Hello All!
Day 18 and I am walking at a magnificent pace now and alongside my friends, rather than trailing behind! THIS is how I imagined it would feel to be a peregrino before I left on this amazing journey! THIS is me walking healthy and free! THIS is my body and spirit singing and dancing The Camino and I give great Gratitude, Universe! Blessings!
The life of a peregrino, for me, is absolutely ideal! I love it! I thought you might like to know how an average day might unfold for me...
6:20am - 7/7:15am- awake, arise and eat breakfast...just started this new schedule about, oh, a week, week and a half ago. Before it was dark when we awoke around 7am and cold (and generally wet) outside. We normally didn't leave until 8am. Now the sun gets hot around 8:30-9am, so we get up and start walking earlier now. I do the normal toiletry stuff, get dressed, perform my ritualistic foot care, apply sunscreen and pack up my bag. Depending on the albergue and how many people are there, one may have to wait for the bathroom, so sometimes we eat breakfast while waiting. Breakfast...this normally consists of either fruit, yogurt, juice and tea (lots of liquids first thing to hydrate up) we've purchased from the supermarcado the previous day, or tostados (toast) with butter and jam (and lots of liquids) from the local bar/cafe...usually the one closest to the albergue as they're the only business open at that time of the morning.
7/7:15am- walk...and walk and walk and walk and walk some more. Break every hour and half or so just to take the weight off of our backs, pee, drink, maybe snack on something, stretch...depending on the day we're on the Via de la Plata anywhere from 4-8 hours. Five to six hour walks are perfect, for me. Again, it all depends on the terrain and the weather, which are hugely influential on the mindset. But as my body strengthens, I find tough terrain easier and even enjoy the challenge!
The afternoon: Once the days walking is over and we've arrived at our destination we check into the albergue and immediately shower! Ahhhh...water never felt so damn good! Love, love, love water so much! Then, down an ice cold beer. Again, I never appreciated beer the way I do on The Camino...it's so fortifying and satisfying! If we have to wait for a shower or wait for the volunteers to open the albergue, the order of the shower and the beer are reversed. Life is simple here.
After beer and shower (or shower and beer) it's generally time for more foot care, laundry and lunch. Foot care is becoming more and more simple for me, as any blisters I may have had are now turning into calluses. Just a little anti-inflammatory on the tendons, and I'm good to go. Many are not so lucky. Laundry is generally done by washboard in a sink. I sing Dolly Parton songs while I wash my clothes the old fashioned way because it just feels right :) Then, out in the sun on the line they go to dry and freshen.
Lunch is the biggest meal of the day and tons of resturants offer a peregrino menu for around $8-10 euros consisting of a starter, a main entree, and a dessert plus water and either a glass of wine or a beer. In Spain, lunch is served between 2 and 5pm...only resturants are open, everything else (and I mean EVERYTHING ELSE) is closed. Therefore, what else does one have to do after eating but take a nap? SIESTA! Love, love, love siesta! Of course, I could go site-seeing, and I have once or twice, but it's really, really hot between those hours and I want to enjoy my evening, so I normally opt for the nap.
After siesta it's generally time for another beer and to take the clothes off the line. It's cooler after 5pm so this is the ideal time for site-seeing, if we happen to be in a place with a population over 500. This is also the time we start planning the route for the next day, discussing the terrain, pueblos (villages) where we might get a snack, whether there will be any pueblos whatsoever and how much water we might have to take with us, looking in the paper for weather reports, etc...Often we head to the supermarcado to buy either dinner and/or breakfast items. I journal at this time and go through my photos from the day. I might try to find a library or internet cafe where I can write all of you or check up on my emails. I hunt down/write postcards. There's a lot of socializing going on between pilgrims. It's extraordinarily leisurely.
Evening- Supper isn't served in Spain until 8pm and most locals eat later...around 10pm. This is too late for most of us who need to be up and walking in the morning, so me and my Camino family generally eat around 8-8:30pm. Supper is generally salad that we prepare ourselves, or tapas. Tapas are small, appetizer size portions of food that are served at the bars for a decent price. As a vegetarian I'm somewhat limited at the cafes. I'm pretty in love with the cheese here, and the tortillas, which are basically a piece of potatoe omlette. I also eat a lot of green salad (always iceberg lettuce, but whatever), gazpacho (when I can get it), ensallida ruso (a potato salad), olives and bread. That's about it. I had a vegetarian pizza the other night and thought I was in heaven. Bread is served with every single meal and the Spanish eat it in amazing quantities (along with their beloved pork) and I try to keep my portions of bread minimal, but when you're walking 20-35kms a day, you need the carbs. This is also when I chug the water, and maybe another beer or glass of wine...but lots of water!
10/10:30/11pm- Bedtime! Depending on the albergue this could mean crawling into a bed surrounded by anywhere from 3 to 15 other people (and this is excellent, really, some of the albergues on the popular Camino Frances sleep up to 70 people in one room. Ugh.) Juan is pretty amazing and has found us some really awesome accomodations where we get a room for just the four of us, or even 2 doubles so that Bea and I have a room all to ourselves! Sweet! No earplugs! All of these places, the good, the bad, and the ugly, never cost over 15 euros and, on the average, cost around 10 euros. The other night, due to distance, we stayed at this wee little refugio that was by donation only where we stuffed the place like sardines! There were only 12 beds in 3 tiny rooms and there were people on mattresses on the floor in the entrace for goodness' sake! This was the night we had to make the choice between 20 or 40kms and opted for the 20. A lot of people opted for the 20. Bea was feeling very sore and poor Juan's heels were cracking open they were so dry! I felt good, but they'd accomodated me in the past, so you do what you have to do for the family. Falling asleep and waking in a new place day after day is actually pretty cool. You get used to it.
Just a quick side note: the group dynamicsw are about to change as tonight is Beatrice's last with us. Tomorrow Juan and I head out together without her and with Peter trailing behind, going at his understandably slower pace. I'll let you know how it all works out. Being the only woman and having no interpreter amongst us should be very interesting...I'm trying to look at it as my opportunity to fully embrace learning Spanish.
So, that's about it, and my time at the computer is almost up, so I'll let you go for now. I hope this finds every one of you well! Know I miss you and love you very much! Until next time...
Adios!
Love, Kim
