Day 28 Camino de Santiago Aug. 2, Molinaseca

     Wow!  What a day!!! In a good way!
    My little green book said that today was 7.5 hours of hiking 24.5K and a red day - that means mountain climbing.  Personally, the hike didn't seem that steep to me, but the last five k were brutal as it was straight downhill.  It was as if I was walking in a dry waterfall going down hill.  Had to watch my step, not look at the scenery and walk, and even then avoid falling.  Only almost fell once, but poles saved my keister.






    The good news is that today I was witness and participant to two miracles...more on that later.

    Had breakfast before I left and the trail started out uphill right away.  No worries.  Nothing a good cup of tea and two slices of homemade chocolate cake won't cure.  I'm not sure if this is heather, but it looks like what I would think heather would look like.  Regardless it was very beautiful.  Whole hillsides were covered in the purple "heather".  The bees were so thick it sounded like a B-52 warming up on the tarmac.

 

   




     The trail today was the most varied of any thus far.  We went through heather, walked on side of road, on roads, on cushy dusty trails, on quarter-size gravel trails, etc.  At one point the trail was extremely narrow and bushes were loaded with bees.  I figured that as long as I didn't stand still, I'd probably be okay.  Amazingly, I did not get stung. (that may have been a miracle but not one of the two!)

     When you look at this picture you should have only one thought go through your mind... "Now that looks like the ideal bathroom spot!"  Was that your thought??  Obviously you haven't been hiking with a belly full of homemade chocolate cake that is being constricted by the waist belt of a backpack.  Why heck, it's a miracle that I made it that far up the mountains!!! But no, that's not one of the miracles either.

 









 Okay, here it comes...  way up high on the mountain, near the top is the Cruz de Ferro or "El Humungo Cross".  The traditiona is that pilgrims place something that they've brought with them from home on the cross.  Pilgrims have been doing this for 100's of years and now the pile is huge.  I could see the cross from some distance and being the worrier that I am, I thought, "Cripes!  I don't have anything from home that I can leave on this cross.  If it was something I didn't need, I'd have pitched it by now!"  Right at that moment, my backpack strap snapped and I had to take it off to fix it.

 




 Once the strap was jerry-rigged, I hoisted the pack up and saw something jump off the pack.  I picked it up and it was the metal plate that said "Caribee" which is the maker of my backpack.  BOOM!  I had something that had come from my home!   Miracle #1

It was also proof that when something happens, we don't know if it is bad or good.  When the backpack strap broke, I thought, "Oh, that's not good!" but hey, no broken strap, no miracle!"
So is it good??? Well, what if someone is touching the metal and lightening strikes them?

    Not long after that I came to a "town", that is really just what you see in the picture.  It's billed as an albergue, but it has no running water or electricity.  Frankly, that sounds like a one way ticket to Bedbugville.  I did stop, however, because the guy running it, Tomas, is a bit of a Camino legend.








  He has about 5 people living there with him and he dresses like a Knight of the Templar.  Hey, who am I to say he's not.  He gives out coffee, tea, cookies, and has souvenirs for sale.  All in all, it's a guy living out his dream.  It's a shame that people who wear glasses can't be taken serious when they don certain roles, such as a cowboy or a knight.  It just doesn't work.  Even if you really are a cowboy or a knight, you will never be the poster boy.  Life ain't fair!

    These signs were just outside of his "fort" and the one that you should pay attention to is the one that says, "Finistere".  (It's just above Jerusalem).   Finestere means, "end of the Earth" and when St James was told to go to the end of the Earth to preach the Word, that's where he went.  It's about four days west of Santiago, and I'll probably go there.  There is a ritual that all pilgrims do when they get there.  It's something to do with being naked.... Okay just kidding, but I'll describe it more when there is a shorter blog post that could use some words!

     One might think that ol' Sir Tomas is a bit daff, and one might be right, but he seems happy, isn't hurting anyone, and really, with this view... who is crazy??  The views today were very reminiscent of the Pyrenees, which I have concluded are the prettiest part of the world that I have ever seen.
     After leaving the bespectacled Templar, the trail begins it's final ascent to the highest point on the Camino and it was along this part that the second miracle occurred.  I was walking and BOOM, I had an idea of what I can do in my next life...er...my next life in this life.  It has something to do with the Camino, but... well here it is:  First the preface.  Not to brag, but as a principal, I "led" a school to the highest State honor it can achieve, the A+ rating, the highest honor that a school can earn in the nation, The Blue Ribbon nomination, (won't know if we won until Sept.), (First school in PVUSD in ...ever???), the ninth ranked school in the state (which includes schools that get to pick their students), a school that increased enrollment from 680 to almost 800.... okay get the point?  I think I can say objectively that I had some clue about how to run a school.  Okay, so with those qualifications, you'd think that a district would want someone like me to help their principals, right?  Oh but the fly in the ointment...they've got no money!!!!  That's where the Camino comes in.  On the Camino, you see on a daily basis, people doing nice things and asking little in return.  Sooooooo..... here's my offer to districts - Would you like me to help your principals be more effective...for free?... Yes, you read that right.  Why not money?  Well, that's private, but basically, money is not the currency that I am currently dealing in.
What do you think?

    Okay so after the miracle of my ticket home hit me, I spent the next 20 k brainstorming ideas of how to help principals... which I will not bore you with now.  (By the way, I had this miracle idea without the benefit of 600mg ibuprofen mixed with a cerveza).  I was a bit high as in WOW what a view!!  A 360 degree panorama that pictures do not justify.  Recognize the guy in blue?  Yep, that's ol' Spandau- talks to me in German as if I understand two words he's saying-met on the first day in St. Jean- Gunther!
     The city you see below is the one that I spent 1/2 the day walking down to, and as it turns out, is much like the one that I will be staying an extra day.  More on that later.  

       In the meantime, a girl and her boyfriend were hobbling down the mountain and I asked what was wrong.  Her knee was hurting her so badly that it was painful to walk. (Holy Rebeca of Luis and Carmen fame!!)  I gave her one of my hiking poles, my knee brace, and then shot her to put her out of her misery... okay not true.  I carried her back pack (what did she pack?  a thong and a pair of sandals???  The straps on my pack are heavier!!) and then I rolled my pack down the mountain to the town of Acebo.  From there they caught a cab to the hospital.  The guy is a huge fan of the Phoenix Suns and I gave him my address so that if he ever comes to Phoenix, I can take him to a Suns game.  Here's the cool part - I don't know their names?  No one ever asks who you are?  You just do.  I like that.  So what is the motivation for doing things for people?? Just to be nice!!
What a cool little town - Acebo! It's the picture above!

   Acebo is in an area called La Bierzo, and the homes have balconies that hang over the street.  Very picturesque.  Some might need some stabilization money invested!!  Soon!!  But with the right person.... and wifi, a dishwasher and a microwave... I'd be very happy!!

    Some of the homes, I think if they made me an offer on them, I'd be hard pressed to not buy them.  I could be very happy in a house this size.  The town was stunning.  I wished at the time that I had decided to stay there.  It had everything I needed, 25E private room, wifi, cool climate, and flowers on a balcony.

    But I decided that it was too early to stop, and besides, I had read that in the next town, Molinaseca, I could soak in the river!  Okay, so I said good-bye to these very picturesque homes with their slate roofs and headed the 8K to Molinaseca.  Mercy...it was straight downhill for the entire way.  My knees were jumping out of my pants, screaming, "Fool! Why didn't you stop in Acebo??"

    Finally, the black slate town of Molinaseca came into view.  Of course, this is delusional.  It seems that once I see the towns, they keep moving away from me as I near them.  But eventually, I did get to the town, and for once the church/cathedral/ermita is the first building I came to!!   I could hear kids screaming with joy and I could see the top of an old bridge and put two and two together to get - aha! this is where the river is!!

     I like to put a lot of thought into my decisions, though I'm sure it may not seem that way... however, I saw the river, I have a computer, I have the time...I decided to stay in Molinaseca for an extra day.  I'll heal, write some on my idea, eat, swim.  Das ist good!  (Gunther would be so proud of my German!)

 I couldn't wait.  I checked into a room, took a shower, walked back down to the river and soaked my tootsies in the water.  It was cold, but not like Tahoe, water.  That is cooooolllldddd water!  I will check tomorrow to see if there are trout in this river and if so, will search for a guide and stay another day.













    I then went to dinner after going to the pharmacy to get band-ades, and heat compresses.  I had hoped they had one that was body size, but had to settle for back and knee size!  After dropping that back into the room, I headed out to dinner to a place called Casa Ramon.  Unfortunately, I left my camera at home so you are stuck with these pictures.  :(

     Casa Ramon was a trip.  The best restaurant in Molinaseca according to two people.  I sat outside and there must have been 8 kids ranging in age from 5-10 running through the tables.  The owner, Ramon, and his son were working the tables and cooking and messing with the kids.  It was a great time, and the food was awesome!  I went inside to pay the bill, because this is Spain and waiters are on permanent strike.   Inside was a very old bar that said, "come back tomorrow and have a sangria!"  Okay!! I will.  There was also a table, in fact, just one table and Ramon and his wife were having dinner.  "Buon Provecho!"  I've been wanting to say that!

 

  Molinaseca is a sister city of a city in Japan.  Hence the Japanese writing.  Is it my imagination or does this Pilgrim look stoned??? Maybe he's just returned from Tomas the Templar????

     Okay there was another miracle today, probably the most unexpected one of all.  I actually took a photo of a cat!




“Never put off until tomorrow what you can do the day after tomorrow.” 
― Mark Twain

Day 27 Camino de Santiago Aug. 1, Rabanal del Camino

Last night in Astorga was one of those magical travel nights... Beautiful weather, great music, good food, clean surroundings.   I enjoyed the outdoor concert which was really practice for an upcoming concert.

    There are several Caminos, all of them eventually meeting up to form the Camino de Santiago.  Think of the Mississippi River and all of it's tributaries, the Ohio, Missouri, etc, converging at different places.  So now I am also on the Camino Frances though only for a small portion.

      This ermita was in a small town only 4K from Astorga.  The stork in top was the "Rey", as the old caretaker of the church informed me.  He also informed me that in Rabanal, there is a great restaurant called El Refugio.  Can you guess where I just had dinner???  It was as good as he said.

     Took a detour and went to a town called, Castillo de los Polvazares.  It is suppose to be one of the prettiest towns in the area but because it's 1.5k off the trail, no one goes.  I wonder why these towns have such long names.  Why not Phoenix, or Mesa or Yuma??  Imagine the money that the city has to budget for signage???
    Most of the town had green doors and rock + mortar buildings.  Very attractive.  There is always one, however, who begs to be different.  Hey, I'm in the 200's!!  Wow!

The town of El Ganzo has this laid back bar.  I wrangled up to the bar, slammed down my two Euro coins, and said, "Barkeep!  Give me a liter of your best bottled water!"  What a man!  What a man!

    Soon after leaving the Cowboy bar, we left Kansas and started heading up the mountain.  Nothing too strenuous, save a 20 mph wind in the face.  I had thought about taking another day in Astorga and getting my back and knee on the same page, but after looking at a map decided that since the trail paralleled the road, I'd just roll as far as I could.  I rolled the entire 20 K from Astorga to Rabanal.  Back said thanks.  Knee said thanks.
    When you look at this picture what do you see - pine trees?  Make you think of anything special??

It does me!  I think, "Now there's a bathroom with lot's of privacy!"  Betcha you'll never look at a pine tree the same way!

 




The town of Rabanal is very beautiful.  Rock streets and rock buildings.  This dog was very passive, too passive.  Why does he need a chain if he's so passive?

 







This was the first small church, that I've visited that has a huge iron gate inside of it, blocking the entrance.  I found out why.  The altar is gilded in gold.

   This is an albergue that had I known it existed, would have stayed there, but I took the first one I came to and it should be okay.  For 5E, what should I expect??
   Tomorrow is a red day, very steep climb and an equally steep decent...but that's tomorrow.

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend. Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.

Groucho Marx

Day 26 Camino de Santiago July 31 Astorga

Happy Birthday Martha!
    Martha is my "aunt" even though she is neither my mom or my dad's sister... You might have to be from the South to understand that relationship.  Anyway it goes, she is one of the most beautiful people you could ever meet.  Wish you could.  She's an angel on Earth.
     Okay Mert, if that doesn't get me into your will, I give up!Ha!
     Astorga has to be one of my favorite cities in Spain.  In fact, yes, I even think it is more enjoyable than Segovia.  Beautiful cathedral, though rather ill planned, a house built by Gaudi that is actually attractive, medieval streets, cobblestone, beautiful parks, perfect weather, Life is good...

     The day started like most - with me being the last to leave the albergue.  It's kind of nice, because then I have the entire day to myself to think, which goes something like this....walk myself to exhaustion,  beat my "self" to pieces for the first 1/2 of the day, then spend the rest of the day reassembling my "self", then a nice dinner, a walk about town, see a few people that I've met over the last 25 days and off to bed to do again the next day.   Simple and enjoyable.  Of all the things that my eyes will miss, it will be the 1000's of gardens with incredible flowers and vegetables.  Makes me think of Uncle Johnny, Dad, and growing up on the farm as a wee little kid.

    Not much rolling today and a long day to boot.  28K.  Started off going through a tunnel of over brush and trees. Walked over 50 canals today that if I could teach my pack to float would have been like rafting the Colorado, minus the Canyon... the river... okay, it would have been like Libertyland River.

    No blog of mine is complete without the picture of food.  Here was a cafe that was glorious.  I had walked for about 12k at a good clip and without stopping and saw a sign that said "homemade bread".  Done.  I'm there.  I don't care if they spread sheep dip on it.... it's homemade bread right!!??  One thing my ears will miss is no matter where you eat in a fine restaurant or a street cafe, if a person walks by your table, they will say, "Buon Provecho!"  Which you can probably guess means, "bon appetit".  My blog may be the only blog in the world where you can gain weight just by reading it.

  We crossed a bridge today that was built in the 13th century and is over 200 meters long with 19 arches.  A huge battle was fought here in 456AD... What you didn't know that??  Me neither...  Guess it was really important at the time, however.

As I was on the bridge I saw this man trout fishing.  I asked him in beautiful Spanish, "Hey!  Ya got any?"  He, unfortunately, thought I could speak Spanish and yelled back a whole bunch of words and the best I could make out is that his friend in the next picture caught a 3 kilo trout.  That's about 6.5 lbs.  Whoa!  That's a horse of a fish!

 



 If I see another trout stream and I'm in a good way, I'll ask if one of these guys wants to be my guide for a day.  Frankly, catching a fish would probably be too much for my little heart, so I'll be happy just wading in the river and casting over and over.    Yeah, I'm talking myself into it.




  

From here the trail starts to go up gradually.  Tomorrow it jumps but not so steep.  The next day is labeled" ridiculous" and the following day is "slightly less ridiculous".  So rather than worry about what will be here in a couple of days, I decided to enjoy the day as it is.  Flat - and with cornfields.  The largest corn maize in the world, is here in August.

    The trail was poorly marked from this point on.  In fact, it split at one point and all hikers felt like it was because the local bars in towns not on the Camino want a piece of the action.  I get it.  We keep many of the small towns alive.  Many a time I was scratching my head which way to go, and every blue moon I'd come across a sign like this, which may have been overkill, I dunno.

 




      Finally I got to the outskirts of Astorga, which is gorgeous.  It was like I had passed through every previous biome today - grapes, wheat, corn, sunflowers, hay.  I will miss the sunflowers.  And they will miss me...they told me so!  auuugghhh!    Did I mention the wildflowers??  The red poppies, blue and yellow daisies, and ...no..no... they don't talk.  Of course they don't talk... that would be crazy!

      Then to reach this promontory was awesome.  Made me think of a spot in Juneau where you can be at Gastineau Lookout.  He founded Juneau.  (He is Gastineau...not Lookout!!)  There are some serious bikers...or at least they are dressed for business.  I wonder though if it's like in baseball, some of the teams with the fanciest uniforms were pitiful.  In fact, I think I passed these bikers!!

 I walked through suburb after suburb and finally got a picture of the cathedral on the hill in the city.  Too bad...the albergues are always near the cathedral, so that meant I was going to be climbing another hill.   It's okay.  I'm looking forward to Astorga.  They are famous for their chocolate and for two deserts - mantecadas and hojaldres - both of which I've already tasted!!  Why wait for dinner, right?
They are not the best I've had.  The chocolate has rave reviews from a British lady.  Can't wait to try that.

 The albergue I'm staying in, which is behind this pilgrim who looks more like a 49er, has beautiful music playing so I asked the manager who it was and he said it was a 24 hour mix.  25 minutes later he brings me  CD copy.  I love it!!  In the park next to me is a band playing in the gazebo.  So cool.  No, really cool.  The park is on a promontory and the wind is blowing a nice refreshing zephyr.  (Never thought I'd get to use that word!)

This is a building designed by Gaudi for the Bishop.  Unfortunately, before the house could be finished, Gaudi had had a major falling out with the Church and the Bishop said, "I no gonna liva there!"    Bishops can be like that you know!

    The cathedral is big and attractive from the outside, though the interior is very narrow, only seats a few hundred, and is dark.  Other than that, it's gorgeous!!
     Okay, now to close out Astorga with the weird and weirder:
The dish the town is most famous for is Cocido Maragato which is the typical dish of the Maragatería. It contains goat's blood sausage, ½ a chicken, pork, a pig's ear, a pig's trotter, a slice of pig's snout, chorizo, chickpeas, cabbage, potatoes and garlic.  They lost me at the blood, snout, and ear ingredients.

 

The other is this warrior chic at a department store window.  I'm sorry, but if you are going to kill me at least have the decency to wear a bra or chain mail.


If I have to choose between fighting Russell Crowe-like gladiators and a topless Amazon.... Really, you have to ask??





It would be distracting.

Stay focused.
Stay focused.
Stay focused.


auuughhhh!!


 



“To be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to make you something else is the greatest accomplishment.” 
― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Day 25 Camino de Santiago July 30, Villadangos del Paramos

Great sleep last night!  Stayed in a 1 star hotel with my own bathroom.  No one sleeping above me, next to me, below me... Even got to watch the Olympics, if you call watching Spain lose to Honduras in soccer.  As soccer goes, it was a great game... lot's of scoring - 1 to 0!!  The goalie for Honduras had tons of saves and Spainish players could only shake their head.  The announcer kept screaming, "Que Lastima!!!"
       I went to visit the Hotel San Marcos on the way out of Leon this morning after I left my hotel at 8:30.  That sounds early to me, but trust me, these peligrinos are dead serious.  They get up at 4:30, 5:30 to leave.  They get to the same spot I do, just two or three hours earlier.  Go figure.
    The Hotel San Marcos is a truly beautiful building, and if I had someone to share it with, I'd have happily dropped the 100 E a night.  That's why ya work, right!!??!

  I would have walked more today but left leg said, "Nope!"  There was a tunnel to walk through today that made kids of old men...older than me... People were hooting and hollering to hear an echo.  I met the sweetest old man on the trail who had carved a walking cane.  It was much too fragile for the trail, but it would have been a great memento.

 

 Okay, help me with this.... This is a water tower, that the town owners must have decided was unattractive... so they spend thousands of dollars on a metal screen for it.  Made it look like a Titan Missile silo, only above ground.  How did this happen???  Lucky for you, I did some research and have the transcripts from the town hall meeting:
Mayor:  Okay, we have 100,000 Euros left in the budget.  How should we spend it?  I'm opening the floor for suggestions....
Teacher - Well, as you know, our library was built in 1947 and we have only 13 books in it.  Two of the children have already read 12 of them.  What will they do next??
Concerned citizen - Oh for the love of Pedro... how many books do they need?  That's a book a year.  I don't read no books, and ain't I okay?!!
Mayor - Anyone else with an idea?
Nurse - We are almost out of penicillin, bandages, and yellow fever serum.  We could use these things and save tons of lives.
Concerned citizen - What are they doing with all my tax money that they claim is being spent on our Universal Health Care???
Mayor - anyone else?
Concerned citizen - Well, I been looking at that there water tower and I come up with an idear that I seen over in Villa del Rio.  Let's put a metal fencing all the way around it.  Make it look like one of them there Missile silos!!
Mayor - Sounds good to me!  Good suggestion Dad!   When can your metalworks company begin the construction?
Concerned Citizen - You sure gotta love this Deemocracy thang!

Change before you have to.

Jack Welch