2017 Camino - Trip Report #3 - Sahagun, Spain (halfway mark)

i have made it halfway across spain ... going about 15 mikes a day over all kinds of terrain, mostly flat open farmland and countryside,. there were lots of mountains in the beginning  but central spain is pretty flat. today marks the exact halfway point of my adventure... time is funny here, i feel like i've been here forever but at the same time the days fly by so quickly i don't even remember what day it is. hard to believe i have been walking all day every day for over two weeks ....

my feet and body are feeling strong & good. i have a few blisters but totally manageable. my upper back gets tired in the afternoons with the pack and lifting  the walking sticks, but sometimes i send my pack ahead to the next night's hostel for 5euro - a special treat. 

it's an amazing experience. best thing i ever did. i wish i had more time to write about it. too tired at night & too busy during the day meeting people from literally every part of the world. i sleep well even in the public hostels and have adapted to the widely varying degrees of privacy in the hostels. every morning i wake up full of energy & ready to go no matter how tired i was the night before. it's amazing what this body can handle. feeling lean & strong. haven't taken a full day off yet, but a few half-days. i listen to my body and as long as it wants to keep going, i will. 

i parted from my australian friends bernie (77) & his granddaughter maddy (25) today after a week traveling together - we were very compatible travel companions & had a marvelous time -- but, in the way of the camino, we all just knew it was time to move on without even having to articulate it. i am a little sad & missing them tonight, but also glad to have my personal space back. by far that is my biggest challenge both in life and on the camino - getting too easily hooked into other people & their needs.

bernie is lifelong catholic, but has a simple honest faith that seems irrelevant to any religious structure. i found myself so drawn to his kindness, warmth, and open heart - a bright spiritual light. i asked him to bless our meals every night -- sometimes even when we were in a larger communal meal setting -- and his sincere, un-self-conscious, warm gratitude & blessings invariably brought tears to my eyes and moved everyone who heard them. (in fairness all my emotions are closer to the surface since i've been here -- the camino has been great for offloading stored grief). he is a simple, unassuming man who sincerely loves people (go figure) and has a kind word for everyone. i don't understand how some people make it to his age - 77 - without being beaten down and cynical. we have had a number of deep conversations about faith. i told him he should have been a priest. anyway ... spending much of this week with him was a real gift. his granddaughter maddie walked the camino alone last year & returned to accompany her grand-dad this year. neither of us can keep up with him -- he's a machine! 

on easter morning we were staying in a 13th century convent -- that thankfully had been fitted out with all modern brand-new fixtures -- our room had about 10 pilgrims in it. during the night maddie quietly went around and left chocolate easter eggs next to everyone's backpacks ... very sweet. on easter morning when i opened my eyes the first thing i saw was the lavender & pink predawn sky outside the convent window, with the last stars shining over the silhouette of an old church tower...just beautiful.  

i am filled to overflowing with gratitude almost every day... the camino is an amazing experience ....

one afternoon we stopped for a break in a tiny medieval village nestled into a small valley... i saw this cat sitting on the rocks ... 

we popped into the village church on that thursday before easter just to have a look - and i was immediately drawn to a corner in the back where a big sand tray with candles was set up, surrounded by cushions on the floor and bibles in 7 or 8 different languages. Never seen anything like that in a catholic church -- it was just lovely & so much more inviting than the hard regimented wooden pews so common to all churches. Maddie and i immediately lit candles and then sank onto the cushions ... i sat there the longest time soaking up the lovely vibe ... finally got to meditate (which is impossible in the hostels with them rushing you out the door by 8am)  -- then a priest gently interrupted and asked if he could give me a cross on a cord that had been blessed for Holy Week... he quietly placed it around my neck. it was such a kind and unexpected gesture, i was just overwhelmed & could not stop the flood of tears that came up .... not all churches have this effect on me but a few of them do.

April 18, 2020 - Sahagun

i have been reflecting a lot on my catholic upbringing and how odd it was... how spiritually dry and devoid of light. (no -- i am not becoming catholic again -- but i am definitely feeling more connected to spirit here). Catholicism is such a violent, massive, and anachronistic edifice.... there are so many giant gothic churches here even in the tiniest towns.... who would have the balls to stand up and say "this is bullshit!"? as a little kid i sure didn't. i have seen statues of medieval saints wearing EXACTLY the same heavy black nun garb with white wimple that my first grade teacher Sister Francis Ann wore... as a kid i was cowed by all the pomp & circumstance ... and yeah i kinda think that's the whole idea with catholicism. control the masses with grandeur and images of bloody Christ on the cross and martyrs being beheaded, flayed, and flogged (that shit is EVERYWHERE in Spain). Purely from a marketing standpoint -- if one wants to win hearts & minds & convey the loving message of Christ, this AINT the way to do it. bernie & i had versions of this conversation several times last week. he always just smiled and continued beaming his warm loving light. he's on to something that has nothing whatsoever to do with the Tarantino-esque Catholic iconography. i still don't know what it is but there's no denying it is a real thing...

adios for now. i wrote this last bit while taking a break for lunch with my feet up in a rare vegetarian cafe -- walked 9.4 miles so far today and another 6 to go before the next town ... sorry i haven't written more, but rest assured i am having the time of my life. 

2017 Camino - Trip Report #2 - Roncesvalles to Pamplona

i'm having a fantastic trip -- just loving every step of the camino. 11 mi yesterday (Roncesvalles to Zubiri), 13 mi today (Zubiri to Pamplona)-- no blisters or muscle strains, just very tired at the end of each day. the Spanish countryside is amazing -- so lush and green. many kinds of forests and open mountain vistas, quaint medieval buildings/hamlets everywhere, beautiful old stone bridges, also cows, sheep, horses,  ducks, all kinds of birds (including this little red robin who actually sat right next to me for while while i was taking a break). 

so glad i came in spring. it's been deliciously cool and fresh (40s-50s-60s) and there has been some rain each day, but all the ridiculously  expensive outdoor clothes i bought are doing their job and i've been toasty & dry but not overheated. i packed just enough stuff. 

have met people from all over the world. the camino can be very social but you can also unplug & be alone & no one is offended if you just walk away, either on the trail or in the hostels. i spent most of today alone on the trail, only occasionally seeing other peregrinos. then i stopped for lunch at a random cafe and i knew half the people in there. it's a blast. kind of like a cruise in a way. everyone's in a great mood. there are lots of retired folks doing the camino - kinda blown away how fast & fit they are. i could barely keep up with an English couple i befriended - she's 70 and he's 80! they shared part of their lunch with me -- chocolate and some amazing cheese. people are so nice!

i brought my ipod because i thought i might get bored walking all day, but i haven't used it at all. just listening to nature is awesome. 

the hostels are all very different. some very private & quiet, others noisy. So far they are super clean & all have had high quality mattresses (thank god - this is so important when we're putting our bodies through so much). Tonight i'm in one that has "pods" for beds so i can have the illusion i'm alone. delightful. 

 i'm sooooo glad i did this....

falling asleep typing this (it's 9:30pm) just wanted to fill u in & send a few pix. I LOVE SPAIN

2017 Camino - Trip Report #1 - Arrival

Thursday, March 30, 2017 - 10:15am

Pamplona, Spain

So... I made it Pamplona! Later today, I'll hop a bus to Roncesvalles, about 30 miles north of here, in the foothills of the Pyrenees in northeastern Spain. Tomorrow I'll begin walking my camino. 

Several people have asked me to keep them updated on Facebook or Instagram. Most of you know I am not a fan of social media, and anyway I am more interested in having this Camino experience than documenting it. So, no promises but I may occasionally send updates by gmail just so you know i'm still kickin'. 

My Camino adventure started to get real when I laid out everything I needed to bring with me for six weeks. My goal was to keep my fully loaded pack to no more than 15 lbs. A light pack = a happy back. Fortunately I don't need camping gear, other than the 1.9-lb. down sleeping bag I got at REI that smushes down to the size of a large cantaloupe. I am also a big fan of trimming life down to its barest necessities (as evidenced by ditching my mortgage, most of my furniture, and my car over the past few years -- not to mention 90 lbs. of excess body weight this year). Lean & mean works for me, big-time.

One of the things that am most looking forward to on this trip is the utter simplicity of it -- just get up, eat, walk all day, eat, wash self & clothes, sleep -- repeat for the next several weeks. Dudes, I did not even bring tweezers -- I will return home with the gloriously bushy eyebrows God gave me.

Here's a pic of all my stuff. First round came in at 17.5 pounds, so I brutally trimmed here & there, ending up at 15.5 lbs. Not bad for a novice! 

I am writing this from the main square in the middle of the smallish town of Pamplona (pop. 200,000), where 29 years ago my friend Julia and I "ran with the bulls" (ha -- they were actually two miles behind us, with half the population of Europe in between us and any hint of danger). Ernest Hemingway's writings made Pamplona famous, and I'm sitting just outside the beautiful Cafe Iruna, which I'm guessing looks about the same as it did when Hemingway hung out here almost 100 years ago. 

I never thought I'd be in this quaint little town again. 

I decided to start my Camino in Roncesvalles, just over the Spanish side of the Pyrenees, rather than St. Jean Pied-de-Port in France. St. Jean, just north of the border, is the traditional starting point for the Camino Frances route I'll be following. On the bus I met a few seasoned Camino walkers who said it's been a very long, wet winter in the Pyrenees, and although crossing them only takes a day, and hikers even older & less able-bodied than me have done it, it is notoriously the most challenging day of the whole Camino. There's a 4500' altitude gain over 5 miles -- tough even without the snow possibly obliterating the trail markers. 

I'm not out to prove anything on this trip, just doing it to "clear the lint trap" as my wise offspring put it, so I decided to just skip the Pyrenees. Tomorrow (Fri 3/31) I will begin the actual Camino in Roncesvalles -- though some say the real Camino begins an once you commit to going for it. 

My first night in an albergue (pilgrim hostel) in Pamplona, the Albergue Jesus y Maria (formerly an 18th century Gothic church), was an eye-opener in terms of total lack of privacy. This wasn't news, and I fully expected it -- but still, it was a bit of an adjustment after living alone for so many years. The sleeping quarters were tight and very public -- a series of 15'x15' cubicles in the huge, open former sanctuary, with three small metal 2-person bunkbeds per cubicle. Definitely not everyone's cup of tea (I can feel some of you cringing out there, and you know who you are). But I am consciously choosing to give up a lot of creature comforts on what I am viewing as a walking retreat -- so it was a very pleasant surprise to discover the narrow mattress was actually super-comfortable. 

My new down bag was a dream -- feather-light yet warm & cozy without suffocating Miss I Can't Stand The Heat. And the industrial-strength earplugs I brought are magnificent; the snoring of other peregrinos (pilgrims) was but the lightest, faintest far-off buzzing. I was on the upper bunk. Surprisingly, very peaceful -- as long as I didn't think too much about the five other humans sleeping just a few feet to my left, my right, and below me. (However, the price was right -- just 5 euro. That's the tradeoff pilgrims make.) Every movement made by either me or the person below reverberated along the slender lines of the bunkbed. I woke up several times to the slight tremor of the person below turning over, reminiscent of the gentle shake of a faroff earthquake. Whenever I needed to change position, I tried to move very slowly and deliberately in a sort of tai chi maneuver.

I awoke to see the graceful lines of the huge vaulted ceiling of the former sanctuary arching overhead. Some pilgrims were already gone, the whole sanctuary was alive with rustling bags, whispers, low voices, footsteps. I wanted simple -- I definitely got it! 

So -- over & out. Just wanted you all to know I made it safely to Spain. Adios for now!