Day 15 Camino de Santiago July 20th Burgos

Raj and I took off this morning and it was COLD!   That's why we had a breakfast of cafe con leche and pastries at our Albuerge.  The Albuerge was run by a family and very attentive to us.
























 I got about 4 k from Ages and remembered that I had left my walking sticks! Aughhhhh!  I'm so mad at myself!  Wellllll.....
Forgive (myself for being human), Forget (being angry won't help), Forge on (buy new ones?)

 





No, (in case you are thinking it...) I did not go back.  That's 8k or about 2.5 hours.  I can't go backwards.

Anytime that I have a road to walk, I try and roll.  The green thing on the backpack is my towel drying from being used 15 minutes ago.

 




They found a ancient man in one of the towns near here.  He doesn't look to bright... t think he's from South Memphis!

Kinda has that, "Uhhh, seen a woolly mammoth running around?"

or
 "Duhhh.... wish someone would invent fire."

 Couldn't help but look at this lone blooming sunflower and scream, "Yeah, Baby!  You bloom where you're planted... and when you want to bloom.  Don't be told you have to wait! Bloom baby Bloom!"


Hmmmm....probably need some therapy!!


People always throw stones at things that shine!

Gotta have a thick coat if you're going to follow your own path!

 




 This cross was at the top of the monstrous hill (which helped me realize that I had left my sticks).  Like I said before, little reminders to let you know that you are on the Way.  It's all good, eh!  A few days ago, we came across a cross and thought nothing of it.  Later that night when I had my sore legs propped up on the bunk, I read that the cross commemorated where a great battle took place.  The two kingdoms were arguing over a strip of land and were preparing for war.  One of the kings had a great idea, why not have one warrior from each community fight, and whichever won got the land.  The loser got the cross!

   From the hilltop, we could see Burgos, the 2nd largest city on the Camino.  I wish we didn't see it, because it makes me think that it's not to far.... 4 hours later, we are hobbling into town.  The town is spread along a river but the Camino goes through the city.  It's as if the Camino developers, when they got to Burgos said, "Oh phooey!  Let them walk along and on the road!"  And we did, for four hours.  Not the best part of the Camino.

 






This sign says, "Smile! You're in Burgos!"  I'd have smiled more if they had said, "free taxi!"

   







The cathedral in Burgos is amazing.  Started in the 10th Century, Gothic, it finished being Baroque and Romanesque.  It is very difficult to photograph a cathedral so I apologize  Here is a model of it.
  Probably the most ornate cathedral that I've ever been in. There wasn't two square feet of wall that wasn't carved, had a statue on it, or had a painted mural.

 







Most gothic cathedrals have  HUGE pillars supporting the ceilings, and this one did as well, but they were beautifully carved and sculpted, not the usual big ol' pillars.

 




 Even the hallways were ornate and yet light because of the stain glass windows.

  All in all, it was as if the architects looked at all the other cathedrals in the world and said, "I like this, but let's add this touch!"


Most gothic cathedrals have a main floor for mass and then a few chapels.  The Burgos cathedral has a decent size gathering area for a Mass, but many incredibly ornate chapels.  It's a gorgeous hunk of rock!

Not dark and scary like other gothic cathedral...except for the gargoyles!!



 

    Like this beautiful staircase to allow people in from a different street, which is 24 meters higher than the rest of the cathedral.  

    Here is a map of the Camino de Santiago.  You can see how it goes across Northern Spain in red, and the blue are all pilgrimage routes through France to get to the Camino de Santiago.  If you look closely, you can see how they form a scallop shell.

     This is how my day will end - in a cafe with wifi and 1E Cano.  A cano is a small small glass of wine/beer.  Actually, I had fresh squeezed oj and a bottle of water.  WooHOO ! such a party animal!

   This is how my day will begin tomorrow!  and the next day...and the next day...and the next day...in the same clothes no less!

I miss you!




Happy are those who marvel at the mundane!- SWB

Day 14 Camino de Santiago July 19, Ages

Ages which is pronounced Ah hez was a 27k hike from Beldorado.  I love that name....Bel dorado.  Like a friggin' John Wayne movie!  Where's Ricky, Walter Brennan, Dean Martin, Robert Mitchem??  Beldorado had one of the nicest town squares we've visited.  And it's a good thing.  Today was the hottest day on the Camino - 107.  There must be bodies along the Trail somewhere?
    Everyone, even me, was dog-tired and hot from the get-go.  I think I was hot because I didn't shower in the morning.  I usually take a shower when I arrive in town and then one in the morning.
   We arrived in Beldorado at 12:30 (High Noon +30) and were so tired that we stopped.  We met up with Richard and Nora at dinner and had a great time joking.
   My budget is doing well.  Spending about $40 a day, if that!  Most of that has been for tape for my ankles or ibuprofen, or Compead for blisters.  It's a morning ritual that most everyone goes through:  wake like they've been shot out of a cannon, get out of bunk, wrap Christmas gifts (pack up) and then go outside and perform miracles on their feet.

In the mountains just outside of Belodorado, there are some very well designed caves in the mountains.  Would love to explore them, but I have enough trouble saying, "where is the cave?"  Can you imagine what it would sound like saying, "I want to go inside your cave?"...and that's when the war began!

The path from Bedorado was climbing from the beginning but not too steep.  We, Raj and I, left at 7:00AM and it was cloudy and cool, a big change from yesterday.  Raj is a 27 year old electrical engineer that is going back to school to learn environmental engineering.  He lived the first 14 years or so in Kerala, India and is currently living in Atlanta.  Very nice guy.

 


  We met up with Owen and Katrina in some little town and had breakfast with them.  They were waiting on Owen's friends from Ireland to meet up with them, so we took off.  Probably never see them again.  Such is life on the Camino. People come into your life... and then leave just as suddenly.  C'est la vie??

   






The Trail was remarkably easier, probably due to the overcast and cooler temperatures.  It also helped that we went through an oak forest and then a pine tree forest.  This area of Spain is famous for it's bandits that use to hide in the woods and ambush pilgrims.

















Beautiful area.  There was a lot of logging going on, but I believe it was mostly to create fire breaks.  Still, for an Az. boy, it hurts to see trees fallen, though, I'm for it.

This is a site that marks the spot where many people were massacred during the Spanish Civil War.  The inscription says, "Their lives were not in vain but their deaths were!"   Frankly, I want my inscription to read, "It was on this spot that he took about 20 of the bastards out and this marker is merely a testimony to the generals of Franco, to beware!"  Yeah...that works.

From the top of the mountain, it is a steady decent to the plains of Spain.  It should take about 10 - 14 days of walking across flat hot plains.  I'm looking forward to it.  Plan to take my time and stop when my body says and walk when it doesn't mind!  Take a good look at those trees!  They're the last ones you are going to see for awhile! ha!

At the end of the tree line, we could see our stop for the night - Ages.  Good night!

He that is good for making excuses is seldom good for anything else.

Benjamin Franklin

Day 12 & 13 Camino de Santiago July 17+18 Granon and Beldorado

Day 12 

    We hiked from Ventosa to Ciruena and decided to stop for the night.  We had planned on stopping in Azofra, but changed and decided to plug on for 10 K more.  Hot.  Hot. Hot.  But I’m used to it.  Can’t say that Liverpool Kevin or Cork Owen and Cork Katrina are.  

Upon arriving in town, we went to the Auberge and sent Katrina up to look at the accomodations.  She came back and gave us a thumbs down so she told the man it was too much - 13E each which included a breakfast.  While she was upstairs, Owen read in the guest book that one guest had said it was the worst experience on the entire Camino.  Good call Katrina!

We found a pension for onl 20E each that was sooooo nice.  We ate peanuts on the terrace and Kevin soaked his feet while we had cold drinks and lazed away the time.  At about 9:30 PM we walked across the street to the only bar, but they had no food, other than “ensalada mixta” mixed salad, and we needed more substance.

      While discussing it outside the bar, the husband of the Pension, Pachi, came out and said, “My wife will cook you paella if you want?”  We didn’t even ask how much, though we had signed up for breakfast at 7:00AM.

      

She cooked the paella in about 45 minutes and it was to die for!  Best I’ve had.  She also had chicken and sausages, along with delicious red wine.  Dessert was a bowl of fruit that capped off a perfect evening.  We then changed our minds and decided that breakfast at 9:00 sounded better!!

     

What a night!   We decided to have dinnerWe got a late start in the morning because we had the BEST breakfast of the Camino- no check that - it was the 5 BEST breakfastes we’ve had on the camino.  Egg omelet, toast, honey, jellies, orange juice, coffee, and fruit!!

     

The price we paid was that it was hot from the get go on the trail.  So what!! The views of the wheat fields and sunflower fields, made up for it.  At one point it got so hot that we stopped under a bridge and flopped for about 20 minutes.  

     









The road today and yesterday was mostly flat and in open fields which meant that we could see where we were going for 4 or 5 k away.  We made it to Santo Domino de la Calzada in a couple of hours.  The downtown was a bit touristy and the church was really nothing special, but they’ve created some local legends to help sell it.  

   

 For instance, supposedly there was a German tourist a few hundred years ago hiking the Camino and a local girl fell in love with him.  He did not have the same feelings and in a moment of jealousy, put a silver chalice in his backpack.  When he left, she told the authorities that he had stolen it.  They searched his backpack and found it and hung him... (what else would they do, right??) His family, who just happened to be coming through town heard about it, saw him on the gallows, and went to him, and lo and behold he was barely alive...this after a few days, no less. (If you asked me, THAT is the miracle!!!)  

   





 The parents ran to the local magistrate, who was appalled that they hung him.  He was eating a chicken for dinner and apologized for their son’s death. 

 “Oh, but he’s not dead!!” they yelled.

“Lady, that boy is as dead as this chicken on my plate!” he replied.

And with that, the chicken jumped off the plate and bit his nose!!

Seriously...THAT’S the best you can do??  Whatever.  

Now they keep a live chicken and a live rooster in a cage in the church.  

 I imagine a town council meeting where the representatives are trying to think of ways to booster tourism:

Mayor - Okay, unless we start getting people to spend money in Santa Domingo, we are going to be like Greece - broke.  Who has an idea?

priest - I’ve got this story about the miracle of a rooster and...

Mayor - I’ve heard this one and boy is it weak, but we’re out of time so run with it.

Vice mayor - That will take care of the religious people, but what about the atheist?

Baker - I’ve got an idea!

Mayor - Jose, this isn’t the one about the...

Baker - No this is better.  I’ll bake pastries in the shape of a rooster and in the shape of a pilgrim.  We’ll sell it as a “local specialty”.

Mayor - Excellent!!

Photographer - Wait!   I have an idea!  I can make one of those cute cardboard cutouts of a pilgrim and people will pay to stick their face in it!  

Mayor - You guys are genius!!
Grocer - Hey I can put one of those machines in my store that takes a coin and turns it into a souvenir coin!

Mayor - This is so good!  We may only have to raise taxes 20%!!

     And so they have done so.  You CAN’T leave without buying one, even though you know it’s a gimmick.  Heaven forbid that someday you tell someone that you were in Santa Domingo and they ask, “Did you try the local specialty??”  or did you get one of those coins!?!?!  Or did you have your mug in the pilgrim cutout??

   










 After leaving Santo Domingo, we walked 10 K to Granon and this sign.  I know the church symbol and I know the telephone symbol... but what is the cross for?  Is the Red Baron buried here??  and the man symbol??  Is there a bowling alley here?? 



























         

       






Granon was another one of those towns with no people on the streets.  We walked in, hearing the theme from a Clint Eastwood movie.  

   







  There wasn’t much in the way of hotels, in fact, there was no hotel!  We stayed in the church which had three floors of floor to lie on a mat.  From last night to tonight! Such is the Camino!  

Does this look like someone who has adequately planned for his retirement??

We crossed into the state of  Castille y Leon  which spells the end of the wine growing region and into a hotter climate.  Today was 107 degrees.  We were all melting and cut our hiking short.  

Thankfully, most towns have a fountain as you enter the town and as you exit the town.  I feel like a horse drawing up to a trough.  

                                                                                     Forgive - Forget - Forge on   

Day 11 Camino de Santiago July 16, Ciruena

Waking up in Ventosa today I noticed that all the beds were empty except our little group of six.  Everyone had gotten up at 5:00 AM and were wrapping Christmas presents (rustling plastic bags and their backpacks).  We don't hurry.  We don't let a little guide book dictate to us how far to walk.  We walk, we talk, we walk alone (we are not talking then), and we stop when we are ready.  This is a picture of our dorm in Ventosa.














  Is it illegal to throw Italians off a cliff?  Two Italian women were talking non stop in the dorm at 5:oo AM as if they were at the beach.

 


Not to whine but to give an idea of the toll the Camino takes on the body, our feet are sore, duh, it's been about 250K.  My left knee is about played out.  Swells at night and won't bend.  Right shin strained.  EVERYONE has some ache or pain so it's normal.  When someone asks how I'm doing, I always sign great, or wonderful.  We all hurt.  But seeing hydrangeas eases the pain because it brings back good memories.

 




 Why do people who like Classical music think that everyone likes classical music?  Bit of snobbery, don't you think?  I like Waylon Jennings, but if I had a hotel, do you think that I'd have it blasting away at 6:00 AM?  Uh...no!!
 

 Love these little way stations for pilgrims!  Very well made and sure to stop the cold wind in the winter.  We saw pictures of Ventosa in the winter under a blanket of snow!  Beautiful.

  Passing through the town of Nareja, we crossed over a creek that screamed, "Get your flyrod out!!"  I don't have a fly rod!

 We had planned to stay here for the night but, Owen, one of the informal group said he had a second and.  Left the pretty town and the beautiful monastery.

 One more dusty road, but I don't mind it because you have great views and freedom wafting through your head.  Ya gotta love it!

A person who won't read has no advantage over one who can't read. - Mark "my man" Twain