Camino de Santiago - Week 2 - Ciruena to Carrion de los Condes

Week 2 began with a bang, I was rested and raring to go.  The week laid out like this:

Sep 6 – Ciruena

Sep 7 – Belorado

Sep 8 – San Juan de Ortega

Sep 9 – Burgos

Sep 10 – Rabe

Sep 11 – Castrojeriz

Sep 12 – Poblacion

Sep 13 – Carrion de los Condes

I started off the morning very early from Navarette with Allan.  After a few stops I said goodbye to my new friend and headed out at a faster pace.  I wanted to make up some lost time and take the opportunity to stretch my legs. 

Shortly thereafter I met up with Chema and Nacho from Spain and Nev from Australia.  Chema and Nacho were a delightful set of old friends who loved letting Nev and I practice our Spanish on them while they practiced their English.  We walked through field after field of vineyards stretched out as far as the eye could see.  The dirt had turned red almost overnight and the exposed cliffs jutted out from the oddest places in the little towns that seem to be built right up alongside them. 

Before the walk I assumed the Camino was split into thirds – the Pyrenees, the Meseta, and Galicia.  It’s a little grayer in those transition areas.  For example, the Pyrenees really end around Roncesvalles, but the foothills of the Pyrenees continue on until just before Burgos.  The Meseta doesn’t technically end until you cross into Galicia, but the terrain is much wetter and hillier far before you enter the Galicia region.  So at this point in the walk I will say it was beginning to look much more like the Meseta, but we did still have many foothills to conquer until Burgos.   

The Brierley guide had most people stopping in Najera which was a beautiful little town, a perfect example of those red cliffs.  I wanted to keep going, so I said goodbye to my new friends and headed out alone to Azofra and then to Ciruena. 

Ciruena was a very strange little town.  It pops up in the middle of nowhere and has you walking past a golf course and rows of commercial looking condos leaving you wondering out loud where in the hell you are.  Then as you are almost leaving the town a tiny little “old town” appears with a church and a few albergues (always look for the church tower and you’ll find pilgrim lodging). 

I checked into an albergue and was shown to a room with two bunkbeds.  And who did I happen to be staying with, but Jerry from Corvalis and his two friends Bill and Dave!  I was so happy to see them again!  That is one of the best things about the Camino, when old friends pop up in the strangest places. 

We shared a wonderful communal meal with a group from the Netherlands, Melena from the Farro Islands, Kaye from New Zealand, Tracey from Camano Island, and JoAnn from somewhere in Maine.  Our host made us a delicious concoction of chorizo, mushrooms, rice, lentils, green beans, and cauliflower.

After our meal a few of us went down to the town square to investigate the strange music wafting through the window.  Kaye rushed into the common room and said, “Who wants to go see the Disco Truck??”  Well… I do.  We put on our sandals and walked down to see an actual disco truck with a woman salsa dancing and a man playing the keyboards to flashing lights and ridiculous music.  There were a few couples dancing and more people packed inside the one bar in town drinking bottles of wine.  We stayed for a bit but I wandered off to enjoy the sunset that spread across the sky and the flat fields in the distance.  

The next morning I was surprised with a gorgeous sunrise leaving Ciruena.  Hands down the sunrises and sunsets in the Meseta were the most amazing things I saw.  They left me standing in a field all by myself with my jaw hanging open.  I have never been a morning person, but these sunrises left me excited to wake up early so I could see another.

I walked on to Santo Domingo where I met Simon from Ireland who I walked with for a few days.  I was looking for the chickens in the church and asked him if he knew where they were (he did not).  The legend goes that there was a family of pilgrims walking through Santo Domingo a century ago.  A local girl fell in love with the son in the family but he did not return her affections.  As he was preparing to leave she slipped a goblet into his bag and then called the magistrate to complain of a theft.  The magistrate arrested the boy and sentenced him to death by hanging.  The boy was hung, but the rope did not break his neck and he struggled to breath and remained alive over night.  His family ran to the magistrate’s office to beg for forgiveness for their son who was not yet dead.  The magistrate was preparing to eat his meal of cooked chicken and he said, “That boy is as alive as this bird!” because he did not believe the outlandish tale.  Right then and there the bird sprung up from the plate fully alive and thus the boy’s sentence was revoked and he was able to walk free.  Great story and one the church continues to honor by keeping chickens in the cathedral in the town center.

We did find a magic pilgrim salve sold at a shop in Santo Domingo.  Both Simon and I needed something to put on our feet to help with the blisters.  This salve is like Vaseline but also contains aloe, comfrey, and eucalyptus so it smells wonderful.  

Simon and I walked on throughout the day.  It was a long, flat, shadeless day, but made more interesting with a friend to talk to.  We stopped in Belorado at the first albergue we found.  I should mention that back in Logrono Niall had given me his walking stick to use.  I told him that I didn’t need his walking stick because I had two trekking poles to use.  But he persisted and I relented and said I would walk with it for one day… which turned into a week… and then a few weeks.  I kept that stick until I got to the Lisbon airport.  It was a good stick, a strong stick, a stick of many words.  So as I walked into the Belorado albergue a bunch of dogs ran up to greet me… or just to bite said stick in excitement.  It was quite hilarious to see this little dog literally hanging off the stick, he did not want to let go. 

I was telling Simon about some of the people I had met on the Camino including the silent grumpy French man… and after telling him that story, who did I see as I left the laundry room?  Yes, Gru.  He was just standing outside looking at me as I exited the door and shaking his head… slowly, ever so slowly.  I was overjoyed to see him again and ran to tell Simon (who did not believe my earlier story).  And apparently he treated Simon the same way, so that let me know it wasn't personal.  Maybe that's how they say hello in France... I'm just going to go with that.

We left the albergue very early and walked through the town of Belorado which was filled with amazing murals depicting life on the Camino.  I walked for awhile with Marion and Nick from Ireland and talked to them about their teenage and college age sons who were home alone… and lord knows what they were doing.  I met back up with Simon near Villafranca. 

There were two big hills to conquer this day, they were pretty exhausting.  But cresting each hill provided some relief and a nice place to rest.  On the top of one of the hills a woman named Elena had filled a cleared area with colorful totem poles and painted artwork on logs.  She offered lemonade and fruit to the pilgrims for a donation and had some tunes playing to rouse our spirits.  We sat and drank a few glasses of lemonade before heading out again on the road.

What is this???

Once Simon and I reached San Juan de Ortega, we were done for the day.  When we reached the only albergue in the town we were told there were no more beds, but that we could sleep on the floor.  With our other option being to walk another few miles, I agreed to the floor, as did Simon.  As we were being led to the room by the hospitalero he paused and said, “Well, there is a double room you could use, but it’s an extra 3 Euro.”  Uh… lead with that next time buddy.  We jumped on it and were excited to have actual beds and even a private bathroom (unheard of).  As we were finishing our purchase, an elderly Belgian couple limped into the reception asking for a bed.  I immediately felt sorry for them, you could tell they were hurting.  This is the moment, I thought, to be someone else's Camino miracle.  I leaned over to Simon and whispered:

Sarah: “Simon… Simon…”

Simon: “No.”

Sarah: “Simon, we should give them our beds.”

Simon: [Sigh] “I knew you were going to say that, UGH.”

Sarah: “uh… is that a yes?”

Simon: “What the fuck is wrong with Americans?  It’s always the Americans…”

Simon wasn’t really too upset, although he did give me shit about it for the next two days.  And I will tell you the floor was so uncomfortable, we probably slept a total of three hours each that night.  But the relief on the Belgian couple’s face was worth a thousand nights like that.  And the best part, at least for me, was that I told them it was Simon’s idea so he received a large sweaty hug from the Belgian man (to his surprise and my absolute enjoyment).  And even better than that, we kept seeing the couple on the road and every time we did, he came over and hugged Simon.  It was like Christmas morning every time Simon’s face registered shock and then a scowl in my direction while the Belgian man embraced him.   I mean who doesn’t like hugs?

The morning was a little rough, the hospitalero came in and demanded we give him our mattresses at 7am (which is pretty early to kick someone out of the albergue).  I was already up and repacking my backpack, but poor Simon was still asleep and so I woke him up and he had to quickly roll off his bed before the hospitalero swept the mattress up in his arms.  The guy had at least 100 other beds he could have started with, no idea why he had to start with us.

It was a pretty long day of walking into Burgos.  We did stop for breakfast at this random little albergue/bar in the town after San Juan de Ortega and walked in hoping they were still serving customers.  The bar owner was like a cartoon character, short, stocky, and huffing around like a little steam engine.  He kept yelling, "NO.... hahahahaha"... which didn't tell me if breakfast was still being served.  But then he took our order and brought out our food.  Towards the end of the meal I was on my phone and he rushed out and yelled at me (in Spanish... I think) to put my phone away while I was eating or my digestion wouldn't work properly and that he would be watching me through the window.  And he was watching me through the window, like an old Italian woman guarding her street against vagrants.  I tried to take a picture of him, this little cartoon character, but he screamed NO and ran into the kitchen.  Finally he came out and told us (in Spanish... I think) that he was wanted in Italy and Korea and that his picture couldn't be out or he'd be arrested by the police.  Okay... fair enough.

We decided to take an alternate route by the river instead of walking through the industrial area of Burgos (which sounded pretty ugly).  The river was nice, but we were late getting into town.  

There was a huge bike race coming through the city that day and so people were everywhere.  As we walked into town we started getting hustled by locals telling us the albergues were closed and to come with them for the last spot at their pension or hotel or house.  We met up with a Canadian couple, Hugh and Nancy, who were also getting hustled but believed it was a scam.  The four of us went to the biggest albergue to find it indeed full and received little help from the hospitalero as to any alternate options.  So we sat outside the albergue thinking and started to get hustled again.  At this point it was approaching 6:30pm, Simon was eating a sandwich, Hugh was wandering around, and Nancy started crying out of exhaustion.  I made an executive decision and told everyone to follow me!  We grabbed a taxi to the campground and got beds for 9 Euros. 

The campground was really nice; it let us breathe outside of the city walls.  Bunk beds were set up inside a double wide trailer and we used the campground bathrooms which were huge, clean, and well stocked.  It was actually quite ideal.

In the morning we grabbed a bus back to the albergue which was near the famous Burgos Cathedral.  Simon had decided to stay an extra day, but I was itching to get out of the city and away from all the noise.  I did want to see the cathedral so we walked around the building and went in one of the side doors for a few minutes.  I bid Simon adieu and kept walking.

I hurried to leave Burgos, knowing I would only walk a half day after hanging out all morning at the cathedral.  I wanted to get back to the countryside and the fresh air.  Walking out of the major cities took awhile, usually you meander through a few suburbs and maybe industrial areas before finally being clear of the pavement and back to dirt.  On the way out of town a man stopped me and asked me in Spanish how expensive my backpack was because it looked expensive.  It made me uncomfortable so I pretended to not understand and luckily saw Allan (from Navarette) and a friend of his across the street.  I ran to join them and caught up with Allan and Wendy for a few minutes before entering a park that led out of the city.  This park is another scene from the movie The Way when the gypsy boy carried Martin Sheen's backpack out of the city gates at the demand of his disapproving father.  The gate actually leads to the university area inside of Burgos.

I made it to the city of Rabe, a small village, not too late in the day.  I found lodging and dropped my bags in a room with a couple from Victoria BC and Tom from Florida.  They had been walking together since both guys had hips and knees replaced and were needing to take it slow.  I had a great talk with all of them before dinner about what we hoped to take with us from the Camino.  At the present moment we were deep into Camino life which is such a break from normal life, but what did we hope would change permanently in ourselves?

I saw Chris and Melle from our night in Logrono, was nice to see a familiar face.  After dinner I walked through the town, checking out their small church and appreciating the trees outside that had somehow, over time, connected to one another.  I'd never seen that happen before.  A woman staying in the albergue asked if I wanted to go to nun's prayers at the convent and I of course accepted.  We ended up kind of breaking into the building and were eventually guided by a confused nun who took it all in stride.  Once we got to the room where they were reciting prayers we were given smiles and a prayer book to follow along.  Once the prayers ended, a nun blessed us in English and Spanish and gave us a medallion showing the Virgen de Milagros (Virgin of Miracles).  The tiny old nuns, hunched over, inching forward, came and grasped our hands and kissed our cheeks.  It was a very special evening spent with some lovely people.

The next morning I set out extremely early, so early I needed my headlamp... which was not working.  I was at a crossroads, the town was out in the middle of nowhere and once I left the warm lighting in the village, I would be in complete darkness.  Miraculously two Swedish women approached me just as I was considering turning around to wait for sunrise and I asked them if I could walk with them.  Eva and Susan said of course and we chatted as we climbed through the mist at a steady incline until the sun rose.  And what a beautiful sunrise it was... I actually left them just so I could stop to admire it for some time.  

The first few towns were closed, as in nothing for breakfast.  I walked another 2 miles before reaching an out of the way albergue that looked closed, but I tromped off the trail in hopes they at least had a bathroom.  It turned out they were not only open, but the lady running the albergue made me the best breakfast I had on the Camino.  I also saw my Swedish friends again, they had been joined by another Swede, another Eva.

I hooked back up with Marion and Nick from Ireland and their friend Maggie.  We walked most of the day together, through mainly flat and shadeless Meseta, discussing the history between Ireland and England.  We reached San Anton, some amazing ruins that the Pilgrim's Association had converted into an albergue without electricity.  We stopped there and were handed a water jug and cups as we took in the view.

As you walk towards Castrojeriz, the large hill with an old fort looms over the city as if it was still a fortress keeping watch.  We stopped by the cathedral at the beginning of the city for a drink before leaving to find beds.  I was lucky enough to grab the last bed at one of the biggest albergues.  I met two girls - Caroline from Boston and Cindy from Germany - hanging out by the foot pool.  I also met some of my favorite characters from the Camino at this albergue - Martina, Annemarie, and Michelle from France.  They were hilarious and only Michelle spoke some English.  They taught me how to say I love Barack Obama and I love ice cream in French.  I also met a woman from Detroit who told me she had been wanting to do the Camino for twenty years, but she raised four boys and then got her husband's permission and is finally taking this trip (she's from a very traditional Indian family).  It was such a heartwarming story and I heard many like it, although this woman's story was unique in that she waited and planned for TWENTY YEARS.

After our communal dinner the owner of the albergue came out and explained (in Spanish) that this albergue was actually on the site of an old winery.  He showed us the large wooden spike over our heads and how it was used to crush the grapes and then led us underneath the albergue where the bodega used to be.  It was out of this world, such an adventure!

The next day I mainly walked alone.  It was probably the first day I spent most of the day alone.  I did meet Kaye from New Zealand again as well as Muriel from Belgium who is a blog writer.  Kaye and I had a wonderful breakfast together talking about the Abbey on the Isle of Iona in Scotland.  She had just been there before the Camino (like me)!  I spent a lot of time reflecting about the last few months I was in Seattle and found my thoughts were basically the same.  I then reminded myself that my challenge was not to recount the past, but to consider the present and to enjoy every moment even when the flies were eating me alive while I walked by the canal and that my feet were bleeding out of my socks.  It helped that I witnessed another incredible sunrise once I climbed the large hill, ahem, mountain.

Most pilgrims stopped in Fromista for the night, but I felt like walking another two miles to Poblacion.  I did stop at the pharmacy and stocked up - hit the jackpot with more moleskin and tape.  I enjoyed walking across the lock at the beginning of the town.  (Oh, quick note, Fromista has a bar called Puzzles... anyone a fan of How I Met Your Mother?  Hahaha)

Once I arrived in Poblacion my feet were killing me.  As I went through the long process of unwrapping and inspecting my feet, a French woman came over and handed me a foot bath she had made with one of the wash buckets and some warm water and Betadine.  She spoke no English and her feet were three times worse than mine.  Another Camino miracle, it moved me so much.

We all went to dinner at the neighboring hotel where they made us paella and at the end of the meal gave us a shot of the local herbal liquor.  I met Mari from Sweden and Liz from Seattle.  Two friends I continued to see throughout the Camino.  I met two other ladies at our table that asked if I took the river route to Burgos to which I replied yes.  They then asked if I happened to see the naked man, to which I replied no... unfortunately?  Apparently as they were walking a young naked man was flinging his jewels around at the river... proudly, for all to see!  They were shocked and taken aback but didn't know what to do.  They actually did tell the police who told them they had been trying to catch him for three years.  Three years.  I tell you, that guy has interesting hobby.

The next day I spent another morning and afternoon walking alone although I did continue to circle two Korean guys and shared breakfast with them.  The rain clouds were rolling in and I decided to stop in Carrion de los Condes.  After that town there was a long period without any towns and I did not want to get stuck in the middle of nowhere during the storm.  

I arrived early in Carrion and went straight to the Santa Maria Albergue that Liz had told me is helped run by the Seattle Pilgrim's Association.  Straight away I got a bunk with Barry from Philadelphia and we left to grab a bite of lunch.  It was so weird to be in a town so early, normally I fall to the floor sometime in the mid to late afternoon.

The rain started shortly thereafter and brought many more pilgrims.  Our albergue filled in about an hour, as did all the albergues.  People were turned away all night, but I heard most of them found shelter at the monastery down the road.  I was delighted to meet Jim and Carol from Seattle who were currently volunteering at the albergue.

Most of us went to mass which was spectacular.  At the end we all went up to the altar and had a long pilgrim blessing from the priest.  He asked us where we were from by a show of hands and listed off most of the countries in the world.  We must have had at least 15 countries represented including Uruguay, Dominican Republic, and Brazil.

We went for a late dinner - Liz, Caroline, Cindy, and Barbara from Austria at an Italian restaurant down the road from the cathedral.  I was convinced that I would stay another day and take a rest day.  My feet were begging me for it.  While we were there I ran into my three favorite French ladies again!

But I ended up walking... when the weather is good - you go!

The second week was very hard for different reasons.  Although my feet did give me some trouble, it was mainly the mental challenge of learning to walk alone (something I ended up very much enjoying) and meeting new friends after losing my old ones.  Many people on the walk were going through similar struggles.  We all agreed we had reached a new chapter in our Camino.

It is said that the first third of the Camino is to challenge you physically, the second third is to challenge you mentally, and the third is to challenge you spiritually.  So I think I was right on track...