June 27, 2011 back in Alaska

June 23 and 24 in Santiago went by so quickly! The weather was perfect making the time all the more magical.  I saw so many friends from the last part of the Camino and a couple of good friends from the beginning of the Spanish part.  Each encounter was a new gift.






Although I arrived on June 22 and received my compostela that day

I was able to wait until Friday's Pilgrim Mass for my official acknowledgment.  I did this because German friends were coming in on the 23rd and I wanted to walk in with them (because walking 40.5 km on the 22nd wasn't enough) and would thus miss the mass on the 23rd.

When you check in at the Pilgrim office they review your credential to make sure you have daily stamps - and from 100 km on two stamps per day - to prove that you walked the distance you  claim.  They record where you started and your nationality and, except in cases like mine where you ask for delay, they announce starting points and nationalities at the Pilgrim Mass the next day.
Unfortunately for us there were a number of seminary students from various schools who also arrived on June 23 so they were given preference when it came to announcing people who had arrived. The priest then ran quickly through a list and seemed to be lumping all nationalities and the later starting points together.  However I did hear him announce that an American had started from Le Puy!

I departed Santiago at 11 pm on June 24 arriving in Madrid at midnight.  My Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt departed at 6 am on the 25th with check in at 4 am so I opted to sleep on the very hard floor along with quite a few other people.
The Condor flight was delayed out of Frankfurt so we didn't depart until after noon (still June 25).  The flight to Anchorage was only 9 hours and 36 minutes.  There is a ten hour time zone difference.  So, I arrived in Anchorage before I left Germany.  Still on the 25th.
The afternoon of the 25th I went for a hike up at Hatcher's Pass in the Matanuska-Susitna Valley with the friends I am staying with in Palmer.  It was a perfect way to begin my transition from the Camino and Europe back to Alaska and the USA.

I wish I had some words of wisdom to impart from my almost three month journey.  Maybe I'll come up with some later.  From Villafranca on I ended up walking with Celina from Brazil.  One of the things I enjoyed about walking with her was focusing on the "spiritual" aspect of the Camino.  In every village were we ended the day we always sought out the church and attended the Pilgrim Mass and Benediction. 

And as we walked we talked about "Lessons of the Day" - what lesson we might be learning that day.  It didn't have to be profound but could be.  For example the closer we got to Santiago the more signs you saw for taxis willing to transport your backpack to your next stopping point at very inexpensive rates.  Celina said that while it was tempting to send her pack on ahead to make the walking easier she had become very attached to her backpack and couldn't bear the thought of it getting lost.  And thus a lesson for the day was "material objects that you become attached to are a burden that you must carry." Applicable in terms of the Camino where you literally carry the material objects but also in real life where material objects can become an emotional burden.

On the Camino finding the way is generally quite simple: yellow arrows painted on the road, rocks, trees, buildings and anything else available point you in the right direction. 

When in doubt locate the yellow arrow and you know which direction to go. 


In Santiago Paulo, a Brazilian friend of Celina's, talked about how good he was at following the yellow arrows.  Then he added "the problem with the Camino is that in Real Life there are no yellow arrows."

More later!

June 23 from Santiago

Actually got to Santiago on the 22nd. We reached the pilgrim office shortly after 8 pm and surprisingly it was still open. So we registered and got our compostelas but I am waiting until Friday for my official mass.
We didn't start out yesterday planning to walk 40.5 km (with full packs I must add). We were only going to walk 20 km to Arca. But we got to Arca early afternoon so we decided to go an additional 8 km to San Paio where my guidebook said there was a hotel. That way we would have a good jump start on the walk to Santiago.
Well, when we got to San Paio the one hotel was shuttered closed. By the time we got to the next possible place to stay we were only 10.5 km from Santiago so we decided to just go the whole distance.
Right now I think I am more impressed that I walked 40 km yesterday than I am with the 1300 km I have walked since April 1st.
More later.

June 20 from Melide

Made it to Melide at 55.5 km from Santiago. On the 18th I walked 23 km to Portomarin. On the 19th I walked 24 km to Palas de Rei. My original schedule had me walking 15.5 km to Melide. But yesterday I was really wanting to go an extra 8 km today because today was so short and the extra 8 km would give me more options in the next days (including getting to Santiago on the 22nd instead of the 23rd). Well my new Camino Partner in Crime, Celina from Brazil, was not going to be able to make the extra km. so I was weighing my reasons for going and staying. I'm tired of saying good-bye to my Camino walking friends! But maybe I should walk the last three days on my own? The Pilgrim Benediction says "blessed are you pilgrim if what concerns you most is not to arrive as to arrive with others." And so many of my "others" are stronger walkers and have already disappeared or were about to start the sprint to Santiago.
And then I learn that today is Celina's birthday and my internal debate was over. What kind of friend leaves a person in the dust on the birthday - and for a mere 8 km?!?
So I stuck to my original schedule and Celina and I strolled the 15.5 km to Melide.
And at the first cafe stop I found friend Daniel from MA with whom I had spent the day walking to Villafranca and then hadn't seen him again. And I probably would not have seen him today had I rushed ahead to get in my extra 8 km.
I would have also rushed straight through Melide and would not have remembered that my guidebook says the best place on the whole Camino to get pulpo (octopus) is at Pulperia Ezequiel in Melide.
But I wasn't rushing and so we ended up having lunch at Pulperia Ezequiel where you sit at long wooden tables. We ended up at a table with four Spanish pilgrims who has recently joined the Camino Frances after having walked the difficult Northern and then even more difficult Primitive trails. When we sat down we didn't know any of them. Within ten minutes we were talking and laughing with them. And that is how we spent the next two hours. It is a Camino memory I will treasure for a long time.
It is no doubt possible that I would have had equally wonderful Camino experiences today if I had chosen to push on for the extra 8 km. But all I know is what happened today because I chose to stick to my original schedule and NOT leave my friend in the dust on her birthday.

June 17 from Sarria in Galicia

I am on track for my June 23 arrival in Santiago. In Sarria - 118 km from Santiago.
Was in Triacastela last night. Felt miserable all day but walked the entire 21 km to stay on track. There was a wonderful Pilgrim's Mass at the church. It was wonderful in part because it was translated into English. The translator was one of two priests I have been seeing at least since Ponferrada. Turns out these two men are missionary priests in northeastern Mexico.
The mass was also wonderful because the church priest (as opposes to the two pilgrim priests)was very inclusive. The first people to arrive had no choice but to sit on benches right up there with him. Everyone else had to squeeze in four-to-a-bench starting at the front. At one point we all held hands and said the Lord's Prayer in our own language (Spanish, French, Italian, Portuguese, German, English, Korean and who knows what other languages). And instead of just shaking hands to pass the peace we had to hug the people. So he really broke down barriers amongst we pilgrims.
His message was very inclusive and focused on love, forgiveness, understanding and action.
So now I am in Sarria. It is a small albergue with only four bunk beds - but also only one bathroom (the one room contains shower, sink and toilet). Pilgrim mass is at 730 pm. Before then I need to eat dinner, find the farmacia for more Compeed and a supermercado so I can buy more soap.
Tomorrow I will walk 23 km to Portomarin.
I am now in Galicia. We crossed into Galicia just before O Cebriero which was my destination on the 15th.

June 14 in Villafranca del Bierzo

Can't believe it has been so long since last I updated. Heike and I successfully arrived in Leon on schedule. Heike then took off for the beach for a week before heading back to work. Meanwhile Anke and husband decided to leave the flooding north and come (back) down to the Camino Frances. Caught up with them in Hospital del Orbigo the day I lost Heike. We walked together for two days and then I took off ahead because I have a schedule to keep.
Meanwhile I had been feeling so sad about losing Heike and Anke and all the familiar faces from the past weeks because many people were leaving for home from Leon.
And now I have a whole new group of familiar faces that I run into most days!
June 11 I was in Astorga where they were having a chocolate festival!
June 12 I was in Foncebadon which features in the Camino books of Shirley MacLaine and Paulo Coelho. It is also where I ran onto more Americans than I have seen the entire journey (excepting the college students).
June 13 it was on to Ponferrada and my longest day at 29 km. Stayed in the only albergue in town but it holds 185 pilgrims. I was not an early arrivor so I was stuck in the 20 bunk bed basement room with only one electrical outlet for charging cell phone and camera batteries. And the bathroom was upstairs and down a hall. Bathroom was co-ed with two toilets, four urinals, three sinks and two showers.
Early morning tomorrow. I hope to leave before 7 am as it looks to be a hot climb up the mountain to O Cebriero.
So today I walked to Villafranca del Bierzo where I am staying in a private albergue which has twelve single beds in the space of twenty bunk beds. It also has electric plugs at each bed and the bathrooms are single sex. And the beds have real sheets!
Tomorrow, June 15 I hope to make O Cebriero which is in Galicia.

June 6 from Sahagun

Two days in a row! At albergue with wifi so am taking advantage and writing quick update. Today and next three days will be short walking days. The way the villages are spaced we would either have to walk in the high 20s km or in the high teens. So we are walking high teens.
My walking Partner in Crime Heike is very sensitive about how loudly she snores and prefers to be in a private room if possible. Today - with the rain - is a great day to be in a private room instead of the dorm. In a private room you can hang your wet clothes and laundry everywhere and it might actually be dry in the morning.
Once I leave Heike behind in Leon I will be back to the dorms. Unless it was a really wet day and then I might try to find my own room.

It was another beautiful walking day. The rain waited until we arrived in Sahugun before starting. Heike and I needed lunch and some incidentals (new memory card for my camera etc) so we walked to the Plaza Mayor and sat in a bar eating tapas and drinking diet coke and cafe con leche until the stores opened at 430-ish.
Dinner was at the albergue. For 10€ I got a huge mixed salad, half a chicken and for dessert I chose plain yoghurt.
At the table were Heike (German), me, a German man, a Frenchman and a Dutch woman who speaks English, German and French. There were some interesting discussions about the philosophy of the Camino and dangers of commercialism conducted mostly in German except when I threw in some comments in English.

June 5 from Ledigos in Castilla y Leon

Walked 23.5 km today and I feel like it was a rite of passage!  It was a long, very flat, bordering on hot, and very beautiful walk.  I think that today and tomorrow will be the flattest stretches of this journey.  But there are so many beautiful flowers in the fields and along the trail and the long open stretches have a deep beauty of their own.

The Plan.  With the advent of June comes Reality.  I fly out of Madrid early on June 25.  Yikes!  I want to be in Santiago by June 23 so I can attend the pilgrim mass the next day.  When you arrive in Santiago you go to the Pilgrim Office where you show them your credential books full of stamps from each day of The Way.  You get your Compostela.  And the next day at the pilgrim mass they announce the starting points and the nationalities of all the pilgrims who arrived the day before.

So, Santiago by June 23 and afternoon of June 24 go to Madrid so I can fly Lufthansa early morning of June 25 to Frankfurt and then Condor over the pole to Anchorage arriving the morning of June 25 (about half an hour before I left Frankfurt).

I have one walking companion left: Heike and I lose her in Leon on June 9.  She heads to the beach for a week before having to go back to work.  I lost Anke on June 1 in Burgos.  She decided to stay there for a couple of days to rest her ankle and is now making her way north to meet her husband and they will walk the northern route to Santiago.

So I´m looking for more walking companions!  Anyone out there available between June 9 (Leon) and June 23/24?  I can do it on my own but it is so much more fun to have one or more Partners in Crime along for The Way.  No matter how you try to describe things some things just need to be experienced: the oasis bar in the middle of the 17.5 km stretch where you can sit and drink cafe con leche!  Meeting a father and son from Italy who are walking together.  Going to the pilgrim masses and benedictions even though you can´t understand most of what the priest is saying.  Visiting stunningly Baroque churches. 

And there are the daily adventures.  For example every day you arrive at a new albergue/hostel.  Every day the sleeping arrangments are different in quirky ways.  You could be in a room with 50 bunk beds or six bunk beds but people from another room walk through your room to get in and out.  You could be in a room with only single beds but the door squeaks loudly whenever you open it and you worry about waking everyone up when you have to get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom.  You could be in a crowded room with squeeky bunk beds and lots of snorers.  The shower and bathroom arrangments are always interesting.  It is fun to have someone else there who understands the humor of the newest situation and all you have to do is exchange a quick, knowing glance!

So let me know if you are interested in meeting me.  It would be lots of fun!  Just be ready to walk 22 - 25 km each day.  And be ready for hot weather or chilly weather, blistering sun or rain.  And be ready for the experience of your life!