One Day to Go

I'm ready to go - my hair cut, to minimize the weight, backpack on, and on a training walk.
Tomorrow we leave, and I am so excited I am vibrating.
Yesterday, we had our last training walk led by me until my return. The group will be ably led by Linda and Pat in my absence, and they have planned to walk in some new territory.
Wendy and I walked about 23 km yesterdaywith the group - from home to my church, then along the waterfront, picking up more people at  Leslie and Lakeshore, then down the Spit - a total of 10 km down and back.Then we returned to my house for tea and cookies. The happiness and good feelings in my apartment lasted all evening.
We fly Air France tomorrow, arriving at 8 am Paris time on Monday morning. We'll spend the day in Paris, and travel by train to St Jean Pied de Port, arriving Tuesday evening in time for dinner. Wednesday we'll climb up the mountain to Orrison - a short day to begin. Roncesvalles on Thursday evening, then we will let the Camino tell us where we start and stop.
The adventure, which began when we decided to walk together, begins in earnest tomorrow!

Last day in Santiago

Saturday Oct 13 in Santiago

I´m doing the draft of today´s post in the Santiago Public Library.  I feel so at home here, even though the staff doesn´t speak Spanish. And it is only a few blocks from the albergue. Yesterday I pared down my backpack: let´s hope it is under the regulation 10 Kilos for Easyjet. I made a list of the food I had on hand, so that none of the weight will be made up of food. So this morning, in the kitchen of the albergue, before 9 am when I had to be out of the bedroom, I had yogurt and oats and some of Father Pius´s elderberry jelly. I gave the rest  of the jelly to Bill, an American who appeared in the kitchen while I was eating. He had stayed in Rabanal when I was working there, and was still in Santiago because he walked to Finnesterre and came down with a cold, so he is holed up here trying to get better. Though this is a very noisy albergue. There is no curfew, so my roommates can come in at any hour. And one floor below, under my window, is a bar, and there was a lot of celebrating last night, until the middle of the night.

After breakfast I  walked to the daily market. It was huge! It reminded me of the St. Lawrence Saturday morning market, but instead of tables, the local vendors set up on the ground or on stone benches. And the meat and fish and seafood sections were wide open, not behind glass, though they were in the building. There were also some vendors selling used clothes. Yesterday I refound a vintage clothing place that I had seen in 2007. But I have no weight allowance left for clothes, unless I wear another layer. I don´t think they will weigh me, so I will fill my many pockets with stuff, and wear my raincoat over my black jacket in hopes of making the 10 kilo cutoff.

Sitting here, I can imagine that I am home in Pape library in Toronto. There are so many things I miss about home. My level of appreciation and gratitude should definitely improve when I return. Cooking my own food is high on my list, but on the top are family and friends. Meanwhile, I am here, with plans to visit another museum and the Cathedral, eat the cheese and crackers from my stash, post this later at the albergue, and catch a bus to the airport. Next report should be from Switzerland!

Darlene, the intrepid traveller

Later the same day

Life is so different as a pilgrim. I left Rabanal at noon, and arrived at Foncebadon at 1:30. It was challenging. All uphill - I climbed 300 meters over 6 km, so it was quite steep, and hot too. I didn´t think that I could make another 10 km to El Acebo. And I am still getting used to my new backpack, which, of course, is too heavy, mostly with food.

I am staying in the parroquial alberque. It is very basic: bunks close together, small corridor kitchen, even tinier bathrooms, and no heat - no lovely wood burning fireplace. No comfy chairs or garden to sit in. However, it is run by a volunteer hospitalero, Renny, from the USA, so I sat in the sun with him and we compared experiences, and albergues. This one serves breakfast (instant coffee and bread) and a communal dinner. He is making lentils, and will take out the vegetarian portion before adding the chorizo. He is also making pasta salad, so I am going back to cook a few potatoes for myself. He is on crutches, and has been for 14 months, so this is the way he can be on the Camino. He has done this place many times before. I choose to stay here, as Tom, who was one of our trainers, loves to work here, and I wanted to see if I could see myself working here. The answer is no.

Foncebadon is much colder than Rabanal- last week when we were 10´ they were at 0´, as they are that much higher. It also only has 4 year round residents. It is windswept, with many abandoned buildings, and 4 albergues. The one I am staying in is in the church, and there will be a gathering to share tonight, but no organized vespers. Rabanal is really a fairy tale village - so clean, with flowers everywhere, and no abandoned building on the main street. The restaurants are both in hotels, so are lovely, with extensive menus.

Tomorrow, only 2 km uphill to the Cruz de Ferro, where pilgrims leave their stones, then it is downhill all the way to Molinaseca.. I just checked for links and they are all in Spanish, or Galician, which is what I think this computer is programmed in.

Must go as time is almost up.

Darlene, la peregrina

Leaving Rabanal

An uneventful day - no new bedbug cases, and no rowdy pilgrims. They are really quite well-behaved - focused on eating resting washing, sleeping and eating again. I had a chat with 2 French women - my French was as good as their English, so we used both. We had a slow opening, and didn´t fill up to 20 until about 4 pm.

We had lunch in the huerta - it was lovely yesterday, but cooled in the eveing, so once again we had a wood fire. I made oatmeal scones for my last day. It took almost an hour fiddling with the oven - at one point it went out and it took me about 10 minutes to realize it - but they were delicious, and perfectly browned.

I went to Compline last night at 9:30, and got the stones blessed - 2 for Judi, one for Peggy, and one for me. It was a beautiful service, with a blessing of the pilgrims. I will include some of it tomorrow. My plan is to go back to the Albergue, pack my new backpack and some food, and take off. I will definitely walk to Foncebadon
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foncebad%C3%B3n
 and perhaps to El Ascebo.
It is a perfect day for walking - no clouds, and about 12¨

I hope to be able to blog from wherever I end up, but if not, talk to you tomorrow.

Darlene, who is between the two roles!

Next to last day at Gaucelmo

Liz and Dick joined us for lunch yesterday. I am trying to use up our food, and leave nothing behind when I leave tomorrow. My plan is to leave after lunch, and walk 5 km to Foncebadon, or perhaps 10 to El Ascebo. I will have to be ready to be a pilgrim again, expecting only a bed and a roof over my head, and anything else will be a bonus. Our pilgrims get much more. I  put my old backpack in a plastic bag and left it in the lost and found. Perhaps a pilgrim will arrive with a broken backpack, and can use mine.

Yesterday, there were 20 pilgrims when we opened at 2 pm, and we announced before we let them in that we had fumigated, in case anyone didn´t want to experience the residual fumes. We also asked if anyone had had a bag or themselves transported, and asked them to speak to us privately if they had bedbugs. Fortunately, no one had any problems with these 3 issues. By the time we put up the cerrado sign, we had 28, and it was about 1/3 of all the pilgrims staying in the 4 albergues. The hotels were full - they have about 18 rooms each. The village can sleep about 300 pilgrims, and I think it might be full often in the summer. Today we will open at 1 pm, as we have no other jobs to take care of, and I have become quite proficient and quick at the cleaning.

Dave and I went to dinner - a first! We agreed that we work well together, and that we could do it again in the future. He has already taken the last 2 weeks in October, and as my fingers are freezing at the moment, I would definitely need my fleece jacket if I were to join him. We will see. That was our last dinner at Gaspar´s. Tonight will be the last at Antonio´s. I am ready for this to end, and to become a pilgrim again, but I will miss the excitement of opening the gate and seeing just who will be our guests for the night. Hopefully my hands will heal a little - even the rubber gloves haven´t completely protected them. But that is a small price to pay for the fun and challenges of the job.

Hope to post tomorrow before I leave, but time will tell

Hasta luego

Darlene

More challenges

I am not so happy to share the news with you - we have had to close for 24hours to fumigate for bedbugs.
We had 2 people yesterday with symptoms, and one had fresh bites. So, isolate them in the entranceway washrooms, bring towels and fresh clothes, though the clothing was not too beautiful or warm, they shower and change clothes, and we wash all the clothes and the towels in 60' then in the dryer.  I brought them tea and coffee on a tray to their room, as the victims tend to be shell-shocked. It took about 4 hours to wash and dry all their clothes, and we left their backpacks in a plastic bag with fumigation spray for even longer.
Then we heard from another pilgrim who had stayed the day before who now has bites. They kindly called to tell us where they were sleeping. So Dave consulted with Christina at El Refugio Hotel. She helps to deal with the contractors and plumbers and electricians for us when Gaucelmo is closed. She recommended closing for 24 hours to fumigate, so that is what we have done.

We did a very thorough cleaning, including vaccuuming, as  there is part of the albergue, including the isolation room that has original floorboards, and sometimes half inch spaces between the boards, so we thought the fumigation might be more effective with a deeper cleaning.

Also, the refrigerator has died, so we moved the one for the pilgrims into our office. Seems like St James is challenging us, as Dave has put it.  On the happier side, the sun is shining and the sky is blue, for the first time in 4 days. I took off my long underwear and my socks, and am happy in my sandals again.

We´ll go into Astorga after the fumigation, and when the stores reopen, and I will mail a box to Santiago, the pilgrims office. That will give me a lighter backpack and better odds to cross the miles - 244km, actually, to Santiago. I will leave midday on Sunday, or early on Monday morning, and then I will once again be

Darlene la peregrina

In Leon!

I made it! A long and grueling journey, but I am settled in a hotel ( just for tonight) and back to an albergue for tomorrow. I am in a room by myself, with sheets and towels, just 2 blocks from the cathedral.
Check out the pictures at www.sanmartinhostales.com
 For now this is what I need.
I was at the airport in plenty of time, thanks to Wendy, and after having a delicious send-off dinner with Meg, Arlo, Cy and Lola. It was easy to spot the pilgrims in the waiting lounge - hats, zip-off pants, and carry-on backpacks. The first one I chatted to  was Tim who I had met at the CCOP meeting. Then a few others, plus more on the plane. But we landed at noon in Madrid, and I caught a slow bus to Leon, and no more pilgims. It was a challenging walk from the bus terminal in Leon to find my hostal - it is always a trial for me to find my way in cities.But I asked for help, and people really want to help, even though their english is sparse.
The last stop before Leon was Mansilla de las Mulas, and that is where we first intersected the Camino Frances. How exciting to catch glimpses of the trail out the bus window. And my hotel is on the Camino!
I hope I sleep well tonight - there is little sleep to be had on an overnight flight. Tomorrow I will mail a few things to Rabanal, buy some walking poles, and start out. I am not sure of my destination tomorrow - I´ll just see how it goes. Perhaps Virgen del Camino, or perhaps farther.
Buen Camino to you all
Darlene