Camino Day Twenty Four

Thursday, June 14, 2012
Trabadelo to Fonfria
30.4 km (20.8 miles)

morning photo in Trabadelo

The person on the left side of the picture is an old lady who was practically marching down the road! Then there are some other pilgrims on the right side of the picture, dressed in walking attire, while the Spanish lady was wearing a skirt and blouse.

From my journal: Today was another long day, mileage-wise. I was not happy today. It started when we were about to leave the bar where we ate lunch. Bridget mentioned a 2.5 [km] climb up still & I thought we were already at the highest point of the day. It was true, Bridget was right--which also meant that we had 14.5 km to go instead of 12.5. Ugh.

From my journal: We did have incredible views today. We started out in a valley--sort of like the hollars at home--then began to climb through a forest, which was nice. Very AT-like. Even though we still had to ascend after lunch, we had an amazing view to the other side once we peaked the mountain. 

We are at ~1,200 meters (over 3,900 feet) above sea level here. We are leaving the region of Castilla y Leon and about to enter Galicia.

a distance marker, which reads K151,5 (151.5 km or ~94 miles to Santiago!)

This sign indicated that the CNO STGO was to the right. For those of you who are as bright as my husband, I'm sorry to explain it. For those of you who are dim as I am, "CNO STGO" is the Camino de Santiago.

Someone had "vandalized" this camino sign and drawn angel wings on the image of the peregrino. I was grumpy and drinking a beer and thought it was appropriate to get a picture of feisty me next to the angelic sign.

not an uncommon view for us

Monumento do Peregrino

near Alto San Roque

My "bad day" continued with me getting frustrated with the guy who ran the albergue where we ended up for the night. He insisted it would be too confusing for the cook to make me a meal (off their menu, I want to add) instead of me ordering the pilgrim's meal. Then they wanted to charge Adam for wifi, which was not really standard practice in albergues, so that was also frustrating. We were both annoyed with that albergue.

I took a nap, and Adam went to the other place in town to figure out our supper. It is a casa rural, and is more like a bed and breakfast, I think (private rooms, more expensive, etc.) The woman who ran Casa Nunez treated us like royalty. (Or, the way Americans are used to being treated in most establishments, which = the customer is always right. What can I say? We are spoiled. Anyway....) We had a wonderful meal at Casa Nunez. Mine consisted of the following:

First course: a salad of fresh tomatoes, onions, olives, and goat cheese

Second course: two fried eggs over easy, fries, two roasted red peppers (pimientos), and a large slice of hard cheese

Dessert: tarta de Santiago (a dense almond cake), but I was also offered cheese with honey as an alternative

From my journal: I told Adam that if I wasn't vegan I would have thought I had died and gone to heave with all the cheese she put before me tonight :)

We were the only customers eating there, so Adam asked the matron to switch the channel from a telenovela (soap opera) to the football/soccer game. They were communicating in Spanish, and at some point she said, "Soup? You want soup? We have lots of kinds of soup..." Poor Adam just wanted to watch the Euro Cup. He started to make signs with his fingers like a person running, then he raised his arms above his head and called out, "GOAL!" She got it then and changed the channel for us.

So the night ended well, but I did mention in my journal that I couldn't wait to "scoot out of this town!"

Camino Day Fifteen

Tuesday, June 5, 2012

Carrion to Moratinos

30 km (18.6 miles)

Morning picture Day 15

Rachel and Adam on the meseta. We passed the time by playing Would You Rather Camino Version. An example of one the questions I was asked: Would you rather eat cold chickpeas out of the jar every meal or ice cream every meal for a week? This was actually hard for me to answer--ice cream just doesn't do it for me like it used to, and I've been craving things like chickpeas, beans, lentils, etc. An example of one of Adam's questions to answer: Would you rather get to an albergue and only have a bucket of yogurt to eat or only have a bucket of every one else's leftover apple cores to eat? Even though he doesn't like yogurt very much, he chose that. 

stopping to sit/rest/play

From my journal: It feels surreal here at this albergue (San Bruno). It is a nice albergue (and new), as they go, with chaise lounges and a small pool to dip your feet in. Hot (enough) showers. But we are in a town of 20 people--the church seems to be falling apart, we saw not a soul as we walked through the streets to get here--we were even the first people to arrive, just after 2.

The walk was not especially inspiring today. We did meet a Belgian man who started walking in Belgium and is headed to Santiago--he has been hiking 8 weeks, which he has marked in notches on his wooden walking staff. 

I am bored here. Most definitely because there is not a group of people we know around us. Also because I do not have a book, and I don't want to spend hours and hours on the iPod. Also because there is no market in town, so we are not filling some time with that or preparing food. I miss being able to cook my own meals. 

Camino Day Six

Monday, May 28, 2012

Estella to Los Arcos

21.1 km (13. 1 miles)

Morning photo--the three amigos!

Irache monastery

(another example of Adam's eye for capturing an image so well!)

At the (free!) wine fountain!

Alas, the fountain was not yet turned on for the day.

From my journal: We keep running into the Brazilian guys who we first met in Pamplona (at the bus station, before officially beginning our camino). We each greet each other, maybe exchange a few words in our limited Portuguese and Spanish, then smile, acknowledging we don't really know how else to bridge the communication gap.

Also one of Adam's Amazing Photos

The guidebook claimed that there was a potable fountain here, but when we looked in through those arches and down the stone steps, we saw a dark pool of stagnant water. No thanks.

From my journal: The camino went through a lot of vineyards and hay and wheat fields. In between two newly mown hayfields, I took a deep breath and the air smelled so sweet. Like candy.

This is the way. 

We spent our last evening with John in Los Arcos. After going into this amazing and beautiful church, we went out for dinner and got the pilgrim's meal at the Hotel Monaco. Although my meal was subpar, John and Adam enjoyed their meals. And of course we had good bread, wine, and dessert so we ended up having a great last meal together.