a salad, some type of meat (which I don't eat so I'd always get an omelette) and some kind of desert in a plastic cup, all for about $12-18. This is ok (although over time it adds up $$) but when you eat this every dinner for 3 weeks.... yah. I know, I know, first world problems:-p 

The best part of menu de Peregrino is you usually get a lot of wine with it - because remember: wine is cheaper than water in Spain. 

When we were camping we would buy beer for less than 1 Euro per can and make giant salads in bags (lack of large salad bowls on the road) so easy! Bag salad!!

Locations

We camped:

1) in a farmer's field near a stream and a mountain and watched the lunar eclipse 

2) in a community centre on the floor because Bobby's paw was sore

3) in a small vineyard beside an old pilgrims ' hospital 

that is now an Albergue that has no electricity so you eat by candlelight 

Yes that's a dog sitting at the table. This place was called San Nicolas and was run by Italian hospitaleros who fed us amazing pasta and washed our feet as dictated by tradition

I got the tent to myself that night, and we spent the day setting up camp and making tea

4) we slept beside the river under a weeping willow 

5) we slept under an ancient roman bridge - but I don't have any photos! :,( here's a nice one of a sunrise though, and of my dad coming over the hill :) 

Back together

Hailey and I met up again today and had deep spiritual discussions with her friend Briane as we walked. Stayed at this cool hostel in Hornillos

Saw the ruins of a castle above Castrojeriz

And visited the "Hospital of the Soul" a serene meditation place 

Full of fine art and wisdom sayings on the walls and hermit's caves in the back courtyard

Camping... Without Dad

Bad and good news: my dad and I are not traveling together now - the story unfolds below but let me assure you - it was hard for me to say goodbye to my camino hoser pal :,(

So: I was thinking of stopping walking because I've been getting no sleep!! I'm a light sleeper and prone to insomnia so throw snorers and bunk bed jigglers into the mix and not being able to wear earplugs with my bad ear.... I was starting to lose it. 

Then I was standing in the square outside the cathedral and ran into Briane "bree yawn" - a cool girl from Australia I'd met about a week ago. I told her I was going to stop unless I found a way to camp and she said she'd been hoping to find someone to camp with! :) my dad wants to continue on staying in Albergues.

So tonight's briane and my first night camping and we met two Swiss girls who are traveling with their dogs so we're camping with them tonight in a farmer's field and hope to catch the lunar eclipse. 

It was sad to say goodbye to dad but I know I can always arrange to meet with him in a town if I need to, and we plan to meet for sure in Leon but that's not for 10 more days or so. 

I think it will be good for Dad to have some space from me as I was fairly hard on him at times. He said he's looking forward to walking alone for a bit but just hopes he doesn't get too lonely.

Dad n I stayed in Burgos for two days and  two nights. There is an incredible gothic cathedral there and Dad was quite blown away by it. We also visited the museum of human evolution, which was very well-done.

Going Our Separate Ways...For Now

Hailey has an ear infection, so she can't use ear plugs, which makes it very hard to sleep given all the snoring that goes on in the hostels.

She was so exhausted she thought she would have to quit the Camino, but she ran into an Australian girl, Briane, who was looking for a tenting partner, so Hailey is going to try sleeping in a tent for a few nights.

Meanwhile I wanted to explore a famous monastery in Burgos, so I decided to stay an extra day there.

So they went on ahead. The three of us may link up in a few days.

I had a mind-boggling day yesterday exploring medieval religion in the morning in the amazing Burgos Cathedral, and modern science in the afternoon in the amazing Burgos Museum of Human Evolution. Here are some pics of both:

A Neanderthal ancestor:

Tighty-Whitey French Guy

So as my dad said, you tend to run into the same people over and over on the camino, some of whom very quickly become your friends (a.k.a. Camino family). 

There are also those who you run into over and over who you don't like so much.... Like this man from France who has been walking since near Paris. I like to call him "Tighty-whitey French guy". He loves to announce to everyone very loudly that he had already walked over 1000 kilometers before we even STARTED the Camino, and that the French part is much MUCH more beautiful than the Spanish part. We ran into him (again) at the reception desk of a fancy alberge where he was complaining to the owner. We had just arrived and I was exhausted, but he pointed at me and said "YOU! You can help me! Please explain to me what this man is telling me!" 

The owner was explaining in rapid Spanish the different prices. I tried my best to explain what I could understand (which isn't much - my Spanish is pretty rudimentary) and Tighty-whitey French guy ended up walking off in a huff. I later heard him complaining loudly to someone that the alberge owner couldn't speak any English or French and how ridiculous that was. I wonder if it ever occurred to him before he embarked on his trek across Spain to learn a few words or phrases in Spanish...?!?

Oh and I call him "Tighty-whitey French guy" because he often roams around alberges in his tighty-whitey underwear (that grossly doesn't leave much to the imagination). His Camino nickname was sealed when he walked past me on the trail the other morning like this:

Those are his famous tighty-whiteys hanging to dry for everyone to see. SIGH.

The Camino Family

One of the nice things about the Camino is that you keep running into the same people, so it starts to feel like a family. Here is our friend Mike, an Alaskan who walks at roughly the same pace as us, and who we keep bumping into:

And Maureen, an 80 year old lady just invited us to have lunch with her and fed us with beer, cheese, avocados and olives. We had seen her before but lost track of her for a while. 

The Refugio's/hostels vary greatly. Here is the lobby of San Anton Abad where we are now:

It has a bar with the heads of animals the owner shot

Here is a group that has carried a cross all the way fromLithuania:

And an unusual flower we saw along the Way:

From Zombie village to artist's stew

Yesterday we had a hard walk in the blazing sun with nowhere to get water for 9kms. As we crested a very dry and dusty hill we suddenly saw something strange: lots of green grass. A golf course?! Here in a very arid part of Spain? Then we noticed the rows upon rows of empty apartments with all their windows shuttered:

And swimming pools and parks - totally empty of people:

Everything was for sale - the whole darn town! We started to feel creeped-out:

And then we heard from someone that we'd better hurry up and find an Albergue (place to sleep) as the town was not safe at night. We imagined Zombies coming out from the abandoned buildings groaning "brains - pilgrims' brains!!"

That's me n my dad running away!! 

Naw, just kidding about the town being unsafe and the zombies. We did manage to find a simple but cute and affordable place to stay in the non-zombified part of town, run by an artist who made us a terrific lentil stew. He told us he did the Camino three times in one year and then decided to open up this Albergue. Here are some of his paintings in the common room:

We got a room to ourselves with a non- rickety bunk bed (our host told us it's because it's from IKEA) and I slept well for once. Here's a view from our room: 

So far I've managed to lose my favorite pen, my Concordia water bottle and my quick-dry towel (been sharing my dad's which feels slightly gross).It's somehow incredibly easy to lose stuff on the Camino with all the daily shuffling. Not to worry because each hostel has a "take what you need, leave what you don't" bin and I scored a new waterbottle and a foam mat so I never have to sleep on a shaky bunk bed again - I'd rather sleep on the floor! :)

Virgen de Guadalupe Albergue

After a long slog up a mountain road in the blazing Spanish sun, we got to our hostel Virgen de Guadalupe

That's our room the second window from the left on the second floor, and here is Hailey in her bunk bed 

And here is the view from our window:

and here is the hostel chapel

And here is the Virgen 

The Camino is Crazy

I was reflecting on the Camino from an objective, logical perspective and realized  that it seems like quite a crazy thing to do. Let me paint a picture for you of the day to day realities: imagine yourself sleeping in a room with a stranger. Now multiply that stranger by 8 or even 20, and imagine they are all from different countries trying to communicate in different languages. Now imagine that all 20 of you are sleeping on either a) squeaky, rickety bunk beds or b) thin foam mats on the floor. 

Keep in mind that at least two of these people (usually the men - why I don't know) will snore incredibly loudly. Now imagine that you have to get up between 5:30-6:30 a.m. (whether you've slept or not) and organize all of your earthly belongings into a backpack (weighing at least 15 pounds) that you will carry for the next six to seven hours or however long it takes you to walk 20 kilometers to the next lodging where there may or may not be space and may or may not be bedbugs! (We have not met any so far, although my dad was bitten on a few occasions last year on the Camino). There may only be one toilet and one shower for men, and one for women. 

Now remember, we are not refugees (whose traveling conditions are much worse). What may be the strangest part is that we are doing this by choice, and paying a fair amount of money to do so. Those of us who are privileged do the strangest things sometimes! Here are some images of things I've found along The Way that make this whole ordeal seem less crazy: