intermittent internet

We arrived in León yesterday afternoon, and after some walking in circles found the albergue.  It's very nice, and there are two computers with free internet access.  And of course, last night the network was down.

This morning I woke up a little earlier than the others and eventually discovered that there was internet access.  And of course, now the others are eager to get going.  So, just a brief update while the photos upload, and then a spot of breakfast.  Then I plan to re-visit the 13th century Gothic cathedral and the museum.  By the time we got there last evening, the museum was already closed.  Then perhaps I might even do a bit of walking today...

Sunny Sahagún

This morning there was frost on the parked cars in Sahagún, and not a cloud in sight.  So what am I doing sitting at a computer terminal instead of walking on such a gorgeous day?

First, I am waiting for a massage.  There is a physiotherapist with offices in Sahagún and Leon who specializes in pilgrim's feet.  Thankfully, I don't have any blisters.  What I do have is a sore foot, related I think to my fallen arches.  I figure that a professional massage and a rest day may help.

Secondly, I am waiting for my friends Antonio and Arancha to catch up with me.  The uphill slog through mud I wrote about last time left Arancha with some very nasty blisters, and the extra day of walking she did after that was probably not the best thing for them.  She and Antonio decided to stay behind in Carrion de los Condes and she sought medical treatment.  I really enjoyed travelling with them, and I hope they are only a day or two behind me.  Now that I've added more minutes to my mobile phone, we can actually contact each other again.

Since I've mentioned them, I thought I'd mention some of the other pilgrims I've met so far.  Carmina left Burgos with us, but the second day of walking from there she received a phone call.  Her mother had been in a car accident.  She was not seriously injured, but Carmina finished the day's walking and the next morning  caught a bus home.  I'm not sure how far she'd been planning to walk, but I suspect police officers in Spain don't get five or six weeks of vacation in a row.

I set out alone two days ago, and after a few hours of walking saw something about a kilometer ahead of me.  (Yes, the road is that flat and straight.)  I wasn't sure if it was another traffic sign or a person, but then I noticed the object had moved from the right side of the road to the left.  After walking another hour or so, I was close enough to see that, yes, it was another pilgrim.  I whistled and a few seconds later saw the figure turn.  I was still too far for my waving to register, though, but the pilgrim pulled over at a rest stop and got some water. 

Eventually I caught up with Javier.  He had decided to walk a section of the Camino on his vacation before returning to wife and work in Madrid.  For two days we walked and talked, or walked in silence.  At dinner in the evening our discussions were surprisingly wide-ranging.  Javier's English certainly improved more than my Spanish did.  This morning, he headed to the train station here in Sahagún.  In Leon he will catch another train to Madrid.

Another pilgrim who caught the train to Leon this morning is Alejandro.  I actually saw him in the café in Burgos the day I got off the bus from Paris.  He's been walking from Roncesvalles, but when he began his pack weighed 21 kg.  Since the accepted wisdom is that your pack should be no more than 10% of your body weight, he suffered quite a bit over those first few days as he shed more and more of the non-essentials.  He had been walking with several other pilgrims he'd met along the way, but decided to stay in Sahagún to rest his leg.  He's planning to stay in Leon for another few days of rest, so I may meet up with him there.

I've tried to make this experience more than just a long walk, so I've also been taking the time to poke my head into churches and museums along the way.  Friday evening, A & A and I were relaxing in the resto-bar attached to the hostal we had booked into for the night.  (The local albergue was closed.)  The bell in the massive 13th century church across the street began to toll, so Antonio asked the woman behind the counter why and she said there was going to be a Mass.  Friday evening struck the three of us as a rather odd time for that, but I hurried across the street anyway.

I really don't know much Spanish, but I do know a bit about liturgy.  It was fairly easy to follow the half hour long service.  The Great Doxology sounded the same, and of course the sursum cordum and the Lord's Prayer were in the expected places.  At one time, Villalcázar de Sirgar had been a major town and the size of the cathedral bears this out.  That evening, however, there were only eight or nine of the faithful present, along with the priest and one Orthodox pilgrim.  It was a very beautiful service.

Yesterday featured another evening Mass.  Sunday morning just after we'd left the village of Moratinos (pop. 84), the church bell began ringing.  Although Javier is not religious, he knew that I am and offered to wait for me if I wanted to go back for the service.  I considered it briefly, but decided to keep walking with him.  Since I wouldn't be communing anyway, it would basically be a chance for me to sit and pray surrounded by others doing more-or-less the same thing.  After settling in to the albergue here in Sahagún, I headed off in search of coffee and internet access.  I found both in a bar near the albergue, but both the internet terminals were in use.  While I was sitting there nursing a coffee and watching the football game (that's soccer in North America), Javier came in and told me that the church was open and they would be celebrating Mass very soon.  It was very thoughtful of him to tell me, and off I went.  Strange pilgrimage, to be dashing from bar to church....

I just received a phone call from Arancha.  They have arrived in Sahagún, so as soon as I've finished uploading the current batch of photos, I'm off to meet them!

Thankful Thursday

Yesterday was my first day of walking the Camino in Spain.  Leaving the albergue (pilgrim shelter) where I stayed in Burgos, I walked a bit in the dark and drizzle, stopped at a bar for a cafe con leche (yes, the bars are open at 8:00 am, and not all the clientele are drinking coffee), and promptly got lost in town.  Wandered in what I thought was the right direction for a bit without seeing any of the waymarks, but then I saw a gas station.  The attendant didn´t speak a word of English, but between the two of us and my map he pointed me in the right direction.  That's when I saw the three west-bound pilgrims, two of whom had bright yellow rain covers on their backpacks.  I paced myself, and in about 20 minutes I caught up with them.

This is now the second day we've been travelling together and it is a nice thing.  Artense speaks English, her husband Antonio speaks French far more fluently than I ever will, and Carmina studied French in school.  (I suspect I've been out of school much longer than she has.)  So we communicate with humour and sign language and snippets of French and English, aloing with my broken phrase book Spanish.

Of the three of us, I've got the most time to make it to Santiago, and I suspect that once Artense's blisters clear up, she and Antonio will go back to their 30 km per day pace.  So far, 25 km seems about right for me.  Today we only walked 20, but yesterday was fairly brutal, even for the experienced walkers.

As I mentioned above, it started out with drizzle, but after about two hours the sun came out.  And I honestly thank God that it did, because the thought of walking the last section of the trail we covered yesterday afternoon in the rain makes me weak in the knees.  The first 25 km went well.  The section of trail we're on now reminds me of the parts of North Dakota I've driven across -- plateaus, with the occasional river valley punctuating the high plain.  It's very beautiful, but when you're on foot you experience those hills somewhat differently.

Five of the final six km of trail yesterday was a constant uphill slog through mud with a strong head wind.  It was indescribably miserable, and part way through (while I was still capable of coherent thought) I realized that fire is not the only biblical image for hell.  There is also the miry deep.  Finally I crested the hill and saw a sign which almost had me weeping with joy:  Hortanas 0'5 km.  Only half a kilometer to go, and it was all downhill WITH NO MUD!!!  And at the end, my companions had already told the hospitalera that I'd be arriving.  Marta waited patiently while I dropped my pack, removed my mud-laden boots, and fished out my pilgrim's credencial.  She stamped it, recorded my details in the log book, and led me to the kitchen where my companions were waiting and she'd already begun cooking our dinner.

After a quick bit of refreshment, she led us upstairs and showed us to the dormitory.  A hot shower, a clean change of clothes, and a foot massage later I felt human again.  And then it was time to eat.

Today was a much easier walk.  No mud, for one thing, and it was walking on the meseta.  There were a few slopes, but much of it was walking on more or less level ground.  I arrived in Itera de la Vega about an hour ago and poked my head into the first place that was open.  Carmina had walked on ahead of the rest of us, and she wasn't there.  Still, it was warm, it had beds and food and a nice big bathroom for each dormitory room.  I was sold, especially since I knew we'd meet again on the trail tomorrow.

As I was scraping the mud from my boots (well yes, there was a little mud today, but nothing worth mentioning), Antonio and Artense came along the road.  I hailed them and they told me they were headed to the albergue next to the church, which is where Carmina had settled in.  We agreed that we'd meet back at "my" place for dinner together at 7:00 and I headed for the shower.  When I came out a new man, they had changed their plans.  In fact, so had Carmina, so the four of us are booked in here together again. 

Dinner will be served in an hour, which gives me time to stretch out a bit, massage my feet, and relax with the others.  I'm not sure when I'll be posting next, but I'm keeping notes as we go.  Hopefully the next time I log on, I'll also be able to upload photos.  The current machine is locked down, with only keyboard, mouse, and monitor accessible.  Makes sense from a business perspective, but it is a tad annoying.  Ah well.

¡Hasta luego!

Adieu Paris and ¡Hola Burgos!

After a delightful stay in Paris, I have finally made it to Spain.  The 14 hour bus ride from Paris to Burgos would have been quite relaxing except that the heat was cranked up after the first two hours.  People were in t-shirts, but somehow I neglected to pack any summer clothing so I had a very fitful sleep.  The last time I woke up sweating from the heat on a long distance coach was in Syria.  In that case, the air conditioning wasn't up to the job but because it had A/C the windows were all closed.  In this case, I can think of no rational explanation.  I survived.

I arrived in Burgos at 8:00.  It was still dark, there was a light drizzle, and nothing was open yet.  I suppose I could have stayed in the bus terminal and bought a coffee and some sort of breakfast there, but at that point I was eager to stretch my legs and get some fresh air.  I left the terminal with no clue where I was in the city.  The Camino map I brought with me has things like churches, cathedrals, and hostels marked on the individual city maps, but no information about bus terminals.  (Since the idea is that you're walking, that information would just be redundant.)

As I stepped out into the street, I heard a bell chiming the hour.  I followed the sound, thinking it would either be city hall or the cathedral.  It was the latter, and I finally had oriented myself.  The cathedral didn't open for tourists and pilgrims until 10:00, so I found a small cafe.  Walked in, and noticed two lean guys with backpacks and wearing gaiters having their breakfast.  We nodded to each other, and I settled myself down.

After getting the first stamp in my pilgrim's passport and seeing the cathedral (12th century Gothic, very big and a UNESCO World Heritage site) I bought a cheap mobile phone.  ATTENTION  CANADIANS:  We're being ripped off.  For 19€ I got a basic Samsung model and 12€ worth of airtime.  That should do for the local calls I'll be making.  After a quick visit to the local tourist information booth, I found the cybercafe I'm currently writing from.

Next on my agenda for the day is more coffee and then on to the nearest albergue (pilgrim's refuge) for a hot shower.  I may even be back to this cyber cafe later to upload some photos. It's conveniently located for me, although at 3€ per hour it will add up quickly if I'm not careful.

On Being in Paris

Some observations from the past 11 days.

You may have heard that Parisians are rude.  I have yet to experience this.  Quite the opposite, in fact.  The first day I set out wandering on my own, I emerged from the Metro to street level and stood for a moment trying to get my bearings.  I pulled out the guidebook Sharif was kind enough to lend me.  As I stood there, a passerby came up and asked if I would like help.  Unlikely to happen where I come from.

You may have heard that Parisians refuse to speak anything but French with tourists.  The last time I sat in a French class was in 1984.  My accent is atrocious, my vocabulary is abysmal, and I have difficulty understanding people unless they are speaking slowly and clearly.  And yet, after the initial pleasantries are exchanged and I ask, "Parlez-vous Anglais?" the answer has usually been, "Little bit."  (Or words to that effect.) All of the people I have encountered here have patiently worked with me in trying to communicate.  Even if I can't think quickly enough to hold up my end of the conversation, I understand more than I am able to say.  Twenty Questions is a great game, as long as you have patience and a sense of humour.

Parisian drivers obey traffic signals.  This may not seem worth mentioning, but go back to my previous post and have a look at the countries I've wandered through.  Yeah.  This is pretty cool.

Parisian pedestrians do NOT obey traffic signals.  If the way is clear, they will cross against a red even with the police a stone's throw away.

A decent cup of espresso can be had for about 1 € (or maybe as high as 1,20) in most bars, cafes, or brasseries.  Fresh baguettes are available on practically every corner, and cheese really is a staple.

Parisian girls (and by this I mean, women in their twenties) almost always seem thin, elegant, and sad.

Paris is surprisingly monochromatic.  Most of the people wear black, the buildings are almost all an off-white, it's been overcast all but two days I've been here.  Apparently fall is glorious.

Art galleries.  Museums.  Exhibitions.  12th and 13th century churches with their doors open.  Free organ recitals.  If you're even remotely interested in the arts, you will not be disappointed here.  Today's concert in Saint-Eustache featured works by Liszt and Tchaikovsky transposed for organ.

The Metro is incredible.  With fourteen separate lines plus four or five lines in the urban train system the map can look a little intimidating, but everything is clearly marked.  If you don't have time to walk, this is definitely the way to go.  Hop on the RER from either of the two international airports serving Paris and you'll be downtown in under an hour.

Paris is actually a surprisingly small city.  Yeah, sounds crazy to describe an urban area with 11 million people as small, but the downtown is easy walking (if a little confusing) and even to go from one end to the other would only be a matter of a few hours.  Like many major cities, at certain times of day it may even be faster to walk than to take a bus or drive a car in the core.

When it looked as though my luggage had been permanently lost, I gave some thought to just staying here for the next month.  I could live here, at least until my money ran out.  However, if God wills, I'll be leaving for Spain on Monday, arriving at my starting point Tuesday morning, and hopefully beginning the walking part of this pilgrimage on Wednesday morning.