Tuesday, June 24, 2014

Conversations with my various body parts, fountains of wine, and "sacrifice"


We’re now six days in to our Camino, and very much looking forward to a rest day in Logrono.  I neglected to mention a bit of drama we had a couple of days back in Cizur Menor.  We had a pilgrim meal at the bar across the street from our hostal.  Dinner on the Camino is uncharacteristically early for Spain; usually around 7pm.  The group ate at several tables, and so my table returned to the hostal to watch the Germany-Ghana World Cup match.  A while later one of the students came in and said that the restaurant was claiming we didn’t pay for five of our meals, so I headed over to sorted things out with the help of another pilgrim, Carlos, who’s from Miami.  It turns out the restaurant didn’t actually know how many meals they’d served, so we theorize that they were just trying to take advantage of the students.  Once we showed up things got sorted out really quickly.  I wish I could tell you that things like this didn’t happen on the Camino, but where humans are involved, misunderstandings happen

I returned to the hostal hoping to catch the end of the match, only to have the hostal owner tell me that two of the group hadn’t paid for their bed yet.  This was in fact true, but it was because they had tried to track her down to pay and she was absent.  The hostal owner was rather snippy, and we had several weird issue with her earlier in the day, so on the whole, I was not impressed with this hostal, in spite of Mr. Brierly, who writes our Camino guide, who recommends the place.  I may have to send him an email; as it appears that the hostal owner is definitely biased toward older pilgrims, which is certainly her prerogative.

Two days ago our walk was over the Alto del Perdon, the point at which pilgrims have supposedly alked enough to do penance for their sins.  I’m not sure how true this is, but it was sure good to get to the top of the hill.  We stayed last night in the medieval town of Puente La Reina, known for its 1th century bridge, built by the Queen of Navarra so that pilgrims could cross the river without having to ford it.  I was very grateful for this bridge, but not especially grateful that our hostal last night was at the top of the hill across the bridge.  Nonetheless, it was a nice hostal, and I was able to relax and have several good conversations with the students. 

Yesterday was another short-ish 13 miles to the town of Estella.  We made good time, and so had trouble finding an albergue that was open.  Not wanting to wait an hour and a half for them to open we opted to stay in a pension, which I’ll admit has a pretty fantastic view, and is run by a very nice retired lady.  We met some other pilgrims for dinner, and had a bit of a convocation/group meeting with the students to assess where they are and encourage them.  This is the part where the walking stops being fun and the mental game is key.  If I can get them to the rest day on Thursday, things will reset, and it will get easier mentally.

Today, we moved at a slower pace; all of us are feeling the strain on our bodies.  Drake has had shinsplints and knee issues; my right knee and hamstring are carrying on a constant conversation with me, and several of the students are battling blisters and pulled tendons.  We’ve used up our supply of tape; so I’ll need to replenish that.

The highlight of the day was an early stop at the wine fountain.  One of the wineries on the route has been kind to pilgrims in that they have provided free wine via a spigot to pilgrims.  Needless to say, this was a big hit with our students, though I made clear that it was a cultural experience and I would not be pouring any students wine from the fountain.  There is also a webcam for people to watch; I’m not sure if any parents got to see their kids drinking from the fountain.

The terrain is gentler,but we were moving slower today, and it seemed like a long, but beautiful 13 miles in to Los Arcos through vineyards, olive groves, and wheat fields.  I will admit that Drake and I have had several good singalong sessions, mostly involving VeggieTales from back in the day, but two of our students, Liz, and Katie, were walking with us today, and so we had to oblige them with Michelle Branch and Vanessa Carlton renditions as well.  Beds are in somewhat short supply here in Los Arcos, so Drake and I gave up our beds for a privte room (such a sacrifice, I know!) so that a coupe of our straggling students could get a bed. We will get an early start tomorrow for the very long 18 miles into Logrono for a rest day and a hotel!














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