mybuencamino

Left the albergue at 6am looking for a cup of cafe  Americano from our favorite cafe that that has the best pastries in Spain . Bummer it was closed, so I sat on the wall waiting for it to open , Stewart showed up and said lets press on and find another cafe, then I smelled the pastries being baked in the basement of the cafe, the odor of fresh baking wafting from a vent at the sidewalk level, I was salivating a s the owner makes the best pastries, I was bummed that it was closed, when all of a sudden the owner opened her apartment door next to the cafe, do we hold her hostage ? for coffee and pastries ran thru my mind, alas she recognized us from our frequent trips to engourge ourselves with her tasty treats. She opened the cafe and rapidly closed the door behind us, don’t let others see that I am open, she said. She made us personal coffee and offered today’s freshest pastries. She said she only got to bed at 4 am after partying all night, and she would have to open the cafe later , she wished us buen Camino and we were on our way. As we walked thru town the partying was still in full swing, loud music and young people in the streets cocktails in hand viewing the dawn with bloodshot eyes. I walked today 30+ km to Mansilla. 

Here are some photos.

Took two days off to explore this historical small city. It was very important during the early pilgrim times, there were many albergues to aid the pilgrims. Today it is largely agricultural , but now the town is in total fiesta mode, that means , lots of drinking 24/7 lots of loud music. There will be little sleep to be had. It is the festival of the Bulls , running of the Bulls thru the city streets, many very drunk young men running with the Bulls. Most everyone has been drinking all day. The towns people are divided into groups, each sporting different colored shirts, each group has a marching band, they seem to make numerous loops around the city stopping at each bar along the route, the band and the runners are accompanied by wives and girlfriends, and ,oh yes ,the babies. On Saturday we positioned ourselves safely behind a fence along the route, to view the running of the Bulls. The running was to start at 7 pm at 8 pm we heard a cannon boom, oh boy here they come at last!!! All 6 Bulls ran past us with the drunk men running along side, total time for the Bulls to run past us? 6 seconds and the running of the Bulls was history, time for the colorful groups to go back to drinking. The partying continued all night, at 6am I went outside and the they were still in the bars, drinking and partying. Later in the day around 11 am I toured the city, no one in site the town was empty, most shops closed . Saturday late afternoon the groups with their bands started up again for the second running of the Bulls . This time 5 Bulls in 5 seconds. Let the drinking begin again. Another all night party . ​

Here are some photos.

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Got up very early to avoid the heat, left the albergue before dawn, was greeted to a beautiful sunrise, had coffee and a chocolate pastry. Walked thru the town of Terrradillos de Templarios, this was a stronghold of the Knights Templar. About 20km of walking in very flat terrain. Walked alone on the path again today, it is a journey of deep personal reflection, where you ponder and clarify your innermost thoughts and perceptions of life and relationships, and the things that bring harmony. Entered the town of Sahagun, to find a 4 day festival just starting. It is a big gala for the whole town, the festival of the Bulls. The town was abuzz with the preparations for the running of the Bulls , and the bullfights on Sunday in the Corrida. Made the decision to stay a couple of nights to experience local fiesta vibe. The real party will start on Friday . passed by the pillars that are the mid point on theSpanish portion of the Camino.

Thought for the day; Who only sees what life hasn’t  given to him, will never see what it gives to him.

Had a fantastic and spiritual afternoon and evening. I attended the vespers prayer hour, hosted by one of the nuns from the albergue, 8 of us attended, they were the Catholics , I was the heathen. We all shared our spiritual reasons for walking the Camino, very emotional for all of us. We all shared from our innermost spirit. The sharing was followed by prayers and song. Very special to have had a priest from Georgia in the group, he and the nun both said prayers for each of us, and we all prayed together. At 8pm I went to the town church to observe  evening  mass. Mass was all in Spanish , the father gave blessings , drank wine, gave more blessings, drank more wine, said a prayer, drank more wine , asked us to all greet each other, we all shook hands , and exchanged hugs and smiles, a very nice connection , the father drank more wine. The father then gave a short sermon, and had more wine. Communion was given to all the Catholics. More wine. The father then asked all the pilgrims to come to the altar to receive prayer from the father, he placed his hands on the head and made the sign of the cross on our foreheads. He asked for a show of hands what our home country was, he called every country on the planet, very impressive. The whole mass was amazing and spiritually special to me. Today we had a short 18 km walk that started at 6:30 am due to the heat forecast. By the time we arrived in Calzadilla the temp had risen to 88 degrees. The walk in the meseta, is much like walking in Nebraska, Kansas , Texas, Oklahoma. Toto we are still in Kansas. Just miles and miles of rolling plains with no shade along the way. Done walking by noon and having a beer, will be up early for a cool morning walk tomorrow. Here are a couple of photos.

The thought for the day; No event has any power over you but only who’ve you give to it.

Today I spend in reflection of my relationship with my creator, my wife , my children, and mankind. I will attend a prayer hour at 5:30 pm with the Sisters that attend the convent. I will also attend the mass in the church that is for the blessing of the pilgrims. Although I am not Catholic , I will draw what is intended for me.

My focus of my reverence today is to bless the Camino journey that my life partner/ wife Renee begins today in Pamplona. May her solo journey deliver the answers that she seeks, may her journey be a blessed event, granting  her peace and comfort.

Thought for the day;  It is only with the heart that one can see rightly, what is essential is invisible to the eye, as a blind person can see thru the heart.

A very nice walk at a stroll pace today thru the farmland and grain fields , identified three more bird calls bringing the total to 41 different calls, don’t know how many are from the same bird or birds. Had to stop short on this very easy walk day, all of a sudden shooting pain all the way up my left calf, dealt with the pain for over an hour changing pace and step length , stopped several times to massage the calf thinking it might be cramps due to dehydration, nothing worked. The pain would not stop, so I opted to do no more potential damage and took a taxi the last few miles to Carrion. Staying in a convent run by wonderfull sisters, with kind hearts. Going to the pharmacy to get heat cream for my calf and let it rest. After the first treatment the calf is feeling better, and I am taking industrial strength magnesium tablets to help restore the muscles, spears to be working  already.

Thought for the day ; every human carries in oneself everything he/she needs for a happy life, many simply forgot or forget.

Walked in a light mist this morning crossing the rolling plains and Mesa area of the meseta. Beautiful grain fields with wild flowers everywhere. Then came the climb up a very steep and long path up and over a daunting hill, the grade was up to 18%. A true test of the mental and physical, a true test of the relationship with self, much like the relationship with others in your life. You become aware of the needs , you seek to be in tune with the needs Of the relationship, fail to recognize the needs or fail to fulfill the needs and the relationship suffers, some part feels neglected and reacts to let you become aware. Push too hard on the body up hill and not be in awareness of the needs of the body, the legs burn, muscles call out, heart beats loud and fast, lungs cry for air. Be in tune with the relationship and keep steady focus , all is in harmony . finally arrived in the rather run down village of Boadilla , to my surprise, found an oasis, in the artsy  albergue En El Camino, walked thru the gate to find an art park. Had a great meal , and many inspiring conversations with other pilgrims.

Thought for the day;  Every encounter is an encounter with self.

Today a good threat of thunder storms and lightening , so Stewart and I decided to take the bus to castrojeriz, walking the open fields during a lightening storm is not a good idea, considering my past lifestyle. Rationalized that early pilgrams would ride in a cart , when available or offered, so a bus is the modern cart. A nice bus ride thru the wheat and Oats growing area of northern Spain. Checked into an albergue called  Ultria, a renovated structure, very clean , and warm hosts. The host said we should tour his cellar at 8pm. He took us down to the cellar/ wine storage barrels. This stairway and passage was part of an underground network of defensive, and hiding places, it was also offensive as the tunnel had narrow arches with low head room , the enemy would have to stoop over head first to clear the portal at which time their head would receive the fatal blow. The tunnel with its Roman arches, and the tunnel was over 2 km long and connected to a secret portal in the distant church church , this cellar and passageway was disguised as a winery and aging cellar. Above the winery in the main room was a log boom , hand hewn jack screw that controlled the pressure of the grape press. 

Thought for the day. Circumstances do not create you; you create the circumstances.

After a long day yesterday took the day off to tour the city of Burgos, the second largest city on the Camino. A very ornate cathedral is central in the city, a romantic , lazy river flows thru the city. It was a festival day , so all the shops were closed except the tourist traps. Many people strolling the prominade . Family’s, couples, bicycles, dog walkers. There is a long narrow park system that follows the river. The architecture is largely Roman influence. A very nice city, but too much hustle bustle for me. I am much more of a rural type. I live in Vegas? 

Thought I would take this time to share what it is like to stay in an albergue. They are all different, some private and small some are in monestarys , some are municiple having as many as 150 beds , dorm style bunk beds. They most all are first come first served. They don’t accept guests until 12:30 or 1:00 pm each day and tend to fill up fast, so arriving in the afternoon is important if you want a bed for the night. Arrive after 5 pm in a town you may not find a bed. Arrive late and the next town might be 18 km away, not good after a long day. 

So let’s start with the arrival at an albergue. You take off your loaded pack, show your country passport and your Camino passport, you receive a stamp in your Camino passport to show your travels along the Camino, a history of your walk. Most cafe’s also will have a stamp for your passport. 

A nights stay is from 5 to 10 euros. You then try to find a lower bunk, much easier for midnight stroll in the dark to the bathroom down the hall or down two flights of stairs. After placing your boots outside , boots not allowed inside, your start to unpack to get to your sleep sack to claim your bed. Now collect your shower needs and your change of clothes, everything you need is at the bottom of your pack, so now you have everything in your pack all over your bunk, just to find your soap and towel. Now you have replace everything back in your pack for security, oops, laundry soap in bottom of the pack, unpack and repack. Finally off to the shower, with your clean change of clothes. If lucky the shower will have hooks and a shelve for your dry clothes and your soap , oops maybe not. Enter the shower, strip down, only to find that the facet is a 10 second push button with no temp control. Takes 5 pushes to get the cold water to the preset temp of just below body temp, but the water is wet, the better albergues have continuous water and normal temp control, this becomes a priority in albergue choice. Once your shower is done you need to do your daily laundry so you can hang it in the with enough time for it to dry, you don’t want to start your day with wet socks. So you find the laundry tub, oops, only push button again and only cold water, you need to have hot water for the socks as you have slathered your feet with Vaseline to keep blisters away, now it takes hot water to clean your  socks. Laundry done time to hang them, oops clothes pins in the bottom of the pack, still have not had time for the first beer or glass of wine. The nicer albergues will do your laundry for 3 euros wash and 2-3 euros dry. And you get the first beer much sooner. Do a little tour of the town, find some snacks and a couple of bananas for the walk tomorrow. Now find where you want to eat dinner, most albergues have a pilgrims 3 coarse communal meal including a bottle of wine from the region. Dinner is usually at 7 pm, you enjoy the company of others walking with you or other people you have seen along the way. Lots of time sharing the Camino experience with people from all over the world. By now it might be 9 -9:30 pm oh no, laundry still on the line , now kind of dark outside. Bring in laundry and start to fold it, getting ready for tomorrow, spend time talking to the bunk mates around you. All of a sudden all the lights go out, it’s quiet time and lockout, no one allowed in after 10 pm. Get out the head lamp to find the way to the bathroom to brush teeth . In the bathroom they have motion lights that stay on for a few seconds, so you develope a hand waving leg wagging routine to keep the lights on. No you need to use the toilet, sit down, hold the door closed with your foot, wave your hands every time the lights go out. By the way some of the bathrooms and showers are coed, eventually modesty goes out the window. You never forget toilet paper after the first time, it’s in the bottom of the pack. Now time for sleep after stumbling back to the bunk in the dark. Stuff toiletries and laundry and toilet paper into the pack plus the clothes you you have on. Now crawl into your sleep sack, close you eyes and get ready for a good nights sleep, what is that dreadful noise, snoring from all corners, the result of walking all day and consuming wine with dinner. Yes, I need my industrial jet engine tarmack type of ear plugs. Where did I last put them? Yep, in the bottom of the backpack. So the unpack pack routine again in the dark. Oops forgot to take my ibuprofen and vitamins, you know where they are. Finally fast asleep, 5 am what’s that noise? People stuffing their backpacks crumpling plastic bags, shuffling around, dropping things, bang the metallic sound go the backpack hitting the metal gram of a bunk bed, whispers turn audible mumbles about water bottles and things not found in the dark, no lights on before 6-7 am in the albergues, why do they get up so early? So they can rush to first to get a bunk in the next albergue. All pilgrims must depart the albergues by 8 am. It is ground hog day all over again.

A very long walk today, separated from my wolf pack, walked alone and kept walking after the others stopped for the day. Walked a total of 38km a walk of solitude, looking at how my persona is perceived by others. How they perceive me is their choice, I have no control over their choices. I found that I have internal resentment, when I am lumped into generalities, like; it’s a male thing, or it’s a pilot thing, or all men are like this or that . Today I found that I am truly an introvert, i don’t try to be the center of attention , or life of the party. I prefer to listen rather than speak.  So I guess that my walking alone fits my persona. Viewed some wonderful sights today on my solo journey.

I got in the zone with my walking tempo , listening to my body and adjusting the tempo and length of step, if the legs were calling out in pain for more blood and o2 I would shorten the step not the pace, likewise the lungs to the heart, breath to lungs, when everything is balanced, all are in harmony. Push to fast, or step too far , one or more cry out. I achieved the balance of the step today.

For Gary the Ranger bird man. I have noted 37 different bird songs so far on the journey.

I placed several stones at the base of the cross at the top of the hill, for my wife, my kids , my friends in general. And prayed for healing, peace and happiness , good health, and harmony.