Finishing this Blog:)

 

It was a few miles of walking from last night’s hotel, to one closer to the airport, and I got to see some more sites. Along the way I passed a woman firefighter outside her station. I told her about my firefighting daughters and she agreed to have her picture taken with me:)

In the morning I’ll either walk, or catch a taxi, to the airport and fly home. This trip has been great. 

It is so great to see different ways of living. Wonderful to meet such a variety of people, with so many stories, occasionally in languages I could understand. Really, the language issue wasn’t as bad as I had expected. Smiles, kindness, and charades is all a person needs. 

The importance of flexibility has never been so evident to me. Sometimes a person just has to go with the flow, and, see what happens. 

Hotels are comfortable, and are a nice alternative. The albergues are where to meet people out of their element, every time having a different experience, and have the actual Camino experience. My experience was the best of  worlds, some albergues, some hostels, and some hotels. 

I’ll remember the kindness of strangers. The guy giving me a ride in his sports car so I would have a place to stay. The simple smile and nod from a pilgrim as I was placing  a stone next to the Camino, and a couple of big blubberfests. Simply the kindness of shopkeepers and folks at restaurants as I butchered attempts to find and order things, and, helping so many times trying to figure out which Euro coin was worth how much. Euro bills were easy. The coins gave me grief, especially if there were folks waiting in line behind me. 

The large amount of alone time to think, and practice, and to relax and concentrate on the present moment, and not dwell on the past too much, and not worry about the future too much, was great. My mind was often occupied by food, water, sometimes aching body parts, weather, sleeping arrangements, timing, learning new things (geography, history, cultural norms, languages, weird street signs), getting used to thinking in the metric system, trying to remember names of cities, people, and even…witches:) 

This trip clearly took me out of my comfort zone. It was a good thing. My phone plan allowed for unlimited texting, but limited talking. I wanted to save my talking for necessary calls on the trip. Not talking to anyone from home for a month has been hard. There are some voices I really want to hear. Luckily, Rick and Nancy came so I was able to hear familiar voices for a bit. 

I have a love/hate relationship with the phone. It was crucial for navigation. It was needed to text communicate with home, and communicate with fellow pilgrims, hotels, finding supermarkets, restaurants etc. I used it to help with Spanish words I didn’t know, and to learn more about historical items I didn’t know about. 

I used the phone way less than I usually do at home, that’s a good thing. By far, the primary two uses of my phone on this trip are pictures, and this BLOG. I will actually be glad when I send this tonight and it’s done. I’m using this blog as my journal. I couldn’t help but keep up on some sports, but mostly just scores. One night I watched Euro League basketball on TV in a hotel…they’re good.  

I’ve been told it before, and it’s clearly obvious, but things are really old here compared to at home. An old building at home is 150 years old. That seems brand new here:). I had never been to Europe before, and had heard others talk about this, but it hit home more to me when I saw reminders multiple times every day. 

Learning that old languages are still hanging on was a surprise to me. I thought they just spoke Spanish in Spain. Foolish me. 

A lot of people are moving around the world. Yesterday, working in the hotel I stayed at was a man from Nepal, who had worked for five years in Poland, and then came to Portugal because of work. People coming to Spain and Portugal to work from all over was a surprise. South America and Cuba seemed to be the most common foreign born workers I met. 

In order to see the service at the cathedral in Santiago I arrived two hours early. I simply relaxed, looked at the building, listened to the din, watched people, rested my feet, smelled the unique odor/aroma of old, and didn’t say a word or wasn’t spoken to in a large, growing crowd. Never could I have imagined that I would voluntarily sit in a church for two hours before a church service:)

My lack of knowledge of Europe is embarrassing. I need to study maps, and history books. No wonder questions about Europe have always challenged me in Jeopardy!  Franco, Salazar, and the Basque Country issues are things I should have known more about.

Would I do a Camino again?  Yes.  Will I?  I don’t know.  There are many different Caminos. The Camino Portuguese sounds very interesting, is only about 1/3 the length of what I did this time, and sounds incredible. Many do the Caminos on bicycles. Maybe that’s in the future. Some even do them on electric bicycles…that seems like cheating:).  Theresa will be an important element in that decision.

For a month I averaged 17 miles per day. It took a few days, but my legs feel great now. My feet are better, and, I’m glad I have a podiatrist appointment next week:) I’m anxious to weigh when I get home. My guess is I lost a little weight, but not much. The amount of food I consumed was huge. Last night I found a buffet. I can still eat a lot. If my eating habits don’t change any weight I lost will soon return. 

I miss my family so much, and am looking forward to seeing and hugging them!  Thanks to Theresa for letting me do this. Thank you Kari for figuring out the flights, buying the tickets, and bringing your family along to make the beginning of the trip memorable! Thank you Colin for reiterating four important rules of travel: 1) Use the bathroom whenever you have the chance; 2) Charge your devices whenever you have a chance; 3) Eat whenever you have a chance, and; 4) Sleep whenever you have a chance. 

All good advice!

Thank you Rick and Nancy for joining in on a bit of this adventure, and letting me see things I totally would have missed. Thanks too for Lifesavers, Smarties, and an umbrella I plan to replace. 

It’s time for me to take some of Colin’s advice, and sleep. 

Good Night from Lisboa, Portugal.

Buen Camino

Tourist in Lisboa (Lisbon)

Just a tourist day in Lisbon. I’m often corrected to Lisboa. Beautiful boat ride and learned historical fun trivia. The same guy who designed the Golden Gate Bridge designed this bridge In Lisbon. The top layer is for cars, the second layer is for trains.

The massive ship monument is in honor of famous Portuguese sailors such as Vasco de Gama, Magellan etc. I probably should have known all the others too, but I must have miissed the wrong day in a history class long ago. 

An old fortress, about 500 years old, used to protect Lisbon from invaders is the castle looking thing  it was also used as a prison.  An old aqueduct. 

I tried to use the train and subway system today. It has some major flaws, so I eventually stuck with taxis, and walked. 

A boat ride on the major river was nice. 

I’m settled in early for the evening. 

Travel Day

Mostly pictures from trains, train stations, and Portuguese places today. This day was devoted to traveling!

What a day:)

Fascinating train-run-bus-train-train-train-walk from one train station to another-oops, I was at the right bus station the first time, and more. Then one last long train ride. It's been a blast!! 

My favorite though, at one train transfer, they had everyone heading to Porto, get off to transfer...as planned. Probably ninety percent of the people (including me) got off, walked down a ways, crossed the tracks, and got on the train that was waiting there. We're about all loaded up, when a railroad employee anxiously told everyone we were on the wrong train. Another train was just pulling up on a third track. 

Almost everyone thought it was really funny, but there were a few who were real jerks. The jerks were so outnumbered, they soon became quiet:)

I'm in Lisbon, Portugal. I was in Porto about two hours. I loved it, but, decided to make this totally a travel day. Then, I will spend two full days being a tourist in Lisbon.

In case you care, sometimes people give advice when they don’t have a clue what they’re talking about.  Therefore, sometimes, a person can get a lot of extra, unneeded exercise as a result.  I learned that, again, from experience today.

Hotel rooms here are a pain in the butt.  If not for a tenacious taxi driver, I’d be sleeping on the street tonight. He communicates entirely with Google Translate…it’s pretty cool. I stayed in a dive hotel for the night.  Dinner at the dive spot around the corner, the Fat Chicken in English, was an experience. I don’t understand Portuguese, but I understand six grown old men teasing each other. The place I’m staying is obviously a poorer, working class neighborhood. 

Tonight, will be better, I have a reservation in what appears to be a little better area. Thursday night I'm staying in a classy Holiday Inn Express near the airport preparing for my early Friday departure. For the most part I didn’t do reservations on this trip.  Experiencing the challenges getting a room in Lisbon made me change my thought process. I was lucky to get anything, almost everything is/was sold out. 

Lisbon seems to be a safe place.  I still don’t really like big cities.  

Mostly, I'm just getting anxious to be home. 

 

Unexpected Surprises

I woke up at 6:00 a.m. not knowing what the day would bring.  It turned into a really good day. 

When I arrived at the bus station, there was no one at the booth to help.  There were, however, about 20 other pilgrims with the same problem.  All the seats are sold out for the day for all six buses from Finisterre to Santiago Compostela. Not only that, but the first five buses for Tuesday were already sold out. I checked last night, there were only three seats left on the 3:00 p.m. (last) bus. I bought an 11€ ticket as a backup plan. I was worried about getting stuck. 

I was ready to leave Finisterre, and was ready to move on.  About this time a six passenger minivan taxi pulls up. I heard the price, quickly realized splitting it a bunch of ways was a great deal, and before the other folks realized what happened we had the six passengers for the minivan.  The only problem is he had to leave immediately to do another run, and he would be back in 1 1/2 hours.  We all agreed to sit down together, eat breakfast, and have coffee.  We were all in such good moods, we became immediate best friends, with some language hiccups;)  The Italian couple, about my age just spoke Italian, and thus understood a fair amount of Spanish, two German women in their 20’s, one had taken high school English, a Surgeon from Australia, and me.  

The Taxi Driver showed up and we had an easy trip to Santiago where the Australian and I had lunch.  We talked about the famous swinging incense scenario at the cathedral.  He had the chance to see it on a previous trip.  I really wanted to see it.  His understanding was it was only special occasions, and Tuesdays.  I decided then, if I had to wait an extra day to see it, I would.  After lunch we talked to a cathedral guard who said he was wrong about Tuesdays.  We wouldn’t be able to see it.  I was bummed.

He took off, and I decided to spend ten euros and do the big cathedral tour.  I had shortchanged myself being cheap my first time through Santiago.  It was great, seeing all kinds of art, learning about the history of the construction, the first cathedral was built in the 1000’s, a second bigger one was built in the 1200’s etc.  Amazing stuff. It was fun to look down at the people looking like ants in the square. I still don’t understand baroque versus Romantic architecture periods etc, but it was cool anyway.  The tour leader was talking about the big incense ball, and she told me they would be using it at the 7:30 pm mass tonight!  I found out where to sit for the best view, and I was to get there at least an hour early because it was going to be packed. She was right.  I got there two hours early, and people were already in their seats.  The ones who got there only an hour early were standing.  

I hadn’t been to a Catholic mass in at least 15 years, and nothing like this.  The organ music, singing, blessings to the pilgrims, almost all in Spanish of course, were awesome.  The experience was great.  The organ could be felt through the entire body.  The ball (I guess it’s called a thurible) was fabulous.  It takes eight men pulling on the ropes in unison to make it swing.  It’s art in motion!  I heard this is a World Heritage Site.  It’s appropriate!

I’ve changed my plans due to the busing situation.  I have a train ticket for tomorrow morning.  I’ll be heading to Porto, Portugal.  There’s a very short layover in Vigo on the way.  The guy selling me the tickets, and his supervisor, both warned me I have to RUN from one train to the next to make the switch work. It sounds like a challenge, I’m ready for it:).

No Albergue tonight, I’m staying at the closest hotel to the train station.

It’s been great, but, I’m getting anxious to get home:) This makes day 40.

 

Mission Accomplished

 I made it to Finisterre (Fisterra) today, and I found out the difference. Finisterre is the name of this place in the Gallecian language, in Spanish it’s Fisterra. It’s the same place:)

Beautiful early morning in the small port village I stayed at last night. Much of the trail was very well kept today, and, there wasn’t too much road walking. 

I made it to the 000,000km marker, with the lighthouse in the background:). I then went beyond the lighthouse and way down almost to the Atlantic Ocean to place my last stone. The stone is close enough that very high tides reach there. Without a doubt I was way closer than anyone else today. Finally, even I got nervous and decided it wasn’t that important for me to get in the water, a tide pool was good enough. 

Tradition has people leaving their boots/shoes there, and even clothes. Sometimes burning their clothes. I really like my Hoka shoes, and leaving perfectly good clothes as basically litter, makes no sense to me. All I left was an important stone. 

It was thought for centuries this was the furthest west point in Europe. As such, since they didn’t think there was anything west of there (little things like North America and South America) this was as far west on land as a person could go. That’s how it got it’s name, end of land, or end of the world. Two problems with this, first was Christopher Columbus and his trips west. The second problem was there’s a place is Portugal that juts out further west. 

Now, this is just the furthest west point in mainland Spain. Still a cool place, and, keeps its old name(s).

When I arrived in town I did laundry, ate, got an albergue to stay in, and tried to figure out plans for tomorrow. Language challenges, and people having differing ideas, make planning interesting. I was going to ride the bus to Muxia tomorrow to start being a tourist.  Depending on who I talk to, that may or may not, be feasible. Maybe all the tickets are sold already. Tomorrow morning I will be at the bus stop early to figure it out. One way or the other, I have two days to get to Santiago. Maybe I’ll be hiring a taxi after all:). 

I’ve tried to keep track of how many countries I’ve met people from on this Camino. I’m sure I’ve missed some, and I haven’t asked everyone, but I’m up to 26 on the list. Slovenia is represented, so is the Czech Republic, Belgium, and, of course, Latvia. I didn’t know how to count the Irishman who now lives in Sweden, so I gave him double billing:)

I was walking really slow coming in to Finisterre all morning. It was time to enjoy, and soak it in. 

My style is to get up very early, and escape the albergue either first, or with the first group. I have it down to a science.  Everything I can pack, I do, the night before. I leave my “ditty bag” out so I can do things like put in my contact, brush teeth, etc. I shower the night before. I grab everything I can and as quietly as I can head to the common area where I can make a little noise as possible packing up and others can sleep. It’s nice to walk, catch the sunrise, and get going early. One problem is coffee shops often don’t open early in small towns here. Today I again had to walk quite a while before coffee until I actually woke fully up. 

The other day I met a pilgrim taking care of his CPAP machine. There was no way I was going to carry that extra weight!  He said it was 1/4 the weight of his entire pack. The ones who suffer the most when I don’t have my machine are the people who have to listen to me snore. I tell myself there are plenty of other snorers in those rooms. My snores just keep the drone consistent throughout the rooms. 

I have met quite a few folks along the way who refuse, or quit, using albergues. They stay in hotels instead. Hotels are occasionally nice, however, the huge part of the experience is getting to meet so many, wildly different people!  That’s what’s so fun. One funny example is what is socially acceptable to wear in such a setting. One lady from San Diego quit going to albergues after one night when a man in only “bikini underwear” was cooking in the kitchen.  The Swiss woman in the conversation saw no problem with that. Just a cultural difference.  Personally, I didn’t think I could be shocked after 67 years, so, let’s just say, I have been surprised. 

The pilgrimage is done, being a tourist begins, and I will try to post some the last few days, but, no guarantees. I hope to go to Muxia, Santiago, Porto, and fly out of Lisbon June 2. Who knows. 

This has been good for me:)

Buen Camino

Last Long Day

 The Taxi Drivers have figured out that some pilgrims get tired, and want rides. There are often yellow arrows with the phone numbers of the local taxi, or larger signs like these. I have never succumbed:)

I walked with a woman from Slovenia today.  It was a wonderful conversation.  She and her husband have four children, the oldest an 18 year old girl. She did the entire Camino Francés.  They have a small farm in Slovenia, and we both discussed how others though Santiago was a nice, small city  it seemed to both of us to be a real big city!  She said it’s bigger than her capital city!

I’m embarrassed as to how little I know about Europe, and especially it’s countries. I’m going to have to get maps and figure out where they are in relation to each other.  There’s no way I can get Jeopardy! questions right without serious remedial work.  Being humiliated when I asked what language they speak in Latvia still haunts me. 

The monk I had so much fun with, Lawrence, told me about a 74 year old Lithuanian woman who walked all the way from Lithuania on her pilgrimage. He kept saying “from Lithuanian, from Lithuania.”  Someday I think I should learn where Lithuania is.  Maybe near Latvia?  Maybe they speak Lithuanian?  I have felt humbled on this trip regarding how little I know about Europe. Maybe Slovenia is close to them…what language do they speak?

There are continuing scenes and flowers along the way. The morning sunrise was especially nice. 

I came across this werewolf statue. I took a picture of the write up. Most fun was the little boy telling me about it in Spanish, and his father laughing at him. I just know he was excited about the statue;)

There was a stretch with no services. Three options were all crappy.  I choose the option of making today a long day.  My feet prefer shorter days.  I went 21 miles today, and they did well.  That means less than ten miles to the finish.  

I’m in the fishing port of Cee.  It’s a cute little port city.  The first Albergue was full, the second one has about 20 bunk beds, 40 total beds, in one room.  I got here early enough to get my choice.  Absolutely a bottom bunk.  Middle of the night bathroom breaks are easier, and, I can store my belongings under the bed.  Then, I got the closest bed to the exit door.  I get up earlier than most.  I pack up in the evening, then leave before most are awake.  Being close to the exit means I don’t bother anyone.  

I had a great experience with fireworks and a little parade through a village today. I can’t get it to load to the blog, but I’ll show it to folks if interested.  It was fireworks, bagpipes and all celebrating the Pentecost tomorrow.

A few raindrops today, but, really a nice day.  I’m ready to be done, but, this has been great!

Right Now, Slow is Better

 I’m not going to try to put the pictures in any order. When I try that, everything gets messed up. Anyone reading this will have to guess which picture l, if any, pertains to which written content. Think of it as a game. 

The certificate gives me credit for 828 km for the pilgrimage from Irún to Santiago, about 500 miles. My pedometer shows about the same. I’m sure that’s my best month since September of 2014 finishing the PCT. The hike continues now from Santiago to Finisterre. Some signs, and maps, show Fisterre. I’ve been assured it’s the same place. 

Walking today I came across two tour buses with people standing around and looking at a nice river and bridge. I heard an American accent. A group of seven women, from Chino Hills, California and one guy, one of their boyfriends were in the group. They had done a 100km, fully guided and planned (and PAID for) pilgrimage finishing up enough of the Portuguese Way to get a certificate. Now the group is touring. Comparing and contrasting our experiences was funny!  I don’t know what their trip expense was, but, I guarantee it was many, many, many times greater than mine:). And I like mine more.  

Chino Hills is very near to where I grew up, and one of the women went to Montclair High School, where I learned to swim as a youngster. She went to Serrano Junior High, I went to Vernon Junior High. She remembers my old Kingsley Elementary School…we all had a lot of fun while they waited to get back on the bus and see in one day what it will take me four or five to see:)

I love some of the signs here:)

Nice scenery and rural farms and ranches with small towns.  There were some stretches of gravel side roads, which were nice for a change. It seems to have been quite a lot of pavement walking lately.

One pilgrim showed me a website that shows how many pilgrims get a certificate each day on the Camino.  It averages about 2,000 per day, going down significantly in the winter.  So, yesterday’s zoo at the cathedral with all those people is pretty much a daily occurrence nearly nine months a year.

I have significantly cut down my distances the last two days. My feet seem to like the slower, shorter pace.

Albergues are all different.  This one is funky.  It’s old, remodeled apparently without any building codes, unique.  An old, significant older than me, couple is running this.  I’ve paid for dinner (sometimes dinners come with the room) and I have no idea what I’m getting.  This is far enough out of town there are no restaurant options.  No problem, I have a lot of energy bars if it’s inedible.

At the rate I’m walking I’m still two days away from Finisterre.  Spending the night near Vilaserío, Galicia, Spain, listening to thunder.