7-25-10 Villafria to Rabe de las Calzadas day 112

7-25-10 Villafria to Rabe de las Calzadas day 112
(holiday is Santiago day, middle of day stopped in Burgos)
I wake before 7.. I have breakfast in hotel.. again down at the bar...lots of little saucers are lined up with spoons, and requisite packaged sugar squares, waiting for the customers to come by and order their drinks.. typical in Spain ..a really nice older man is behind the counter, he seems to speak to different customers in their various languages.. and just makes you feel special when it's your turn.. I like to document when people go out of their way to be nice.. because when one travel it's not always something one can count on..especially if your a lower budget traveler.. .. ..the fist 8kms where on cement side walk..first its through industrial section of Burgos.. then it switched to residential..it was dull and long, and do I have to mention I was foot sore? ..I dont remember ever looking at my watch so frequently as this day.. as if knowing that time is going by, really help things go faster.......I stop and have more coffee to break up the monotony..... I try egg potato omelet thing again, even though it's what I had blamed for my stomach problems a few days ago..which have not gone away yet.... ...then I enter Burgos proper...I went into church at 9.30..it was in the middle of service..i decide to stay at least till wafers part.. (I believe it's called communion).. priest was young and soft voiced and passionate.. .. of course, I dont understand anything but he mentions Santiago and pilgrimage a few time... I get all teared up... my feelings are a mixture of being a bit deflated but also encouraged to complete the walk, contradictions I know..... then i walked more into town... came to big cathedral..I recognized other pilgrims from various stages i'd met, in Spain... including the young french couple from yesterday..last night they walked all the way into town..so they had a 50km day! They did find a camping ground, eventually, in the city. Then I checked out the cathedral it was more like a museum..beautiful grand..but almost too much, to absorb... I checked out the ceilings... love the mandala like carvings...

at noon there would be a great service and pilgrims got special scarves and entry...i would miss this..but pilgrims who attended would proudly wear these scarves for the rest of the camino... I wanted to move on and I was not in mood for crowds with my uncertain emotions today........then I continued walking out of town.. feet burn from too much asphalt... took breaks just for my feet....on leaving Burgos I heard ringing bells of church... for this special day, I believe Santiago day is one of the more important catholic holidays in spain... I felt moved by hearing them.. reminding me of a sense of purpose of pilgrimage..... then I meet up with french couple again... she had been in australia one year and learned english. He struggles with english and does not speak.. she finds out I have done meditation retreat and tells me about her experience ...she'd done ten-day goenka meditation twice in two months periods. Sounds like she takes to meditation quite easily.. she says she has a lot of nerves and a bad temper..her boyfriend, friends and family suffer...in fact, yesterday morning when I had saw her for the first time whip past me she had been angry...and somehow had managed to walk 20kms in three hours.... they want to live in canada for one year... picking fruit and other odd jobs... midday I stop at cafe... they keep going...from Burgos to Tardajos is 11kms.there was a group of special people who were doing a one day pilgrimage, they all had matching t-shirts and support volunteers to walk with them... it was very sweet to see them all..and impressive they would walk so much for one day hike.. they got picked up by giant bus......the landscape today while walking was a bit dull.....For me the final bit, was only two kms to Rabe de las Calzadas. I had pick of two auberges.. picked the first one.. lady there was a bit odd acting.. .as if she was of noble birth or some such...but she was also nice. Her house was dedicated to pilgrimage..there as the room in which she received you and registered you..it was square floor plan...with high ceiling almost like a tower... the walls were decorated with pilgrim related images and all her certificates from walking the camino over ten times..she got mentioned in the book 'the way' by an american author. It was her first pilgrimage she was 25 at the time. I got a special commemorative stamp... then I did shower and laundry.... eventually I meet Ed he is from the philipines originally... he now has new zealand citizenship and has a green card for america, where he has bee living for a number of years now.. he is a school teacher in LA. He is not crazy about america, but finds he is now of that age were here needs to call some place home... I take a latish nap..... My broken computer bums me out a bit.... I take a quick walk around the tiny town, and find Edwin behind the closed church, we chat a bit more... he has come to europe a few times, mostly to catholic holy places like Lourdes and Rome..i whine to him about my computer … this italian high energy man joins us..I had met him earlier..who knew french couple .... He seems to be able to talk in many languages.. he's a bit odd but has a good sense of humor especially about himself..he had shown us photos of his giant blood blisters o his foot with pride... we pilgrims are so damn proud of our battle scares... ..... dinner is lentil beans stew and salad.. I am pleased, because beans are missing in my diet, being a vegetarian on the spanish camino is rather limiting...she gave us this cutesy Saint Jaque ceramic figure.. I thought it a bit impractical for a pilgrim to lug around a piece of ceramic..but I accept it.. (later I would it sneak it on the shelves of my friend's family home in Hourge, France, which means I did lug it the whole rest of the camino) She talked about americans that came through this year..perhaps she thought it would be interesting to us to here about our fellow american pilgrims? Many seemed to be from texas...she seemed to have a fondness for one very old lady in her 90's who was walking the camino, she used a car service that would bring her luggage from place to place.... There was one woman traveling with a full size harp of all things..she had it in a little trailer she was pulling and gave concerts in the local churches as she came through... Our hostess bitched about the shirley mcclain book from the 80's about walking the Camino..and called her a sex addict and lair.. she claimed to have had sex with spanish men that our hostess knew and she was sure these men would not have slept with her... also apparently Shirley was concerned about the press bugging her too much so she wore a she used a car service that would bring her luggage from place to place.... There was one woman traveling with a full size harp of all things..she had it in a little trailer she was pulling and gave concerts in the local churches as she came through... Our hostess bitched about the shirley mcclain book from the 80's about walking the Camino..and called her a sex addict and lair.. she claimed to have had sex with spanish men that our hostess knew and she was sure these men would not have slept with her... also apparently Shirley was concerned about the press bugging her too much so she wore a giant too obvious sombrero to 'hide' herself... Our hostess also did not like Tom Cruise, and Mrs Obama..... Ed the school teacher, talks about trying to teach kids who's parents dont support their academics and how the kids therefore have no interest in school...a lot of these kids who dont speak english, he speaks a fair bit of spanish, in part he says of the history between Spain and the Philippines... In America, he said they are talking about amnesty for illegals that are currently there, giving them all citizenship... apparently this was done before with one of the Bush's? Anyway, he is against it... he had to struggle to jump through the proper hoops to get his green cards etc... and he does not see why those people breaking the rules should have an easier time of it... it's a sensitive subject, and he shares a view I have heard from other legal immigrants to america.... since I have not faced this problem I just listen and try to understand things from his perspective....i go to bed kind of late this evening..

7-24-10 Espinosa del Camino to Villafria day 111

7-24-10 Espinosa del Camino to Villafria day 111
We were woken up around six, by a piped in music, some opera piece that sounded like marching music, and then some new age stuff like the song 'dont give up hope'... it was hilarious... and the most original way I had been woken up on the whole trip... we had our included breakfast... and our host would explain again about the terrible lines awaiting us as we got closer to Santiago ...rows of back packs lined up by two pm at Auberges, belonging to people hoping to get a bed...i get worried for about a minute, but then realize I can only worry about one day ahead of me, if that... not some event that might or might not happen a few weeks from now.. the Camino robs you of excessive 'worry' energy which is an awesome relief for me.. I have learned already lots of things 'not to worry about' on the Camino, and that includes lodging...
....the first few hours I walk alone in the fog, a very fast young woman whips past me with large pack, she surprised me since her speed really was above average... a short while later a young man passes not quite as fast, similar pack... somehow I speculate about them possibly being together.. but perhaps they had a spat? ...stories one fabricates on the flimsiest of evidence..... The first village came fast, which always cheers me up....The morning is cool bordering on cold actually.. I finally put on my hoody, this has happened seldom of late ... I meet up with handsome boy from last night, he speaks of woman problems. Passionate relationships and break ups... one brings him to the brink of break down... it sounds like woman love him too easily and too much and vise-versa... he spoke of a time in his life, when he was still quite young and single for a longer period of time... during that time he did a lot of introspection and spending time alone and in nature... he said it was the most peaceful time of his life...some how he wants to return to such a space, therefore, he is interested in things like meditation and spiritual searches in Asia and India..... we meet up with the other two, for coffee and in San Juan de Ortega.. this other young german guy that I now had met a few times, joins us as well....he was walking with worse leg pain than the last time we met and he was having doubts about being able to complete the Camino.....(so at this point, I will assign everyone the usual initials since I keep running into them and I dont like using names... the hurt leg German guy is S, the long haired lover of women is H, the guy from Frankfurt is F, and the Swiss woman is M, there will be a quiz later!)

The swiss woman M was also limping a bit, something like bad chin splints... H was dealing with blisters... only F, the cocky one, was of course pain free... and busily boasting of his sensible 5 kg bag.. he was however walking slowly to keep the others company.... I joke that I finally found a group I can walk with....the injured and the weak! Still on break M who is actually a nurse offers up ibuprofen to S, he is reluctant to take it because in general he does not want to take pills.. F also offers up his extras... it's like drug dealers! Eventually he takes them reluctantly and tries one... later, he would report that it was much easier to walk again......
On todays walk, I would start seeing again pilgrims that I first met in Puenta la Reina, most of them where Spanish or Italian...in a way I was surprised since I had not seen them in so many days and now I would see so many all at once... everyone seems to have stepped off the main stages or Etapes... I walk with our little German speaking group till a town named Ages...Here F, H and M step off. It is a pretty place to stop with choice of nice places to stay and eat.. at this point though I want to walk a minimum of 25kms a day.. I now had myself on a schedule... in part to make a birthday party back in France by the 20th of August.... S also wanted to continue on... so we grab a sandwich at this one place.. although it seems to take ages to get our order... the man making the sandwich for me seemed to be on his first day...or else his wife usually did it...but it tasted good and in Spain things do take their own time... I talk with S about reasons we are doing this walk... of course we complain about the unreliability of our very human bodies and the difficulties we've had... but also go further... His initial motivation to walk the Camino, was to have cheap holiday with a bit of hiking and being out in nature..but he realizes too that he is on spiritual search. He is not drawn to any formal religion and has not done a lot of research but it sounds like he is beginning to formulate his own philosophy...

I am walking okay but the walking day does feel a bit long.... finally in Cardenuela we try to stop and find the Auberge..it is not clear where, so we go to the open bar and ask... the man behind the bar seems busy with boxes.. but I try to speak with him...this woman starts talking at us...but I have problems understanding her and am not sure she even works there... I think I hear Cervesa, and think she is trying to sell us beer...she keeps repeating the same word in a hiss.... finally I understand her she is saying the word Credential over and over again.. I try to cut in but she does not stop... I look at my friend to see if he is thinking this is as weird as I am..he too looks disturbed... she really does not stop and she is hissing the word over and over... ...i had pulled out my credentials mostly to make her stop hissing at us... she asks in good english finally 'what do you call?' these pointing accusingly at my credentials... I say the word...and then try to ask her about lodging, though I have lost my taste for it... she is not responding to my question.. my friend encourages us to leave.... I grab my credentials say 'loco' and leave.. I hear her cackling a bit as we do.... we are both a bit shaken by this unexpected unfriendly weirdness and 'process' together... we start referring to her as the snake woman...we joke about it but we are also disturbed by the incident...we try our luck in the next town...but there is also nothing...it's like we just had a hex put on us,by this lady.. ... We meet a young french couple, the same two that had whipped past me in the early hours of fog... I start chatting them up mostly in hopes of finding out lodging information... between the four of us we have three different guides and each one has different information...they are not looking for a place to stay because they are doing the whole Camino camping but they are also not having any luck finding food for the night..... in next town, again no Auberege.. finally we arrive at a pre-town to Burgos, Villafria, this little booklet I have says there is overnight places but it is not an Auberge but a Hostel which here is a cheap hotel.. my german friend ends up deciding to grab a bus for the last 8kms into Burgos, because he's exhausted and with leg pain... we had walked 32kms today.... the french couple is also here, while we are getting information, they are in the same bar buying three ice-creams in a row that they eat for dinner, later I saw them hosing themselves off at a near by fountain...presumably to go find camping along the way... Perhaps it was the weird change of mood from the snake lady incident... or walking too much ..but I seemed to suddenly find it hard to make my own decisions.. I really did not want to use any more transportation on the Camino unless my body forced me to... so in the end I tried to chance it on the Hostel hoping it would not be too expensive... I said good bye to S and found the room...it was only 20euro which seemed like a good price for my own room, with tv and clean sheets... I found out almost immediately that my little lap top had stopped working... it had been giving me probs opening up for the last few days...but now it would not open up at all anymore... I tried not to be glum about it...but I had become very very dependent on it... but also I tried to practice non attachment as much as I could... and hoping that maybe in the next days the conditions would change...but I also thought half jokingly it was all part of the hex... I showered and went to check out the bar restaurant downstairs … it was not open for dinner yet but I could have tapas.... so I had some potato fried thing... and a consolatory beer... a nice big one... just as I was taking a swig off my frosty big beer... I noticed a dead fly floating on top... Yup, very funny...... over all the day had been good, my body was doing okay for the long walk, i'd gotten a cheap single room, and taking a break from the dorms is always nice...but I also felt kind of raw and vulnerable... and fretted a little about all the data I might have lost on the lap like two months worth of journal and photos...but sleep came to the rescue

7-23-10 Grannon to Espinosa del Camino day 110

7-23-10 Grannon to Espinosa del Camino day 110

Walking is not quite as easy as in the past days.. even though I always experience some pain by the second half of the walk.. but today it just requires more effort to walk..... yet being able to walk for two hours without break is still possible and relatively new...As I am walking during sunrise.. I meet bicycle man he is sixty eight, and from Germany, he quickly tells me his life story. He had had a carrier as a horse breeder and trainer. I think it was for racing....he became a wealthy businessman ..a few years back, he got diagnosed with prostrate issues, high blood pressure...and later, brain aneurysm was discovered....This changed his life around..for one, he became vegetarian... some ancient corn diet and chestnut flour were a few of the ingredients he mentioned... it seems that he had medical intervention for his ailments but then switched to natural healing processes. And as is not unusual in his stories, his doctors had warned him of a life time of health problems... yet somehow through his life style changes that also included his point of view on life, he was able to go off all the medications he was on, and return to a healthy constitution without them.. he said he was not doing the Camino for a spiritual quest, he felt he was doing it as a symbolic and physical triumph over unlikely odds. He was suppose to be dead now or seriously ill, instead he was biking 80kms a day...and feeling great. As far as his previous carrier, he says he can't do it any more.. he feels there is so much cruelty to the animals that he cant bear it anymore since he now has too much empathy for them. He says he used to love to ride and even hunt, now he can not even sit on top of a horse anymore... he also said the business involved a lot of 'fronting' and doing things for appearances sake. Like having a giant house, and fancy cars in the driveway to impress business associates... also it was a cut throat business where honesty was often not possible... He now wants to write book, about his experience and share what he has learned about taking care of his health and getting positive messages out about being vegetarian... the way he talked it sounded like another business venture but clearly he was motivated by the need to help others avoid the pitfalls he had fallen into....He thinks we can turn world around very fast if we stopped trying to produce cheap meat..the talked about torturing, raping and killing animals.. I did not get the rape bit for a while, since I thought of bestiality and did not think it was what he meant... instead.. I think he means the modern means of animal husbandry...forcing artificial insemination etc..He wants to live to be a hundred...he had met a Swiss man, also on the Camino, who thinks like him, but was further on in this healing path...the Swiss man had talked to him about energetic expressions of the planet..its the planet's signaling that we've gone too far...the oil spill in the gulf of Mexico is such an energetic expression..(energetic expression is the closest I can come up with since he was talking to me in German, and I did not quite now how to translate that idea)..... I have definitely met people who had had life changing illnesses, but when their lives stabilized and they were in the 'clear' not everyone seemed to hang on to their new found resolutions ... he seemed to have had a full conversion of view. After half hour or so of walking and talking, he got on his bike and we said our farewells...

I then walked by myself for the rest of day.. The villages were close together today, but I did not stop really till noonish for overpriced cheese bread and coffee.. My stomach was still bugging from the day before.. I took yogurt pills.. the afternoon walk was harder...feet hurt more. ...especially the left heel ..and again more of the dreaded tarmac walking ... This young German couple passed me, they were deep in conversation, we would not connect... but later we would meet at the same Auberge and become friendly, ironic since i had thought they were a bit snotty at first only to have view thrown out a few hours later.......

In all, I walked 24kms this day, found the Auberge listed in my book. Outside, it was plain..inside charming.. The old man running the place had santa claus like energy, radiating trust and sweetness. The place was lovely..and I would have my own room! Three Germanics show up ( I say this since they all spoke German but I was not sure of their actual nationality), two i recognize as the couple from earlier... I shower and do laundry before they arrive...then a nice siesta again till four, perhaps this being my favorite part of pilgrimage... then I sat around in post-nap grog playing on my laptop...the dinner was included and communal. The man had made special veggie dish for me.. it was veggie paella with a salad containing tuna for starters (tuna here is considered vegetarian). He was concerned that i liked it, so I made sure to let him know that it all tasted delicious, because it did...
..The three others were two German men and a Swiss woman, they were thirty and younger... The Swiss woman understood some Spanish (self taught) so she is able to translate the stories our host is telling us.. He warns us of crowded conditions in last 100kms of the Camino. I get asked about my long pilgrimage and one of the men is curious about meditation and retreat places.....One of the guys seems like a scholar, he is both a bit of a wise ass but also takes his catholic faith more serious than most. He is also from Frankfurt region and we joked about that communality... We were then lead to the small study, which was also a type of museum, it housed various collections such as toy knights, and other knight related regalia like swords, also a spoon and thimble collections, it was surprisingly not tacky looking... here we chatted more.. including about buddhism and catholicism ... and that people needing to break the rules of the church since it was too authoritarian... it also turns out that none of them were a couple, like I had previously thought. The young man from Frankfurt and the Swiss woman had only known each other over a week, but they a rapport with each other, was as if they had known each other for years.. We would later make speculations on the condensed life span of the Camino, one week on the Camino was like a few years in normal life, when it came to things like human connections or even wear and tear on body.... I did not know what to make of the young man from Frankfurt at first, he would say incendiary things just to get a rise, he was cocky but also he had a kind heart and an earnest interesting in connecting with others ... I probably would not have end up in long conversations with some one like him in ordinary life... and as I would get to know him, I realized I would have missed out..
Then at our host's suggestion we go drink two rojo's at the bar near the Auberge, it is some sweetish herbal liquor... it helps lubricate conversation some more. The other young man with the longer hair and handsome prince Valiant look does not talk as much this eve, but I would get to know him the next day..... I go to bed latish..but relish my single room!...

7-22-10 Najera to Granon day 109
Dorm room noise gets me up at 5.12.. I try to get my pile of stuff out as quietly as possible since the American family next to me is still trying to sleep in.. I think they have just started walking.. I have instant coffee from the machine again...there was this Spanish pilgrim, who had gotten his little dog to be housed, inside the shoe room..the dog was whimpering and peeing on the floor, I'd seen a few others with dogs on the Camino, if this was an example, it seemed to be a stressful experience for the animal... I am one of the first peeps out the door..if not the fastest walker..yet no one passes me for a long long time... I don't quite get why peeps get up at 5 only to hang out for ever, a little gripe of mine..... Because it was over cast and the town itself ended quickly,it meant no street lights and no star light,.. I was walking in very dark conditions.....I did have a light buried in my bag but decided I would follow the on and off flickering of a flash light and two pilgrims in the distance before me... ..this was my only clue the first hour that I was on the right track..they were figuring out the arrows markings for me... the rocks under my feet, seemed to be almost a bit illuminated, but perhaps it was a trick of the eye in the pre-dawn..
It took over an hour for the light to start coming up... The landscape is flat...still dry and still farms..like wheat... I would see some sunflower patches, through out the day, as well...the first town was not for 6kms... I was eager for real coffee and some food... I found a place open, I had a tortilla which is basically an omelet with potatoes in it..... then another 9kms to another town, I repeated same food and drink... then another sixish kms to Santo Domingo.. on the way here I start having stomach probs... pains perhaps from eating more food than I had in two days.....

..In Santo Domingo de la Calzada, i stop at the beautiful church... and i stop in the open Auberge. its another large one... people, I now recognize, are streaming in for the day., this seems to be an important Camino destination....the people at the front desk are young international group of friendly woman .. they speak multiple languages and well...it seems like they really have taking hosting a pilgrim's auberge very seriously in this town.... after a rest, I decided that I felt good enough to walk more... and did another six kms..my feet were bugging a bit.. I ran into the young German man I had met before.. he is one of the fit and strong ones..but he now too has a sore or strained tendon.. he blamed it on too many kms per day, too soon into his pilgrimage... it seems we all have to go through these adjustments ... walking this much daily is not normal for most of us...and he actually jogs a lot in his daily life.. but he thinks walking pilgrimage is quite different on the body..much much harder...

The last bit of walking was on a gravelly road..which I just don't like, my shoe-soles were never very thick to begin with, but have gotten thinner over time, and I really can feel every rock I step on..... the walk itself is this weird continuation of pushing myself on... its not too hard or painful like in the past..but it is a weird urgent push... I arrive in Granon a very small town, around twoish...the Auberge is attached to the church, there is no charge, only donation, and full of warm friendly women volunteers.. meals are included here... I see lots of new faces..Perhaps it is because I have overshot the standard Camino-stage today, and am walking in between the major stopping points.....so now, I am walking with a different group... In this Auberge, the solution to cramming lots of peeps, is to have the bed mats right next to each other... the Camino is a great place to learn to let go of the sense of 'personal space'...sleeping very close to total strangers....it's not difficult to do, if your tired, and you are just grateful to have a dry safe place to sleep.. I shower, launder and nap, the usual essentials for me... it took a while longer to fall asleep but I do pass out for at least half hour... more people had showed up while I was asleep...again it would be full house... I would be sleeping next to two Italian woman to one side of me..so not total strangers, since, I have met three times already...they are friendly towards me... but we have no common language..I meet more peeps who marvel at my large pack... including a very nice French woman who has just finished the Camino is now here volunteering here...There are lots of young hippie types.. it's like I am on a different trip again ...there are a lot less Spanish people in this group, it seems to be more international........ In eve, we share a communal meal .. ..I felt little out of sync within this pilgrim group ... most seem to have just started and I have been on the road perhaps too long..i feel a bit flippant and the energy seems more somber..at least at first......i slacked in the corner of the common room while everyone else seemed to be helping out with food preparations. At dinner, our table was the last to become chatty... I started talking with a Spanish bicycle pilgrim and his wife.. they are only doing eleven days on the Camino they have short vacation. He is completely friendly and cheerful... he is a person I would not expect to get into conversation with ordinarily.. he is a business man who seems to really love his work... he has worked in the masonry stone business and has traveled all over the world to do business and find rare interesting samples for his trade.. .he absolutely loves traveling for work.. he told me of going to 25 cities in China in 30 days and of flying across the USA and back just for an hour and half business meeting in a single day...he said he was on a strict diet of salads and fruits during these times and absolutely no alcohol.. he said sometimes in Asia it is difficult to convince his host, he does not drink, since it is important for them to ply business guests with as much booze as possible... It sounded like he's seen the rise and fall of his fortunes and had always bounced back... not only was I surprised at how much I enjoyed his energy and enthusiasm, because I have stereo type in my mind that people like him would not really lead satisfying lives... I also thought people who are in his type of work, were doing it for the money, not because they actually really enjoyed it... but he really really did...
but it does sound like he had always given enough time to his family and to play so that he did know how to balance things out... he had lived in America a few years and thoroughly enjoyed that experience as well.. I think he just really get into the marrow of experience and enjoy what ever he is involved in... and his energy was contagious... The room, in general seemed to share positive energy, it was full of lively conversations.. after dinner there was a short communal prayer service in a side chapel, that included reading a section from bible story, I read a section in English for them and others read in French, Spanish and Italian.. we were sitting in candle light and people had an opportunity if they wanted to share any positive thoughts they had to add to the energy, in the language they felt most comfortable in... Afterward and before I had spoken to this French woman who had just completed the Camino and was volunteering there... she too was just beaming warm energy everywhere... she was also very intrigued by my extra long version of the Camino and what my experience had been like... so there were little love fest happening here between different peeps, or so it seemed... I would later hear of others that I would get to meet, also having had wonderful conversations and warm connections in this place.. It would stick out in our memories as one of the more special Auberge experiences on the Camino. not bad considering that I had felt not in sync or social when I first got there...