Who's Who (Part 1)

We have met a host of interesting people in our first eleven days on the camino. They include:

 Caroline, a Belgian woman who will interview for a job in forensics when she returns home. She speaks five languages.

 Frieda, a young german woman who walked the northern route of the camino in 2010 and will use her newly acquired bachelor's degree to work in set design.

 A Spanish woman from Burgos who puts on makeup in the aftrnoons and with whom I have only exchanged two words, after I introduced myself. She says to me,"Hola Raquel," and I answer,"Hola Carmen." Now she speaks to us in Spanish, but I understand about one word out of a dozen.

 Bridget, an Irish librarian who lives right next door to her place of employment--one of Ireland's two (I think) federal prisons.

 Mark, another Irish man, who is writing a book and has a foul mouth. Just like the guy in "The Way." 

A quartet of Italian men, all from different places and strangers when they began the camino. Two of them will go back to their jobs on Monday. Ricky's girlfriend will join him on the walk from Santiago to finisterra. Alessio walked the camino in 2010 and has cystic fibrosis. They really did sing a song for us at dinner last night, and it was eveything you could hope for, from four boisterous(when together) Italian men.

 Debbie, from Colorado, who decided to walk the way when her son turned sixteen and could transport himself in February. She wears almost all purple, down to her bandana and water bottles.

 Stay tuned Part 2. I haven't even mentioned most of the people we met on the very first day.

Jesus of the Caves

Friday (June 1st) we attended mass in a small church that was carved out of the side of a cliff. Inside, the building in general and the church itself look fairly typical, with plaster walls, wooden benches and kneelers, an altar, icons, paintings, etc. The back of the room, however , is exposed rock. It is a beautiful space. One of our fellow pilgrims, a Korean Catholic priest, conducted mass for us. It was different than any service I have attended. The priest spoke in Korean and would occasionally explain in English. Then of course there was Latin, and then a group of German women sang few songs in German. So first, you've got four languages. Then, the priest was using his iPhone as a reading guide. The service was still touching, but I think God's sense of humor was blatantly evident when the mass was almost over. We were sitting there quietly when the doors burst open and a man sprang through them. Now picture this man, tall and thin, with a gray ponytail and black eyebrows. He is wearing white biker shorts and has a huge camera around his neck. He flies into this holy space to, I assumed, get a glimpse of the ancient church while it was open, like any clever tourist would. It turned out that he is also a pilgrim, and he had rushed to join the service. But Adam and I had a good laugh that Jesus had come, and we better believe whether we recognized him or not.

Getting there...where?

When we first arrived at the Madrid airport, we didn't have our trekking poles, and we weren't sure where our friend John was. After locating the poles (they would arrive on the next flight, of course, because we missed a connection in London), we left the "secure" part of the airport...and located John! We all had a late lunch together, then decided to spend the night in Madrid instead of proceeding with our earlier plans. We took a bus into the city, found an inn with three single beds in one room, then went out to explore madrid a little bit. We had coffee in the Plaza Mayor, Adam and John got fried octopus sandwiches, we perused a gourmet market, and after showering and napping, we headed back out for more food and exploration. It took awhile to find a restaurant that offered some vegetarian options(my stipulation) and was outside(john's preference), but we did it! And the paella was great, the fries were tasty, and I couldn't pass up sangria in Spain. The next morning we took the metro back to the airport, sprinting to the bus counter to find that the bus would leave in an hour. The bus ride to Pamplona was nice, with each of us getting more nap time. The countryside was beautiful--greener than Madrid. From Pamplona we took a bus through the mountains to roncesvalles, where we hopped into a taxi van with 8 other people and went down the mountain to saint jean pied de port. Which is where we began our Camino. More on that later--we are going to see Pamplona as peregrinos!

Planning on Packing

First, what we are not packing

Tent

Sleeping pads

Sleeping bags

Cell phones

IPods, or iPad, or laptops

Rachel's Packing List

Clothes
1 dress* (black)
2 tops (one racer back*, one short-sleeved*)
1 pair of athletic shorts*
2 pairs of underwear*
1 sports bra*
2 pairs of socks* (Smart Wool brand)
1 pair of yoga pants*
1 pair of flip flops (black)
Hiking shoes (Keen Targhee II)
Light rain jacket (Sierra Design)
Jacket (insert of the Columbia Bugaboo parka)
Floppy, wide-brimmed hat from Target

*synthetic (vs. cotton)

Hygiene/ Toiletries/ Meds
Contacts (+ contact case and solution**)
Glasses (+ case)
Toothbrush and toothpaste**
Shampoo**
Body gel**
Loofah
Sunblock**
Body Glide
Chapstick
Toilet paper
Liquid detergent**
Hand sanitizer**
Ibuprofen
Anti-diarrhea pills
Allergy medication
A couple of hair bands and bobby pins
Bandaids/moleskin

**travel size

Food
Nalgene plastic water bottle
a couple of Clif Bars
drink packets (like Crystal Light)

Misc.
Backpack (Osprey 50L)
Backpack cover (Sea to Summit)
Silk sleeping bag liner
1 stuff sack
Headlamp
Earplugs
Sunglasses
1/2 a drying towel (Aqua Dry, for cars)
2 trekking poles
Paperback book
Journal (pen and pencil)
Camera (+ battery charger)
Some type of money belt (with i.d., passport, and money)

Adam's Packing List
Clothes
2 t-shirts*
1 button down shirt*
1 pair of zip-off pants
1 pair of shorts
3 pairs of socks
Crocs
Hiking shoes (Merrell Moab Ventilators)
Lightweight rain jacket
Straw hat
Bandanna

Hygiene/ Toiletries/ Meds
Loofah
1/2 a drying towel (Aqua Dry, for cars)
Toothbrush (+ toothpaste**)
Body gel**
Shampoo**
Sunblock
Body glide
Ibuprofen
Toilet paper
Bandaids/moleskin

Food
Emergency Clif bar
Drink packets

Misc. 
2 trekking poles
Headlamp
Watch
Sea-to-summit waterproof stuff sacks (1 for clothes, 1 for food, etc.)
Extra ziploc bags
Sunglasses
Earplugs
Silk sleep sack
Backpack cover
Backpack
Camino guidebook (John Brierly's A Guidebook to the Camino de Santiago)

And pebbles to place here!

Last ones for a bit

Chewbacca in his dwelling

I normally try to fix or take off sideways pictures, but I am running out of time and I wanted you to see this trail angels who gave us free waffles (with STRAWBERRIES AND WHIPPED CREAM!!), stew/chili, and amazing brownie sundaes....it was simply amazing!

Adam and Chewy at the spring

the spring where we got our water, Little Laurel Shelter

More Max Patch

snap and sunset

morning on the bald

morning at Max Patch

morning
(I took this one--gotta boast:)

Adam in tent in morning

Max Patch

sun rays at Max Patch

our friends hiking up Max Patch

more sun beams

setting up camp and having dinner

Snap (on ground), Snack (standing), and Enoch (sitting)

sunset