40 Kilometers and a Mule
40 kilometers...Sara and I knocked that out in one day. A mule...what the Camino sometimes makes you feel like. More on each of those later.
My first entry after four days on the Camino was at a point when the Camino was new, fun and awesome...and my feet were normal. Following our initial four (mostly) solid great days, we experienced some of the challenges of this journey. We struggled with extreme exhaustion, blisters (my feet are tore up), shitty accommodations (sleeping 12+ people to a room in bunk beds is no bueno; lots of not so enjoyable smells and sounds) and the grueling, relentless and monotonous (wake, eat, walk, eat, walk, clean, sleep) schedule.
There were some very low points for both of us when we both questioned why we were doing this. It is such a mental and physical challenge. Interestingly, the challenges have been much more physical for me and much more mental for Sara. I was determined to push on but Sara put her foot down and we rested a day in Viana. Sara was spot on - we needed to rest.
During our rest day, we decided to empty even more stuff from our bags and sent them ahead to Santiago de Compostela. We got rid of a total of 8.5 kilos (19 pounds) that we didn't need to "mule" across Spain. What a huge difference dropping the extra weight made! You really end up with the bare necessities. The rest day followed a very difficult day where every step I took was painful. I had become known as the guy with the blisters.
As Sara mentioned in her post, I had some extremely interesting therapy done on me with healing pens. There is a group of people in our Camino "pod" that are here being led by a healer. They all walk alone but then meet together at the end of the day to discuss their journey. Sidebar... I mistakingly called her a guru and it spread through the pod and now everyone calls them the guru group (much to their chagrin). I am still not exactly sure of the difference between a healer and a guru. They are definitely out there but have great intentions and I am learning not to judge anyone's journey.
Two of the ladies pulled out a special healing pen, circling but never touching both of my feet with said pen for 20 minutes in order to "reset the energy in my foot to zero point". I don't know if it was the power of suggestion, however I felt vibrations in my foot and at one point it started to shake. I don't know if it was the healing pens, the rest day, time, getting used to the Camino, new socks, the lightened load or a combination of all of the above but ever since the healing ceremony my feet have started to get better.
After our day of rest we took off from Viana... and then the Camino (Mr. L. Camino, Senior Camino or L if you're not into the whole brevity thing) taught us another lesson. Mr. L Camino kicked our ass for taking a break. First, Senior Camino decided to pour down rain upon us. Then he made us keep going. And going. And going. After 23 km, we arrived in Navarette and were going to stop there only to discover the entire town was booked solid ("completed" or something similar in Spanish - we heard that again and again). Turns out May 1st is a major Spanish holiday and the rooms for the weekend get booked up.
We pushed forward another 7 km to Ventosa. This albergue was also sold out but the woman that ran it was an awesome old Dutch hippie that took good care of us. She reminded me of Mom who I have been thinking a lot about as I walk. She gave us hot chocolate, had a well stocked store that actually had decent/healthy food (first granola we've seen in Spain) and called ahead to Najera to reserve us a room there. She thought we should take a cab but we insisted that we push forward on foot. We want to walk the entire Camino. She understood and said it is good to test yourself/see your limits.
We finally "rolled" into town at 8 pm, ate some Chinese food (ironically maybe the best meal we've had in Spain - the pilgrims menu generally sucks) and had some beds to lay our weary heads after walking 40 km. Unfortunately it was Saturday night and there was a fiesta going on outside our albergue that ended at 3 am with a rocking Spanish version of Sweet Child of Mine. 40 km done. Senior Camino pushed us and we responded. What an incredible feeling of accomplishment. Then we got up and did it again today.
Camino Tip of the Day: Always have some food on you. Fuel is necessary, you never know when the next town will be and always load up on food on Saturday as everything shuts down on Sunday (except for the church).
Camino Friend of the Day: We lost a great guy from our Camino pod...Jenz from Germany. Funny guy from Berlin, liked to have fun, sweet and caring. He had to exit the Camino due to a knee injury. We miss him.
Camino Random Observation of the Day: 10% of the people on the Camino are Korean. Surprising, but they are largely Catholic. Apparently one of the best selling books in Korea is about the Camino. There aren't that many Americans...but most on the Camino have seen the movie the Way.
Camino Song del Dia: Walkin' by Widespread Panic, 2012 wood tour.
My first entry after four days on the Camino was at a point when the Camino was new, fun and awesome...and my feet were normal. Following our initial four (mostly) solid great days, we experienced some of the challenges of this journey. We struggled with extreme exhaustion, blisters (my feet are tore up), shitty accommodations (sleeping 12+ people to a room in bunk beds is no bueno; lots of not so enjoyable smells and sounds) and the grueling, relentless and monotonous (wake, eat, walk, eat, walk, clean, sleep) schedule.
There were some very low points for both of us when we both questioned why we were doing this. It is such a mental and physical challenge. Interestingly, the challenges have been much more physical for me and much more mental for Sara. I was determined to push on but Sara put her foot down and we rested a day in Viana. Sara was spot on - we needed to rest.
During our rest day, we decided to empty even more stuff from our bags and sent them ahead to Santiago de Compostela. We got rid of a total of 8.5 kilos (19 pounds) that we didn't need to "mule" across Spain. What a huge difference dropping the extra weight made! You really end up with the bare necessities. The rest day followed a very difficult day where every step I took was painful. I had become known as the guy with the blisters.
As Sara mentioned in her post, I had some extremely interesting therapy done on me with healing pens. There is a group of people in our Camino "pod" that are here being led by a healer. They all walk alone but then meet together at the end of the day to discuss their journey. Sidebar... I mistakingly called her a guru and it spread through the pod and now everyone calls them the guru group (much to their chagrin). I am still not exactly sure of the difference between a healer and a guru. They are definitely out there but have great intentions and I am learning not to judge anyone's journey.
Two of the ladies pulled out a special healing pen, circling but never touching both of my feet with said pen for 20 minutes in order to "reset the energy in my foot to zero point". I don't know if it was the power of suggestion, however I felt vibrations in my foot and at one point it started to shake. I don't know if it was the healing pens, the rest day, time, getting used to the Camino, new socks, the lightened load or a combination of all of the above but ever since the healing ceremony my feet have started to get better.
After our day of rest we took off from Viana... and then the Camino (Mr. L. Camino, Senior Camino or L if you're not into the whole brevity thing) taught us another lesson. Mr. L Camino kicked our ass for taking a break. First, Senior Camino decided to pour down rain upon us. Then he made us keep going. And going. And going. After 23 km, we arrived in Navarette and were going to stop there only to discover the entire town was booked solid ("completed" or something similar in Spanish - we heard that again and again). Turns out May 1st is a major Spanish holiday and the rooms for the weekend get booked up.
We pushed forward another 7 km to Ventosa. This albergue was also sold out but the woman that ran it was an awesome old Dutch hippie that took good care of us. She reminded me of Mom who I have been thinking a lot about as I walk. She gave us hot chocolate, had a well stocked store that actually had decent/healthy food (first granola we've seen in Spain) and called ahead to Najera to reserve us a room there. She thought we should take a cab but we insisted that we push forward on foot. We want to walk the entire Camino. She understood and said it is good to test yourself/see your limits.
We finally "rolled" into town at 8 pm, ate some Chinese food (ironically maybe the best meal we've had in Spain - the pilgrims menu generally sucks) and had some beds to lay our weary heads after walking 40 km. Unfortunately it was Saturday night and there was a fiesta going on outside our albergue that ended at 3 am with a rocking Spanish version of Sweet Child of Mine. 40 km done. Senior Camino pushed us and we responded. What an incredible feeling of accomplishment. Then we got up and did it again today.
Camino Tip of the Day: Always have some food on you. Fuel is necessary, you never know when the next town will be and always load up on food on Saturday as everything shuts down on Sunday (except for the church).
Camino Friend of the Day: We lost a great guy from our Camino pod...Jenz from Germany. Funny guy from Berlin, liked to have fun, sweet and caring. He had to exit the Camino due to a knee injury. We miss him.
Camino Random Observation of the Day: 10% of the people on the Camino are Korean. Surprising, but they are largely Catholic. Apparently one of the best selling books in Korea is about the Camino. There aren't that many Americans...but most on the Camino have seen the movie the Way.
Camino Song del Dia: Walkin' by Widespread Panic, 2012 wood tour.
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