An end to a journey

Our final walk to the Atlantic

 

    Morgan and I have just finished walking the final stage of the Camino de Santiago. We made it all the way to Finisterre on the Atlantic Coast, and it was definitely worth the extra 4 days walk. We joke, and say that this is the best marriage counseling exercise that we could have ever done, and the perfect relationship builder. I can attest that there were ups and downs, smiles and frowns, but overall it was a wonderful experience that I know we are both glad we did. As we sat in a park in Santiago, a bird pooped on my head. Morgan told me that it was for good luck, but I think that she was just telling me that to be nice. It was a special ending to our Camino experience. So, I would like to share a few stories and observations from our month long walk.

    We became quite the dumpster divers on the Camino, but not in a bad way. It all started when I threw some trash away in one of the small towns along the way. I saw from a glance that someone had thrown away two perfectly good hiking poles from REI. I cleaned the ground beef off them, and they were like brand new. Then someone left a nice Zara sweater on a tree in the middle of the trail. We washed that, and Morgan has been wearing it ever since. Then, we found a brand new Nike headband that someone left on a rock.  Morgan is rocking that now.  Lastly, we found a men’s large Capilene base layer shirt for the taking. All of these items were properly washed of course, and are now a part of our attire. Some people’s trash are now our treasures, no shame, we live out of backpacks!

    One of the things we noticed is the lack of Americans hiking the Camino and people’s oblivion to wear Tennessee is located. They really have no idea where it is, and most people seem to only know where New York and LA lie. If they don’t understand where Tennessee is after our geographic explanation, we just give up and say “Jack Daniels.”  A smile comes to their face and we gain a new friend.

    On a side note, over the course of this trip, there is one thing that I have come to learn more and more about. I have learned that Morgan loves her sleep very much.  I have also learned that there is a proper way to wake her up. She is like a tiger, and she has to be woken gently, or she will be in bad mood most of the morning. If I whisper real softly “Morgan it is time to get up,” and kiss her gently, the day will turn out in my benefit and 6:30am starts are much more pleasant.  I am just glad that I figured this out early in the marriage.

    There was only one time on the entire Camino that we could not find a room at any albergue (hostel) for the night. We strategically planned on staying in the town 5km before Triacastela because we knew how many people there were on the trail, and how small the town was. We arrived to the smaller town 5km before trying to skip the crowd, and the albergue was closed for the week. We had no option but to walk further, and when we arrived at 15:00 in Triacastela, there were no rooms anywhere because of all the people. We walked around town for an hour, checking every albergue. We were preparing ourselves to sleep outside. The next town was 12km away, and there was no way for us to physically walk anymore.  At the last hotel, we found the last bed available, and we were so relieved. We went and bought a bottle of wine, and passed out from exhaustion before 9 PM.

    There were a few bad things that occurred as we continued to walk further and further. We became a bit more critical or judgmental. There are companies on the Camino that will transport your backpack each and every day for a flat fee of 5 euro per stop. They will drop it at your next night’s lodging, and you get to be carefree and walk all day without weight. We opted not to do this, and it was a great accomplishment to know that we carried all of our supplies. If people were injured, we understood that this service was acceptable, but Morgan said “If I’m that hurt just ship me with my bag!” Towards the end, we met some people who were taking busses or taxis each and every day between towns because they were tired or hurt. I mean why even say you are walking the Camino if you are going to do that. We told ourselves that if we ever got to that point of injury, then we would just end our walk, go do something else, and we would be ok with that. Lastly, in order to get a Compestela, a certificate of completion for walking the Camino, all you had to do was walk the last 110km. We walked 854 km, but this is just how the system works. So when you get to the town of Sarria, the crowds exploded. Tons of families and people on vacation came out of the woodwork. They all had new, clean, freshly washed clothes on, while we came trudging along right beside them with hand washed clothes and tattered shoes. They would all be walking 100 mph, and acted like they were in a race. We would smirk, and say “let’s see how long that lasts.” On the second and third day, we saw the same people, and now they had aches and pains, and we would say “ awww I bet those 30km hurt your feet. “Well I just walked 800km, let me tell you about pain.”  Also, these walkers would take pictures of everything from cows to rocks. Morgan would say “I stopped taking photos of farm animals about 300km ago.”   These things did not really get to us that badly, they were just funny observations that only crazy people who walk 854 km notice during a really long day.

    We did have more than several people notice how well we both looked for having walked a far as we did.  Looking in the mirror, we did look really good, and most of that is accredited to our daily routine. We brushed our teeth twice a day, took a shower every day, never walked more than 30km, wore sunscreen, and put on clean clothes at the end of each day. Most of the pilgrims did not abide by these easy steps and had some interesting hygiene and outfits going on.

    Tomorrow we take a bus to Portugal where we will be exploring for two weeks. We leave behind good memories of our Camino, and know that we both did something that most people in the world have not done or ever will.

 

    Cheers,

       David and Morgan

Mid-Camino Update

Our walk through the Cordillera Cantabrica region

 

        Morgan and I have made it half way through our Camino journey. We have about 220km to Santiago and then another 90km to Finisterre, “the so called end of the earth.” We are still on our pace of about 20-25 km a day, and are still astounded at how much good weather we are having. We thought that it was going to be scorching hot all the time, but the mornings have been very cool, and we have needed to wear jackets. We hiked through La Rioja region last, and spent our days meandering through wine vineyards. We are now in the Cordillera Cantabrica region, which is more mountainous like the Pyrenees.

        We did have one part where we kind of cheated on the Camino. Coming into the city of Burgos, there is 10km stretch of urban sprawl, which is not fun to walk. As we walked in the bright sun of the day, Morgan got the bright idea of hitch-hiking into town. So after about 20 cars of no luck and many laughs, one nice lady decided to pick up some grungy looking Americans. She looked like she was on her way to a ladies’ luncheon, and was decked out in costume jewelry and nice clothes. She spoke no English, and it was fun trying to converse in Spanish. She dropped us right in front of the cathedral, and totally made our day. She also tried to do the whole fake kiss on the left and right cheek as we were leaving. I honestly had never done this before, so I just gave her a big, fat, real kiss on the cheek. She did not seem to mind.

        One of the highlights of our Camino thus far has been our four days off for rest. We spent two of them in Burgos, one in Leon, and one in Astorga. We were both physically drained from walking so much, so we decided to take a break. The Burgos and Leon Cathedrals were amazing, and the cities were quite different from each other. Burgos seemed more French in style and architecture, and Leon was more Spanish in nature. We splurged one night, and got a private room in Leon where there were no people snoring or turning the light on at 0600. That is our biggest pet peeves when staying in albergues. Morgan always rolls over, and gives the guilty culprit the evil eye while mumbling a few choice words.

        One of the biggest things we joke about is how stores and shops close at such odd hours during the day, and blame it on “siesta.”  Whenever we arrive somewhere they are either closed for the day or do not open back up till the evening. For instance, the post office in one of the cities was only open from 8-11 AM 4 days a week. They take this siesta thing seriously in Spain, but we wonder how they ever make any money. Also, if it is Sunday, almost no stores are open in the smaller towns. We also joke about how there is always someone in the room who packed all the things in their bag in grocery sacks and zip lock baggies. Inevitably at 0600, they are rustling around going through every single one. It is very annoying. The last thing we have noticed is how all the Asians dress in the best gear and equipment, and how they all look like they are about to summit Mt. Kilimanjaro. They are dressed as though they are going on a 2 month mountaineering expedition, or Everest base camp. These are just some of our observations.

          We stayed in our favorite albergue of the entire Camino last night. It was in Rabanal del Camino, and it was run by the Catholic church. They had 40 beds in an old monastery, and attached was a working monastery where the local Benedictine monks lived. We were greeted by a generous and hospitable British couple who were in charge of the albergue for two weeks. They volunteer once a year, and they made our stay most enjoyable. As Morgan will tell you, I love British accents, and Claire, who was about 65, was like a grandmother to me. We had discussions about how wonderful sleep was, and why the British put milk in their cups first before the tea. I feel more cultured now. The couple showed us to our rooms, and quickly told us that tea and biscuits were at 5 PM in the garden. There was an herb garden and a huge yard with tables and chairs to relax. They also had apple and plum trees that were in season, and we got to pick about 3 pounds of fruit. At 7 PM we went to Vespers service where the monks sing in Latin, and they also request that the pilgrims walking the Camino read verses of scripture in all different languages. Morgan was the lucky English speaker, and got to recite about 6 lines in front of the church. It was a neat experience, and it was one of the things I did on my first Camino. It was really hard for us to leave Gaucelmo albergue because it had such beautiful views in the mountains and wonderful hosts.

         We are now continuing on with our journey, and our next stop is Galicia where it is more rolling hills and cattle farms. Continue to check for more blog posts as we near Santiago!

 

        Cheers,

             David and Morgan