We begin the Camino -- Astorga to Rabanal 21 km

Today is Monday, October 5. You may have gathered that I have been `calendar challenged´ on my earlier posts.

Also, more errata: I checked my notes -- San Froilan lived in the late 8th century -- but some of the music from the concert was also from the 15th century. However, I am sure San Froilan would have enjoyed living in the 15th century because he undoubtedly would have met Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.

To Astorga
We caught the bus to Astorga and met some Canadians from Halifax -- I asked if they knew the Chamard family (Prof. Sharon Chamard is on the faculty of the Justice Center where I work), but alas, they did not. Nevertheless they were nice people.

Many pilgrims hopscotch a bit as the Canadians were -- having started in Roncevalles, crossing the Pyrenees -- then deciding to take a bus part of the way further along the Camino.

John and I visited the Tourism Office in Astorga -- in Asturias, one of the Christian kingdoms of Spain during the Morrish period -- and got our first official sello (or stamp) in our credencial. We must now be sure to get a sello in each town we visit along the Camino so we can show that we have walked through all the towns.

We were fortunate enough to stumble into the Cathedral -- normally is it closed Mondays-- but we did not know this. The door was ajar and we wandered in. It was so peaceful and had a beautiful side chapel dedicated to St. James (or Santiago) with a statue showing him in a contemplative stance. So much more appealing than the Santiago Matamoros -- Santiago the Moor Slayer on a white horse, in armor, with a banner with a red cross that came to be calle the Cross of Santiago -- he became the Moor Slayer during the Reconquista (reconquest of Spain by the Catholics Isabella and Ferdinand).

After taking time to see another delightful Gaudi building, buy umbrellas because the forecast looked dismal for the next two weeks and they seemed like a good addition to our ponchos and rain jackets, and have some coffee, we were off to follow the yellow arrows or flechas that are posted along the route. (We started late in the day -- about 1:30 p.m.) Sometimes the arrow is in ceramic with a stylized star on a pillar or the side of a building , sometimes it is just painted on the side of a building or on the street. You must keep a sharp eye out.

We are starting about 160 miles from Santiago. This first day of 21 km is on flat terrain and is supposed to take 5 to 6 hours. There are a few pilgrims with us, but not many. A hard rain started as we left the city and were in the countryside, but the ponchos worked great. It was cool, but refreshing and John and soon left off our rain jackets and just had shorts and t'shirs under our ponchos. To us Alaskans it seemed actually quite warm after we got walking!

The terrain is hilly with scrub oaks, lots of stone walls enclosing livestock. The trail is packed dirts and easy to walk on. After some time on the trail, we thought we would stop for food. We were in the village of Santa CatalinA -- St. Catherine -- and after explaining we were vegetarians, the person in the bar-cafe suggested the vegetable soup. He brought a huge tureen with bread, and a beer for John all for 7 euros. And we were starved. Here we met our first fellow pilgrims, Vicente - who worked for the Spanish embassy in Wash DC and Ottawa and Adrian - the son of Vicente`s friends and a university student. Vicente asked about Sarah Palin once he knew we were from Alaska!

We got to the village of Rabanal in 4.5 hours -- much faster than the guidebook said -- our first miracle on the Camino --or maybe getting into the closed cathedral was the first.

In Rabanl, two Benedictine monks runs a refugio (a kind of dormitory with bunkbeds -- the cost is usually only about 8 euros per night) for pilgrims -- we opted to stay at a hotel because we had no sleeping bags -- but we did go the Vespers service in the little chapel. It was packed with pilgrims from all over. The service was mostly in Latin with all of us chanting the responses in Latin to the two monks´ prayers. And the readings were in English, Spanish and French. A wonderful way to end the day. I lit a candle for the journey.

We went to bed early -- Tuesday´s stage would be many more km than today -- 18 miles actually.