I am missing the Camino

I am missing the Camino.  The day I hit Santiago, I thought, "Hmmm... I can cross this off my bucket list."  Not too unlike the time I rode my bicycle down the coast of California.  I was exhausted, not sure of myself, not sure of anything, except that I missed my home, my family, my friends, and the comforts of home.  I thought to myself, "Why did I do this? Why did James call me?  What was I thinking?  Why was it that I could not refuse the nagging call to come to this place?  A month has passed since I returned home, and that little voice just reared it's head again.  Go AWAY!! Away I say!  Do not taunt me with your vagabond pleasures!  It was so hard.  It was not like anything I have ever experienced.  I ached every night.   I lost toenails and felt smelly all the time.  My feet abandoned me.  And I them.  It was if someone was playing a dirty trick on me.  What is it about "The Way" that steals my heart and soul?  I have run the race, done the time, why do you pester me with more?

Santiago de Compostela

Perigrino soy, Santiago a voy!  That is what my hat said as I walked the Camino.  Entering the sprawling city was, at the beginning, much like other large cities I had walked through, lots of noise, lots of traffic, but there was something different about this one.  It seemed as if hundreds of pilgrims were walking in a very hurried pace towards their destination.  I kept my usual pace, knowing, I would arrive in perfect time.  As I approached the old city, and came up to what appeared to be the back of the sacred cathedral, I was overwhelmed with emotion.  Two street musicians were playing a simple guitar and a mandolin.  How perfect to hear stringed instruments at this moment.  The music had a Celtic flair, and was clearly sacred.  I took out my phone and tried to capture the moment on video, but it pales to the actual experience.  My friend Colon´ (A gentleman from LA, I met along the way) was yelling "we are here, this is it!"  After relishing the moment, we continued around the massive structure to the portal door where you climb the steps in the back of the sanctuary, and touch the statue of Santiago! 


Inside the church, a Mass was being said.  As I got walked up the steps to hug St. James, all in the church stood up for the Gospel.  So at the very moment I had my arms around Santiago, the whole church was singing ¨"Aleluia."  It was very cool, and weird, and cool.  It was like James himself was saying, "Well, its about time you got here Joni!"

Then off to the Pilgrim Office I went to get my Compostela, the official certificate issued for those who walked at least the last 100 kilometers to Santiago.

I also walked throughout the cathedral, placed some special prayers in the prayerbox for my family and friends (mission accomplished Claire) and then sat down for a cerveza in the plaza.  My friend Colon and I sat and watched the pilgrims come in, one by one.  To see the joy on their faces renewed us as well.  We found our beautiful hotel San Francisco, (An old monastery) very near the cathedral.  We unpacked, came back for a beautiful Mass, had a bite to eat, and crashed!

The next day we were up early to take the bus to Finisterre.  It was a long day, almost 3 hours ride by bus, then walking up to the lighthouse.  Colon´ burned his clothes, even his good bluejeans, we all laughed with him as he danced around the flames.   Today, I will explore the city some more, visits the museums, then make arrangements to return to the USA.
The miracle of Santiago will forever be within me.  God is Good.  Peace out.  Joni

Almost to my Destination!

So, I have been walking through many little villages here in the the northwest corner of Espania!  Let´s see, since I last posted, the towns have been Sarria, Gonzar, Palas de Rei, Melide, Arzua, Brea, and tonight, Labacolla.

 I am just 10 kilometers from Sanitago de Compestella!  Tomorrow morning I will get up early and make my way into the holy city.  I should arrive within hours and have plenty of time to get my Compestella and attend the pilgrim´s mass at noon.  The journey has been unlike anything I have ever experienced in my life.  I can only say, that anything anyone has told you, cannot compare to your experience walking the Camino.  I have been frustrated, and happy, sad, and elated, wet, and cold, hot and tired, yet it has all been so good, so rich, so unlike anything I could have imagined. 

I have met so many wonderful people, some I will remember forever.  I have a myriad of emotions welling up in me as I prepare to enter the city.  I want to treasure every moment, and not miss a thing. 

I will stay as long as I need to, then go to Finnesterre (the end of the earth) to burn a few clothes, and say goodbye to my pilgrimage to Santiago.  Thank you all for following my blog.  I will put the final touches on this blog when I am safely home in Palm Desert.  Suffice it to say, it is not like any other adventure on the planet.  El Camino demands all of you, all the time.  And in return, Santiago sees you safely to your destination, renewed and reborn.

 God is good!

A River Runs Through It

Greetings from Galicia! 

 I have walked from Villafranco to O´Cebriero, to Samos, to Sarria, and I am now taking a day off in Sarria.  I followed a beautiful river from Villafranco.  Then came the steep climb up to O´Cebriero.  Some say it equals the Pyrenees, but I say, no.  It was long, and steep, and parts were slippery, but it did not seem as hard to me.  O´Cebriero is this culturally confused little town.  It sits atop a mountain, and appears to be mostly a tourist trap.  They play Celtic music in every little store and pub.  They have little leprechan statues and they all speak Spanish.  Go figure.  It poured rain the entire time I was there (not long) and the Albergue was stark to say the least.  So as I left O´Cebriero it continued to rain, mixed with a bit of wind, and low temps, making it a pretty difficult day.  When I reached the top of this day´s walk, I took this shot.  I needed to show the rain.  I don´t know the person in the picture, but I wasn´t crossing the road like she did.  It was way too cold and stormy for me. 

 I have been without internet access for days.  And even this cyber cafe I found is really bad.  The key board sticks, and it is so slow!  Am I whining?  yep.  The longer I am away from home, the more I miss the USA.  The walk to Samos was mostly in this beautiful wooded path, totally covered in a canopy.  It was a lot of up and down.  The rain was coming through though, and I couldn´t manage to get my camera out and shoot anything worthwhile.  Suffice it to say it was green and pretty, and wet.  I also expected  a little Hobbit to pop out at any moment. lol..  Now the little town of Samos was a bit out of the way, but it had a 9th century Benedictine monastary that I wanted to see, and also had an Alburgue in it.  So I took the detour to see it, rather than hike straight through to Sarria.  It was worth every shoe soaked step!  Very cool.

  I met a friend from Ohio.  Her name is Leslie.  We had a nice dinner together and she played doctor and dressed my wounded feet.  They are surely my cross during this journey.  The next morning I was up about 7, knowing I would only walk about 12km to Sarria.  The path was not very well marked and there were several moments when I was sure I would never be found in this very desolate place.  I walked for what seemed to be forever, and then I come to a fork in the road.  It had yellow arrows going both ways!  What the hell was this?  A group of German pilgrims came up behind me as I was trying to figure out which way to go, and of course, neither of could figure it out.  And they spoke no English.  So, as I stood there in the pouring rain, my feet totally drenched, I just chose a route and took it.  The Germans did not appear to follow me.  As it turned out, I found several yellow arrows as I walked, so I figured eventually I would get to Santiago if I stayed on this path.  I feared I was going by way of Portugal though.  The path narrowed to one little trail, which eventually became one huge river flowing down on me as I went up more steep climbs.  As I descended, the water subsided, but I was left with slippery, muck, made up mostly of mud and cow poop.  It was really fun!  I´m not sure if I will ever get the smell off me.  At one point, as I was trudging through the muck, I looked down over the edge of the trail and saw a half built barm, with about  six cows laying down under the shelter.  For a brief moment I asked myself, shall I go sit with them?  They seemed to be much smarter than this pilgrim hoofing it through cow muck in the puring rain.  Makes ya wonder sometimes... So I finally reach the top of this big hill and I´m thinking I should be near a town by now, nope!  As I come aroung this corner, I see a big field.  Now I´m walking with this bright red poncho over me and my pack, to keep at least one part of me dry.  I´m thinking it is a good color for visibility near traffic and such.  Well it is...but as I turned the corner of the hill, I see this huge bull staring right at me.  uh oh...I suddenly felt like the cape of a Matador and it was not a good feeling.  This bull was not Ferdinand.  I don´t think he was too crazy about the rain either and seeing me, well, he saw red!  I tried not to look him in the eye, and slowly walked past him.  He kept turning his head and looking at me.  I guess I wasn´t worth the enegy, because he didn´t come after me.  Note to self:  buy green poncho next time.  Next time HA!  not happening! No way!  So after another few kilometers, I finally reach a little town that has a cafe.  I crawl in and order a cup of coffee and some cake.  yum.  I hadn´t eaten at all that day, and it was now about 1030 in the morning.  After a short break I gathered up my stuff, bundled up my wet clothing and took off again.  The kind woman at the cafe said I had another 4 km to Sarria, Thank you Jesus!  So off I went. 

When I arrived in Sarria, I went into the tourist office.  As I walked across their floor, my shoes gushed out water, with a sound just like Huckleberry Finn´s in the church, remember that?  The two young women at the counter laughed, and asked if they could help me.  I asked them to book me two nights in the finest hotel Sarria had to offer please.  They did, and it was just around the corner!  Yeah!!!  So for a brief moment, I am enjoying not walking, not walking in the rain, and allowing my tired soles, to rest.  Tomorrow I take off again.  I am now at the last 100 kilometers to Santiago.  My Compostella is calling me.  Please God, let me make it.  Life is good...

Santo Domingo/Burgos/Leon/Ponferrada

Ok, I will have to say that yesterday was just an all around bad day for me.  I´m not sure what the Camino was trying to tell me, but after a wonderful time in Santo Domingo, and getting a great start, feeling fresh, I quickly realized my little tootsies were once again on fire.  I´m really not sure what I am doing wrong, but have decided that the pressure to walk 20-25 km a day is just plain crazy.  The tempo around here is this, every morning at 0 dark 30 people get up, and get on the path, in the dark.  They rush, rush, rush to get in 25 km before the sun burns through the mist, and to be first in line at the Albergue.  It is totally insane.  The picture above reflected just how I felt yesterday. lol  Is this a spiritual walk or a race?  I have come upon some Albergues that have been full (I arrive rather late) but never has it been a problem, I just find a pension or even splurge on a hotel if I must.  Usually the church will offer some assistance as well.  So why are they so crazed?  Well most have jobs to return to and they have a deadline. It is frustrating for me, because I enjoy the company of so many new friends, and then they are off like a herd of turtles to the next town.  I found myself trying to keep pace with them, and it is not good for me.  Perhaps a lesson in ¨Keeping up with the Joneses¨ as we say in the US.  None the less, lesson learned.  I will only walk where I want, when I want, and I won´t stray from the path.  Taking a bus through the meseta was ok for me.  It was long, and flat, and hot, and quite boring actually.  I suppose I could  have done it, and gone into some contemplative thing about aloneness, and the frailty of living without any resources for days.  ummm, nope, I don´t think so.   So, no, I am in Ponferrado and it is a very cool town of about 65,000 people.  It has a castle in the center of the town where the knights of Templar hung out.  It almost looks like Snow White´s castle.  lol...   My friend Vlada, from Australia...

In Santo Domingo the Albergue was awesome!  This was the room for the bicycles, the walking sticks, and the boots!  Is that cool or what?

The next picture is of two Camino angels named Matt and Kayla.  They are from Pennsylvania and studying Spanish at the university here.  I met tham at this bus stop, when I was totally lost in Burgos.  They laughed when I asked them if they spoke English.  I was so glad.  They got me back on the right path.  In big cities, it is really easy to miss the little yellow arrow.  It gets lost in the all the city stuff.  Thanks Matt and Kayla!

This is a silly self portrait with the river behind me in Leon!

And so it is.  God is good.

Santo Domingo

It has been awhile since I have been to my blog.  Internet is not always as accessible as the U.S.  My feet are getting better, but man are they sore by the end of the day.  Since Estella, I have been through several little towns.  I am now in Santo Domingo.  I am sure you can find it on the map.  It is still on the outskirts of the La Rioja region.  This is an area that is full of vineyards.  And the wine is really great.  Most of the walking is on dirt paths that seem to stretch for miles and miles.  On either side are grapevines, just coming into bloom.  The hills are covered with nice little rows, all neatly plowed, that reach to the very blue sky.  For the past few days I have walked under a cloud cover. This has made the walking so pleasurable.  I have found a nice pace each day, and I often prefer to walk alone, with only an occasional pilgim passing by.  The solitude is priceless.  

On a stretch of the road along the interstate, between Estella and Najera (I think) sometimes all these towns run together when I finally get to a computer.  Anyway, pilgrims make little crosses out of anything they can find, and place it on the fence.  The one in the picture is mine.  The last picture is in the very big town of Logrona.  Right outside the tourist office is a modern statue of two pilgrims walking.  So my new friends Isabella(from Germany) and Melanie(from Switzerland) and me all jumped on the statue and a nice man walking by took this picture for us.  Notice his finger in the upper left hand corner.  Oh well, just another gift of the Caminio. lol...

Puerta la Reina to Estella

And so my journey continues through the Spanish countryside.  Coming into the cities here are always exciting.  Most have walls and a portal to go through.  It feels like the renaissance faire to me everytime!  Such history here, it makes America such a baby in so many ways.  There is a wonderful river that we have been following along.  It was quite big here in Estrella.  It has been warm and clear and beautiful my entire journey, although there is talk of rain in the morning.  Change is good!  lol...

As I was leaving Puenta la Reina there was a tall tower to the left and on the top was a stork´s nest.  She had some babies too.  ( I had seen them earlier)  So I snapped a picture.  Even with the zoom, it was hard to catch it, but if you look closely, you will see her atop, tending to her babies.  It was pretty cool.  The pilgrims meal I had the night before was the best ever!!  It was 11 Euros, but they had everything you could think of and all the vino tinto you could drink.  Que Rico!!  I have a picture of my new friends Cali and Coleen from South Africa and Jopsts from Germany.  Jopsts had blisters on his feet too, so we commisurated together.  What a gift to meet so many wonderful people on the Camino!   God is good!