We woke up to a cold morning. After breakfast, I started my walk by myself. No doubt, I usually do walk alone on the camino path as Marybel walks ahead of me most of the time. This time is different as I head out alone.

Like a mom sending a child off to school, Marybel made sure that I had everything with me including a good breakfast…lol. Then she walked back to the Albergue to await the taxi and I set off on the camino path.

It is a cold day. The gloves came out. My intention to say the rosary was quickly set aside. I have to confess that good intentions are just that. Sometimes, the intentions become reality and other times, circumstances changes them. There is also the hard part of keeping balance on slippery rocks or holding onto the rosary to complete your prayers. Keeping balance wins out.

It is only 15 kms today to Ventas De Naron. It felt like 25 – 30kms. Climbing some steep inclines while being cold is quite an experience. “How much more hill is there?” Or “oh no, more sludge and mud” These were my mantras for the day. I am glad Marybel is not doing this trek. My heels are beginning to hurt with the rough terrain. I now know how she feels. OUCH,OUCH and more OUCH.

I stopped for coffee in the town of Gonzar. Taking out the guidebook, I see that I have slightly more than 5kms to go. When the terrain is flat, I can do 4-5kms in an hour. Not today as the terrain is rough and all concentration is needed to avoid slipping. Slow and steady I go!

I reached the town of Ventas at around 2:30pm just in time for lunch. Marybel was waiting for me. She also said that she had seen our famous Japanese Family, the Morimotos walk past the albergue. I did not get to see them at all.

Marybel was glad that she did not have to eat lunch alone. She said that she was not looking forward to a big serving of spaghetti all to herself. Glad we were able to share our pilgrims menu of pan fried meat, fries, spaghetti, flan, wine and bread.

Compostela De Santiago is getting closer this day. Being human, I am starting to wish we reach sooner so that I get my certificate and leave. There is a rhythym on the Camino that is starting to cycle over and over again. The mind is getting bored perhaps. Though we meet new faces every day, see new sights and taste new foods, I am starting to experience fatigue of the mind where I am not getting excited by the new experiences. Or perhaps, I am concerned that my Best Friend is getting hurt like an invalid and I am helpless to help her. Well, something is amiss. I cannot put my finger on it. Maybe it is just the weather conditions….damp, cold and blaahhhh all throughout.

Anyways, I am hoping that this mindset will change for tommorrow.

Peace and love,
Hilda 🙂

We started our day with a great breakfast. Marybel and I stumbled upon a restaurant called Cristal serving a breakfast buffet of tortillas (potato egg omelet), jamon, chorizos, croissants, breads and of course wonderful coffee. They even made us eggs (not included in the buffet but an exception was made) without charging us extra. We love these buffets as they are great value. We get to sneek bonus sandwich lunches into our packs. Only $5 for each.

Fortified by a delicious meal, we set off on our trek. Going out of Sarria is easy. However, this trek composed of some slippery hikes of mud and slosh. If you wear runners, you won’t want to use them again if they traverse through the sludge. That is how bad some areas are. The only good grace is that the weather held up well for us today. Nice day with sunny moments throughout. Great day for a hike ofapproximately 22 kms.

I entered the city of Portomarin and like its name, the city resembles a harbour with waterscapes around it. I was quite tired and was quite disheartened when after crossing a bridge, I found that I had to climb some steep stairs to get to the city center. I stood at the bottom of the stairs for 5 mins before I found the strength and place my foot on the first step. Then it was just one step at a time until I was at the top. Once at the top, I was greeted by a wonderful paranomic landscape of water surrounding the city. What a view!

I walked the main square and found our albergue. Marybel had arrived earlier and had visited the supermercado nearby. She greeted me with potato chips and a cold beer as my reward for arriving at a reasonable time. After the welcoming mini repas, we showered and did our laundry.

For this evening, we visited the Farmacia to purchase some gel heels for Marybel’s shoes. We then had dinner at a restaurant nearby of lentils, salmon and fries for $9.

Later in the evening, after checking emails, we looked for a wine bottle or rolling pin to facilitate a healing method as advised by Taira to help Marybel’s tendonitis. She said to use a rolling pin or the wine bottle and roll the muscles from ankles to calves to ease the tensed areas. Unable to locate either, I make a fist and simulated a rolling device and attempted the makeshift healing. It helped somewhat but did not take the pain away completely.

For tommorrow, we decided that Marybel take the backpack taxi service to transport her and her backpack so that she can give her feet a further rest.

I will perform the walk of approximately 15kms to Ventas De Naron by myself for this day and Marybel will wait for me in the Ventas albergue.

We will break this length of our trek into three stages due to the difficult climbs ahead. Remember, this one is classified as Three Shells. We will stay overnight in Ventas and then the next day go to the next big town of Palas De Rei and then onto to Melide. Marybel may walk or not depending on her heels.

On this night, Marybel was creeped out by a guy sleeping in a bunk next to us. He kept asking her if “everything is ok?” and telling her “I am here”. Maybe the guy is hitting on her. She was not happy about this incident and reported it to the caretaker of the albergue, Beline.

I was not concerned and not as aware as I had quickly fallen asleep in my warm zipped up sleeping bag. Overall, I find the Camino quite safe. I shall be more aware so that we may avoid this sort of incident for the rest of the Camino.

That is it for this day.

Peace and love,
Hilda 🙂

BBBBRRRRRR. It is quite cold in Sarria due to a chill front blanketing the city. I am glad we listened to Jose to stay another night instead of heading out and walking in the cold.

Not much to report on this day except I prepared all of our main meals instead of eating out. Salad and rice.

I believe I have lost some weight but tough to tell as no weighing scale to be found anywhere. My telltale signs are my pants as they are slightly baggier than when we first began the camino. We still eat badly (I mean no holds barred on choice of food, junk etc) except for this last two days where we were doing better with fresh salads and plain rice.

Tommorrow our destination is Portomarin. This is around 22kms but now I add another 2-3kms to the distance as it is a big city and will require us to search for our albergue, the Porto Santiago.

We are now doing better with the albergues as we search the internet for guest comments before we choose them. We also ask for suggestions from our hospitelerias. So far, the albergues we are staying in are quite top notch for the price we pay. Private albergues are definitely better than the municipal albergues. They provide better comfort details, cleaner accomodations and free wifi. Only slightly pricier but not much higher really, where you pay $7 – $10 instead of $3 – $5.

Peace and love,
Hilda

We walked from Triacastela to Sarria today. Marybel’s heels are holding up with extra padding. The distance in the book is 21 kms but we have found that our guidebook has been incorrect for us as it only measures distances from city limits to city limits. It does not take into account going into the city looking for our respective albergues. So this means that we actually walked more than what the guidebook states.

The route today is fairly easy. I am bulding up stamina as I now find walking 10-15kms is a cinch and going to 25 kms is only slightly exhausting and doable. 30kms is still a challenge but we find that we do not need to push ourselves to this limit.

Though Marybel is suffering from Archilles Tendonitis, she still manages to walk ahead of me. She stopped at a cafe ahead on the route and we find that I am only 20 mins behind unlike when we first began where I was more than an hour or two behind her.

On this route, Pepe whom I met in Viana caught up to us. He is still suffering from blisters but he walks 40kms a day. He wants to reach Compostela De Santiago by Sunday. What a determined man! He advises us to reach the Compostela’s office by 10am and then attend mass at noon where we can hear our names mentioned in the service for having completed the camino. After that, we can buy another guidebook to lead us to Fisterre, the end of the world.

We reached Sarria by 2:40pm making really good time. We were quite hungry and stopped for a pilgrim’s lunch $8.60 with a great tasting beer called 1906.

We learned that there is a storm front coming next day or so. The temperature will be around minus 5. It is starting to feel cold but we are equipped with warm clothes and toques so all is well.

We reached our albergue A Pedra and our hospetelaria, Jose, examined Marybel’s heels and advised her to take another break to help heal better. “Patience” and slow down was his advice to us. He also examined my toes as I have been hitting them against the rocks. My two big toe nails have turned black from the hurt. This is common on the camino. He joked that I may have to bury my toe nails in Spain. Strangely, I am not hurting from my toe nails and I know that I am all right. I am taking his advice of another break and will stay in his albergue for one more day. The cost per bed is only $9. He is most hospitable and provided us with some relaxing gel for sore muscles as well. His albergue ia clean and comfortable so staying here for another day is easy to do.

We examined our notes and guidebook again. It will be another week before we reach Compostela De Santiago whereas it takes an average pilgrim 5 days and superfast pilgrims 3 days. We need to take an extra couple of days for a difficult route ahead where the stage is 40kms but it is a Three Shell hike. Breaking this up into 3 days is a logical thing to do.

Sarria is in Galicia. Here, the people speak a different spanish lingo called Galego. For once, Marybel is disadvantaged on the language front. She cannot understand what they are saying when they speak Galego. She says it is a whole different language all together, not spanish at all. She still manages as the people will switch to formal spanish once they know she cannot speak Galego.

Galecia is famous for their pulpurias. They are bars that serve octupus prepared in a special way. I have not tried them yet but there is no doubt that we will find an occassion to do so prior to reaching our final destination.

My camino is taking it slow. I feel that I have not been treking much but my feet and shoes show tales of walking a lot. We have skipped some parts of the camino due to weather and health. Oh, well. It turns out that we have to make the camino our own way to ensure we get to enjoy it to the fullest.

We have met many pilgrims. All have stories to share. Some we meet again and others will never cross our paths anymore. I am most grateful for one constancy, my best friend Marybel. I would not have gained so much with my camino if she was not here to share it with me. It is incredible that she is still here with me on the camino while undergoing pain and suffering. She is more resilient than me as I would have quit the Camino if I suffered her pains. Remember, I have been pain free since my healing in Villar Del Mazarife. Yes, I suffer from the slight aches and tiredness (oh,yes and black toes) but Marybel’s pain levels are much greater than mine. I see her swollen ankles and how she winches when she walks and it surprises me that she does not call it quits. I must have done something good in my past life to have a friend such as her.

In gratitude for all the good in my life,

(It looks worse than it really is…lol)
Hilda 🙂

We were going to walk to o cebreiro today but weather is not permitting. Way too cold to be walking up the mountain. Marybel’s heels are not doing well and will need medical attention. We commissioned a cab to o cebreiro but once we reached there, we found that we won’t be able to get to a medical center until the town of triascastella. So we stayed with our cabbie until this next big town. He took us to the medical center and we waited to see a doctor.

Marybel was examined by the doctor and she said that it was Archilles Tendonitis. She prescribed ibuprofen and stated that this is common for pilgrims on the camino. Just take some rest and a strict schedule of the prescription. She also remarked that there is a belief in the camino, “if there is more suffering, then more of your sins are forgiven on the camino”. I tell you now, I will not make this my motto on my camino. However, I do believe that you will have the experiences you are meant to have.

So this day has been decided for me, a day to chill out and for Marybel to raise and rest her feet.

Tommorrow we will head out to Sarria if all is well. This trek will be interesting as all who are on the camino must complete this stage from Sarria to Compostela De Santiago. We have sixteen spots left on our pilgrims passport for stamps and hope to have all spots filled. Given how my camino is panning out, we will have time for fisterre where we go to burn our socks and to see if we can find a famous rock that heals back problems. If we can locate this, I shall ask for a healing for a loved one’s back problem (you know who you are). In any case, my rosary is coming out in Sarria and I shall repeat the prayers until I reach Santiago. I still have my colorful wristband, now tied on my watch. It will be placed at St James’ altar with all your requests. I trust that all your prayers will be answered.

Much love,
Hilda 🙂

We left Villafranca Del Beirzo at almost 10:30 am. We came upon the town’s Farmer’s Market and could not resist checking it out. It is not much different from a regular street market as people set up stalls to sell their wares. I bought some blood oranges. You can find all sorts of goods here from shoes to roast chickens.

We walked almost 19 kms on this day. There were moments of sun and the camino was on a pathway next to the highway almost all the way from Villafranca Del Bierzo to Vega De Varcarce. Though it is an easy walk, there were moments where I succumb to tiredness (could be the result of having walked 30 kms yesterday).

I had only about 5kms to go to reach Vega Varcarce when I felt so tired. I said to myself, “I cannot go on anymore” and then a writing appeared on the cement barrier separating the highway from the camino path, “THE BEST IS YET TO COME” in bright yellow. It is almost someone had walked this path and knew to spray paint these words at the right area to motivate and inspire tired pilgrims at the right time. It helped me for sure.

We reached the tiny town of El Portella and had lunch there. It was only one more hour to Vega de Varcarce. Fortified by a good hearty lunch of lentils and tuna salad, the walk into Vega was very easy.

We stayed at El Roble and the cost was only $5 per person. They have a wonderful wood fireplace but the dormitory room was quite cold. The caretaker did provide an electric heater which helped but my sleeping bag was my warm embracing wrap for the frigid night.

Overall, not much to report except it is cold and wet. I hope the spring weather is faring better in Calgary.

Peace and love,
Hilda 🙂

April Fools Day…but for us, “it is still raining you fools Day”.

Yes, we don our rain gear and were still very wet all day. The level of difficulty for today is One Shell out of Three. One being easy, two medium difficulty and three shells meant the trek will be very hard.

Remember, the challenge for today is 30kms. The walk is wet and muddy. It forced us to walk the highway again just so we can have decent traction. We even had a mini adventure walking through someone’s farmland just trying to see if we can traverse a seeming shortcut. Lucky, we were not caught for trespassing. In the end, it did not make a difference. So much for outsmarting the Camino.

We passed Columbrianos, Puentes Nuevas, Camponaraya, and Cacabelos. Upon entering Cacabelos, we were greeted by fireworks from the town center. I remarked to Marybel,”oh, they shouldn’t have prepared such a welcoming for us, really,”. Of course, they did not. The church of this town were still celebrating Easter and had a mini procession that commenced with the fireworks. We had lunch in this town and was gouged by the bar owner, where we had to pay for bread and water. Oh, well. Give and take. We have enjoyed many blessings on the Camino, so I figured it will balance out in the end.

We arrived in Villafranca Del Beirzo at around 4:30pm and found our Albergue for the night called De la Piedra. It is another good albergue to stay in as it was clean and quiet. We did our laundry this night. We are needing to do laundry every three days. At this Albergue, they charged us $5 for washing and drying our clothes. Most Albergues charged $6. See what I mean by things will balance out somehow. You save some and later you give some and then you save some again.

Marybel is hurting again on her soles. I fear that it might be tendonitis. She is padding her shoes some more but this does not seem to work anymore. We might have to get her to a doctor if it gets worse. I, on the other hand, am pain free from waist down but have developed a shoulder pain, possibly from a wrong bra…lol.

We will watch her pain from now on and if it gets worse, will definitely seek medical attention. By the way, peregrinos can obtain medical advice and treatment for free as long as it is related to walking and we must show our pilgrims’ passport.

One cannot avoid pain and suffering on the Camino unless you engage a premium Camino Tour where your needs are taken care of with each walking stage. That will be my next Camino in the future if I do this again.

As I have stated previously, I love some aspects of the Camino and hate the others (usually involving pain and exhaustion) but I shall trudge on and do my best. Hhhhppppmmmhhh!

Woke up late this morning at 10 am. We are turning in Spanish Vampires. Marybel was checking for bite marks just in case we were bitten without knowing it. There was a time change in effect. They sprung forward an hour so 10am was really 11am.

We took our coffees in the hostal bar downstairs. Marybel chatted with the Hostal’s bartender/waitress/cook/housekeeper, Mary Jesus. She found out that Mary Jesus would like to imigrate to Canada because she has been told that the job situation is better than in Spain. I am inclined to agree once we found out how much she is paid monthly for her “Jack of all trades” kind of job at the Hostal. Her income is $1000 Euros a month. Incredible how she manages to survive but she has to.

After breakfast and coffee, we walked to the Main Plaza and were in time for the Easter procession. The procession ended at the church where we took our places at one of the front pews. It was reserved for some dignatories but as it was empty, the lead priest motioned all who were standing in the back to come up front to fill the pews. Lucky us. We sat behind the Mayor of Ponferrada with his family and it was a beautiful celebratory Mass.

After mass ended, I was allowed a quick photo opportunity with the Mayor. He even gave me the usual Spanish greeting with kisses on both cheeks.

We explored the city some more and then made our way to the Ponferrada Albergue for the night. Here, the Albergue is supported by the Camino Association so they only asked for donations for the two beds we required. We gave $10 for the two of us.

On this evening, we were honored to have met a very special Japanese Family. They are the Morimoto Family. They are traveling the world and taking twenty months to do so. Father is So, Mom is Orie and their two young sons are Tokizo and Tara who are only 5 and 4 years of age. The kids are the youngest pilgrims we have encountered. They started their travels in August 2012 and have already visited Mongolia, Canada, Peru, Cameron, Turkey, Belarus and now Spain. The project aim for this family is to learn languages, especially English and Spanish and to share experiences with other fellow travellers. You can learn more about them at http://www.morimotravel.com.

Their two sons will walk around 15 – 20 kms a day. That is quite a trek for these young persons. When they are tired, they are placed in a covered stroller pushed by mom or dad. Mom and dad will then walk some more with their sons in the stroller. They have become quite famous on the Camino as almost every pilgrim who encounter them will ask others if they have seen them. It is a tale of courage and definitely love when you see this family brave the cold weather and uncertain conditions to walk the Camino De Santiago. Their sons are so well behaved and courteous with everyone they meet. As they played outside the Albergue in Ponferrada, they picked flowers and offered them to all the women around them and I got one from cute Tara.

I feel energized and rejuvenated even if for a short length of time because I stumbled upon such an incredible story. Courage know no bounds only if we allow it.

Feeling really good and inspired, I decided we should walk to Villafranca Del Bierzo which approximately 30 kms tommorow from Ponferrada. The details of this trek will be in my next chapter.

Conclusion, my 2013 Easter Day was quite memorable and I toast to a few more memorable ones for the future with a glass of the local Spanish wine.

Having arrived at Ponferrada, we chose to take the weekend off from the Camino for Easter. We stayed at a very nice hostal for peregrinos called La Virgen de la Encina for $48. It was located next to the city’s famous Knight’s Templar castle. What a sight to behold! What a location as well as we were also not far from the city’s biggest church and a major thoroughfare for shopping.

We explored the area and also took many pictures of the castle. We enjoyed an exquisite lunch at Meson Berciano where we had Garbanzos con Callo (chickpeas with tripe), Churrasca Asado (grilled steak) with homemade fries and a tipico salad accompanied by beer, bread and water. We even had a coffee flan for dessert. Total Cost $20 (including tip though tipping is not required but the server was extremely courteous and ensured that we obtained a prime table where we enjoyed our meal with a wonderful view of the Templar castle in front of us).

We walked the streets after to sight see. This day was relaxing and included a visit to a Spanish Mcdonald’s for a cone just for fun. Later, we also walked to the first Spanish shopping Mall we encountered on our trip so far called El Rosal. If you recall, Spanish people do not come out until sundown so the shopping mall is opened until one o’clock in the morning to accomodate these semi-vampires..(lol)

We ended up in our room around nine in the night which is early for the lifestyle here but I felt quite tired and wanted to catch up on sleep. Watched the news and see that there is trouble for the people of Cypress with the government considering confiscating 60% of depositor’s savings if they have over $100k in their bank accounts and this might be imposed on the Italy and Spain. Can be an interesting conversation to overhear tommorrow when we head out for our morning coffees in the tavernas.

For tommorrow, our rest stop is the Albergue Nicholas De Flue and we will continue on the Camino first thing in the morning on Monday. Mass and the Easter procession is on our agenda as well.

I was not feeling well on this morning. Nausea and dizziness was experienced intermittently. I am glad that I brought Gravol with me. I brought only a small supply and will have to buy more when I get to Ponferrada. It was a very cold morning. I could see my breath as I walked out of the Albergue for a few minutes to check how cold it was. After a breakfast of eggs and coffee, we waited for our taxi to take us to Ponferrada at 10 am.

I did feel a pang of guilt using a cab for this leg of the camino but this is quickly overtaken by slight inability to stand up straight due to the inner ear infection. Even Marybel is concerned as she sees me unable to function normally due to this impairment. Is it time to stop the camino? Hell, no. If I cannot walk it, I will find another way hence the cab…lol.

As the cab made its way up the winding path to the Cruz, I saw a Japanese family with two young kids walking with rain coats on the side of the road. We have heard about this family from the other pilgrims who are in great admiration of a young family, father, mother and two young sons trekking this camino. I will tell you about their story on my next blog chapter but for now, I will show you pictures of Cruz De Ferro.

After Cruz De Ferro, we passed the town of Manjalin, population 1. Yes, there is only one eccentric resident here who believes that he is the last templar knight living. According to the taxi driver, you can sometimes see him in his full knight’s garb accosting the fellow pilgrims who passes by but not today as it is quite cold for any kind of knight. This is where he lives. You can also stay here as it is an Albergue but most people do avoid it:

We reached Ponferrada at a decent hour and I will update you in the next chapter. Ciao for now.