Camino de Santiago: September-October, 2012: November 2012

Friday, November 30, 2012

2012-09-25 Tuesday

Leon / Villar de Mazarife

Camino day 18. We woke up at 0730. Paulo and I went out at 0800 to have breakfast and to go to the Bank's branch to see if we could get any of the staff that must arrive before the branch opens to the public at 0900 to retrieve his ATM card. We finished our breakfast of coffee and croissant and were at the branch by 0830; there were some employees in there and they opened the door for us. Paulo explained the situation to a clerk, and she quickly retrieved Paulo's card. We went back to our hostal and all left at 0900, to catch a taxi to the outskirts of the town.

The taxi left us at La Virgen del Camino, a point were the trail bifurcates for the next 2 segments, the main trail one follows a major highway and the other one, a bit longer, goes thorough dirt or single lane roads in the country side. We took the less travelled road.

A light rain started to fall, we donned our rain gear and started walking at 0930. It was cold and windy, we had to walk briskly to keep warm. Very few pilgrims on this trail, but soon we met a pilgrim from Barcelona, he was walking with a thin, light poncho, he's name is Toni. We kept bumping into him for the next several days, and we all became good Camino friends.

Two hours later we arrived at the first village with a bar open, we took a longer than usual break to warm up our tired and cold bodies. It's astonishing how the cold drains your energy. I had to drink two large lattes before I started feeling warm again. The rain stopped, and I took my rain pants off but kept the wind breaker on to protect against the cold and the strong wind (20-30 km/hr) that continued unabatedly. The two large lattes and the cold took their toll, forcing me to frequent pit stops to pee.

It started raining heavily again with even stronger winds when we were about 30 minutes to the destination, and my leg pants got thoroughly wet. I felt cold as a Popsicle, but did not want to stop to put the rain pants on, just accelerated the pace to try to regain some warm. Luckily, the rain stopped in about 20 minutes and, in the short remaining time it took us to arrive at the village, the strong wind dried up my pants.

We arrived at Villar de Mazarife at 1330. Paulo and I were walking faster than Terry and Nancy, when we got there before them. Our hostal, Pension Tio Pepe is a few blocks off the trail that cuts the village, I stayed there at the trail waiting for Terry and Nancy to arrive while Paulo went to the hostel to check us in. The Honeymooners (we refer to them when making reservations as "novios") are staying in the only room with a private bath, while Paulo and I share a room with the two beds. All the other rooms in the hostel are for multiple people, with bunk beds.

Erico, arriving in Villar de Mazarife

The Pension Tio Pepe was jam packed, but the warm, noisy, and crowded bar was welcoming. We dropped our packs in our rooms and went down to the bar to eat. First we had to squeeze in a table with some other folks, but then a table for four opened up and we got our own table. x

The Pilgrim's menu (9 Euros) was basic, but tasty, and appropriate for this cold, rainy and windy day: white bean soup with chorizo and bits of ox tail and chicken, cooked in white wine, with fries. Add to that bottled water and a bottle of wine for the four of us. We got an extra bottle, we needed it after this wet and cold day.

2012-09-24 Monday

Fromista / Leon

Camino Day 17. We woke up at 0630 and said out farewells to Linda and Kathy. Kathy's eyes welled up, she wanted to come with us by train to Leon, skipping the next 100Km or so of boring terrain, but her Camino partner is determined to walk every single Km, and Kathy is sticking with her. We will miss them, they have been great company.

We found a bar open, had breakfast, and then walked to the train station to catch the 0831 train to Palencia; from there we will take another one to Leon. The station is small with no attendants, we have to buy tickets from the train conductor. A young American woman from Indiana that we had met before on the trail arrived at the station, she is also going to Leon. Her feet were all bandaged up, full of blisters, she will stay on Leon 2-3 days to rest her feet. I gave her my extra bottle of liquid bandage for her blisters.

The train arrived at 0830, and we all jumped aboard, arriving in Palencia at 0900. Paulo and I sat a couple of rows ahead of Terry and Nancy. The conductor issued the tickets, it cost 3.50 per person. Paulo, always the joker, asked Terry when we got off the train how much he paid for the tickets, and when Terry said 3.50, Paulo asked incredulously "You did not show the conductor you Pilgrim Passport? We paid only 2, he gave us the Pilgrim's discount." Terry got upset that he "overpaid" and missed the "discount."

I immediately went to the ticket window and found out that the next train, a fast one, will depart in 5 minutes; the following one is at 1230, but the fast one cost cost twice as much. I consulted with our group and we decided to buy tickets for the fast train. There was only one window open and the old lady working the computer was very slow, so to expedite I bought two tickets in a single transaction, for Paulo and I. Terry was next, and when I saw him reaching into his pack to try to find his Pilgrim Passport to show the attendant to get the "discount," I figured that by the time it would take for him to explain to the attendant he wanted the discount, for her to understand his request and explain to Terry that there was no such a thing as a "Pilgrim Discount," we would have missed the train. So I told him that it was all one of Paulo's jokes.

Before I had time to warn Paulo that I had to came clean with Terry, Nancy had gone to him and kicked him in the shin! Luckily the train came in 4 minutes late, and we all got on board quickly. The girl from Indiana ended up in the car 8, Paulo and I in car 9, and Nancy and Terry had seats in car 10. We arrived in Leon at 1015. On the way to Leon we had a good look at the segments we were skipping, it is flat as a table, no trees and just a few bushes here and there.

We all walked from the train station to our hostal, the Hostal Casco Antigo, a block from the Cathedral. Check in was at 1230 only, so we dropped our backpacks there and helped the Indiana girl find the Pilgrim's albergue, 10-12 blocks away.

Nancy arriving in Leon, with her hand-made Delaware banner

We took a tour of the Cathedral, it's truly impressive, it was one of the first cathedrals to be built with thin tall walls and with lots of stained glass windows. It's light and airy, the previous ones were massive and dark with barely any windows.

Cathedral

We went back to our hostal to check in and get settled in our room, we sharing a room with 2 bunk beds and a bathroom. We went out to have lunch, we got a recommendation to a decent and not expensive restaurant nearby, and we all had the menu of the day: a 3 course lunch with water and wine. I had a mixed salad, meatballs with fried potatoes, and melon for desert. The cost per person was 12 euros.

After lunch we stopped by an ATM to get money, this is the biggest town for the next few days. Terry and I got our cash without any problems, but the machine "ate" Paulo's card without spitting out the money. The bank was closed, he called the Bank's hotline for help, but all they told him to came back to that branch tomorrow at 0900 when it opens to try to get the card back. Paulo has a backup ATM card, but he is determined to wait for the branch to open tomorrow to retrieve his card

Later in the afternoon we took a trolley for a tour of the historic center, to see the main attractions.

The plan for tomorrow now is for us to have breakfast at 0730 and then the 3 of us would go ahead while Paulo will wait for the bank to open. We would proceed at a slower pace to give him time to catch up with us.

When we were going to bed we checked the weather forecast for tomorrow, it's rain. So we revised our plans. We will have breakfast at 0800, wait for Paulo to get his card, and then catch a taxi to the outskirts of town, about 8 Km away.

317 Km to go to Compostela!

2012-09-23 Sunday

Castrojeriz / Fromista

Camino de Santiago Day 16. Today's distance is 25 Km.

Had breakfast at 0700, when the bar downstairs opened, I had just a cup of coffee with milk, toast and some fruit I had bought before. We hit the Camino at 0740 while it was still a bit dark, but soon we were witness to a beautiful sunrise. We took some pictures, but they do no justice to the magnificent scene.

Sunrise with the "La Colegiatta" Church bathed in light

Half an hour after leaving the village we wit the base of the only hill of this segment, a climb of 700 meters at a 12% incline to the top of the 1050 meters high mountain. What goes up has to come down, the descent even steeper at 18%. The only good thing was that the trail down the mountain was concrete paved. I walked down the trail making "S" curves as you do in downhill skying, to make it easier on the knees.

Erico - we have to climb that hill

Erico, the ascent is a steep one

Erico admiring the view from the top of the hill

Paulo going down the hill. See how flat the valley is.

The rest of the trail was on a complete flat terrain, but the wind was blowing 30-35 Km/hr, with much higher gusts that almost blew us sideways. There were only 2 villages along the way, the first about 9 Km from Castrojeriz, we bought sandwiches there to eat along the way, and the other 6 Km from Fromista. We arrived at our destination at 1430.

Paulo and I, arriving in Fromista

We met few acquaintances in this segment, in addition to Linda and Kathy, we only crossed paths with Michelle, three Dutch guys I have been meeting every few days and Cecilia, the Italian teenager. But we met new people: Germans, Australians and one Cuban-American.

Hostal in Fromista, Casa Rural Serviareas, is Rural only in the name, it's located right in the downtown area. The four of us plus Linda and Kathi have the first floor of the house, it consists of 3 bedrooms, a shared batch, kitchen and living/dining room. It has also a clothes washer, but no drier, we washed our clothes and hung them to dry outside.

The five of us went out to find a place to eat lunch, we found a bar and had pizza for lunch. After lunch we went our separate ways, Terry and Nancy returned to the hostel to take a "siesta" (Terry adopted the "siesta" habit wholeheartedly,) while Paulo and I went to another bar that had free wi-fi to access the internet, our hostel is the only one so far that did not have wi-fi. Linda stopped by later and had a couple of drinks with us.

At around 2000 Terry, Nancy, Paulo and I went out for dinner, Linda and Kathy said that they were full, being Sunday evening, there were not many places open, and we ended up going to a high class restaurant, linen table cloth, crystal wine glasses, waiter in jacket and tie kind of restaurant. We almost felt out of place with our pilgrim's garb. The food was excellent, the service outstanding. Terry treated us to an excellent Rioja Reserva wine.

Paulo's soup

Erico's first course - anchovies with sundried tomatoes

Desert

Tomorrow morning we are catching the train to Leon, skipping the next 5 segments.

Wednesday, November 28, 2012

2012-09-22 Saturday

Hornillos del Camino / Castrojeriz

Camino Day 15. Today's segment is 20 Km, but when we were leaving the Casa Rural El Molino Seco, there was a group of Swiss pilgrims going to Sanbol, 5Km ahead of Hornillos, so we decided to go with them, Linda and Kathy stayed behind to go with the another driver back to Hornillos, even though we could see in Kathy's eyes that she wanted very much to come with us, but Linda is determined to walk every Km to Santiago, no matter what. Kathy, off course, would never leave Linda behind.

Erico, San Bol ahead

Now is a good time to mention a topic that our group (the Gang of Four) has been mulling over since the beginning of the Camino. Paulo, since St. Jean, has been advocating that we skip the whole "mesetas" region of Spain, taking a train in Burgos and going to Leon. He says that the mesetas are either too hot or too cold when the strong wind blows incessantly for days at a time, that the scenery is flat and boring, no trees and no shady, and with long distances between villages; in short, he says that this region is the ugliest of the Camino. He knows, he did the Camino 12 years ago. Terry, on the other hand, wants to walk every single Km of the Camino with his backpack on. Terry and Paulo, by the way, tease Nancy and I calling us "pussies" because we have been shipping our backpacks when our knees are giving us trouble. Nancy and I have declared that we are the "Pussy Club," we have no shame. I, on the other hand, feel that I am here not to prove anything, not to myself, no to others. What I want is to experience the Camino and enjoy it while I am doing it. If I am hurt, I have no problems with sending the pack forward or skipping segments if I feel I cannot make it. I proposed, and the group accepted, that we walk two or three segments of the mesetas and then decide what to do. This way, we experience at least part of this region before deciding to forge ahead or skip to Leon.

The walk to Castrojeriz was pleasant, my leg and knee me bothered a bit at the beginning, but once I warmed, up it was OK. The scenery, surprisingly, was quite nice. In short order we were in our destination, we ended up walking just 15 Km. During this walk, the Gang of Four talked again about skipping or not skipping to Leon, but this time Terry agreed that it was best to skip to Leon and have a few more days at the end to spend in Madrid.

Paulo and I were walking faster than Terry and Nancy, and when we arrived at the entrance to Castojeriz we stopped to wait for them, sitting at the steps of a cross where the road split in two. Soon, a middle-aged Korean woman came and sat besides me, she took her shoes off, it was a tennis shoes more appropriate to go to a shopping mall than to walk the Camino, revealing feet raw with blisters. We tried to talk to her, but she knew no English or Spanish. We figured that she was part of a group of Koreans that we have been encountered in the last few days.

Erico, arriving in Castrojeriz

After we settled down at the Hostal El Manzano, did our laundry and hung it out to dry (had to do it ourselves, no laundry services in this hostel,) we went out for lunch. Several people had recommended the restaurant El Meson, saying we must try their suckling goat.

While I was at the bar, waiting for the others to get ready to go out for lunch, I saw a pilgrim that was carrying her pack in a cart. I went to talk to her about her cart, she is from Switzerland and is walking to Santiago all the way from her front door! By the time she got to St. Jean, where we started, she had already walked more than 1,000Km! She said she will walk back to her house...

Erico and two pilgrims from Switzerland. The one on left is walking with the cart

Close up on the cart

The restaurant was almost at the other end of the town, it's a narrow and long town that follows the contour of the road. It was a good thing the food was good, Terry was complaining about the long walk, but later said it was worth it. Paulo and I ordered the the suckling goat and a bottle of a Rioja Reserva wine, both the goat and the wine were excellent. Nancy and Terry chose more traditional fares. When we arrived at the restaurant it was empty, we were the first customers, but the tie we left it all tables were taken. If you are in Castrojeriz, eat at the El Meson, try the suckling goat.

Suckling goat

Back to the hostal to rest. Linda and Kathy arrived, they are staying at this same place. Later in the afternoon, Michele, the Canadian, stopped by our bar, she is staying at the town's albergue, at the other end of the city, she sat at our table, and we chatted for a while. I also visited the local church, La Colegiatta, from the 12th Century, it has a beautiful altar.

La Colegiatta

La Colegiatta. Hostal El Manzano on the right

The plan was to catch a bus from Castrojeriz to Leon, but we were surprised to learn that there is no bus service in town on weekends. So we will keep walking, we will go to Fromista tomorrow, 25 Km away. Today I carried my backpack, but for tomorrow Nancy and are shipping them.

2012-09-21 Friday

Burgos / Hornillos del Camino

Camino day 14. I got up at 0530 for Nancy and I to go to the Physical Therapy Center, a 5 minutes walk from the hostal, for our appointment at 0600. Only the owner if the clinic was there waiting for us, so she had to shuffle back and forth between Nancy and I to do the treatments, so it took her 1.5 hrs to finish both of us, instead of the promised 1 hr. My problem was that I had injured my left ankle on the climb of the rocky mountain in Atapuerca, resulting in tender tendons and leg muscles and a bit of swelling and fluid in the ankle. She did massage, ultrasound, electric stimulation and acupuncture, and she finished by applying KT tape on my leg and putting a brace on my ankle. I left there at 0740, 85 Euros lighter, but feeling much better.

We returned to the hostal where Paulo and Terry were waiting for us, we had breakfast at the corner bar and caught a taxi to the outskirts of the town, as recommend by many people. It was 0830 when we started walking.

Nancy and I sent our packs forward to the next stop. The way this work is very simple. There's a company that distributes envelopes most of the hostals and hotels, you fill in your name, the name of the place where you want your bags delivered to, put 7 Euros in the envelope, attach the envelope to your backpack, call the number in the envelope telling them there are X backs to be picked up and just leave your backpack behind. That's all, when you arrive at your destination your pack is there. Very efficient, very simple, a back (and knees) saver.

Today 's destination is "just" 21 Km away, and we walked at a slower pace, Nancy and I wanting to make it easier on our sore knees and expedite the healing.

We are entering another region, called the mesetas, it's a high region, flat, desolate, very hot during the day, cold in the night, with no trees to provide shade from the relentless sun.

During our walk today we met with two 22 year old twins from Germany, they were starting the pilgrimage in Burgos and were not well prepared for the Camino, no appropriate shoes, no guides and with heavy packs. Nancy went in full motherly, mode providing advice to them about the Camino. Later, we also met another German, Peter, a medical doctor and researcher at Heidelberg University, he is doing the Camino in 10-day stints, this is his third one, he is also starting today from Burgos. Peter walked most of the way with us while the twins gradually fell behind.

Erico drinking water from a fountain

Erico and the meseta

Erico and Nancy, Hornillos ahead

We arrived in Hornillos at 1330, Linda and Kathy were already there at the villages bar. We are all staying in a rural B&B, Casa Rural El Molino, about 6 Km from town, the bar owner called the inn, and they sent a car to pick us up, but it was a small car, so Nancy, Linda and Kathy went with the driver and Paulo, Terry and I stayed at the bar drinking beers while we waited for our turn. Peter did not have reservations for Hornillos and the place was full, he will have to walk 11 more Km until the next village with accommodations. We tried to find a place at our B&B, but it was also full.

Pauo and Erico at Hornillo's entrance

Hornillos: Pilgrimage with a horse

After we had settled, showered and sent our dirty clothes to be washed, Terry asked the innkeeper if Peter could come and stay at their room, he was willing to sleep with Nancy in one of the single beds and give the other to Peter. After a lot of back and forth, the innkeeper sad he could put a mattress someplace else, but Peter would have to use the bathroom in Nancy and Terry's room. Terry got the B&B innkeeper to go out with him and Nancy to find Peter. Paulo and I argued that they should not bother, Peter is a veteran of the Camino, knows the drill, he did not make advance reservations by choice - he speaks Spanish quite reasonably, is probably prepared to sleep on a hard floor, if needed. But Nancy and Terry went with the innkeeper to look for him anyway, feeling sorry that he will have to walk much further in this heat to find a place to sleep.

Almost two hours later they came back empty handed, the innkeeper drove all the way to the next village, but they did not see Peter. The innkeeper ended up rescuing an exhausted pilgrim,sitting by the side of the road under the scorching sun, and drove her to the next village. Later, Terry told me that they had seen the twins, they did not find a place in an albergue, but the village will be opening the gym, pilgrims would be sheltered there, sleeping on the hard floor. Paulo and I asked why they did not bring the twins in Terry and Nancy said it was because there was no place, we replied that if they were not willing to accommodate the twins, as they were willing to do for the doctor, we would certainly accommodate them in our room! Paulo and I kept pulling Terry and Nancy's leg, saying that in their hurry to find the doctor they drove past and overlooked two young German identical twins, with no bed to rest on their first day on the trail. Nancy retorted that they would have a roof over their head, and jokingly, said that she thought they would be safer on the road than with Paulo and I.

Paulo and I had fun repeating this story over and over, each time adding embellishing details. By the time we arrived in Santiago, Terry and Nancy drove by the young German identical twins as the night felt, the twins huddled together by the side of the road, shivering from the cold strong wind blowing across the plains, feet full of blisters, thirsty, hungry, with dove eyes staring at the horizon, with no place to say and rest after a long day on the Camino, their very first! And that while Terry and Nancy were doing their good deed in searching for the doctor, they overlooked an opportunity do to an even better deed by rescuing the twins. It became one of our favorite Camino story to tell at the end of the day while enjoying our after dinner drinks. Terry and Nancy went along with the storytelling, adding their own details to explain their actions, usually along the lines that they were, in fact, trying to protect the twins from us.

We found out that this is the B&B that Emilio Estevez and son stayed during their drive through Spain, when he had the idea of making the movie The Way. Emilio's son fell in love with the innkeeper's daughter and ended up marrying her. This was one of the places that Martin Sheen and Emilio stayed when filming the movie "The Way." The innkeeper has a cameo appearance in the movie.

El Molino Seco: Paulo and Kathy resting and checking emails

El Molino Seco

El Molino Seco: Linda enjoying her beer

El Molino Seco

We had a fantastic dinner. Tomato salad, spanish tortillas, ham croquettes, serrano ham, roasted green, yellow and red peppers. That was followed by a delicious squash soup and then a lamb stew. Desert was a platter of fruit, that grapes were the sweetest I ever had. House wine flowed freely. We had a grand time at the El Molino Seco, I highly recommend it.

Dinner at El Molino Seco