The Pain in Spain stays mainly in the Legs on Day 4 of the Camino

It was pretty awesome last evening when the Monastery’s Abbot gave us the Pilgrim’s Blessing. As you look around and see your fellow pilgrims from all over the world, all here for their own personal reasons, but yet all here for a single common reason-a safe passage to Santiago. The eyes of each pilgrim tell a story, some with excruciating pain, some still with a smile of gratitude, some with tears as they get closer to their goal. It becomes a little overwhelming as we huddle, most of us strangers until a short time ago, but now bound by a commraderie of purpose. It gave us a new power for Day 4 that we all now needed.

We began our day under a steady rain which would continue on and off most of the day. The scenery is still uncompromisingly beautiful and stunning each day. The trail today was a design only the ancients could paint. We climbed pathways which were like mini waterfalls with stepping stones for each advancing step. There was a good share of rock and stone paths, but as the rain pelted down, it also became in places a trail of packed mush of red dirt and clay. The villages have weathered the pilgrims for centuries and the people still wave and say “hola” (hi) as the thousands pass by their humble abodes. The pilgrims all walk with a purpose, however not without a grimace now and then from the aches, and blisters, and sore backs from wearing their backpacks which have become just an extension of their bodies.

Did this day bring out all of iniquities of life itself, or did it manifest itself as the exact opposite? We all felt a sense of gratitude for this opportunity. I think all of us now realized a sense of oneness with those who traveled along side, as well as those who came before. It also made us realize how fortunate we are to be able to traverse such an ancient trail as this, and carry with us those deep innermost feelings of why we came. The Way now begins to break each of us down and a certain metamorphosis of new life begins.

After trekking 13 miles of every imaginable trail and following a deep descent down a winding roadway we came into the view of the Village of Portomarin, where one could see the 12th Century Church of San Juan which looked like a mighty fortress perched high above the river. It has stood guard over the River Mino for nine centuries. But as all days end we file in one at a time over the next thirty minutes or so and gather at the local watering hole for a job well done and enjoy that daily reward of a cerveza or a glass of vino.

We were then transferred to our accommodations in Lestedo near Palais de Rei where we were greeted by a beautiful edifice, which was in centuries past the domicile of the local priest. What a beautiful casa with wonderful hosts who fed us a sumptuous feast of many of the local delicacies including octopus, chicken, salad, bread, wine and of course dessert. The most popular always seems be the Tarte de Santiago dessert. At least our guide Jason seems to think so and even has his own rating system for this tasty little moist sin of Galicia.

Buen Camino for now…
Dave and Judy

Still Marching On

We are still marching on but with limited access. I hope to have the blog up and running again soon. All is well and we will walk into Santiago on Monday evening. I have more stories, if I can get than transferred over from Word. I am also computer challenged in this country...so bear with me.
Love you all
Dave and judy

Triacastela to Sarria or Day 3 of the Camino

Well boys and girls we are still marching on. We did about 19 km (11 miles) today and are still able to walk without too much pain and surprisingly, we have no blisters yet-yea!Today we felt that this was our critical pain evaluation day. If we were going to feel bad it would be today. A few of our fellow travelers have managed to get those nasty blisters, sore knees, shint splints, and some back aches. I knew this was a manifestation day for pain. They were all troopers however and made it back in one piece, albeit a little sore. This morning we were transferred back to Triacastela to begin where we left off yesterday afternoon. The handiest thing... having a van follow you from time to time, check on you, bring you extra water, let you drop off things, pick up things, or just be able sit in the van for a couple of minutes during our twice a day check points with our fearless leaders-Alex and Jason. We are blessed to have two of the most talented, fun, laid back, and all around fun guides to have lead you through this unknown maze of an ancient pathway which lies directly under the Milky Way Galaxy. I know I am folowing in the same steps as Charlemagne, Chaucer, Queen Isabella, King Ferdinand, The Templar Knights, and even Shirley MacLaine. She was the original catalyst for bringing us to this sacred trail through her book "The Camino". We just opted for a little easier way of doing it. I call it the "Country Club Camino", but still not a walk in the park either. We truly are having a wonderful experience. Today was just magnificent with blue skies, a nice breeze, 60 deree temperature, and best of all no rain. We did get to walk today through a scenic, yet treacherous at times pathway which meandered through creek beds and small villages. Todays path had a split that you could take in two different ways. One took you through San Xil where the views were spectacular, while the other trail passed by the ancient monastery of Samos along the river valley. We opted for the first one because of the beauty of the walk and its diversity of the different trails. So as a special gift, our guides are taking us back to Samos this evening with the van where we will tour this ancient edifice, stay for Vespers with the Monks, and then be with them as they say the evenng Mass. If you have never heard monks chant the vespers, it is definitely a very awesome and inspiring experience. Following our monastery tour and vespers we will be breaking bread with our fellow travelers. This will involve again a culinary experience that has been worth the trip in itself. The Spanish wines are also a delicacy with no hangovers following the next morning. Tomorrow we begin our longest day where we travel from Sarria to Lestedo which covers 22 km (13 miles). This day we will cross the 100 km marker which is the official milestone where all pilgrims must now walk from, to receive the official "Compostela" from the Cathedral in Santiago. At this point, I will crawl across the finish line in the town square if I have to. In commeration of our walk, and because of our earlier trials, I will be wearing my official "red shirt" into Santiago. I rewashed it again last night, and will retire it until our triumphant walk into this great city. Again, we love you all for joining us on our journey. Please feel free to add your comments on our blog, if you feel so inclined. Judy's painted toes with the scallop shell on them is now officially on the tour's website picture page under "toe-tally Camino". So we now have that going for us! Take much care and Buen Camino. Dave and Judy

O Cebreiro to Triacastela

We leave our history book hamlet, but not before we buy a couple of walking sticks. After the first day of fighting the slippery rocks, I decided that before we break our necks, legs or arms, we best follow the lead of the seasoned peregrinos (pilgrims) and look like we know what we are doing. So today we will see what 20 km (12 miles) feels like. The day is promising and appears we may get no rain, a nice breeze, and a few peaks of the sun. We ended up getting all that was promised, along with view of hills and valleys that were taken from an Ireland travel brochure. We walked through several small villages that appeared almost deserted, but always coming upon a place for pilgrims to get a drink, a snack, a cold pop, or even an ice cold beer. I figured I better stay with the water until at least lunch, or better yet maybe at the end of the days hike...NOT... the beer at lunch was superb, ice cold, and did hit the spot. Lunch was a picnic prepared by Jason who is one of our guides. A culinary wizard who makes soups and salads which are of Spanish origin and ones that force you to a second helping. Did I tell you that the local cheeses are also a work of art and are served with every meal of the day. The luggage has still not arrived, but with fingers crossed, our hope is that when we arrive tonight in Sarria that we will welcome these 2 gorgeous bags. My red shirt now has made it 4 days, complete with an evening hand wash in the shower. I have begun not to really care if it makes it or not, and besides our group would not recognize me now if I was dressed any differently. I guess all of our pre-Camino walks have paid off. The fact that we started to get ready for this adventure a couple of months ago has sure kept things manageable. So far we have no blisters, which is good since all of our band-aids, moleskin, and blister kits are in the suitcase. The temperature today reached about 60 degrees, so what a day! The pilgrims this year will most likely set a new record for numbers. The estimates are from 250-500,000 people will walk this route that began over a thousand years ago. I forgot to tell you that as we pass through all of these small villages we have our "Pilgrims Passport" stamped at the refugios, bars, restaurants, and churches in order to prove to the good people in Santiago that we did indeed accomplish this feat. The requirements are that one must get 2-3 stamps a day and walk the last 100 km. We will be walking 160 km, so we will more than qualify. We then get an "Official Compostela" from the Cathedral in Santiago with our names officially inscribed in Latin attesting to our feat. We arrived in Triacastela around 4:30 this afternoon. We all stopped at the Rio Bar for a cold beer and a well deserved rest before heading to our hotel in Sarria. We will use this hotel for two nights and then be transferred back tomorrow to begin where we left off. It is nice having our support van and being able to stay 2 nights without repacking all of our gear. We were welcomed at the hotel with news that the bags have indeed arrived. We can't wait to put on some clean clothes and not be forced to wash what we wear each day. You know it's just the little things that make you happy....Hooray!!! Tomorrow we will do about 18 km (11 miles) or so and then this will tell us who is tough and who is not. I just hope I am not the one who breaks down and has to ride in the short bus. Having a great time...Buen Camino and Buenos Noches for now. Dave and Judy

First day on the Camino-On to O Cebreiro

Well, we officially started our walk on the Camino. We began on a somewhat short but very steep uphill climb which was to just get our legs stretched and tuned up and to see if our hearts could handle altitude, loose rocks, mud, and rain. I found very quickly that when going up a 35-40 degree incline over rocky terrain that talking is bascially not on the agenda. Breathing is! I kept hoping that all 100 miles wasn't going to be like todays afternoon walk. Are you kidding me?

The sun kept peeking out, then rain, then of course a rainbow. I said this must be our sign that this was going to be OK, and that maybe this was all meant to be. Oh, I forgot to mention that horses also use this same trail and they also make quite a mess when you are only working with a 4-6 foot path. So, again 100 miles of this? We will see.

Our objective this day was to reach the hamlet of O Cebreiro that was situated at the top of this rocky pathway. How completely awesome was this tiny village! It had probably been around since the Crusades or even earlier. I believe the buildings, shops, hostels, church, and our little bungalow that we would stay in over night was right out of a history book. At least the interiors have been updated to modern standards but you felt you were transported to another era in time. Folklore, also has it that the Knights Templar had hidden the Holy Grail here in this hamlet.

A very unique Eucharist Miracle also took place here in 1300. The story goes that the village priest, who had some doubts about the True Presence, was about saying the Mass during an incredible snow storm. As the priest began the Consecration, a pilgrim burst in and was immediately chastised by the priest reasoning that his only reason for coming, was to receive a small bit of wine and a piece of bread. At this particular moment the bread and wine was transformed completely in the chalice to the true body and blood of Christ. This is still preserved today and was placed in a jeweled chalice, that was provided by Queen Isabella of Spain upon her arrival in O Cebreiro during her pilgrimage while walking the Camino de Santiago.

So even though our first official day was short on the trail, the history of this place was well worth the stop. It definitely cast some kind of spell on you and started preparing you for the following days journey when we would travel to Tricastela and then on to Sarria to stay overnight.

We still have no luggage, but still keeping our spirits up, laughing at our dilemma, and eating incredible home cooked meals. We will probably weigh more when we arrive in Santiago than when we started.
Buen Camino

The Camino Will Provide

It's now Saturday night in Leon. To reflect on the day we had a beautiful morning with bright sunshine, along with rain and hail in the afternoon. We also found out that our luggage is still in Madrid...they think...and since there are no flights to Leon from Madrid on Saturday, and why would there be, and the next and only flight will be on Sunday at 9:35 PM arriving in Leon at 10:30. Great, but we leave hiking for O'Cebrerio at 2:30 PM...darn just going to miss again. So hopefully Monday while we hike to Sarria (12 miles), we might have some clean clothes when we arrive in the late afternoon. But not going to count on that...duh!

So, breaking out the Viza card, we bought Judy some new boots and a sweatshirt, you know this boot thing is getting expensive, as we both brought 2 pairs each, and of course they're packed with the luggage. I fortunately have one pair that I wore from Turin, so saved 150.00 by only having to buy one pair. Had to get a new T-shirt, as my current and only shirt is starting to stand up by itself. Our room currently looks like a Chinese Laundry. At least there are radiators to hang your clothes on to dry. (Hi- Joe Joe)

Oh, we tried the restaurant thing again today, but in Spanish. You think you know a few words until they talk to you at warp speed. Well, it's back to pointing and grunting. The best Spanish phrase is "Dos Cerveza" which is 2 beers, and I know them proficiently now. By the way they are served very cold here, but only 10 oz size, but very tasty (Hello to my G-Dockers-you would be proud).
So we are now having lots of fun. I think that is what the brochure said. Another big buy today was a can of deordant. I may be going on the trail, but I have to be able to stand myself.

We hope tomorrow is brighter, but definitely getting the comic relief I promised to ourselves and hoping you are laughing along with us. We hope tomorrow we have some pictures to post and some good news from the trail. So Buen Camino for now.
Dave and Judy

Leon Spain or Bust

We hope you are enjoying our blog posts as we move into position to begin our walk. They say walking the Camino takes you back to a new beginning with a new mind set of what is really important in life. A gradual cleaning of the clutter in the system is good from time to time...but...we seem to be given new challenges at each tick of the clock.

1. It appeared we were the only Americans in Turin and that Italian would have been a good second language, as no one seems to understand English in this city of 800,000 people...who would have thought.

2. It took 4 restaurants to finally understand we just wanted to sit and have lunch and grunting and pointing did not accomplish our desired results, but nonetheless we did find some pasta and a cold beer (Hi Brian and Frank) in our final attempt at some nourishment.

3. Landing back in Madrid before our flight to Leon with only 5 minutes to spare was cutting it close, but hey we made it.

4. Opps...the luggage seems to be in some unknown city and not with us. So this is what they call back to the basics. No clothes, tolietries, hiking boots etc. So this is how the original pilgrims did this...huh? This could be roughing it, but we have the official "plastic", so may have to start again with replenishing the supplies.

5. Volcano of the century blanketing Europe with ash...so we may have a new home following our trek or we may have to take a boat back to America. I always did like a challenge in my travels.

6. They say 60% chance of rain the next six days...what's a little water for a thirsty pilgrim...are you kidding me??? Oh yeah no boots, only sandals...the Franciscan life may become our way of life too. God will provide-right?

7. But wow...Leon is a very cool city and we still have about 30 hours for the luggage to arrive...so faith becomes the key word here.

Hang in there with us...we will be strong...sniff sniff.

Dave and Judy

P.S. Judy just lost one of her contact lens...it keeps getting better