There's No Place Like Leon

We have arrived in Leon.  The kids are in love with our hotel, which was built in the 12th century as a pilgrim hospital, then renovated in the 17th century as a pilgrim hostal, with cloister and church attached.  It's pretty fantastic, and I'm thrilled we're here for three nights.  Alex and I splurged so that we could have our own rooms.  We're paying an incredibly reasonable 60 Euro over the group rate.

Today was a slow day, but we designed it that way since we knew we would not be able to check in to the hotel until after noon.  There is not much to tell of the walk from Mansilla: we had a leisurely breakfast, wherein we lingered long enough to watch the running of the bulls.  I thought of my friend Calvin, who is in Pamplona with a couple of friends for San Fermin, and whom we will meet up with in a couple of days.  I prayed for their safety, and since I did not see them being carted away on Spanish National TV will assume they are OK.

Leon is OLD.  It was founded as the home base for the Felix Legion of the Roman Army to guard the transport route of gold from Galicia to Bourdeaux.  That's even where Leon got it's name: Felix = Lion and Leon = Lion and Leon is also a contraction of the Latin word Legion as well.  It still has Roman walls and the prerequisite cathedral, but it also has a Gaudi Bishops palace and other fun stuff, including a beautiful river walk.  It's up there on my list of favorite Spanish cities.

Leon was also the Capital of the Kingdom of Leon in the 9th - 11th centuries.  As the Christians pushed south, they moved the capital south and founded the kingdom.  At the time, this area was a depopulated no mans land, and the Christians claimed squatters rights, essentially.  The Kingdom of Leon was absorbed into the crown of Castile in the late 1090s after a war of succession.  That newly-expanded Castile was Isabel's inheritance, and what she brought to the table when she married Ferdinand of Aragon in 1474.  He brought the smaller, richer kingdoms of Aragon, Navarra, Rioja, and Catalunya.  These formed the nucleus of Spain as we know it, and when the Catholic Kings captured Granada on Christmas Day 1492, the Reconquest of Spain was complete, some 750 years after our old friend Pelayo started it in Cangas de Onis, on the other side of the mountains, in the summer of 719 by refusing to pay his taxes to the moorish overlord.  Leon is kind of an important place.

We noticed some snow still on those mountains and the ones between us and Galicia.  That's going to make things interesting in a few days, and it certainly has been cold.  Hopefully we don't have too much trouble.

This afternoon I have mostly relaxed, having walked a bit, eaten lunch (I cheated and had a hamburger), showered, and rubbed most of a bottle of hotel lotion into my feet, arms, and legs to restore some semblance of moisture to them.  We have group dinner tonight, and then we'll have a group meeting for one of the students to share their testimony.

Our token tag along Pilgrim, Tom, asked me today if I knew of any other university that had undertaken the entire Camino as a course.  I am not.  We've met some folks from the U. Of Minnesota who are doing a couple days here and there and then getting on a bus, but that's it.  I'll admit that I'm prideful enough to be excited about the fact that I might have created something new.  I am just trying to figure out how Pepperdine can leverage that innovation, and get credit for it.

I've also thought a lot about the students and their experiences today.  I do not consider myself a particularly gifted spiritual leader, at least not in the traditional, charismatic sense.  I hope that through the conversations we've had, and the things I've shown the students, and what they've experienced on their own, that this journey is as spiritual as it is physical.  I get this sense (and I have to be a bit careful, since they're reading this) that's it's important to them that we're friends and like each other.  While I absolutely want that as well, it's more important to me that the kids experience all the aspects of this Camino, and learn from it, and are different, and that means to me that sometimes I have to push them, or hold them accountable.  Is that a cop out?  I don't think so, but feel free to call me out on it.  Hopefully they understand that.

If not, I guess I'll stick to accounting.  :-)

Farewell to the Flatlands

The mountains in the distance have moved over the horizon and are slowly and ominously marching ever closer. This is a reminder that we are soon to leave the Meseta and head into the mountains that separate Castilla-Leon from Galicia, and ultimately, Santiago de Compostela. We are fortunate to have had a painless transit of the Meseta.  The temperature has never exceeded 75.

Yesterday was a long 19 miles from Terradillos de los Templarios to El Burgo Ranero.  It's a pretty rough stretch, with lots of open ground and a few towns to break up the monotony.  I'll admit that Burgo Ranero is not my favorite place; it's not an overly pretty town.  There is little natural stone in the area so most of the houses are mud brick.  We ended up staying in a private albergue, family owned, run by a young man named Cristiano who is half Welsh and half Spanish.  I enjoyed getting to know him, and apart from two biker peregrinos, we had the albergue to ourselves.  I splurged on a private room with a queen bed for the princely sum of 15 Euro.  The best part of the whole place was that he had a couple of kittens in the backyard.  The students don't quite know what to do with my cat affinity.  As Hunter put it, "It's funny to me how you just melt when you start talking about cats". That's me, Dr. Evil.  "When Dr. Evil gets angry, Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset.  And when Mr. Bigglesworth gets upset, people die!"

Aaaanyway, today was a much shorter 12 miles, which was great, but it's still pretty remote terrain; no break for the first eight miles.  For whatever reason, I've mostly ended up walking by myself the last two days. So I've had a lot of time in my head.  I suppose this is good, because I've been able to start noodling about some things.  I'm finding that it's a whole lot easier to talk to God than it is to quiet the mind enough to listen to what He might have to say.  I hope I can work on that over the next few weeks.  Nonetheless, it was an interesting, if difficult, conversation in my head.  One of the reasons I'm here on this Camino (other than the students) is because I've got several things I've wanted to examine, but have not been able to detach myself from in my "normal" life to do so meaningfully.  Frankly, these are things that I struggle with, but that I don't know how to deal with, or change, and that I often find myself ashamed of.  This is difficult to describe in a blog, but it's as if I'm in this place where I say, "God, I have these things, and I'm ashamed and don't know how to deal with them.  I can't deal with them.  Will you take them?  Will you fix them?  Will you love me in spite of these things?" That was a rough half-hour, and I was glad to be walking by myself.

Even so, walking wise, it was a fairly easy day, and we're in the town of Mansilla de las Mulas, which is walled.  We're staying in a nice clean albergue right outside the wall, with a lovely garden.  It was nice to get in right at noon when the place opened and have all afternoon to relax and get caught up on things.  Tomorrow is an equally short 12 miles, and we're staying at the Hostel San Marcos for two glorious rest days.  If you've seen "The Way" this is the hotel that the protagonists stay in to treat themselves.  Needless to say, we are looking forward to it!

Halfway There

Today we arrived in the thriving metropolis of Terradillos de Los Templarios, population 50.  As the name implies, the town was very closely tied to the Knights Templar in the 1100s but is merely a sleepy little pilgrim burg today.  More importantly, we are halfway to Santiago, having walked now for 19 days and some 250 miles.

I had a fairly quiet birthday with 12 miles of hiking before arriving in Fromista.  We elected to stay at the Municipal Albergue.  I'm not quite sure what was wrong with the Universe that day, but it was populated almost entirely by distressingly rude older pilgrims.  It may simply have been that they were not enthusiastic about sharing their hostel with a group of young Americans, but we were equally unexcited about sharing with cranky old Europeans, frankly.

Nonetheless, we made the best of it, even though we hardly slept that night from the snoring.  Several of our roommates decided they needed to be on the road at 5:00, which was rough.  But the kids surprised me with birthday dinner and a homemade cake, which was awesome.  I've had worse birthdays certainly.

The next day was another 12 miles, to Carrion de Los Condes, where we again gave the municipal albergue a try.  I've learned that there is in fact a difference between the clientele at the 5 euro hostal and the 10 euro hostel.  We were allotted bunks in a room with six young Germans, and unfortunately, the smell was stifling.  I don't think it was the Germans specifically, I think it was the room.  But the Germans didn't help.  We made the best of it until a couple of students showed up late and couldn't find beds.  So, Alex and I gladly surrendered our spots and high tailed it to the hotel at the other end of town housed in a restored 11th century monastery, on our own dime.

It was glorious.  Even the bat that was in my bathroom floor this morning.  Pictures attached.  It was also hard to leave today.

Today was 16 miles, 11 in one shot on the old Roman Road that runs from Astorga to Bourdeax, which is how the legions transported gold from Galicia to the rest of the Empire.  Neat history, terrible walking.  We all struggled, mentally and physically, but at least it hasn't been hot.  Lots of blisters still abound and I've got a couple of kids fighting colds/fevers.  Nonetheless, morale is pretty high, which I'm grateful for.

Because of the general state of exhaustion, I took a look at the walking schedule, and polled the group, and we've decided to adjust some of the walking days to allow an extra rest day at the hotel in Leon.  How I'll work this into the budget is a great question, but I'll figure it out, and I think the kids could use the rest.

Tonight we're in a really nice private albergue, 4 beds to a room with bath, 9 Euro.  They have a restaurant on site and are even doing our laundry.  This is pilgrim luxury, let me tell you.

Halfway through, how do I feel?  Physically OK, though I am frustrated with my feet.  I've had some great conversations with the kids and my co-leaders (though we all still miss Drake terribly).  I am not too much in my head but I'm hopeful my subconscious is churning away.  I am missing home a bit again since my birthday, and I have several things on my mind I hope to make progress on over the next few weeks.  But all in due time.  This has been an amazing experience.  I am coming to love these kids deeply, and look forward to watching them experience the rest of the Camino.

The Prerequisite Patriotic Blog Post

First off, Happy Independence Day!  I originally tried to post this earlier, but my blogging app crashed so I'm having to re-type everything.  Then, the wifi at out albergue decided it was done too, so we'll see if I can get this posted.  It's always a bit strange celebrating a national holiday in a country where it's not a holiday.  Nonetheless, the kids are rather enthusiastic about the holiday; they began the morning with a rendition if "God Bless America".  Apparently the other albergue guests were not impressed.  One of our German friends was apparently so irritated that he decided he would walk one town further than us today, ostensibly so as not to have to deal with our festivities.  I encouraged the kids to celebrate the 4th but to be respectful of those who have to put up with us tonight, and to remember the 15 miles we have to walk tomorrow.  I am not convinced my advice will be followed.  

As I mentioned before the day following a rest day is always a challenge.  Leaving Burgos was more of a mental challenge than physical.  My feet and legs seemed to be better, and the time passed quickly, but several of the kids acknowledged that they were struggling mentally.  

We are on the meseta, which is typically hot, dry, flat, and with little shade.  We have been lucky: we have had cool weather with temperatures peaking in the low-70s.  We are six days out of Leon and if this weather holds, i will be truly thankful.

I felt quite well on the hike yesterday, until we had to pick up the pace for the last three miles to beat a thunderstorm into town.  Once we arrived at our albergue (which was nice, though two bathrooms for 20 people is a bit thin), I had trouble getting warm, and in fact started running a fever.  I think I might have been dehydrated: in 13 miles of walking, I'd consumed 8 oz of water and one beer on a rest break.  Not smart.

So I hydrated.  And slept.  For 15 hours.

On the upside, I felt great today.  The walk was pretty easy, the scenery was fantastic, and all in all it's been a relaxing afternoon.  We are in the town of Castrojeriz, which is very picturesque, having been inhabited since pre-Roman times and with a 9th century castle ruin on the hill overlooking town.  It's also spread out over the better part of two miles which means a lot of walking even once you're in town.

Our albergue is nice, at 5 Euros a bed, with lots of hot water.  I have a feeling, though, that tonight's Choir of Snoring Middle Aged Men will be Italian and not French.  Thank you, sweet baby Jesus, for earplugs.

We've spent the afternoon walking around town, enjoying a nice pilgrim lunch, and I even napped a bit.  I'm going to do a bit of grading then plan to have a light dinner.  No big birthday plans for me, but I have a bit of suspicion the kids might be plotting something.  

At any rate, the last picture in today's post is the view from where I'm sitting as I blog.  I can't imagine a more Spanish setting.  Somebody light off some fireworks for me!

The Spanish Inquisition, New Faces, and a Lesson in Humility

First, I'll apologize for taking four days to update the blog: there have been many fun times at th Camino corral since I last wrote.

The easy 12 mile day was in fact easy, but at one point a middle aged Spanish woman, who I thought at first was a pilgrim, accosted Drake and I and asked while looking at Drake, "What's his problem?"

A pretty vague question, really, with many possible answers given the person involved, but this was the Camino so I knew she was referring to Drake's limp.  I explained about his knee and my blisters, and our fellow pilgrim, who I realized had no pack and was clearly just out for her morning walk proceeded to grill me for 10 minutes about what measures we were taking to heal and and to question me extensively on my understanding of the Spanish language, whereupon she informed us she was a nurse and we'd better listen to what she had to say.  I refrained from saluting as she sped on ahead.  She was, after all, only trying to help.

We ended that day in the town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada, which has two albergues: small and large.  We headed for the large one, thinking the students would end up there.  Nope.  They filled up the small one, which was run by a bunch of nuns (not on the run) and was built in the 16th century and looked like it had not been updated since.  Our albergue was much nicer, although we were treated to the Snoting French Choir of Middle Aged Pilgrims and did not sleep much.  Nonetheless, we had a great lunch of lamb chops and enjoyed a shared dinner with some pilgrims from Catalunya who were impressed with my command of the Spanish language and Drake's command of non-Spanish communication.

The next day was very short - 10 miles, because we stayed at the bed and breakfast of Ana de la cruz in the tiny town of Quintanilla de la Monte en Rioja.  We met Ana three years ago on the Camino and I was glad to stay with her again.  We were a big enough group that I was able to rent the whole place - 20 EUR a bed, plus meals, which were fantastic.  It was a good break for everyone, I think.  The students are adjusting to the physical aspect of the Camino, though we are still having to sort through some food-related frustrations.  I am still having blister problems, which is also frustrating.

Because we stayed at Ana's, we had a long 18 miles the next day, and a small town with few beds at the end of that, so I prepared everyone for the idea that they might need to go and additional two miles, nearly 21 in total, to the town of Ages, if they felt like they could handle it. This led to some confusion, and the group actually ended up spread across two towns at the end of that very long day.  

I undertook the 21 myself, which actually went very well.  We had a sizeable walking group that stuck together and made for good conversation.  We passed through the Montes de Oca, a historically bandit infested part of the Camino that now hosts a somewhat defiant monument to the Spanish Civil War dead on the LOSING side.  It's not often in the US that you see war monuments with words like "assassinated" and "murdered" on them.  

Liz, my RA, called after we arrived in Ages (she was in the other town), to say that a number of the group who had stopped there were somewhat upset about a number of things, so we talked about that, and agreed that we would address things on our rest day in Burgos.  Drake and I also discussed the issues and how to address them, and we all thought the next day would be an easy 11 miles to our hotel in Burgos and a much-needed rest day.

Nope.  We were barely moving by 8:30, after a lost phone, and many other delays.  Then it started raining.  And it was cold.  Like 50 degrees.  So we donned our rain gear, covered our packs and walked the two miles to Atapuerca, where we promptly stopped for an hour-and-a-half of breakfast.  This was the students first experience with inclement weather, and since we had a hotel reservation, I did not push the schedule.

I will admit that I too was struggling, mostly because of my feet after the 21 mile day, and had it not been for my walking companions and many rest breaks, I would not have made Burgos.  This was very humbling, as one the last Camino, I didn't have a single blister issue.  But I am philosophical about it, and it has caused me to spend a lot of time talking to God to avoid focusing on the pain.  I am grateful for that opportunity.

The approach to Burgos is just awful - 5 miles of commercial and industrial district.  And according to one of my students pedometers, the 11 miles was more like 14.  It sure felt like it.

Our hotel is a medieval convent, and it is fantastic.  The food is good, and the kids love Burgos.  After dinner we had a group meeting for about two hours where I listened to and tried to address the students concerns, make it clear what my expectations where and what they should expect as well.  On the whole I think it went well, and the group is in a much better place.

We also said goodbye to Drake, who returned to Malibu today.  Drake, my friend, I miss you already, and am deeply grateful you were here with us.  Another IP employee, Alex, is here, and she is just as awesome as Drake.  They are both a much more energetic balance to my sometimes-infuriating stoicism. 

So I got up at 3:15 this morning to get Drake to the bus station (which in typical Spanish fashion is not well-marked or obviously placed) for his 4am bus.  Because of the directional issues, we got him on-board at 3:58.  Then I went back to bed, breakfasted at 10, and was on my way to the train station with a student, Hunter, to get Alex when I ran into a couple in the lobby of the hotel who are doing a documentary on the Camino.  It turns out they work for Die Spiegel, a well known German magazine, and are researching how the Camino has changed over the last 15 years.  They're pretty fascinated with our group and have interviewed several students.  I spoke with them as well and exchanged cards.  The main writer is actually Spanish living in Berlin, and he made my day when he said "I've never heard an American speak Spanish with such a perfect Madrid accent. It's flawless!"  I'll admit I actually blushed.

Alex arrived in due course, and after she got settled in, we went to lunch to get her up to speed.  I've spent the afternoon catching up on work and grading while soaking my feet in the bath.  Dinner tonight is duck confit (yes!) and then we have 13 miles of the meseta tomorrow.  At least it apprears the weather will be cool and cloudy rather than the blistering heat we expect.  We'll see how my feet do.  Prayers appreciated!