March has arrived in Northern Spain, only four months late. The cold and mist that set in yesterday afternoon turned to rain last night and decided it liked the area so much that it stayed as fog and mist this morning. Accordingly, since we had a hotel reserved and heat was not going to be a factor in our walk today, we "slept in" (6:30) and enjoyed the hotel breakfast before setting out.
At breakfast, we learned that the people who had seeing to our needs were in fact the owners. This got me thinking: what would it be like to run a renovated medieval pilgrim hospital in a town of 136 people as your own business, and try to be profitable? Those people are clearly more adventurous than I, and I found that made me a little sad. I have often wondered what it would be like to be in business for myself, and to depend on that business for my income, but I have never had the guts to try it. I hope one day, I will, whatever the endeavor may be.
We were on the Camino by 8:30 and were immediately confronted by a stiff climb. In fact, today was a climbing and descending day, and with the mist and fog, cold as well. I suppose the British, with their usual penchant for eloquent understatement would have called the temperature "bracing". I, being an uncouth straight-shooting colonial, called it "fricking freezing." This is mostly because we are in Spain in summer. I did not bring long sleeves, much less a jacket. Thus, I wore my rain poncho for most of the day, as it tended to insulate somewhat. We also had to watch where we stepped on the trail, as the rain had brought out all manner of slugs and snails, including this rather large all-black slug that is about 6-7 inches long. We have christened them "Giant Black Man-eating Slugs", and I'll post pictures as soon as I have a Wifi connection again.
The first seven miles of our hike were wilderness, through forest of pine and oak, and with the mist all around I kept expecting the come around a bend in the road and see a troop of medieval knights, or even Roman legionnaires, as the weather and landscape lent itself to the thought that not much had changed along the way from the time of Christ. It was as if we journeyed in one of those scenes from a movie where the protagonist is somehow transported to a different time and place than the present.
This sentiment was shattered somewhat by a memorial to a group of people who were murdered at the beginning of the Spanish Civil War, at a spot on the Camino, in 1936. You probably don't knowing about the Spanish Civil War, but the gist is this: Francisco Franco staged a coup d'état to overthrow the existing Republic (which had itself ousted the monarchy in 1931) and set up a fascist dictatorship. The Spanish Civil War served as a testing grounds for both Allied (Russian) and Axis (German) military technology that would later be used in WWII, as the Germans aided Franco, and the Russians aides the Republic. Like most wars, especially internal wars, many atrocities were committed on both sides. In this case, supporters of the Republic had been murdered by Supporters of Franco. If you feel the need to get a sense of what life was like in Spain during that era, I suggest watching the movie "Pan's Labyrinth.". Be forewarned, it is not a happy movie.
Nonetheless, the walk was enchanting, and I found myself back to musing on how things should be different in my life when I return to the States. I also thought a lot an idea for a new book. Admittedly, the later was easier to process than the former, and I find I am not ready to talk about either on my blog just yet.
We soon arrived at a town and a bar, which is a good thing: we were nearly frozen, and a bathroom break was definitely in order. The town was built around a monastery constructed around 1150 to help pilgrims navigate this difficult section of the Camino, which was fraught with bandits and robbers in medieval times. The Queen (Isabella in this case), had visited in 1477 seeking a cure for infertility which apparently worked, thus this
Monastery has done decently well over the years.
After our brief stop and fortifying cups of coffee, it was down the hill and on to our destination today - Atapuerca. We had been making good time, but after the stop, Dad started having leg trouble. Though his blisters seem to be healing, we may have to get his leg looked at in Burgos.
We've had a bit of a strange/funny thing happen on and off. For several days, we've this this tall, bald Spanish man walking. Sometimes he's in front of us, sometimes he's behind us. He never says much. He was in our hotel last night and he passed us walking today in a long black trench coat, blowing in the wind. I swear he looked like You-Know-Who, and his appearances and reappearances have been a bit creepy. In the last town before Atapuerca he materialized again, sitting on a bench in the main square. We walked on, and before us was three kilometers of open highway with no shelter before we arrived in Atapuerca. We were about halfway to Atapuerca, out in the open and dang it if Moldy Voldy himself didn't come out of nowhere behind us, walking. As he passed us...again...I realized he didn't have a pack. Who walks across Spain without a pack? At any rate he moved on, and we laughed about it. When we get to the hotel, guess who comes in a few minutes afterward? Yep. And his pack is waiting for him. Turns out he's having his bag transported from place to place for him. And he even has a family, or at least people who eat with him in the hotel dining room.
This reminds me of a phenomenon I've been meaning to tell you about: turegrinos. This term is the combination of two Spanish words : turista (tourist) and peregrino (pilgrim). Turegrinos are people who are, on the Camino de Santiago, but instead of walking with a pack (as we are attempting), they have a bus, and they get off and walk a bit, sans pack, and when they get tired the bus picks them up and they go on to the next point. Nice gig, huh? I suppose we too are technically cheating because we are taking the train in a couple of spots and not staying in the pilgrim hostels, but we are at least carrying our own packs.
Atapuerca seems like any other small Spanish rural town, except for one thing: the oldest evidence of human existence in Europe was discovered here, placing humans in this part of the world at least 780,000 years ago. Apparently, we are all at least a little Spanish.
We arrived at our hotel, which is a renovated house several hundred years old that once belonged to a priest. Given the weather, which is supposed to clear by tomorrow, we have holed up for the day, though I wouldn't walking back out to the archaeological sites, if I could find the clothing and energy.
I am looking forward to being in Burgos tomorrow. They have an extensive castle, and I have not spent any time in Burgos. I'm also glad our new walking plan seems to be working well, but wish we were not battling various health issues. Those make me a bit anxious from time to time. I suppose that is all part of the Camino experience.
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