I cannot tell you how excited I am to tell you all that we actually made it to Santiago.
3.5 weeks and 260.4 miles later... we walked down into the city at around 7 in the morning (just as the sun was peeking up), cheered on by Spaniards heading home after celebrating all night, to arrive at the cathedral we had been staring at for almost a month on every 5 cent euro coin we'd seen.
It was so cool to be in the midst of buildings with people passing us saying "Welcome to Santiago", "You're almost there!", etc. And then to arrive and see the cathedral was really a gratifying end to a long and arduous journey. We walked around the cathedral and then went and stood in line to receive our compostela. We went into the office and answered a few questions, then received a certificate with our names written in Latin (Danielem Josephum Barnes and Juliam Christinam Mazdra Barnes in case you don't know Latin) and it felt amazing. The city was a madhouse for the 25th with tens of thousands of people in town to celebrate so we went and dropped off our bags at the hotel and then went to stand in line for 4 hours to attend the pilgrims' mass. The church was packed, but the homily was very inspiring as the priest talked about taking the pilgrimage and applying the changes we had undergone in our day to day lives and how those lives are also a sort of pilgrimage.
The next day we decided to finish up our pilgrimage once the hoards of travellers had left the city so we could have a little more peace and quiet. We went and hugged the statue of Saint James that sits on the altar (you go up a staircase behind him and give him a bear hug from behind-very hard jewel encrusted cloak.. not warm and cozy as I had imagined) and knelt before his tomb underneath the altar. Both were very moving for us after working for so long just to get there and reading Rick Steve's guide to Santiago over and over.
We walked to the plaza and stepped on the seashell in the center to mark the official end of our journey.
We made it. :)
Julie- For me, it was an experience that I had thought about for a long time. We had been planning to take this trip almost since we first started dating 7 years ago. I had never been backpacking before except for one overnight trip that I took with our good friend Jason where I nearly hyperventilated on top of a hill, so I had no concept of how physically demanding it would be on me and how that would affect me mentally. It was definitely hard to get adjusted to, the first week I thought about hailing over a passing car every time I heard one coming and just calling it quits. I was in way over my head and didn't think I could hack it... but we just kept going. Eventually I got to the point where I stopped thinking about taking the easy way out and was confident enough that I could make it another 3 km before resting, or that I wouldn't die en route to the next town 10 km away. And then... after a couple of weeks, we got into a routine and I stopped fretting about having to wake up and do the same exact thing the next day, and, something that was even more shocking for me, I stopped caring about having to go uphill. I miraculously stopped whining. They didn't scare me anymore, and they were much less difficult than they were when we first started (it didn't help that our first day was the absolute WORST day of the hike), but I actually started to enjoy the uphills. Climbing up to O Cebreiro was my absolute favorite day of hiking-despite the rain and the huge uphills. The views from way high up are amazing and the adrenaline from going up made me feel so accomplished and strong. I now prefer ascending to descending.
It feels so strange that it's all over, that we're done, that we actually did it. You know the strange thing? I'd be willing to do it again.. only next time not during a holy year.
Dan - This truly was an experience. Arriving at the cathedral was not the most amazing part for me though. I loveed seeing the spires from far off, and stepping on the plaque signifying the end of the Camino, but there were two moments that really stuck out in my mind which should be blogged. One was recieving the compostela. They did not allow Julie and I to walk up together, so we each had a mini interview with a different person about the trip. My lady asked where I started, how the trip was, why I did it, etc. I filled out some brief paperwork and then she wrote on my compostela my name in latin (as Julie mentioned earlier). She handed it to me after reading aloud my name, handed back my pilgrim's credential, and showed me this line on it that I never noticed that said (more or less) "Camino completed on _____________." She had already stamped the date and placed the official stamp of the Pilgrim's office next to the date. When she handed me all of this and told me congratulations, I couldn't help but tear up a bit. And as broken as my Spanish is already, imagine how hard it was to communicate "thank you and have a great day." That was one of the two moments where I felt like I completed something.
The second came on the 26th, which was the night before we left. We gathered in the plaza outside the cathedral at 11:30 at night. From the 24th - 31st, they were running a music and light show literally on the front of the cathedral. We sat down amongst hundreds of people to see what was an amazing 20 minute show that highlighted the Camino, the religious aspects, and the province of Galicia. And to top it all off, there were fireworks at the end. This was a fitting replacement for the 4th of July we missed, but also felt like the actual close to the trip. The show was truly a celebration of all we had just acomplished and truly beautiful.
This camino is over, but one of the great points that the Priest made on the sermon on the 25th was that life is a camino. As long as I physically can, I will always keep walking and experiencing and sharing with those I love.
I don't think this will be our last post, but a necessary thanks goes out to all who followed this blog, commented, and cheered us on throughout this journey. We are greatful for your support.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Thursday, July 22, 2010
General Happenings
So we haven´t updated in a few days and in all honesty things have been chugging along nicely. Our physical endurance has increased so we are stopping for less breaks and experiencing less pain at the end of the day so we get around faster. Awesome. Unfortunately, 100 km is the magical number of km to walk to receive a compostela so right around there the trail became flooded with people. Literally there are people walking around with support vehicles. They carry nothing and stop at specific points to eat and rest with their group. They charge past us and are looking for lodging at the same places we are which is frustrating because there are only so many spots and there is a constant threat of having to find an overhang to sleep under if we don´t make it in time.
It felt like it was turning into a foot race, with people waking up at 3, 4 am to walk in the dark just to be able to secure lodging. We felt we were losing the experience of the trip and just stressing over how fast we were going and how many people passed us. We arrive in town after walking for 6 or 7 hours, before noon (today we got here at 9:30 am!) and the albergues would be already booked. One night we even slept on a concrete floor outside a restroom in a gymnasium that was converted into a sleeping area for over 300 people (imagine that smell...).
So... we decided to get out of the rat race mentality. We gave it up to God and decided to trust that he would provide for us. We have since made it into two albergues and are able to walk at our own speed with the comfort that if we don´t make it we´ll find a nice spot to camp and that we´ll be OK... no matter what. We feel much calmer and so lucky, especially because today we were numbers 45 and 46 in an albergue that only holds 46 people (we started out at numbers 49 and 50 and some people decided to leave, others were not accepted because they hadn´t walked far enough).
The kilometers are flying by. This region of Spain has posts every half kilometers that count down towards 0. We decided to sing the songs from each decade as we counted down... the 80´s and 70´s were particularly awesome, and we struggled to remember the precise lyrics to American Pie for almost an hour. It´s been awesome to sing to pass the time. If you need a laugh... picture two Americans in a sea of foreigners belting out ¨The Warrior¨ by Scandal. Awesomeness. That is apparently Dan´s 80´s jam. I also did a rendition of America the Beautiful and I´m Proud to be an American that turned a few heads. =)
Oh! Yesterday we tried a dish that the town of Melide is apparently well known for...the pulpo (squid). I had tried pulpo before in STL with the students before we headed out and enjoyed it, but this pulpo was less... trying to hide the fact that it was a squishy tentacled sea creature. We went to a pulperia that was really crowded and where I imagined Barb Passanise would have brought us if we had wanted to try it. It looked like THE place for pulpo. We walked in and there were big cauldrons boiling in the corner and after sitting down a man came from the back wheeling a giant bucket filled with squid (pictures to follow!). They boiled the squid, a man clipped them into chunks with scissors, and then they sprinkled what I think was cayenne pepper on them. That´s it... personally I think sauteed would have been a little better because the flavor was decent but they were so incredibly squishy that it made me feel nauseous to eat them. We had half a plateful, decided to not force ourselves to clear the plate, and left. Dan says ¨the flavor was good, but I had a problem when the pulpo would roll around in my mouth and I could feel the suction cups on my tongue¨... yea, it was creepy.
So, right now we´re under 40 kilometers out (less than the distance to my mom´s house!) and we´re going to take it slowly so we get into town on the 25th. It´s going to be crazy and absolutely packed with people, but if we show up the 25th we have a hotel room so we don´t have to worry about sleeping in the street. It is so awesome to feel good, to not be hurting most of the time when we walk, to be adjusted to the routine of things, and to be so stinking close. The feeling of counting down the numbers makes me just want to go further and walk for longer, to get to the next town and to make it to Santiago. We´re SO close.
Love you all! Take care!
It felt like it was turning into a foot race, with people waking up at 3, 4 am to walk in the dark just to be able to secure lodging. We felt we were losing the experience of the trip and just stressing over how fast we were going and how many people passed us. We arrive in town after walking for 6 or 7 hours, before noon (today we got here at 9:30 am!) and the albergues would be already booked. One night we even slept on a concrete floor outside a restroom in a gymnasium that was converted into a sleeping area for over 300 people (imagine that smell...).
So... we decided to get out of the rat race mentality. We gave it up to God and decided to trust that he would provide for us. We have since made it into two albergues and are able to walk at our own speed with the comfort that if we don´t make it we´ll find a nice spot to camp and that we´ll be OK... no matter what. We feel much calmer and so lucky, especially because today we were numbers 45 and 46 in an albergue that only holds 46 people (we started out at numbers 49 and 50 and some people decided to leave, others were not accepted because they hadn´t walked far enough).
The kilometers are flying by. This region of Spain has posts every half kilometers that count down towards 0. We decided to sing the songs from each decade as we counted down... the 80´s and 70´s were particularly awesome, and we struggled to remember the precise lyrics to American Pie for almost an hour. It´s been awesome to sing to pass the time. If you need a laugh... picture two Americans in a sea of foreigners belting out ¨The Warrior¨ by Scandal. Awesomeness. That is apparently Dan´s 80´s jam. I also did a rendition of America the Beautiful and I´m Proud to be an American that turned a few heads. =)
Oh! Yesterday we tried a dish that the town of Melide is apparently well known for...the pulpo (squid). I had tried pulpo before in STL with the students before we headed out and enjoyed it, but this pulpo was less... trying to hide the fact that it was a squishy tentacled sea creature. We went to a pulperia that was really crowded and where I imagined Barb Passanise would have brought us if we had wanted to try it. It looked like THE place for pulpo. We walked in and there were big cauldrons boiling in the corner and after sitting down a man came from the back wheeling a giant bucket filled with squid (pictures to follow!). They boiled the squid, a man clipped them into chunks with scissors, and then they sprinkled what I think was cayenne pepper on them. That´s it... personally I think sauteed would have been a little better because the flavor was decent but they were so incredibly squishy that it made me feel nauseous to eat them. We had half a plateful, decided to not force ourselves to clear the plate, and left. Dan says ¨the flavor was good, but I had a problem when the pulpo would roll around in my mouth and I could feel the suction cups on my tongue¨... yea, it was creepy.
So, right now we´re under 40 kilometers out (less than the distance to my mom´s house!) and we´re going to take it slowly so we get into town on the 25th. It´s going to be crazy and absolutely packed with people, but if we show up the 25th we have a hotel room so we don´t have to worry about sleeping in the street. It is so awesome to feel good, to not be hurting most of the time when we walk, to be adjusted to the routine of things, and to be so stinking close. The feeling of counting down the numbers makes me just want to go further and walk for longer, to get to the next town and to make it to Santiago. We´re SO close.
Love you all! Take care!
Saturday, July 17, 2010
O Cebreiro, pts 1 & 2
"Bienvenidos a Galicia" was the phrase we kept saying to ourselves as we hiked up a giant mountain to get to the town of O Cebreiro. But more on that in a minute. For those of you who have been reading this blog and pay attention to writer´s voice, you may have noticed that most are in Julie´s. I wanted to note that I have not been ignoring the blog as for every update I have been sitting next to Julie helping her with my notes I´ve been writing about each day.
Yesterday had the hike to O Cebreiro, a quaint (really the only word to describe it mountain village. We would also be crossing into Spain´s most Western province, Galicia. We hiked up, up, and up on both highway and rocky switchbacks and finally made it to a small town. Because so many pilgrims stopped at this bar (at the top of the first hill to climb) we couldn´t get service. Rather, we just left. This is when Galcia´s famous weather showed up. For those of you who don´t know, Galicia is famous for having weather like Seattle. We became stuck in a giant cloud of drizzle and mist. This was not a hard, driving rain, but enough to make it damp all around and get everything wet. Upon arriving in O Cebreiro, we put our packs in the line in the albergue and waited for it to open by going to the tourist shops and eating in a bar. This town is famous for it´s local cheese (sheep cheese, I think) which is a soft, white cheese. We ordered a platter and it came with bread, strawberry marmalade, and the cheese drizzled with honey on top. It was heavenly. Julie also ordered a bowl of Gallego Soup to warm herself up.
The other cool things about this town included the church and the old homes. First, the homes: http://fotos0.mundofotos.net/2009/26_01_2009/mundo_imag1232994303/o-cebreiro-lugo-espana.jpg
These are olden time homes that no one lives in any more, but one of them has been turned into a makeshift museum where one of the locals just hangs out there to answer questions. We got to tour inside and see how suprisingly spacious it was and how cleverly it was built. Secondly, we got to see the church in town. The church is famous because apparently in the 12 century a man traveled in horrible snowy weather to reach the church. When he arrived, the priest did not belive him and wanted to turn him away. Then, the host turned into the body and blood of Christ on its own, staining the tabernacle, aka a legimitate miracle. The cup and tabernacle are on display there now. That night, however, was very exciting. We got to take place in a ceremony that was pretty cool, but that will have to wait. There is a line to use the computers now so later I will post the second half of this entry.
2nd Half: At 6pm that night, a special cross came through town and was to be placed in the church. It was the "Cross of the Youth," comissioned by Pope John Paul II in 1985 to travel the world. It has been to Europe, America, Asia, and so on. As we arrived in the church, the priest asked us all (full church) to step outside and join the processional of the cross and a portrait of Mary into the church. We followed it to the doorway, then all lit candles outside the Church to symbolize the light of God. Then, we followed the cross into the church. We then stayed for a special mass welcoming the cross. During the mass, I got to walk up and kneel before the cross and touch it. It was really cool. After the mass, we went to get a menu at a bar with roast chicken, which Spain does not have a lot of. This country runs on pork, and very little chicken. It was also delicious. Afterwards, we went back to the albergue, got our clothes, and woke up the next morning to a mountain top above the fog. Absolutely gorgeous. I´ll leave the rest up to Julie to type. What a great town O Cebreiro is.
Yesterday had the hike to O Cebreiro, a quaint (really the only word to describe it mountain village. We would also be crossing into Spain´s most Western province, Galicia. We hiked up, up, and up on both highway and rocky switchbacks and finally made it to a small town. Because so many pilgrims stopped at this bar (at the top of the first hill to climb) we couldn´t get service. Rather, we just left. This is when Galcia´s famous weather showed up. For those of you who don´t know, Galicia is famous for having weather like Seattle. We became stuck in a giant cloud of drizzle and mist. This was not a hard, driving rain, but enough to make it damp all around and get everything wet. Upon arriving in O Cebreiro, we put our packs in the line in the albergue and waited for it to open by going to the tourist shops and eating in a bar. This town is famous for it´s local cheese (sheep cheese, I think) which is a soft, white cheese. We ordered a platter and it came with bread, strawberry marmalade, and the cheese drizzled with honey on top. It was heavenly. Julie also ordered a bowl of Gallego Soup to warm herself up.
The other cool things about this town included the church and the old homes. First, the homes: http://fotos0.mundofotos.net/2009/26_01_2009/mundo_imag1232994303/o-cebreiro-lugo-espana.jpg
These are olden time homes that no one lives in any more, but one of them has been turned into a makeshift museum where one of the locals just hangs out there to answer questions. We got to tour inside and see how suprisingly spacious it was and how cleverly it was built. Secondly, we got to see the church in town. The church is famous because apparently in the 12 century a man traveled in horrible snowy weather to reach the church. When he arrived, the priest did not belive him and wanted to turn him away. Then, the host turned into the body and blood of Christ on its own, staining the tabernacle, aka a legimitate miracle. The cup and tabernacle are on display there now. That night, however, was very exciting. We got to take place in a ceremony that was pretty cool, but that will have to wait. There is a line to use the computers now so later I will post the second half of this entry.
2nd Half: At 6pm that night, a special cross came through town and was to be placed in the church. It was the "Cross of the Youth," comissioned by Pope John Paul II in 1985 to travel the world. It has been to Europe, America, Asia, and so on. As we arrived in the church, the priest asked us all (full church) to step outside and join the processional of the cross and a portrait of Mary into the church. We followed it to the doorway, then all lit candles outside the Church to symbolize the light of God. Then, we followed the cross into the church. We then stayed for a special mass welcoming the cross. During the mass, I got to walk up and kneel before the cross and touch it. It was really cool. After the mass, we went to get a menu at a bar with roast chicken, which Spain does not have a lot of. This country runs on pork, and very little chicken. It was also delicious. Afterwards, we went back to the albergue, got our clothes, and woke up the next morning to a mountain top above the fog. Absolutely gorgeous. I´ll leave the rest up to Julie to type. What a great town O Cebreiro is.
A Quick Update Before the Longer One
I just wanted to jot this down while I was still riding on a victorious high and had access to free Internet... it will be followed by a longer journal entry tonight after Dan and I hunt for some food.
I had been having a rough day. MY sleeping bag had apparently become infested with some type of biting insect and I am covered... COVERED... in bug bites (no, Dan doesn´t have a single one) so I´m itching because my boots are rubbing them and I accidently touch myself somewhere and then start itching and it just made me pretty crabby.
And then... 21 km later we arrive at Triacastela, at like 12:30. We made phenomenal time and I don´t feel like I´m going to keel over in the street for once and Dan offers to run to an ATM while I recline so we can have more than 8 euros to live off of. He returns... and the machine ate my card. I go down with him to call the company and see what they can do, apparently they are useless and I have no way of getting my card back. But, I could see the card so I had Dan run back in and grab his pocketknife (good Boy Scout!). He did and we jimmied with it, and finally we busted my card out.
Gracias a Dios.
Now I am not going to be left poor in a foreign country. Woot!
Ok... but seriously we´ve had a great couple of days. More to come on that later.
I had been having a rough day. MY sleeping bag had apparently become infested with some type of biting insect and I am covered... COVERED... in bug bites (no, Dan doesn´t have a single one) so I´m itching because my boots are rubbing them and I accidently touch myself somewhere and then start itching and it just made me pretty crabby.
And then... 21 km later we arrive at Triacastela, at like 12:30. We made phenomenal time and I don´t feel like I´m going to keel over in the street for once and Dan offers to run to an ATM while I recline so we can have more than 8 euros to live off of. He returns... and the machine ate my card. I go down with him to call the company and see what they can do, apparently they are useless and I have no way of getting my card back. But, I could see the card so I had Dan run back in and grab his pocketknife (good Boy Scout!). He did and we jimmied with it, and finally we busted my card out.
Gracias a Dios.
Now I am not going to be left poor in a foreign country. Woot!
Ok... but seriously we´ve had a great couple of days. More to come on that later.
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Ponferrada
Hello all!
First off-thanks so much for the comments. It truly is the highlight of our boring nights in the albergues to find an open computer and see that you guys were thinking of us (and even visited my puppy to make sure he got lots of love!) while we were away.
So... since we last updated we´ve made great progress. Dan is feeling much better with both his feet and stomach, he even said that today was his best day yet. I got my very first blister on my heel, but it keeps coming back. Luckily it isn´t in a spot where I feel it very often so it´s not really bothering me.
I will always remember the town of Rabanal del Camino. We were in a little bar next to our albergue which was crammed full of peregrinos and townspeople, everyone rooting on the edge of their seats for Spain except for two poor pilgrims from the Netherlands who happened to be in town. It was absolutely amazing to be there when they finally scored a goal, and when the clock wound down and they won. It felt so beautiful to be a part of something like that, but we´re so glad that we were in a small town and not in a major city because you could hear the fireworks going off from Astorga which was 20 kilometers away and I´m sure they partied like crazy all night.
We´ve met more Americans now which is pretty comforting because by now our brains need a break from so much Spanish. We are staying in a 4 bed room in Ponferrada with a man from Iowa. Our first Midwesterner! He´s also doing his dissertation on the Camino.
Before coming to Ponferrada we had to cross over a mountain range where the Iron Cross was to deposit our rocks. It was so cold on the mountains that I finally brokw out my jacket and long underwear top to stay warm... and I still broke out in hives. We arrived at the cross at around 9 am and I got all choked up to think about it, but held it together. We have some beautiful pictures of our rocks mixing in with the others on this giant (around 15 feet) mound of rocks which supported the cross. People had written messages to their loved ones who had passed on and tied flags and other items to the pole itself. But we just left rocks and I still felt like I had left my mark.
After the Iron Cross we had a really rough and whiny (on my part) descent into Dan´s favorite town thus far. It was midway down the mountain with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains, the clouds, and the valley below with Ponferrada 16 km away. It was chilly, but quiet and absolutely gorgeous.
Coming down into Ponferrada we saw a tombstone. We had seen several others on the Camino but this on e was for an American. People have died doing this trek and it´s very odd to be reminded of that fact. Granted, the man was 78 years old.. so I think we´ll be okay.
We have officially plotted out the remainder of our trip. We´re going to try to do about 20 km a day and we will... after much debating... be arriving in Santiago for the holiest day of the year, July 25th. We will be there to celebrate St. James´ day with thousands of other people. It is going to be incredible I´m sure.. and to make sure we don´t have to sleep out in a park (or in a hallway... long story) we´ve already reserved a hotel and two tickets to fly to London on the 27th.
2 minutes left... I love you all and hope St. Louis is treating you well. Miss you and see you in less than a month!
First off-thanks so much for the comments. It truly is the highlight of our boring nights in the albergues to find an open computer and see that you guys were thinking of us (and even visited my puppy to make sure he got lots of love!) while we were away.
So... since we last updated we´ve made great progress. Dan is feeling much better with both his feet and stomach, he even said that today was his best day yet. I got my very first blister on my heel, but it keeps coming back. Luckily it isn´t in a spot where I feel it very often so it´s not really bothering me.
I will always remember the town of Rabanal del Camino. We were in a little bar next to our albergue which was crammed full of peregrinos and townspeople, everyone rooting on the edge of their seats for Spain except for two poor pilgrims from the Netherlands who happened to be in town. It was absolutely amazing to be there when they finally scored a goal, and when the clock wound down and they won. It felt so beautiful to be a part of something like that, but we´re so glad that we were in a small town and not in a major city because you could hear the fireworks going off from Astorga which was 20 kilometers away and I´m sure they partied like crazy all night.
We´ve met more Americans now which is pretty comforting because by now our brains need a break from so much Spanish. We are staying in a 4 bed room in Ponferrada with a man from Iowa. Our first Midwesterner! He´s also doing his dissertation on the Camino.
Before coming to Ponferrada we had to cross over a mountain range where the Iron Cross was to deposit our rocks. It was so cold on the mountains that I finally brokw out my jacket and long underwear top to stay warm... and I still broke out in hives. We arrived at the cross at around 9 am and I got all choked up to think about it, but held it together. We have some beautiful pictures of our rocks mixing in with the others on this giant (around 15 feet) mound of rocks which supported the cross. People had written messages to their loved ones who had passed on and tied flags and other items to the pole itself. But we just left rocks and I still felt like I had left my mark.
After the Iron Cross we had a really rough and whiny (on my part) descent into Dan´s favorite town thus far. It was midway down the mountain with beautiful views of the surrounding mountains, the clouds, and the valley below with Ponferrada 16 km away. It was chilly, but quiet and absolutely gorgeous.
Coming down into Ponferrada we saw a tombstone. We had seen several others on the Camino but this on e was for an American. People have died doing this trek and it´s very odd to be reminded of that fact. Granted, the man was 78 years old.. so I think we´ll be okay.
We have officially plotted out the remainder of our trip. We´re going to try to do about 20 km a day and we will... after much debating... be arriving in Santiago for the holiest day of the year, July 25th. We will be there to celebrate St. James´ day with thousands of other people. It is going to be incredible I´m sure.. and to make sure we don´t have to sleep out in a park (or in a hallway... long story) we´ve already reserved a hotel and two tickets to fly to London on the 27th.
2 minutes left... I love you all and hope St. Louis is treating you well. Miss you and see you in less than a month!
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Astorga
We were originally going to go just 12 kilometers today, but ended up arriving at that town by 9am so we pressed on into the grueling afternoon heat and finally arrived in Astorga at 3:00 pm. We got up at 5:30 am after a hot night of sleeping because Princess Pilgrim next to us didn´t like the window being open and kept closing it (no AC... have I mentioned it´s hot here?). We had a pretty flat walk today with some smaller hills towards the end, but it just seemed to keep dragging on. In all we walked just under 27 kilometers which I´ve told Dan is officially 7 km over my preferred comfort threshold. He agrees. Thank goodness for that because otherwise we´d be stuck in the middle of Spain with some serious marital issues.
In the next two days we´ll be coming up on one of the parts of the trip that we´ve been most looking forward to... the Iron Cross. There is a cross at the top of a mountain and there´s a cool little tradition that the pilgrims have of putting pebbles at the base of the crosses along the way to represent them relieving themselves of the burdens that are weighing them down. Dan and I have been carrying with us some small rocks from our yard that we picked up the day before I left. When we get up there we´re going to get to add them to the stack, to add a little bit of our home to the pile. It sounds so beautiful to me to leave a literal piece of home here.
I was interviewed by a German today who is writing his doctoral thesis about the camino and the pilgrims. He asked me why I came and the first thing I said was "I don´t really know why I´m here" which I guess is true. I´m religious, but not that religious. I like to hike, but not nearly enough. I like Spain, but do I really need to visit every. single. little. town along the way?
I was thinking about that question today while we were walking in silence after having sung through the entirety of the latest Ben Folds album, and I think I´m here to give thanks.
I have a great life, one that most days I don´t feel I deserve, and it really does make me feel the presence of God in my life and appreciate all the blessings that I´ve been given. Like... cold water and conditioner. ;)
Dan´s Random Note: While passing through an old town today, we saw what could only be described as a medieval archery range. We thought we were ridiculous for thinking this, but as we walked into the main town we did indeed see banners for a Ren Fair. How random, but I love the idea of a bunch of Spainish people playing knight.
In the next two days we´ll be coming up on one of the parts of the trip that we´ve been most looking forward to... the Iron Cross. There is a cross at the top of a mountain and there´s a cool little tradition that the pilgrims have of putting pebbles at the base of the crosses along the way to represent them relieving themselves of the burdens that are weighing them down. Dan and I have been carrying with us some small rocks from our yard that we picked up the day before I left. When we get up there we´re going to get to add them to the stack, to add a little bit of our home to the pile. It sounds so beautiful to me to leave a literal piece of home here.
I was interviewed by a German today who is writing his doctoral thesis about the camino and the pilgrims. He asked me why I came and the first thing I said was "I don´t really know why I´m here" which I guess is true. I´m religious, but not that religious. I like to hike, but not nearly enough. I like Spain, but do I really need to visit every. single. little. town along the way?
I was thinking about that question today while we were walking in silence after having sung through the entirety of the latest Ben Folds album, and I think I´m here to give thanks.
I have a great life, one that most days I don´t feel I deserve, and it really does make me feel the presence of God in my life and appreciate all the blessings that I´ve been given. Like... cold water and conditioner. ;)
Dan´s Random Note: While passing through an old town today, we saw what could only be described as a medieval archery range. We thought we were ridiculous for thinking this, but as we walked into the main town we did indeed see banners for a Ren Fair. How random, but I love the idea of a bunch of Spainish people playing knight.
Friday, July 9, 2010
Villadangos del Paramo
Don´t forget to scroll down past this blog. Dan took it upon himself to update as well.. two for the price of one today!
Well, I had a lovely time resting in Burgos and Leon. They are beautiful cities with great cathedrals that we got to spend a nice long time exploring. We also had a television in Burgos so we got to see Spain beat the feared Germans in their first ever appearance in the final 4. Now they´re going onto the finals and we need to figure out a way to find a tv in whatever hostel we´re at because it´s going to be crazy.
By the way, did I mention that I take after my mother? Not only did I need a break after essentially camping for a lowly 6 days, but I did it for two days in a four star hotel. It was aweomse, and now I´m back to sweating it out for 4 euros a night with 20 something other stinky pilgrims.
It is incredibly hot here too... in some places it hit 40 degrees Celcius, which I think is something like 104 degrees Fahrenheit. No shade, no trees, just shrubs and grass. But, we skipped over a relatively boring chunk, at least.. that´s what Rick Steve´s said. And I have absolutely no regrets.
If we end early which is looking like a real possibility, then we might fly out to some other city in Europe and do a little sight-seeing while we´re here. We´re thinking London... that way all the Barnes´ will have visited it within a 6 month span. Also, they speak English there.. which sounds good right now, although I´m getting great practice in with my vosotros and subjunctive (in time to start teaching it 5 days after I get back).
But I have to tell you all about my favorite moment of our break in Burgos. It was so beautiful, so absolutely perfect, so wonderfully redemptive for all the pain going on in my left leg... I found a way to get actual milk here in Spain.
Holy cow! It was hard. They don´t have regular milk here, it´s all in cartons that are radiated so that they don´t have to be refrigerated. So it´s always warm and never has any flavor. Now, I know I´ve been bragging to some of you about how I´ve given up on actual dairy and replaced it with the wonderfulness of Trader Joe´s rice milk, but there is nothing that beats the feeling of a cold glass of milk straight from a vending machine where you literally have to buy a bottle and then hold it to the spout while milk comes out of the little plastic teat at 4 degrees Celcius. Awesomeness in a bottle for 1,10 euros.
So, other randomness while I have the time... Will someone please tell Laura that I had a dream about her? We were eating pizza rolls and I was telling her about how Dan woke me up the other night by randomly shooting his arm out and grabbing my shoulder (he thought I was a bag of golf clubs that was falling down...apparently) and when I went to reenact it I woke my own self up because I reached out to grab somebody and opened my eyes.
It´s really hard for me to be away from home for this long. Especially now that I have my own home and adult life. I miss all these little simple things of life, like going to the fridge and pushing my glass up against the lever and getting cold water. Simple things. My puppy. My very own bed. Taking a shower with conditioner.
I saw a quote that said "Que es peregrinar? Aprender a renunciar a casi todo." Roughly translated- What does it mean to do a pilgrimage? To learn to give up almost everything.
Including my grande chai creme soy milk frappuccinos from Starbucks. Oh how I miss thee.
Well, I had a lovely time resting in Burgos and Leon. They are beautiful cities with great cathedrals that we got to spend a nice long time exploring. We also had a television in Burgos so we got to see Spain beat the feared Germans in their first ever appearance in the final 4. Now they´re going onto the finals and we need to figure out a way to find a tv in whatever hostel we´re at because it´s going to be crazy.
By the way, did I mention that I take after my mother? Not only did I need a break after essentially camping for a lowly 6 days, but I did it for two days in a four star hotel. It was aweomse, and now I´m back to sweating it out for 4 euros a night with 20 something other stinky pilgrims.
It is incredibly hot here too... in some places it hit 40 degrees Celcius, which I think is something like 104 degrees Fahrenheit. No shade, no trees, just shrubs and grass. But, we skipped over a relatively boring chunk, at least.. that´s what Rick Steve´s said. And I have absolutely no regrets.
If we end early which is looking like a real possibility, then we might fly out to some other city in Europe and do a little sight-seeing while we´re here. We´re thinking London... that way all the Barnes´ will have visited it within a 6 month span. Also, they speak English there.. which sounds good right now, although I´m getting great practice in with my vosotros and subjunctive (in time to start teaching it 5 days after I get back).
But I have to tell you all about my favorite moment of our break in Burgos. It was so beautiful, so absolutely perfect, so wonderfully redemptive for all the pain going on in my left leg... I found a way to get actual milk here in Spain.
Holy cow! It was hard. They don´t have regular milk here, it´s all in cartons that are radiated so that they don´t have to be refrigerated. So it´s always warm and never has any flavor. Now, I know I´ve been bragging to some of you about how I´ve given up on actual dairy and replaced it with the wonderfulness of Trader Joe´s rice milk, but there is nothing that beats the feeling of a cold glass of milk straight from a vending machine where you literally have to buy a bottle and then hold it to the spout while milk comes out of the little plastic teat at 4 degrees Celcius. Awesomeness in a bottle for 1,10 euros.
So, other randomness while I have the time... Will someone please tell Laura that I had a dream about her? We were eating pizza rolls and I was telling her about how Dan woke me up the other night by randomly shooting his arm out and grabbing my shoulder (he thought I was a bag of golf clubs that was falling down...apparently) and when I went to reenact it I woke my own self up because I reached out to grab somebody and opened my eyes.
It´s really hard for me to be away from home for this long. Especially now that I have my own home and adult life. I miss all these little simple things of life, like going to the fridge and pushing my glass up against the lever and getting cold water. Simple things. My puppy. My very own bed. Taking a shower with conditioner.
I saw a quote that said "Que es peregrinar? Aprender a renunciar a casi todo." Roughly translated- What does it mean to do a pilgrimage? To learn to give up almost everything.
Including my grande chai creme soy milk frappuccinos from Starbucks. Oh how I miss thee.
Paradigm Shift
As Julie sleeps through the heat of the day I figured I would mooch some free internet to update you all. We´ve had three restful days in Burgos and Leon and this was our first day back on the trail. At first I was completely gung-ho: ´Do the whole camino, don´t stop, etc...´ and was afraid that I would feel like a failure if I quit. However, having actually hiked a lot of it, I´ve found that this is much more difficult than originally thought. There´s a reason most people in Spain only do it in small chunks. This is our Camino, not anyone else´s. Therefore, we will hike it at our pace. We have jumped ahead to Leon (top middle of Spain) and will continue our walk to Santiago de Compostela. According to our guide book, this should only take 13 days. However, this would require some 30 km days in 90 degree plus weather. Now that we have cut out some walking distance, we have the luxary to take the trail at our pace, and will do so until we can see the spires of the church in Santiago and get our certificates.
Here are a couple of random thoughts.
1 - I am feeling better from my food or water posioning but still not 100%.
2 - We have collectively pet a horse, dog, cat, and cow along our journey.
3 - This one is for Dad (Dean Barnes). Google the cathedral in Burgos. Find lots of gorgeous pictures of it and enjoy. Then, picture a Genie lift in there. I found one and have the pictures.
Thanks to all the people who follow us on here or on facebook - your support is very benficial to us. Leave us comments and lots of them. It´s a little joy when we get to the computer and see all the love in the form of these comments and it helps us keep going. Take care, America, and everyone watch the world cup final when Spain destroys the Netherlands. We know we will be :)
-Dan
Here are a couple of random thoughts.
1 - I am feeling better from my food or water posioning but still not 100%.
2 - We have collectively pet a horse, dog, cat, and cow along our journey.
3 - This one is for Dad (Dean Barnes). Google the cathedral in Burgos. Find lots of gorgeous pictures of it and enjoy. Then, picture a Genie lift in there. I found one and have the pictures.
Thanks to all the people who follow us on here or on facebook - your support is very benficial to us. Leave us comments and lots of them. It´s a little joy when we get to the computer and see all the love in the form of these comments and it helps us keep going. Take care, America, and everyone watch the world cup final when Spain destroys the Netherlands. We know we will be :)
-Dan
Monday, July 5, 2010
A Reconsideration
We are now in Lorca, a small town at the top of a hill that consists of a single street of houses. We walked 13 kilometers today in an effort to recuperate our ailments. While we survived the much shorter trek ¿we were originally going to go another 9 km to Estella? .. those are supposed to be parenthesis, but this keyboard is messed up... we are still in rough shape. Dan discovered that his Chacos did not aggravate his blisters so walking was a little better, but now he is feeling sick to his stomach. I still have shin splints in my left leg, but there is now a bruise which makes me wonder if they are actually shin splints.
So, here is our new idea. Tomorrow we are going to walk the 9 km to Estella because it is a bigger town that might have some sort of public transportation. We are going to catch a bus toward Burgos and then hopefully stay in Burgos for a couple of days to see the cathedral and relax a bit. Then we will cross the flatlands to Leon via train or bus where we will resume walking. This shorter trek will still take us by all the places we wanted to see, and will give us about 3.5 weeks of walking which is still fairly substantial.
To our future selves who may be looking back upon this and thinking that we messed up and wussed out: We are walking through a desert, sweating more water than we can consume. We are walking an average of 14 miles a day for about 8 hours each day. The trails are rocky and have steep climbs and descents. There is very little shade. We cannot sleep well at night. The daily routine of making sure our most needs are met is exhausting. We do NOT need to walk every single foot to feel like we have accomplished something.
Something Spanish Grandpa said to us yesterday really struck me today. He was surprised that we were going all the way to Santiago at our age and wondered what kinds of sins we had committed. He said it as a joke, but really... we are people who like nature, who like experiences. We are not overly religious and lack the type of motivation that a devout Catholic would have to atone for their sins. I can see where they would find that atonement, as every step brings you more pain, isolates you from your home and surrounds you with people who will help carry you toward your goal. We have met people from all over the world; Spain, France, Germany, Denmark, Korea, Canada, Finland, Sweeden, Holland, Slovenia, Brasil, Italy... it is amazing to be a part of such a community. Amazingly enough we do not know anybodys name. Instead we refer to them by nicknames we have given them such as Hurt Foot, Pirate Pilgrim, Boa Lady, Purple Lady, Overfriendly Spaniard, Crazy Foot lady... it is really cool to see the same people every day and form a bond. Honestly, for me that was the hardest part of deciding to skip a few days of hiking... we are going to lose our travel buddies. But, it is what is best for us as a couple... especially now that Dan is not feeling well.
I will keep you all updated as often as possible. Do not worry parents, we are in a country with a socialist healthcare system so if we ever need anything it will be super affordable, and we are doing all we can to stay healthy and not push ourselves too hard.
So, here is our new idea. Tomorrow we are going to walk the 9 km to Estella because it is a bigger town that might have some sort of public transportation. We are going to catch a bus toward Burgos and then hopefully stay in Burgos for a couple of days to see the cathedral and relax a bit. Then we will cross the flatlands to Leon via train or bus where we will resume walking. This shorter trek will still take us by all the places we wanted to see, and will give us about 3.5 weeks of walking which is still fairly substantial.
To our future selves who may be looking back upon this and thinking that we messed up and wussed out: We are walking through a desert, sweating more water than we can consume. We are walking an average of 14 miles a day for about 8 hours each day. The trails are rocky and have steep climbs and descents. There is very little shade. We cannot sleep well at night. The daily routine of making sure our most needs are met is exhausting. We do NOT need to walk every single foot to feel like we have accomplished something.
Something Spanish Grandpa said to us yesterday really struck me today. He was surprised that we were going all the way to Santiago at our age and wondered what kinds of sins we had committed. He said it as a joke, but really... we are people who like nature, who like experiences. We are not overly religious and lack the type of motivation that a devout Catholic would have to atone for their sins. I can see where they would find that atonement, as every step brings you more pain, isolates you from your home and surrounds you with people who will help carry you toward your goal. We have met people from all over the world; Spain, France, Germany, Denmark, Korea, Canada, Finland, Sweeden, Holland, Slovenia, Brasil, Italy... it is amazing to be a part of such a community. Amazingly enough we do not know anybodys name. Instead we refer to them by nicknames we have given them such as Hurt Foot, Pirate Pilgrim, Boa Lady, Purple Lady, Overfriendly Spaniard, Crazy Foot lady... it is really cool to see the same people every day and form a bond. Honestly, for me that was the hardest part of deciding to skip a few days of hiking... we are going to lose our travel buddies. But, it is what is best for us as a couple... especially now that Dan is not feeling well.
I will keep you all updated as often as possible. Do not worry parents, we are in a country with a socialist healthcare system so if we ever need anything it will be super affordable, and we are doing all we can to stay healthy and not push ourselves too hard.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Days 2-4 and the cold hard truth
At 6:00 am the lights in the hostel abruptly turned on, giving us a pretty clear signal to get on our way. We headed away from the mountains and through a Witchcraft Forest where people practiced witchcraft in the olden days. We also passed through Hemingway´s favorite fishing town which had two little canals flowing on wither side of the street, so each house had a little mini bridge to get to their front door. It was absolutely gorgeous. We hiked to Zubiri after a massive downhill slope that was really rocky and steep and killed our knees. Zubiri was one of my favorite towns so far, it had everything, including a river with an old Roman bridge.
Day 3 of the hike we left Zubiri and headed towards Pamplona. The hike was long and hard, because we hadn´t made it as far as our map suggested we go the previous day so we had to make up for some lost time. We went about 24 km entertaining ourselves by singing Will Smith songs for as long as we could. We finally arrived in Pamplona and settled into the first albergue we could find, which happened to be run by a lovely German couple. We summoned the energy after a couple of hours of resting to go into the city and explore the sights. We saw the path of the running of the bulls which was already being prepped with large wooden gates and barriers. We also did a Hemingway tour and saw his favorite bar and cafe in Pamplona. We got our pictures taken with a Hemingway statue in his favorite cafe and even had a beer with Papa.
That night... was pretty rough. We went to bed at around 8:30 pm, but that night Spain played against Paraguay in the World Cup and won! It was also the Saturday before San Fermin started and it was crazy in the city... which meant that we were kept awake by drunks wandering past our albergue shouting, dragging trees around, and playing music until 5 in the morning. When we woke up at 6:00 and left for the day there were still drunks wandering home with drinks in hand. We passed through the main square in town and it was completely trashed. Pretty disgusting. So, because of how crazy it was in Pamplona and our complete lack of desire (and sleep!)to be around such a scene (even though we´d be missing our chance to see the running of the bulls) we decided to head on towards Puente de La Reina with just two hours of sleep under our belts.
So, the walk today was difficult. We had a lot of rocky trails and a big uphill towards the Alto de Perdon, the literal Peak of Forgiveness. We met a nice Spaniard that we nicknamed Spanish Grandpa who told us all about the surrounding area and gave us candy when it was time to leave. We liked him =) On top of the mountain ridge was a wind farm. We had never been that close to windmills before and you could actually hear the massive amount of air that they were pushing around.
So, around the last 8 km things got really tough. We started hurting pretty badly. Part of it was probably the combined injury from 93.2 km of hiking, and part of it was the extreme downhill climb after the Alto de Pardon. Dan has blisters pretty badly and has a lot of pain in his feet. We´ve bandaged them several times, but nothing seems to be working with the stress he´s putting them under. We even stopped at one point along the trail and several other pilgrims wandered by-apparently talking about feet is the cool thing to do here- and gave their lovely advice in hindsight. One lady even touched Dan´s feet and bandaged them herself. Nice, but weird because she didn´t ask first, just grabbed his tootsies and started touching. As for me, I was doing great. Surpringly, amazingly great. Sure, my back was preventing me from lifting myself up and Dan had to help me up everytime I wanted to move... but my feet were good, and I was felling less and less sore everyday. Until about 6km before we arrived in Puente la Reina. Then the shin splints started. By the time we got to the albergue I could barely walk. So now we´re both gimps just barely hobbling along and wondering how we´ll make it through another day.
We´re weighing our options now as to what we´re going to do tomorrow. We might take a day off to rest if it´s still really bad. We could also hike about 10km instead of the 20 we had planned and just stop at an earlier stop. We could take a bus to a city that´s further down the trail. We don´t know yet. We just had a fabulous buffet dinner and we´re going to head to bed soon to get off our feet and try to heal as much as possible and then we´ll reevaluate in the morning.
For all of you at home we wish you a very happy 4th of July. We finally found another American and we joked about finding a book of matches to celebrate. Watch some fireworks and enjoy the barbecue. We´re thinking of you all.
Day 3 of the hike we left Zubiri and headed towards Pamplona. The hike was long and hard, because we hadn´t made it as far as our map suggested we go the previous day so we had to make up for some lost time. We went about 24 km entertaining ourselves by singing Will Smith songs for as long as we could. We finally arrived in Pamplona and settled into the first albergue we could find, which happened to be run by a lovely German couple. We summoned the energy after a couple of hours of resting to go into the city and explore the sights. We saw the path of the running of the bulls which was already being prepped with large wooden gates and barriers. We also did a Hemingway tour and saw his favorite bar and cafe in Pamplona. We got our pictures taken with a Hemingway statue in his favorite cafe and even had a beer with Papa.
That night... was pretty rough. We went to bed at around 8:30 pm, but that night Spain played against Paraguay in the World Cup and won! It was also the Saturday before San Fermin started and it was crazy in the city... which meant that we were kept awake by drunks wandering past our albergue shouting, dragging trees around, and playing music until 5 in the morning. When we woke up at 6:00 and left for the day there were still drunks wandering home with drinks in hand. We passed through the main square in town and it was completely trashed. Pretty disgusting. So, because of how crazy it was in Pamplona and our complete lack of desire (and sleep!)to be around such a scene (even though we´d be missing our chance to see the running of the bulls) we decided to head on towards Puente de La Reina with just two hours of sleep under our belts.
So, the walk today was difficult. We had a lot of rocky trails and a big uphill towards the Alto de Perdon, the literal Peak of Forgiveness. We met a nice Spaniard that we nicknamed Spanish Grandpa who told us all about the surrounding area and gave us candy when it was time to leave. We liked him =) On top of the mountain ridge was a wind farm. We had never been that close to windmills before and you could actually hear the massive amount of air that they were pushing around.
So, around the last 8 km things got really tough. We started hurting pretty badly. Part of it was probably the combined injury from 93.2 km of hiking, and part of it was the extreme downhill climb after the Alto de Pardon. Dan has blisters pretty badly and has a lot of pain in his feet. We´ve bandaged them several times, but nothing seems to be working with the stress he´s putting them under. We even stopped at one point along the trail and several other pilgrims wandered by-apparently talking about feet is the cool thing to do here- and gave their lovely advice in hindsight. One lady even touched Dan´s feet and bandaged them herself. Nice, but weird because she didn´t ask first, just grabbed his tootsies and started touching. As for me, I was doing great. Surpringly, amazingly great. Sure, my back was preventing me from lifting myself up and Dan had to help me up everytime I wanted to move... but my feet were good, and I was felling less and less sore everyday. Until about 6km before we arrived in Puente la Reina. Then the shin splints started. By the time we got to the albergue I could barely walk. So now we´re both gimps just barely hobbling along and wondering how we´ll make it through another day.
We´re weighing our options now as to what we´re going to do tomorrow. We might take a day off to rest if it´s still really bad. We could also hike about 10km instead of the 20 we had planned and just stop at an earlier stop. We could take a bus to a city that´s further down the trail. We don´t know yet. We just had a fabulous buffet dinner and we´re going to head to bed soon to get off our feet and try to heal as much as possible and then we´ll reevaluate in the morning.
For all of you at home we wish you a very happy 4th of July. We finally found another American and we joked about finding a book of matches to celebrate. Watch some fireworks and enjoy the barbecue. We´re thinking of you all.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
The first day
First off... Dan has arrived!
Secondly... I´m writing on an international keyboard and I have 16 minutes before my time runs out on the computer, so forgive me in advance if I make any typographical mistakes.
So. Dan´s first day in Spain started off a little rough. The metro workers have been on strike so the metro was shut down from the airport. Meaning, for the first time in my life I had to figure out how to use the bus system. It took us 2 hours to get back to the hotel, and then we napped like no tomorrow. We took the train the following day to Pamplona and happened to see random castles and mountains along the way. Once in Pamplona we met with our arranged taxi (a minivan that takes pilgrims to various points along the trail) and arrived in the beautiful and olden city of Saint Jean Pied-de-Port. I successfully had a complete conversation with an old Frenchman who didn´t speak English or Spanish (yea my year and a half of French!) and we stayed in a hostel for the night.
We set off this morning at 6:30. We knew in advance that today was going to be one of the most grueling days of the camino, but it was still surprising how much it kicked our butts. We crossed over the Pyrnees and have the sore backs to prove it. At one point we stopped for a break and looked out over the from our gorgeous vantage point. We both decided that we had never in our lives seen mountains like that before. The little villages below were shrouded in fog and we were hiking above the clouds. There was nothing but mountains and more mountains, but up where we were there were all these different herds of sheep and horses just wandering around without being fenced in. It was so cute because some of them wore cowbells and you could hear them from practically wherever you were. There were also a bunch of vultures circling as if they were waiting for one of us to drop, and we think someone did at one point. There was a helicopter that flew over us which we think was a Medevac taking someone off the trail, but from where we were on the trail it looked like it was headed straight towards us altitude-wise. Literally 90% of the hike was uphill, and then the last 10% was a crazy series of switchbacks going back down to about the height where we started. The last 10% was what killed our knees and feet though, and (although Dan is sore too) I´m rigid like Pinocchio because I´m so sore.
Tomorrow we´re not going to go the recommended distance because we have to kill time so we can arrive in Pamplona late enough to see the Running of the Bulls. We can only stay in each town one night and then we have to move on, so it´s a little bit of us playing the system, but also taking it easy after the truly hellacious day we had today.
So... we don´t know when the next time we´ll be able to update you all. Just know that for the next couple of days we´ll be taking it easy on relatively easy terrain so I´m not anticipating any problems. Tonight we´re sleeping in a refugio with around 100 other people and Dan and I are on the top bunks =(. Gotta head out, my time´s almost up. Love you all, and take care!
Secondly... I´m writing on an international keyboard and I have 16 minutes before my time runs out on the computer, so forgive me in advance if I make any typographical mistakes.
So. Dan´s first day in Spain started off a little rough. The metro workers have been on strike so the metro was shut down from the airport. Meaning, for the first time in my life I had to figure out how to use the bus system. It took us 2 hours to get back to the hotel, and then we napped like no tomorrow. We took the train the following day to Pamplona and happened to see random castles and mountains along the way. Once in Pamplona we met with our arranged taxi (a minivan that takes pilgrims to various points along the trail) and arrived in the beautiful and olden city of Saint Jean Pied-de-Port. I successfully had a complete conversation with an old Frenchman who didn´t speak English or Spanish (yea my year and a half of French!) and we stayed in a hostel for the night.
We set off this morning at 6:30. We knew in advance that today was going to be one of the most grueling days of the camino, but it was still surprising how much it kicked our butts. We crossed over the Pyrnees and have the sore backs to prove it. At one point we stopped for a break and looked out over the from our gorgeous vantage point. We both decided that we had never in our lives seen mountains like that before. The little villages below were shrouded in fog and we were hiking above the clouds. There was nothing but mountains and more mountains, but up where we were there were all these different herds of sheep and horses just wandering around without being fenced in. It was so cute because some of them wore cowbells and you could hear them from practically wherever you were. There were also a bunch of vultures circling as if they were waiting for one of us to drop, and we think someone did at one point. There was a helicopter that flew over us which we think was a Medevac taking someone off the trail, but from where we were on the trail it looked like it was headed straight towards us altitude-wise. Literally 90% of the hike was uphill, and then the last 10% was a crazy series of switchbacks going back down to about the height where we started. The last 10% was what killed our knees and feet though, and (although Dan is sore too) I´m rigid like Pinocchio because I´m so sore.
Tomorrow we´re not going to go the recommended distance because we have to kill time so we can arrive in Pamplona late enough to see the Running of the Bulls. We can only stay in each town one night and then we have to move on, so it´s a little bit of us playing the system, but also taking it easy after the truly hellacious day we had today.
So... we don´t know when the next time we´ll be able to update you all. Just know that for the next couple of days we´ll be taking it easy on relatively easy terrain so I´m not anticipating any problems. Tonight we´re sleeping in a refugio with around 100 other people and Dan and I are on the top bunks =(. Gotta head out, my time´s almost up. Love you all, and take care!
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