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 :) 

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! :)

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:

Living quarters and meals

Here we are at Villa Mayor de Monjardin having a communal meal:

These ladies prayed over my right knee:

and it was fine the next day, except for the last 2 kilometres,when I overdid it.

Prayer works, but you have to also use your common sense - like not walking 20 kilometres the next day! Here I am limping into the next village:

We are now in the big city of Logrono and the annual wine festival is on. Should be cool. We are staying in a parish Refugio where they don't turn any pilgrims away. They house and feed them even if they don't have a dime to donate. But the facilities are very basic. Here are our sleeping quarters:

Quirks and beauty of Spain

 Here are two definite quirks IN Spain

Here's a lovely quirk: San Miguel beer is the same price as water (or cheaper)!

FRESH FIGS EVERYWHERE!!

Free Wine fountain. I repeat: FREE WINE FOUNTAIN!!!!!

Images of hell 

Very organized recycling everywhere 

Fire hydrants??

Dog signs 

Etc...

BEAUTY

Mountains everywhere!

View from our Albergue in Villa Mayor de Monjardin

Pain and posts

Hola amigos,

Posts: First, a quick note to say we changed the settings on our blog so everyone should now be able to leave comments - in case you tried in the past and it didn't work. It would be great if you tested it out and left us some comments :) Gracias!

Pain!! My calves and my dad's knee are so sore we are limping around the town we arrived (just outside Pamplona) at like two old fogies. Apparently the first week is always tough until your body gets used to what you're putting it through. Ascents hurt, but descents are pure pain! Until the Camino I haven't regularly been using muscles to help me descend, so suddenly I'm calling on them to perform and they're like "WTF?!?!! NOOO!" Which makes me just lie in my bunk instead of going out exploring the city :( 

Overwhelmed

Yesterday was all about getting from Barcelona to where we were starting the Camino in Roncesvalles, a village in the Pyrenees mountains. I hadn't slept a wink the night before because of dad's snoring - which he refers to as merely "deep breathing" - but which actually sounds like someone doing a bad impression of Darth Vader on a megaphone. 

After traveling since 8:30 a.m. we finally reached the Aubergue at 6 p.m.and got a bunk bed in a room with roughly 100 other people. I foolishly thought I'd be able to go to bed and get some much needed shut-eye around 9pm but nope - the room swarmed with people zipping, buckling and velcro-ing backpacks, people snoring loudly, people slamming doors, flushing toilets, shouting, arguing, and talking on their cell phones, and hanging their laundry on every surface possible. 

As I lay there with a pillow over my head and an earplug stuffed in my non-infected ear, unable to muffle the cacophony, I thought: what have I gotten myself into!?!?! The thought of quitting did enter my mind just then. I recently struggled through 2 intense years of school - maybe I should have gone to Puerta Vallarte and lain on a beach instead of spending lots of euros only to subject myself to masses of smelly humanity and the grueling slog of 20 km a day walking. 

SO.... Just in case you got the impression that this blog is going to be another social media platform full of fake smiles and rainbows... It's not! The Camino is already challenging me pretty intensely and my dad has already asked my mom to pray for him to know how to handle me. Hopefully we can paint a realistic-ish picture here of both the highs and lows (and in-betweens) of this journey. 

Today I woke up (well, more like I was woken-up by volunteers turning on the lights in the dorm singing Alleluia - for reals) and I told dad "I'll give it a week". After walking all day in the rolling mountains and hills of the Spanish Pyrenees, I think I'm back on board with this (slightly crazy) trek. 

We did it!! Our first day on the Camino - Roncesvalles to Zubiri! 21km :D