It´s all about the People/Pilgrims

Day 35 In Santiago

Today we met more friends and made new ones, and heard stories.
At lunch, once again at the Parador, serving hake, pulpo and tuna, I met a pilgrim who has walked 13 Caminos. He thinks he is done with the Camino, as he has walked every path!
I met Lise, and we are having supper together. She says she has walked 9 Caminos.
I met a woman who walked only 15 km per day. That was her limit, and she started in St Jean in March, when the weather was great.
I met people at lunch who had walked the Camino del Norte - quite a challenge.
I met Mark and Debbie, who had to sleep in the loft of a barn with the animals in Foncebadon, which seems to be having an overload each night.
I met Jennifer, who has a blog and does a painting - at least- every day. She walked the same distances as Wendy and I so we saw her often. We stayed at the same albergue in Palais de Rei, and here is her posting from that day. Here is her blog.  http://jenniferlawson.blogspot.com.es/


Tomorrow we take the train to Madrid, and since I have a hard time sitting still, I think I will wander the aisles and hear more stories.

Somedays are great, some are not.

Day 30 Vilacha to Palas de Rei  28 km

Yesterday we felt like we were dragging. Every step felt like an effort, and we had to push ourselves to get to our destination. We couldn´t understand why. The weather was rain off and on, and it was a constant up and down, but so was today, and today was an easy 28 km. We had a spring in our step today. We arrived a little earlier than yesterday, and we felt fine. No need for a rest.  We can´t figure what made the difference, but today worked.

Maybe it is the excitement. We will be in Santiago on Sunday, so 3 more days of walking. Word was passed along the Camino today: meet  at 4 pm on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday at 4 pm at Taberna Bispo in Santiago. If everyone gets the message, then we should be able to meet up with all the people we have lost along the way. We heard the announcement from 2 pilgrims, then Lawrence popped out from a bar to hug us - He is from Ottawa, and we lost track of him a few days ago. He is the originator of the plan to meet!! You can get out of sync with pilgrims - we might stay at different places, we might just be 10 minutes behind them, they might go an extra 5 kms, and you won´t see them again. This way we might reconnect!

We are in Palais de Rei, and it seems to be a real centre. Everyone seems to stop here.
I remet favourite people along the way: the girls from Humberside in Toronto who know some of the teachers I know from that school, the Danish couple that we had dinner with in Fonfria, John, who has stayed in the same place for 4 nights with us, but ended up at the same hotel today, Mike, who we lost a few days ago - the list goes on and on. There are lots of kids from South Korea here, but one woman is older, and she threw her arms around me when we remet today. The people make the Camino a special experience. At coffee today, a couple of women bikers stopped, looked at my Canadian flag, and said ¨Is Wendy here by chance?¨and it was someone from Oakville who knew Wendy´s sister - they hugged like old friends.

So, we are doing just wonderfully. No injuries, and we are motoring along on schedule.

Last night with Gordon and Anne-Marie was so special - we felt like we were in their home, a private place, unlike the public places we have stayed in so far. And they ate with us, which has never happened before. Truly a unique experience.  I couldn´t load pictures yesterday, so here is Casa Banderas.

San Juan de Ortega and other people we meet

Sunday Day 12, Belorado to San Juan de Ortega- 24 km.

This is where our laundry is hanging - great location to catch the breeze. It has been a beautiful day, though there was frost on the wooden bridge this morning. This afternoon we are sunning ourselves in the plaza in front of the monastery. There are no priests living here, and mass for the pilgrims only 3 times a week.
It was an easy 24 kms, due to an early start, and breakfast on the premises.

This is the Albergue Monasterio San Juan de Ortega (St John of the Nettles) It is slowly being restored. Another castle like albergue, and only 5€ per night.

We have met some very interesting people on this Camino.
I will use initials, (in some cases) to protect privacy.

Today our walk was fueled partly by outrage. We walked for about 2 hours with W, an American, who is a libertarian, and a conspiracy theorist. He had some interesting and outrageous ideas which we totally disagreed with, so we had friendly arguements about Obama, health care and unions, and the time passed very quickly.

Some of my photos on facebook are from Rostislav ( real name), a sweetheart of a guy from the Czech Republic. It is a real treat to walk with him.

Other photos were from David, from England, who only was here 10 days, I think. It was great to walk with him, and we miss him and his friend Eric, who we have left behind several days ago.

We met a crew of Aussie women on the first day at Orrison. 2 of them are still keeping up with us, and the other 2 had to leave because of injuries.

Debbie and Mark are 2 Americans whom we have walked with a few times. They helped me to keep up the pace in order to get to Najera and snag the last 2 beds.

We really loved the Belgian hospitaleros at Los Arcos, and the Dutch ones in the laundry in Roncesvalles.

There are many Koreans on the trail, and there is a group of young ones who often stay at the same places as we do, as their criteria is inexpensive, with a kitchen. The smells from their cooking are amazing.

I´m off to put my legs up a wall. Tomorrow we walk into Burgos, with it´s fabulous Cathedral.

Buen Camino!