The Camino, not the car

The entire Camino in one post:

Saturday, June 14, 2008
We pulled into Astorga (in style) and found a place for hikers that had everything we needed for only eight euros! Astorga was simply a stopover for us, as the next day we awoke, and attempted to figure out how to get to Sarria--our intended starting point. We found a bus to Lugo, then gambled that we'd find a shuttle bus from there, and what a deal, one left in fifteen minutes. We were in Sarria and on the trail/camino by 3:15pm.

I'm going to go ahead and say it, but we Americans must be crazy to hike or just plain hard-headed to pack all that we do (food, water, tent, etc.) on the trails throughout the US. I say this because I do it all the time! I love the beauty of the national parks, but Europe sure makes it easy to love the outdoors. As far the Camino de Santiago (a well traveled and popular route), there's cold water spickets that seem to appear when you need them, and little towns/villages often enough that offer dorm like places to stay, food, hot showers, laundry facilities, and even lines to hang your clothes on. You can literally hike with just the clothes on your back, a water bottle, and a few not-necessary-snacks just as the original travelers did many years ago. We even ran across a few soda-pop machines right on the trail! The first pilgrims to complete the journey were setting out to witness the tomb of St. James discovered in Santiago (around 820), and ever since, they've ensured that the journey is one others can make with safety and comfort (they even had guards to fight off the banditos). Also, the FIRST ever "guidebook" was written describing the Camino: how to make the journey, find water, food, expected cell phone coverage, etc., all around 1300.

We checked into our first place on June 13 for a whopping 6 euros and then took a hot shower. We were provided with liners for the bunk bed mattress/pillow, and the room slept about 20. Everything was clean as a whistle and everyone was either quite friendly or snoozing. Many are walking the entire route (2-3 months of travel) which stretches from France, while we've opted for the much shorter 120 km version.
After our shower, we walked a mere 30 yards to the café and had a three course dinner, complete with fresh bread, Nestea, spinach-bean soup, cheese eggs, patatas (not the Pope this time), and ice cream. We didn't even have to do the dishes. I had to chuckle that night as I drifted off to sleep with a variety of wheezes, slow exhales, and other folks shifting and rolling as they too drifted off to sleep.

The next morning I was (lets just say rather rudely) jolted awake to someone ripping a reverberating double fart at about 6am! That's all I'll say about that other than I suppose there are some perks to hiking in the US with your own tent. We walked for about an hour, then had Dani's favorite for breakfast, tortillas espana (eggs and potatoes) at another little cafe. The trail is well maintained, strategically marked with yellow arrows placed precisely when you start looking for one, and it has the most wonderful views of the wide open country side. If they had all these perks in the US, I'd definitely be out more, and I think, more importantly, others would too (well, less the wake up alarm)! I say this because we've seen travelers of all ages, especially a number of folks over 60.

The first two days have been great. Even though we have our all-of-Europe travel bags on our backs, they don't seem too heavy. The first day was sunny with a cool, refreshing breeze. Today we got an early start around 7:30am with a light fog and the temperature hovering around 65F. It was brilliant, and the sun didn't completely break out until almost noon. We stopped for lunch and ate the remaining food we'd been packing and continued on. In the shade it's almost too cool, but without it, the sun can bear down with serious intensity. It's overall exhilarating, similar in the french fry with your frosty sort of way.

Trees were sparse today and the sun did not hold back, so we happily strolled into a small area (population fourteen, that's counting the car of three that arrived shortly after we did) and secured a bunk. The shower was so intense I had to occasionally stand to the side to prevent any loss of skin. We've met two Americans, but ran mostly into French folks, so our conversations have been limited. Only 77 km left to go, although rain is in the forecast and we've only packed two $3 panchos. We'll see how it goes on the road (camino) to Santiago.

Sunday, June 15, 2008
Well, the second day proved to be a good one. We completed 27 kilometers, just under 17 miles and our dogs are barking! For lunch, we had two wonderful sandwiches of cheese and chorizo along with a glass of warm milk, as the weather today was cloudy and a bit cold. It never really rained, but being from Seattle, I'd describe the day as containing mostly "spittle". It was a bit of a nuisance, as every time I took off the $3 pancho (which actually did its job) the spittle seemed to pick back up. I'd put the pancho back on, warm up, take it back off, and then repeat the process. Hey, at least it was cool for our long day. We arrived in Melide late in the afternoon and were ready to rest our feet. We wandered the town a bit longer than we cared to looking for the officially sponsored hotel (aka: the cheap dorm) only to find four old men sitting together on a single park bench sharing two umbrellas and talking about the weather and politics (I have to presume the last part). It was a grand prize photo in the making, and I coerced Dani into asking them if we could pull the camera out. They pleasantly obliged and we look forward to sharing the photo one day, as it's currently on the big SLR camera.

We were finally able to make our bunk beds and call it a day around 5pm. The shower at this place proved to have a mind of it's own. It sporadically alternated between liquid-nitrogen cold and lava-hot at the most unpredictable times making the overall experience quite difficult to enjoy. It made you develop this quasi shower-dance that you never thought you'd be doing after a full day of hiking. Other stalls seemed to share a similar problem as various yelps of terror could be heard throughout the bathroom in a variety of languages. I suppose it did keep water consumption to a minimum? We ended the day with grilled lamb-chops, fries, a mixed salad, and a mug of red wine filled to the brim. I'm off to bed!

Monday, June 16, 2008
Dear whoever-is-reading-this-blog-and-adjusting-the-weather-accordingly,
I do appreciate the fact that you let it downpour today since I did complain (slightly) about the "spittle" yesterday. I was really looking forward to getting through the rain today. However, I did not find it funny when it once again began to spittle for the remainder of the entire day!

Well, our $3 panchos are starting to look like they've had about $6 worth of wear. The super thin clear "garbage bags with hoods" also rattle a lot when you have them on and thus prevent you from hearing anything and the hood forces you to look down and can darn-near cause one to miss their turn entirely (not that we'd know anything about this).

Today was "OK." Both Dani and I put on some fresh, clean clothes including pants since the day was a smidgen cooler with the rain and all. We were trudging along, minding our own business when we noticed a tractor quickly approaching us from about 100 yards away. The dirt road we were on was no wider than a tractor, so we both had furrowed brows and quizzical looks. As it approached we figured we'd move to the side (in the brush) and let it go right along with it's fertilizer tank trailer in tow.

Dear Mr. Tractor Driver,
We appreciate the fine farms that you keep, they really are beautiful; however, the large tread on your tires appear to carry a large amount of mud, dirt, and water on them which seemingly fly about when you travel at the speeds you do. Please keep this in mind when your passing hikers.

*Unfortunately the $3 panchos were attached to our bags at this point.

Dani lost her toothbrush and I'm getting sleepy and you don't want to hear any more about Dani's toothbrush so goodnight.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Today was much better than yesterday. It's amazing how much happier everyone is when they don't look like a mad cat coming out of a bath.

The first great encounter of the day happened this morning. We were hiking along at a lively pace and noticed a group of 12-15 people just in sight that were huddled up looking over maps. They were taking up the entire trail, so we decreased our pace so they too had some time to contemplate how they would move over. It just happened that the group parted perfectly in half and the first two people raised their trekking poles in the air like swords while everyone else followed suite. As we ran through the make-shift tunnel they all shouted "Buen Camino!" as we told them the same. I never did wake up so I'm pretty sure it really happened. Come on, you can't make this stuff up.

The second "event" has me slightly concerned (and I think for good reason). This morning we were sitting in our hotel's café having coffee and noticed two lady hikers that had stopped in to do some laundry (yes, first thing in the morning, which does make one wonder). The one with braids and in her late thirties was sitting at the bar with her back to us and Dani noticed some red whelps on the back of her calf... so I took a glance. My first thought was that she had slid her foot off a petal of a bike and her calf caught the piercing points of the front cog, as there were several red marks just above the line of her mid calf black socks. Dani didn't agree with my initial diagnosis and pointed out (the apparently obvious?) the red whelps were not at consistent distances. I consented and that was the end of our medical discussion for the morning.

Around 11:30 we passed a lady with long gray hair, a large pack, and a casual pace. We only exchanged "Buen Camino's", but shortly thereafter started talking more when we came to a fork in the trail with no indication on which way to progress.
When that was behind us, we found out Jane was actually walking slowly so her sister-in-law and niece would have time to catch up. They had apparently stopped in a town to do laundry and get medication for a "complication". Dani's investigative instincts took over and quickly identified them from our morning hotel café encounter. Dani also brought up the red marks we noticed on her leg and hoped that everything was OK. All was fine except for the excessive need to itch as they had been attacked on their legs, arms, and face by a swarm of bedbugs! I stared in disbelief at the never-crossed-my-mind-yet thought of bedbugs in the hotel beds and quickly tried to recollect the condition of our mattresses and making a self assessment of my overall skin condition without looking too obvious.
Jane went on to explain that bedbugs are indeed a problem in the hotels and they also start getting progressively worse in the summer. I was immediately caught off-guard and quite honestly, appalled--and would like to add, there are definitely perks to hiking with your own tent and bed-roll! This evening I cautiously made my bed, put an extra blanket down for a precautionary layer (even if it's just mentally reassuring), and I'm not so sure I'll sleep as sound tonight. "Sleep tight and don't let the bed-bugs bite" has now taken on new meaning. I've contemplated buying a can of Raid to try and eradicate any pests, but at this point I can only hope that my Garfield bed sheet will keep me safe. Sleep tight?

Vaso? I thought "vaso" meant glass, which is the amount of wine I attempted to order tonight with dinner. Apparently it means an entire bottle, as that's what arrived at our table! Oh well, it was certainly good wine, and while I did try to finish if off, I had to stop when my toes started going numb (which was not a bad thing since my blister finally quit hurting). It seems that is how the wine comes, as we were only charged for one serving. I stumbled back to the hotel (with the help of Dani) and ALMOST forgot about the bedbugs. Buen Camino!

Wednesday, June 18, 2008
800?
Today was fantastic! Our prompt bedtime had ensured an early morning and we were up and going right at 7am (we guess the wine must have been the good kind?). I looked over my legs, arms, body, and to my relief, did not find any bedbug bites. I'm not even sure what I'm looking for, but I have to check either way.

The morning was a chipper 45F which kept us moving fast in order to keep the blood going, although the sun was out and starting the preheating process around 9am. My hip was starting to hurt more from the waistbelt of the backpack, but I considered myself fortunate today for finding an unbruised area that I could clinch the pack to and redistribute the pain.

We were looking forward to our 'cheap sleep hotel' already (bedbugs aside). On a side note, the official dorms designated by the Camino to stay at are called Albergue's (although I tend to shout to Dani, "Look, an Albuquerque!" Yes, the city in New Mexico is much easier to remember and pronounce even if it has no connection).
Our guidebook tells us how many beds are located at each Albergue, so we generally have an idea of how big they are. The one we planned to stay at tonight listed a whopping 800 beds! You'd think you'd might be looking for a 15 story high-rise from a mile away. Our place was elusively further than we had mentally anticipated, but once we arrived, it was literally a campus of dorms complete with a mini-shop area filled with a cafeteria, laundry, and an unfortunately closed massage business. Were only a mere 5km from Santiago and the end of the Camino. Most everyone is in high spirits as they know tomorrow will be easy compared to the previously longer journey. We too are ready for the end.

Thursday, June 19, 2008
THE END!!!
Our final day on the Camino was a short day with a great ending.
We've found that getting up later than everyone else has it's perks. For one, there's nobody around to get in the way and it's rather peaceful. We rolled into the cafeteria around 8 and after some extra toast with extra butter we strolled off to Santiago, which was less than 5km away. It was about an hour before we were in town, so we took a final photo and got in line to receive our credentials (the official certificate issued to you by the Camino de Santiago). We secured two more beds and found a doner kabab restaurant that was fantastic! The end. Oh, we went to celebrate by getting a massage. I found the Camino to be a wonderful experience and would highly recommend it, especially via bicycle!