Back on the road

We left  Logrono this morning at 8- it is a big city and took nearly 45 min to get out of town.  Walking in the city you must be very careful to watch for the yellow arrows.   As you might have guessed, it was an overcast day threatening rain and before long our ponchos were out !!  It was so good to have a day of resting, but I have to admit there was a mental battle going on... It didn't take long at all to go from  "pilgrim"  back to " impatient American with a credit card ".   I trudged along trying to figure where we could catch a bus again!  Today the wind was the battle-- that and only about 50 degrees.   The good part was almost all of the 12 miles today was paved or hard roads, so no mud to deal with.  We made it about 1/2 way and stopped at a cafe in Navareette.  It is amazing how a hot coffee and a warm welcome can improve your mood : )   As we headed out of town we stopped in the church-- it was amazing!  It wasn't possible to get a good picture because the rerderos was so huge - probably 8 stories tall and all gold- Majesty !  Here is a photo I found on the web but it is only about the lower 1/3 of it

   

It made me think of the faith of people 500 years ago who gave so much to build a glorious church like this.   Soon after we walked past the ruins of a pilgrim's "hospital" from 1156.  I thought about pilgrims then, walking in wet woolen clothing ( not fancy ponchos! ) with maybe a sack with some bread, walking from their faraway home...coming to this hospital for care- probably a straw mattress if that.   I hardly know why I am doing this... The faith of those who have come before is overwhelming to me. 

Our goal for today was Ventosa- the albergue of San Santurnino. It is so nice and welcoming !  Candles glowing and the rooms, showers and kitchen very nice. They have a large  closet basically stocked as a store since their is not much else in the small town.   We cooked a great dinner of pasta, bread, wine and a chocolate bar !  Nice conversation with Gernans, Australians & Canadians

  

Rest Day

Since the weather has been so miserable, we are a little behind on our schedule, so decided to take a rest day.  We figured out the bus schedule and bussed ahead to Logrono today.  This is a fairly big city.  We found the municipal alburgue, which is decent but crowded   I guess I haven't explained that since the Camino has been a pilgrimage route since the Middle Ages, each town along the way has accommodations for pilgrims called alburgues.  Some are run by the town, municipals- some by parishes or convents or some private.  They are generally inexpensive 6-10 euro and mostly dorm setting.  Some are rooms with 4 bunks  and a couple we stayed were one room of 20-25 people.  Earplugs are a must!! I also brought a sleep mask since some early birds like to leave before sunrise and pack their bags with a headlamp bobbing about which is very annoying !   Everywhere has lights out at 10pm and lights on at 6am. Most everywhere you must leave by 8 or 9 am.  You can only stay if you are sick or must move to a private.    Last night we paid 2 extra euro for a private room.  Tonight the sleeping room has about 30 people and the beds are quite close together.  Not the best but it has a nice kitchen with pans and dishes so instead of eating out tonight we walked around and
bought some food to cook here. We will have a supper of kind of an omelet/ hash--eggs, some beef, potatoes, onion, peppers and tomato.  The shopping is hard to get used to!  First, shops open later, after we need to get moving in the morning and then when we get to a stop in the afternoon it is siesta when everything closes again until after 6.  Also, shops only sell one or two types of items, unless you can find a super mercado ( market) in a bigger town.  Farmacia ( pharmacy s only have medicine-- not batteries, razors, snacks, shampoo, etc  or anything like a Walgreens at home. The fruit/ veg market only has fruit and veg--nothing else.   And you are not allowed to touch the fruit- only point to what you want and they will select for you.   So, you have to go to many shops to get only a few items!  We never did find a bakery today, but stopped for a snack and they put some bread on the table so I wrapped it up for dinner : ).  Many restaurants have a pilgrims menu- dinner of 3 courses, sometimes salad or soup, meat or fish and dessert.  These are hit or miss as far as quality so that is why we decided to cook our own meal tonight. Not every place has had a stocked kitchen.  People leave their extras since no one wants to carry any extra weight!  So there are some spices left here and some olive oil, so hopefully dinner will be good!!  We are already tired of the standard ham/
 cheese bocadillos ( sandwiches) that are offered everywhere.  And we made sure to learn the word for  octopus,  pulpo, which is a local favorite here, so that we can avoid that!!!!

Update: dinner was good and I was going to take a picture if it, but just as we were getting ready to eat a harmonica band came to entertain the pilgrims!  I took a little video clip but can't attach it right now   So a nice end to the day !

Self portrait

Most of you know I don't usually like to have pictures taken of myself.... But today I thought I would share this self portrait...

We are in Estella tonight and are planning a rest day tomorrow.
( p.s. that is a real snail I saw today - about 6 " long- never have seen one that big!). He was moving at about the same speed as me !

Puente la Reina

Today was a pretty easy day!  We knew there was rain forecast so we were in no hurry to get started so we took our time getting ready and headed out at 8:30.  It was overcast and drizzly, but that is so much better than pouring rain!  Made the top of the hill to the Alto de Perdon, the Mount of Forgiveness-- where the path of the wind crosses the path of the stars.   There is a famous sculpture there of pilgrims on their way.

Soon after, the SUN came out!! It was a nice afternoon.   We took a short detour to a 12th century church, which cared for pilgrims for hundreds of years.  It has a unique octagonal shape and many pillared courtyard.

The light thru the ceiling comes not from glass but alabaster stone which is translucent.  

Made the rest of the walk into Puente la Reina to stay the night.   There are several old churches here and stopped in one to see the crucifix that it is known for 

Thank you for the comments and emails !  It means a lot to hear from home when we get to a town with wi-fi  : )

We

Zariuiegui

The weather here in Spain has been pretty miserable-makes us more thankful for the lovely sun yesterday !  But today was another wet day, actually a hard rain rather than the drizzle from the previous days.  We passed thru Pamplona where some of our new friends are dropping off since they are just on a short holiday.   I am sure we will meet new friends, but we are now a few kilometers ahead of most of those we had been walking with.  Had planned to go a bit farther today but just raining to hard to tackle the Alto de Perdon today- a steep climb and a steep descent.  The rain makes things very muddy and slick-- the Way is not a manicured path!  More like a glorified cow path mostly and today was quite rocky too so hard to move fast even when I had the energy!  Stopped at a lovely alburgue, with wi-fi ! Yay!    before the climb tomorrow and now of course the sun is out!  Will try to get our clothes dried out, especially my boots- really important to keep your feet dry.   There were some nice views today and  fields of yellow flowers that smell very sweet- but just to wet to get my camera out. Looks like the rain is in the forecast for a few more days- please pray for some nicer weather for us, or at least a warm drizzle instead of a cold downpour.  Knew this wouldn't be easy, but the weather has been quite a challenge!

Love from Spain Sunday 5/26

>
>Today there was an option in the path to the left or right... An old Spanish lady who didn't speak English , somehow got across the point that to the right was the "traditional way" -to the left, "torisimo" - which by her expression she did not approve of ! So I headed across the road and of course, there was a hill to tackle ! So offered this one up for Sean, that his issues will be nothing major and for Liz, for the mountain of laundry !

At the top was a lovely tiny church so stopped in to visit and have a rest break.   It was built in the 13th century. I climbed a tiny spiral stone staircase and got to ring the bell- it is from the 8th century!

When I went back downstairs noticed the crucifix and thought there were leaves behind it, but then

 saw they were arrow shaped notes with prayers. Thought I would let you all know that I was praying 

for you and left those Intentions at the foot of the  cross

Please pray for sunny weather !

Camino Friends

>
> It is amazing to meet people along the way- we started out together at Orrison. We don't always walk together but pass along the way back and forth. So nice to see a familiar face coming around the bend! It is nice to walk alone too sometimes. Today in Trinidad de Arre we found a great little bar with delicious tapas and spent a lovely afternoon in the sun with new friends!

Day 4- Trinidad de Arre

What a blessing today turned into ! Cold at first but once you start walking you warm up fast. But sun all day!! Pretty level compared to what we have had, so a lovely day to walk. Only problem is that my boots never completely dried out from yesterday so my socks got damp from the inside and caused some rubbing. Stopped to take care of my feet and no blisters yet! A great sunny day and was able to set my boots out in the sunshine this afternoon at the alburgue to dry out! Yay! Of course the next 2 days are forecast rain again

To Zubiri

Thought today would be easier-it was easier than the mountain- but still a long slog in cold drizzle. The rain in Spain apparently falls not only in the plains, but all over and most of the time!! More in the forecast for the next few days... Please pray for sunny skies! Much of the path today was extremely muddy. We crossed a raging river over wet stones... Just a typical day here in the Camino : ).

The Hardest day of my Life!

Oh my goodness!  It is much too long a story for all the details I would like to share, but going over the mountain was  quite a day !!  Started out sunny and everyone else was taking the mountain road so we headed out.   Noticed the massive vultures that live in the mountains here circling- should have figured something up!   Anyway, after 10 minutes the rain began... Time to get out our beloved ponchos!    Then soon after the sleet...  All the while the road grows steeper .   Then the snow ....sideways snow.   I struggle off with my pack to get my extra socks out to use as mittens!  Well as I said too many details over the 6 hour trek to give them all, but it went on and on!!  Headed down a very slippery descent and could see at the bottom an ambulance- a French lady that we had met at Orrison had fallen and broke her leg!    We then continued in on the hard road instead of the path and made it to Roncevalles at last!
There was a lovely few minutes of blessed descent instead of incline thru a silent forest ...

This blogging by iPhone is a little more involved than I thought it would be, so hope it is making sense!  More soon when we get back to wi-fi!   

Day One-Orisson!

So we have survived the first day! We started out about 8am under fairly cloudy skies. The road rises up pretty steadily right outside of St Jean and I have to admit I was winded pretty quickly by the ( later to be revealed as "gentle" ) incline. Part of the problem was that being afraid of being too cold I had piled on several layers of clothes and topped off with my snazzy lime green poncho. Soon was sweltering and had to stop and take off my sweater and jacket. Sun peeked thru for a few minutes so loosened up the poncho ... Drizzle began again so back on. That was the last of the sun for today but did get to see some of the viewThings soon started going up at a steeper incline and it was kicking my butt!  My feet are doing great, no pain or blisters, but should have done some more cardio I guess!   Felt as if my heart was pounding!  I lost count of how many times I stopped to rest- a couple times for several minutes and when moving again felt my heart up to near maximum again after a few steps.  They say you must walk your own Camino, it is not a race or competition.   When I rested I looked back down the road and could see other walkers far back...before long they had all passed me : ) even a lady all dressed in red, with a red umbrella who appeared to be strolling... Andy went ahead, since the path is well marked I just had to keep going, so no need for him to keep my pace.  Anyway, long story...soon I saw another lime green poncho headed towards me--Andy came back to check on me and walk me in--it was quite foggy by this time.   Finally made it to our overnite refuge at Orrison.  Arrived at noon, a short day but have planned to go slowly and work up to a better pace.  A good call for today... I'm sure I could not have made it to Roncevalles today- another 15 km!  There is a restaurant here at Orisson and many people get a coffee or sandwich here as they power on-- red umbrella lady was headed out soon after I arrived : ) I had no desire to go further today and this refuge was full before1pm so there are others going slowly too.  The weather has been colder than usual for the last couple weeks and with the drizzle today it is quite damp.  We'll see how the weather is tomorrow and decide if we cross the rest of the mountain by the high road or the lower road.  

The first miracle of the Camino!

Well of all the things I have read about the Camino, the one thing no one ever mentioned was the bus ride to St Jean. Silly me, never even thinking about driving in the mountains-twisting, turning roads that apparently must be driven at a high rate of speed for full effect! I have been known to get carsick on the rolling hills of Kentucky and in the Rocky Mts, but the Pyrenees are a special kind of dizzy! I put my head down so as not to see any motion and after many, many Hail Mary's & and O, my Jesus prayers we arrived safely in St Jean and I did not get sick!! A miracle! We made our way to the Pilgrim Office and got our credencial. We are officially on the Way!   Then stopped by the church to light a candle for all of you praying for us and in thanks for not getting sick on the bus!
This is our first night in a dorm sleeping arrangement- we will see how this experience goes!  Everyone here tonight speaks French and only a little English.  Tomorrow we begin!  Our host here, Eric, talked to us about the Way and wrote Ulteria! on our credencial.  I know this word from Cursillo- he said it meant  "Go Farther". That now we are walkers and after Santiago, then we will be pilgrims, back to our lives.  Kind of like the 4th day, to my Cursillo friends.  Anyway, looking forward to what the journey will bring!

Pamplona!

Well, we made it to Pamplona! Yesterday was a very long day with our flights delayed and then a long bus ride from Madrid. We are staying at the Hotel Eslava. Very nice. Went exploring a bit this morning and Mass at the Cathedral. Found the outfitters shop and got my walking poles and poncho - he assured us that we would need the ponchos as the next 5 days will rain! Still will have fingers crossed for Thursday at least to have some sun! That's all for now : )

And we're off...

So...if all goes well we will be on a plane at 3:30pm Sunday and in Madrid, Spain on Monday morning.  The plan is to bus to Pamplona and stay there 2 days to get over any jet lag and get acclimated.  On Wednesday we will bus to St. Jean Pied de Port, France - the traditional starting point for the Camino Frances.  There we will get our "credencial" which registers us as pilgrims.  Each place that we stay along the way has their own "sello" or stamp.  So it is a Pilgrim's Passport so to speak.   On Thursday we will begin walking the Camino.  At this point, the extended forecast shows Thursday as the only day that it will not be raining this week, so hope that will hold out and we will have a clear and dry day to start out!  The first day is the highest elevation and the views should be spectacular if there is no fog! 
Thank you for your support and prayers!  We will be carrying you with us on the Way!

To see the stars...

Santiago de Compostela

The Field of Stars

Legend has it that one night the stars danced over a field and a shepherd was led to find the remains of St James which had been buried in Spain (Iberia) after his unfortunate beheading in Jerusalem. 

A cathedral was built in his honor at the spot and pilgrims began to make the journey to ask his intercession.  The Camino de Santiago has been a pilgrimage route and a spiritual journey for over 1000 years. I look forward to feeling and experiencing the spirit of the millions of pilgrims who have made this journey.   When you reach the Cathdral, at the entrance is the pillar of St. James and pilgrims traditionally placed their hand on the marble pillar when they arrived safely. This marble pillar has worn away with the many hands that have touched it

Think of all the hopes, dreams & prayers that have been carried along the Way

to the Field of Stars

Why?

It has been interesting to see the reactions of people when they hear about this trip...many have been enthusiastic...as many more have stared at me as if I had said I was going to Mars and offered no comment at all.  I can only say that as strange as it may sound, it seems as if the Camino "calls" you.  Time goes by so fast, who knows if I will ever have the chance to have a life experience like this again?

(you can enlarge the screen by hitting the square on the bottom right and delete the annoying ad pop-up by hitting the x)

Thoughts in Solitude....

 This quote from Thomas Merton captures my feelings pretty well...it has hung on my wall for several years.  Today I really looked at it again and realized how much it applies to this journey...the Camino and of course to my Life 

" My Lord God, I have no idea where I am going. I do not see the road ahead of me. I cannot know for certain where it will end. Nor do I really know myself, and the fact that I think that I am following your will does not mean that I am actually doing so. But I believe that the desire to please you does in fact please you. And I hope I have that desire in all that I am doing. I hope that I will never do anything apart from that desire. And I know that if I do this you will lead me by the right road though I may know nothing about it. Therefore will I trust you always though I may seem to be lost and in the shadow of death. I will not fear, for you are ever with me, and you will never leave me to face my perils alone.” 

― Thomas Merton, Thoughts in Solitude

11 days until we depart...