We bought our train tickets from Lisbon to Porto online today. As we bought them 8 days in advance, the tickets were discounted by greater than 50%. We paid €15 each for 2nd class tickets on the Alfa Pendular train via Comboios Portugal (CP).

Karen had fun chatting live with the CP helpline. It was easy enough with the usual techno startup problems navigating an unfamiliar but user friendly website. As soon as she typed and asked for English communication, our CP rep Miguel quickly reverted to English. Great experience!

Boa Noite Porto, we will see you in 8 days!

I weighed my backpack so many times that I have lost count of how many.  It is holding at 20 lbs.  I don’t seem able to get below this number.

List of items in back pack:

3 tops, 2 sports bra and quick dry underwear, 1 Sarong, 2 pairs of pants, 1 macabi skirt, 1 pair leggings, 1 lightweight fleece, 3 pairs sock liners, 3 pairs trail socks, toiletries (hairbrush, toothbrush/paste, nail clipper, safety pins, tiny soap bar, floss, small body glide, tiny deodorant, travel shampoo/conditioner, few feminine products), 1 packet compeed,  Tylenol, vitamin B12,  a couple sleeves of Reactine, a few packets of Emergen- C, Travel size Imodium and gravel, emergency med kit for two people, trail toilet paper, trail duct tape, travel pocket light, whistle, bandana, toque, light weight cup, spork, phone charger, Adapter/Coverter, rain jacket & pants, light weight sleeping bag, pair of crocs, small journal and pen, Brierley Guide Book, water bottle, light weight foam pad (for seating and can be used as pillow too) and a few ziplock bags.

List of items to consider if they are worthy to bring along: IPad, protein bars

Am I overdoing it? That is the question that can be answered only whilst one is on the road.  Presently, I merely speculate.    Well, I will know for sure soon enough.   🤔

This second Camino is definitely different. I feel way more at ease. Perhaps having done the first one allows me to have a good sense of what is needed this time around. I am still going with the flow and am enjoying the preparation process for this Camino.

Karen is definitely contributing lots by taking care of details that I was not even considering before. Yes, it helps to have a friend who loves researching and getting what we may need on the Camino for our trip.

Overall, I cannot deny that there is an inexplicable comforting energy supporting this trip. It shows up in the smallest of ways for me. Invisible, nameless, formless yet I know its quality when I do not grasp for any meaning of how and why events are unfolding. One simple example is we are getting Canadian Pilgrim Credentials for this 2018 Camino (thanks to Karen who took the initiative on this one and I am grateful). I had not intended to get our pilgrims passports from Canada (I was going to buy them in Portugal) but now we will have this lovely bonus from home for our Camino.

The Camino speaks again in its own subtle language. Hopefully I am able to better understand it this time around. I hear it whispering gently in my pilgrim’s heart, the voice unmistakably saying, “Good Journey”.

Well, Christmas and New Year came and went. Went to lunch with a long time friend just before the end of the Holiday Season. I have known Karen from my university days. I shared my plans for the Camino De Santiago.

Guess what? She too wanted to do this walk. She has heard of it and marked it on her bucket list. She quickly asked if she could join me and I happily agreed. Why not? I love how things are unfolding for this trip.

She has now booked her flights. We are both going to continue getting ready for this Portugal adventure. Packing List and some walk training, learning some basic phrases, etc, etc.

Karen won’t be joining me for my Lisbon retreat which is the start of my own personal journey in Portugal but will instead fly into Lisbon the day right after. We will take a day to sight see and overnight together in Lisbon. Then we take the train to Porto the very next day and begin our walk. This is perfect.

Wow. I have so much stuff. Now comes the discernment. What to take and what to leave behind. At least I have begun the packing list. This time I have an idea of what I may need. That may help lighten the pack. As they say, what you don’t have while being on the way, the Camino will provide. Not there yet but working on this faith and trust thing. I will walk on it. LOL.

It will be almost five years since I heeded the first call from the Camino De Santiago.  It calls again and I am compelled to answer.  This time it will be very different.  Instead of trekking the popular French Way, I shall be walking the Portugese Path.  My dates are set and my tasks to get ready are many but I have lots of time as this trip will begin at end of February 2018.  I am stoked.  This time I will walk the camino as a vegetarian and be alchohol free.  I gave up meat and drink on September 1, 2014 a little over a year after my first Camino.  It may be a big challenge but I hope to make it fun.  I am starting up this blog again for my family and friends so that they may know the details/progress of my Camino via Portugal in 2018.  Though I will physically walk in Portugal, I will continue to name my journey “Camino Calgary” just like the first time when I walked it in Spain.  I truly believe I never left it when I returned home from Spain in 2013.  This upcoming trip to Portugal is merely a continuation of the same journey unfolding the mystery of my human experience.  What does it have in store for me?  I cannot wait…..

I went to Muxia in search of a healing rock for back pains. I don’t suffer from this ailment but some members of my family and friends do. The legend says that the Virgin Mary appeared to St James on a boat that became the rocks in Muxia. One special rock has healed many people with back pains but you must crawl underneath it nine times in order that your prayer for healing is answered. So I did this and asked for healing for all whom I knew needed it greatly.

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It was a great day weatherwise and I enjoyed being outdoors with the sea waves crashing against the rocks. It was not cold and I could have stayed here for a longer period but we needed to catch our only bus back to Santiago at 2:30pm. I have done what I needed to do so it was alright to have a short but very sweet time in Muxia.

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It is April 20 today and I am currently in Chane Spain. I have tossed/donated most of my camino clothes and other items. I have cleaned up real good for return to civilization. Some of the clothes I brought with me, regular clothes do not fit anymore and so I am having to donate these too. Yes I have lost some weight, not too much but it is noticeable when I put on pants and jeans.

I sign off on this adventure of a lifetime and will continue on the rest of my European trip. My log book will be my writing vehicle from now on.

Much love Hilda

We took the bus to Fisterre today. The Spanish people calls it Fisterre. We were looking for the healing rock but found out that this rock is in Muxia not Fisterre. However if you are a childless couple, Fisterre has a healing spot noted to reverse barrenness of women.

I am glad to have visited Fisterre. Your camino does not really end until you have visited the end of the world.

At the main lighthouse here, there is the mile marker that shows “0.00 kms” to show the end of your journey. Speaking to Penny, a Canadian from Toronto, she says that today is her last day on the camino having arrived in Fisterre. We will also take this as so.

We left Fisterre at 3pm and returned to Santiago at 6pm. We received more information about the hotel parador’s tradition of feeding 10 pilgrims 3 times everyday for free.

Marybel and I took part in the tradition this evening to round off our pilgrim’s journey. We shared the meal with 4 other pilgrims.

Even though we have not found our healing rock, we had a fine day today at Fisterre and a decent free meal at the hotel parador.

We will head out to Muxia before we leave Santiago. We are now positive about the whereabouts of our sacred rock. Keep tuned.

We woke up at a decent hour and left for the Hotel Parador at around 9am. We are taking in the famous breakfast buffet at the hotel where they serve caviar and mimosas for breakfast. I may be gaining all of the ten pounds I have lost if we continue to eat like this. However, we could not help this one. For me, it is to add another valuable experience to my list where I can say I visited and ate breakfast at one of the oldest hotel in Spain. Being at the Parador is like being at the Fairmont Banff Springs.

Breakfast was delicious and yes, I finished several glasses of juices (mimosa and all).

After breakfast/brunch, we headed to the Cathedral to attend mass once again and this time to properly visit St James tomb. I placed the bracelet I carried for close to a month on my wrist, just outside his tomb. I knelt in front of his tomb and asked that he grant all your prayers and desires.

I also managed to record how they swung the huge incense burner above the church goers heads. A very impressive event!

On this day, I also did the historical walk and enjoyed the architecture of the buildings I walked past. In the evening, I attended mass again at 7:30pm and Marybel volunteered to read the second reading and did a good job of it.

Tommorrow morning we will go to Finnisterre. I will seek out the purported healing rock and will once again ask for healing for myself and others who need it very much at this time.

Peace and love
Hilda 🙂

We woke up today and did not have to go anywhere except to the Pilgrims’ office and the noon mass at the Cathedral. What are we going to do with ourselves?

The pilgrims office opened at 10am. Prior to visiting this office, we visited the Santiago tourist office. Here, we found that there is a walk to participate in where the path goes around all the historical sites near the Cathedral. It will take 3 hours to complete. Well, that is an option for the day.

We arrived at the pilgrims’ office sharp at 10 am and there was already a long line-up of peregrinos. We stood in line to await our turns for questioning and obtain our certificate. The questions would be: did we walk all the way? What are our reasons for doing the camino? Religious or other? If you state other, your certificate will not be in Latin. So when it was my turn, I state that I did the walk for religious purpose and got my Latin “Paper of Honor”. My name Hilda was also written in Latin, HILDAUM. Marybel’s is Mariabellaum.

I calculated the distance I have walked and it is 395 kms, not the 762 kms that I originally intended to do. It is still quite a feat for someone like me who has never done something like this before.

Later at the noon hour, we took in the pilgrims’ mass. The priest announced how many pilgrims arrived from which country but did not mention names. We missed the part when he announced Canada.

I have to say this. When I took communion in Ponferrada, the host got stuck to the roof of my mouth. My mother always said that it was because not all of our sins have been forgiven and Christ have a problem entering a body not yet purified. The holy sacrament was incredibly stuck on the roof of my mouth refusing to go down my throat on Easter day. Must have had an abundance of sins.

Now in Santiago, the holy sacrament slid so easily down my throat. No problem going down. Doing the camino must have absolved my many sins….lol. I don’t know if this is true but I will take it as so and rejoice that perhaps a purification of some form had happened on the Camino path.

We shared lunch with Sarah, Kathleen and yes, our famous Japanese Family. We chatted about life after the camino. The Morimotos will continue on their travels until February 2014 and then will resume their normal lives as Tokizo has to go to school. Sarah will visit her son in Germany for 10 days and Kathleen will return home after Fisterre. Here is another interesting event, Kathleen was an opera singer in her university days and we caught her street performance quite by chance, later in the evening (almost missed it). She sang accompanying a street performer playing an instrument and it was most enchanting. Once she was done, the people in the crowd were wonderfully surprised that she was not part of the street act and that she was a peregrina singing for them. She also advises that she has never done something like this before. You do get braver when no one knows you in a different country.

It was such a beautiful day today weather-wise. Light breezes, clear blue skies and sunny all throughout. I sat outside by myself in front of the cathedral for a while and just people-watch. Marybel was taking a nap in the hostal. The cathedral is next to the Hotel Parador Santiago which is reputed to be the oldest hotel in Spain. We will visit the Parador for breakfast tommorrow morning. While sitting in this main square, I caught sight of Darth Vader, Han Solo, Princess Leia and several storm troopers coming out onto one of the hotel’s balcony. What, you say! Yes, I was quite surprised too. There was a small performance of light sabre sword fight. The characters also posed and waved to the crowd in the square. I went into the hotel lobby and inquired if there was a Star Wars Convention happening. The answer is no. There is a party and people have rented a room and dressed up in the Star Wars outfits. That must have been the theme of the party. Marybel later offered another theory that it was probably a wedding party. Most Plausible. Myself being a Star Wars geek, found this to be just the moment for me. Here I was basking in the sun outside the Santiago Cathedral main plaza absorbing the vibes of the church’s surroundings and then a live Darth Vader and his gang enters the scene to provide the ultimate entertainment for me, the sci-fi geek. Who could ask for more? It was just so perfect.

I also have to let you know that I will visit St James tomb tommorrow as I did not want to do this today without Marybel. There I will place the colorful bracelet of desires/prayers and will ask St James to intercede on your behalf.

Peace and love
Hilda 🙂