Our route on the Camino - el mapa

Hola!
Behold the map! (I regret it is not the most elegant copy - scanning can be tricky. If you click on the map, it should open up in a new window and be a little bigger and more readable.) In Spanish, el mapa -- ah, you say, those of you familiar with Spanish, why is there a masculine article "el" in front of this word? Most words ending in "a" in Spanish are considered feminine and take the feminine article "la." Because, gentle readers,"mapa" comes from the Greek, and in Greek the word is masculine and his gender transferred to the Spanish. I remember learning this in one of my high school Spanish classes and being uttering fascinated. Basta.

This bit of cartography shows eastern Spain and the border with France. We start in France at St. Jean Pied de Port and climb up over a col or pass in the Pyrenees, then descend into Roncesvalles, Spain. I hope this map helps orient people. We would like to get as far as Santo Domingo, but we shall see what the road brings us.

(And thanks to Rick Steves for giving me permission to use the map from his book, "Rick Steves' Spain 2010" - what a guy!)

Friday morning, October 8, we leave for London and will see Shakespeare's "Henry the IV, Part 2," which I am dutifully re-reading. Hasta luego!

Finding one's way on the Camino

There are several good guidebooks for walking the Camino - Lonely Planet's "Walking in Spain," for example, and there is a wonderful map of each stage of the walk that has been published by John Brierley, "Camino Pilgrim Guides." Our friends Alberto and Carmen, whom we met on the Camino last year, had his great map, and we were able to find one in Sarria. It shows the elevation gains and location of refugios and hotels, bars. It's nice to know how far you have to walk to find a place to sleep or get a cup of coffee and a meal.

The other way you know you are going in the right direction is to look for markers with either a yellow arrow or a scallop shell - the shell is a symbol of St. James.

Pictured is an arrow made of yellow scallop shells that has been embedded in the wall of a house.

I just got permission from Rick Steves' office to use a copy of the map of the Camino from his book on Spain. I like the drawing. So I will be scanning that tomorrow and uploading it!

Hasta manana! (imagine a tilda - can't make it take!)

Credenciales and trekking poles

Here is a photo of John's credencial showing the first of the rubber stamps we got in each town. Some are quite ornate and large. Each bar, hotel, and church has a stamp available. You must get a stamp from each village or city as proof that you passed through there on your way to Santiago.

We requested our credenciales - or Pilgrim Passports - in advance from the group, American Pilgrims on the Camino. Their website is a great resource. No charge - but they did ask for a donation if we felt inclined. We did.

At one point, we were afraid we might not have room for all the stamps we needed, but it worked out just fine. We presented our credenciales at the special office in Santiago - they passed muster - and we each got our special document with our name written in Latin attesting to our having completed the pilgrimage to Santiago by walking at least the last 100 km.

"An Actor Prepares" is the famous book by Stanislavsky on learning the craft of acting. Well, "a pilgrim prepares," too. Many things to learn and decide - including type of shoes, trekking poles or not trekking poles, and so on. For this year's walk I purchased trekking poles -- short enough to fit into my pack. Lightweight carbon -- thank goodness I had a 15% discount card for REI. We tried them out tonight as John, Holly the dog, and I walked a bit at the end of the road. They do seem to help with my ankle issue, but I am concerned that they are not tall enough for me to grasp at the right height. We shall experiment. Worst case, I buy a tall pilgrim staff when we get to France and use it instead. More on the ankle later. This is called blatant foreshadowing.

We leave on Friday -- the days are flying by!

2010 Camino - The First Third

iHola amigos!
Last time I posted was in October 2009 - we had reached Santiago de Compostella after hiking about 150-160 miles over the last third of the Camino. Now in October 2010, a designated Holy Year because the feast of Santiago (St. James the Apostle) fell on a Sunday, we are going to hike as much of the first third of the Camino as we can.

We will begin at St. Jean Pied de Port in France at the base of the Pyrenees and go up over a col, then down into Roncevalles -- the place of the noble Roland's death - Charlemagne's trusted knight immortalized in the medieval "Song of Roland." He and his comrades were ambushed by Basques. We will be traveling in Basque country for several days -- the Basque language is still a puzzle - it is called "Euskara" in the Basque. Some say the Basques are the lost people of Atlantis and that is why their language is so different from any other known tongue.

Because we walked at least 100km to Santiago, John and I received our pilgrim certificates last year. We had to show our pilgrim passport with stamps for each city we visited. I will be posting photos from last year.

We leave Friday, October 8 and will be stopping to London, en route to Biarritz and then a bus to St. Jean Pied de Port. The walk will actually begin around October 13 or 14.

More to come. Thanks for reading. iBuen Camino!

Santiago - Pilgrim Mass on Friday

Friday, October 16

We slept in til 8:30 am and had a lovely breakfast in the sunroom of the Hotel Costa Vella. Then off to meet Carmen and Alberto in the cathedral for noon Pilgrim Mass. Mass was packed -- but we got there early for good seats to see the altar. About 15 concelebrants came out in a procession- all in red vestments. There were Spanish, Hungarian, Polish, German and Italian priests. The main celebrant read out all the starting places for the Camino and how many from each country had arrived. We were in the Astorga group.

It was very emotional to see the pilgrims just coming in and to feel a part of this huge community of peregrinos.

The highlight was the use of the enormous incenser at the end of Mass -- about 4 ft high and 2 ft wide that six men swing from from the high point of the church. It was amazing to see this huge incensor going about 40 mph and flying over our heads. It hearkens back to medieval times when pilgrims would come and sleep in the chursch and because of lack of washing facilities and mores of hte times, the odor was unbearable. Altar boys used to run up and down the aisles with incensers burning. The botafumeiro is from the 15th century.

After Mass, we bid adios to Carmen and Alberto who are heading to Vigo to visit friends. It was an emotional farewell -- they had bought us a gift of a beautiful post of the Camino and signed it for a remembrance. We shall miss them very much. They will always be a precious part of the Camino for us.

More later. I am posting from the Santiago Airport on our way to Madrid.

Arca to Santiago - 20 km -- We arrive!

Thursday, October 15

We get up early knowing that my limp will make us go slow into Santiago.

My ankle actually feels better and we start off after our ususal breakfast -- sunny, warm day -- aabout 8:30 am.

All is well for the first few km -- then my ankle seems to really give out. Not even having the staff seems to make a difference and I am already full of anti-inflammatory drugs.So we stop at a small cafe and I ice my ankle for a time- That seems to help immensely.

The rest of the way is better -- we go through a series of small villages.

We make it to Lavacolla where medieval pilgrims would wash in the river -- symbolic cleansing. And we both wash our hands in the water.

Then we make the ascent to Monte de Gozo -- Mount of Joy -- now we are actually close to the city. This used to be where pilgrims would first view the church spires -- now obscured by high rises.

We stop at Monte de Gozo then on into Santiago.

We go first to the plaza in front of the church to meet Carman and Alberto -- we meet them -- hugs all round with them and other pilgrims we know. Then into the church to give thanks, hug the statue of Santiago above the altar, visit his crypt, then off to get our compostella!

Tomorrow we will go to the noon Pilgrim´s Mass.

We get in line and get our document in Latin after the clerk reviews our passport and stamps.

Then I leave my staff with all the others inside the compostella building and we go back out to the church.

We have arrived after 11 days -- after seeing beautiful country, making wonderful friends, and walking further than I have ever walked in my life.

More tomorrow! Gracias a Dios -- buen camino a todos!

Arzua to Arca -- about 20km -- still limping on the Camino

Wednesday, Oct 14

Dinner last night at the albergue with Carmen, Alberto, Adriano, and Susanna was great -- lentils and carrots, salad, wine, and yogurt with chocolate bits!

My ankle felt much better after icing.

This morning I am still limping, but able to walk.

I am walking through the pain and hoping I don´t do more damage -- but it is certainly bearable. John is worried about how slow we will be, but we seem to be doing okay after getting a palo for me.

John had looked for a staff -- he said he found some brooms at a hardware store and perhaps I could use a broom to help me. I gasped! But Carmen´s staff had certainly been a help when I used it before.

As we started off I was so slow, John and I talked again and walked back into town to see if we could find a staff. No one seems to be selling them this far along on the Carmino. Then he suggeste the hardware store again -- he said we could take the handle of a broom or rake and use it. Luckily we found a store that sold handles separately so 5 euros I had a staff which I wrapped with a stick ace bandage to help with the grip.

The day went slowly but we finally made it into Rua just before Arca where there was very nice hotel we hoped to stay in -- lovely village -- the hotel was completo. The pensione there did not look great, so we walked 2 more km to Arzua itself. There we did find a nice room -- the only drawback was the mosquitoes all night long.

Not too many downhills today which was good -- made walking easier. Mostly on the dirt trails through groves and villages. People we know on the Camino pass by and ask how my ankle is doing. Strangers on the Camino also see me limping and keeping telling me, It´s only a little farther!

We ate dinner with Carmen and the gang in the restaurant which turned out to be a comedy of errors iwth ordering -- first time that has happened. We kept getting tuna in whatever we ordered.

The hostal had an internet link so I could update the blog -- I hate getting behind.

And after taking more anti-inflammatory meds my ankle was doing ok -- the ace bandage wrap really helped.

Weather has still be clear and warm!

We leave Arca in the morning for Santiago! It´s getting near!