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.

We walked a short distance this day due to what we have heard about the Albergues in the towns ahead. We were supposed to stop at Foncebadon for the night but we followed Aaron’s advice, our albergue caretaker at El Ganso, who said that there are not any good albergues until El Acebo The distance is much further away than we can handle, above 30 kms. So we decided to stay at Rabanal Del Camino and catch the Good Friday mass in this town.

I must be building up stamina as I now calculate that I am able to do 4-5kms per hour instead of the 3kms I started at in the beginning. The weather is cold and wet. We have heard that it is not going to get better as we are heading into Galicia in the days ahead and it rains there all the time there. According to the locals, it is unusually cold and the duration is longer for this time of the year. I can handle the cold, it is the wetness that gets me as this does make the experience colder.

Marybel is coming down with a slight fever and a sore throat. Thanks to the “Thieves” spray that Deanna Pratt (a kind and thoughtful friend) gave me for the camino, she is managing her symptoms better.

My inner ear infection is bothering me again. Nausea and slight dizziness during Good Friday mass. I had to leave church service in the middle of mass for fresh air and to avoid the possibility of throwing up in the church pews. Luckily, it was almost over anyways.

On this night, we met Wolf Sneider, a kindly old gentleman who also has done the camino for years. It appeared that he is quite famous on the camino as some bicyclists asked to take pictures with him. He also performed Reiki on Marybel to help relieve her shoulder pain. He shared a vital piece of information with us. He showed us how to wear our backpacks so that we can avoid shoulder and leg pains. He said that many people wear them wrongly on the hips and they should actually wear them above the hip, more on the waist as the backpack will then land better on the hips giving the right support. We did find it was better and will heed his advice on this matter.

On this evening, I made an important decision about the climb to Cruz De Ferro. I heard from others that it is a tough climb and the extreme wet and cold is not going to help it. I was fearful that I will make things worse for Marybel and myself by walking and climbing in the frightful cold to the famous cross.

As it is my camino, a helpful thought entered my mind. I will hire a cab to take us to the Cruz De Ferro and then onto Ponferrada for our Easter Break. Ponferrada is after El Acebo and is the next big city with decent hostals. I figured that it is a good place to land for Easter for viewing processions and attending Easter Mass. Shops are more lightly be open in bigger cities than in small towns. I asked the caretaker of the Albergue to arrange a taxi to Ponferrada with a pit stop at the famous Iron Cross.

This night was quite cold with rain peltering hard on the Albergue roof. Between the other people snoring and the sound of rain hitting hard on the galvenized roof, it was difficult to get a good night’s sleep. I managed the best I could.

I will say that this night was not a good night. Well, you have to take the good with the bad for a balanced experience. I am looking forward to the Cruz De Ferro tommorrow and have 3 rocks to place there. One from Theresa, one from Inder and one for myself. I have my Ipad ready to take pictures.

I will take this moment to clarify why some pictures are not loaded up on the blog. When I take pictures with the Ipad, these pictures are easier to load. When I use my Iphone, it is a challenge and I have taken many pictures with the phone. I also have my camera and I cannot load these pictures onto the blog at all as I do not have my Mac Book with me. So you are not getting all my pictures and will have to wait until I return to Calgary.

I trust all of you are well. I will load my next day Ipad pictures onto my next day blog.

We stayed at the only Alberge in the town of El Ganso called Gabino. This is a very small town and consists only of a few streets. No sightseeing to be had in this tiny town. Aaron runs the Albergue. Our intention to stop here for the night was in anticipation of a steep climb to Rabanal del camino. We were to stay overnight in Foncebadon after Rabanal. After speaking with Aaron, we were informed that there is no good Albergue opened in Foncebadon. The one that he recommends does not open until April and we will arrive before then. This is a miscalculation on my part thinking I can break up what I anticipated to be an arduous climb into a manageable section for me.

Recalibrating my plans, I decided to head out to the city of Rabanal del Camino and staying there for the night instead. Going onto Foncebadon is not going to work and the next town after Foncebadon is too far for us. Well, Rabanal is a bigger city and it will be Good Friday. We can once again take in the procession and perhaps join the Spaniards in their version of the way of the cross. I am looking forward to this.

I have noticed houses in the rural areas adorning a big branch of leaves over their doors. Everywhere we would see this. We never noticed it before or they did not have them prior to Easter week. We asked a local and as we suspected,they only do this for Holy Week. They place Laurel leaves to celebrate and also to ward off unsavouries like bad spirits,etc. In the past, it was palm leaves, then over time, it was olive branches, now it is Laurel leaves (it is actually Bay Leaves but they call it Laurel). It is more important in rural areas than big cities due to the superstitious nature of rural town folk.

At the Gabino Albergue, Tracy and Richard were our only other pilgrims for the night. They are from New Zealand. Tracy is a flight attendant and Richard is a policeman. Nice couple. They also agreed with Marybel’s assessment of Spanish people being semi-vampires as they too had the same thought. They are fit people who walked 30-40 kms a day, no problem. I was quite embarrassed to let them know that I can only handle 15kms on average and the best one I have done is 25kms (through ignorance). People don’t judge much on the camino and respect others doing the camino their own way. I like that.

Internet signal is weak here so I will cut this short for tonight. Have a great Easter,folks!!

Peace and love
Hilda:)

Today we left Hospital De Orbigo for Astorga. I am still pain free and thanking each moment for it. Marybel is walking better too, thanks to sanitory pads in her shoes. That was very good advice from fellow pilgrims. Weather forecast for today is rain, rain and more rain. I am reminded of the movie, My Fair Lady, “the rain in Spain falls mainly on the plain”…lol

The walk is not difficult today. Meditation while walking was the order for my day. Feeling each step fully and side stepping past the insects on the road got my full attention today. Marybel walked ahead as she was feeling much better catching her quick rhythm again.

Before we left for Astorga, Miriam asked us to watch for a pilgrim who is now living on the camino about 10 kms from Hospital De Orbigo. She told us that he has left the world behind and lives in a tent on the path to the city of Astorga. He has also set up a small stall where he gives pilgrims water, fresh fruit and whatever has been donated to him that he can give out. He calls his home La casa de Los Dioses (the house of God is).

When I arrived at the spot, I see Marybel sitting in his makeshift tent waiting for me and having the most engaging conversation with him. His name is David Vidal Figuls. He is a good looking man, middle aged and athletic in stature. His face slightly sunburn from the outdoor nature living. Surprisingly, he is decently groomed and do not quite look like some one who has been living in nature. He saw me and hug me like he knew me. Well, Marybel has been chatting with him about me so he already had some information as to who I was.

David quit the world and rat race four years ago. I sat in his tent and we chatted about his philosophy of existing in this manner. He takes care of all pilgrims who passes his way if they would let him. He believes in the energy of giving. He claims that the world is an illusion. The world has it wrong where we work and strive for security but there is none. He says that we don’t see how God exists everywhere and in all things. People today don’t appreciate life and miss so much. He believes that all of us should be like a child and live this way. “Surrender is key”. Energy is movement, not collection. The more you give the more you receive. As I listen to him talk, I have heard what he is saying many times before. Nothing new here for me. So why can’t I live the lessons I’ve learned? He kept emphasizing to let the “child” in us be free. The memory of my first day on the Camino came back to me where I had heard a child laughing and crying while I walked the path of Alto De Perdon. I realized then that my camino was providing guidance to live like a child while I am on the camino. Be spontaneous and in awe of everything around you. I only got the message today. “Be like a child at least on the camino”. My camino is communicating with me but I did not understand the language it chose for disseminating information. Slowly, I am starting to understand. Slowly, I am able to separate the grains from the shafts. At least, a mystery is laid to rest for me today, thanks to David, an extraordinary man who sees himself as doing God’s work in a most unusual way. Thank you for reminding me to let my inner child nature be free.

We walked on after saying goodbye to David and thanking him for his hospitality and generosity (he gave us water and organic bananas to rejuvenate us).

We reached Astorga at around 4pm, walked around and looked for our Albergue. Settled in for the night once we checked in. Tommorrow, we will begin our ascend to El Ganso. It will be a climbing route from now on through several towns until we reach Cruz De Ferro. We shall take it a moment at a time and hope all will be well.

Peace and love
Hilda 🙂

I cannot resist dedicating this chapter to one event as it was the most fun. Velas is a musician so he began our dinner with a song for pilgrims,

Caminante

Caminante, son tus huellas el camino, y nada mas;
caminante, no hay camino, se hace camino al andar.
Al andar se hace camino, y al volver la vista atras,
se ve la senda que nunca se ha de volver a pisar.
Caminante, no hay camino, Sino estelas en la mar.

Antonio Machado

English translation:

Traveler, your footprint is your path and nothing else;
Traveler, there is no way, the way is made by going.
By walking you make the path, and when you look back,
You see the track where you should never walk again.
Traveler, there is no way, only the wake in the sea.

Then it is followed by giving thanks to the universe for our food.
I recorded his song but unable to upload him playing the song, you will have to wait until I get back to share it with you…lol.

I am also mistaken about our hosts being vegans, they are vegetarians.

Our evening was the perfect pilgrims experience with stories about the pilgrimage and fellow travellers. The food was prepared with care and love and we can taste this in every morsel. I am grateful for this night and know it came via Divinity’s grace.

Thank you Miriam and Velas for your piece of heavan on earth.