Cathedrals and Tapas

We all slept late in Leon. I had planned from the beginning to spend an extra day there. It is the largest city along the camino and with my flexible travel schedule I wanted time to appreciate it.

Marc wasn't sure if he wanted to stay or move on. After such a short walk the day before we didn't really need the physical rest. In the end he decided he would stay, but Simon headed out around lunchtime. We stayed with him walking through the city and then said our goodbyes. It seemed by this time that fate had really brought the three of us together, so we weren't worried about not seeing each other again.

After Simon left Marc and I talked about how different it was walking together versus walking alone. We both agreed that we should probably try walking alone again to be able to meet other pilgrims and reflect in different ways.
We spent the afternoon together wandering Leon. The two of us ended up in a cool bar that had tapas that looked like a bird's nest with an egg inside. It was so realistic I just took a picture and didn't eat it. There's nothing very appetizing about eating a bird's home and baby.
The cathedral in Leon was my favorite of all the churches we passed along the way. Whether lit up at night or shining white in the sun it remained awe inspiring.  Though I appreciated it so much from the outside I didn't feel the need to pay the fee to see the inside. Later, during my month living with a Spanish family I would learn about their frustrations with the catholic church. The economic crisis was in full swing, everyone had jobless friends and family, yet the church looked like it was prospering as a tourist trap for those who want to see gold statues and stained glass windows.
Still, these cathedrals are historic and architectural landmarks that bring a lot of beauty to the world.
That night, Marc and I exchanged email addresses in case I decided to get up early and go on alone. We were at the stage in our friendship where we knew we were more than just pilgrim buddies. After the camino ended I was sure we'd continue to keep in touch in some way.

Seven Kilometers to Leon

The following day we had only seven kilometers to walk before we reached one of the largest cities along the way, Leon. Simon’s condition was much improved so the three of us could walk together without going too slow.  The kilometers going into a city usually felt the longest. Walking on pavement hurt my feet and knees and the outskirts were always more grimy than interesting. 

However, seven kilometers was a marvelously short day and it was nice to be able to take our time and revel in the three of us walking together again. The two hostels mentioned in the German guidebook Marc and Simon used were closed. Thankfully, we found a great one near a Mcdonalds. The three of us enjoyed a fast food lunch as a big city indulgence. 

The rest of the afternoon was a normal one for the camino. We showered, relaxed, and did laundry. As I waited for the laundry I talked with a gentleman from England. He had done the camino with his daughter. He told me proudly how she’s a runner and the walking wasn’t enough for her, so she’d take a run every afternoon after checking into a hostel.  I felt so lazy hearing that after my many afternoons of siestas and long showers. I also felt that this woman was possibly crazy for running 10 miles after walking 20.

It was great to meet another pilgrim. I was wondering if walking with my two closest friends would mean giving up meeting new people and hearing their stories. The new experiences were exciting to me, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to stop walking with Simon and Marc.

It was well into September, but the air was still warm and the daylight long. That evening we bought bread and cheese from a grocery store and ate it on the steps of an ancient building.  We people watched comfortably as dusk turned to night and then roamed the city center to sightsee a bit. The cathedral in Leon was quite impressive, especially lit up in the darkness. 

Reaching Leon meant most of our journey was over. Gone were the days when we might doubt that we would make it. The only question now was what adventures would we have before finally reaching Santiago de Compostela.

Lady, Sir

Since Simon had gone on ahead, and we didn’t know where he’d ended up, it was just Marc and I walking together. One of Marc’s reasons for doing the camino was to quit smoking. He’d begun at 16 and since then had stopped for months at a time, but never quit altogether.  In Burgos, he smoked his ‘last’ cigarette. Then in Sahagun after our dinner with Ha and Kim he decided to start again. I was extremely disappointed. 

Somehow it made sense to me that I should start smoking to help him stop. I knew he only bought one pack a day so I figured if I smoked a few then he was smoking less. Looking back it sounds totally irrational. When I first asked him for a cigarette Simon was appalled and physically tried to restrain me. I appreciated that he cared about my health, but trying me force me not to do something is often the surest way to make me do it. 

So I smoked a bit with Marc. He told me later that he doesn’t think I really inhaled and that’s why I didn’t become addicted. He also limited me to two a day and if I started to ask for them too much he wouldn’t give me any. I wasn’t even a little tempted to buy my own pack, since that wouldn’t further my master plan.

This was a day that he had decided I couldn’t smoke.  Another than that it wasn’t very eventful. Marc and I walked quietly a lot. It was nice to have someone to be comfortably silent with. At one point, not far from our hostel we both did a double take and walked back a few steps. Carved in the hard dirt was “Lady, Sir.” Those were the nicknames given us by Simon, who wanted his own nickname to be related to Star Wars. We were very surprised at the simple message and debated for a while if it was even for us. It was directly in the middle of the path so a lot of pilgrims must have walked around that spot to leave it clear for us to read since the day before when Simon had walked on. We talked about how we missed Simon’s company and wondered if we would ever catch up. Sometimes on the camino you run into the same people every few days for the whole journey. However, you never know if each meeting will be your last. It’s just a matter of chance how far we all walk and where we end up staying.

We walked nearly 30 kilometers, going further than we had planned. The hostel we chose was nondescript and random.  We were lucky enough to get the last two beds. To our great surprise we found Simon just across the room from us! 

He had gone 12 kilometers further the day before, but stopped ended up staying at the same hostel as us due to sickness. He was laying in his bed looking miserable when we saw him. We were informed that the five or so other pilgrims in the room had decided to reserve one bathroom just for him and the rest of us shared the other. Poor guy.

The coincidences of the day left me thinking about friendships and how some are just meant to be. If I only I knew then just how true this could be.

Failure to Communicate

It’s strange how even life as transient as on the camino can become routine. I spent the next few days walking with Marc and/or Simon through tiny Spanish villages that started to blend together. We often commented on how so many of these villages seemed inhabited by ghosts. This was probably an effect of the poor economy which drove people from their homes in search of jobs. Many of the villages seemed to continue existing only because of the thousands of pilgrims who walked through them each year. In one especially quiet village that we walked through, the only living being I saw was a baby left outside alone in a stroller.

This was the only donkey I saw on the camino

For a few days the three of us consistently walked more than 30 kilometers. So, we were happy to do an 18 kilometer, relatively easy day and stay in the town of Sahagun. To my joy and surprise I recognized the friendly faces of Ha and Kim while strolling in the village square. We greeted each other ecstatically and they told me how worried they had been about me since leaving me on my birthday.

Until I saw them I didn’t realize how much I had missed the company of women. Marc and Simon were wonderful friends, but there’s nothing quite like girl friends to talk and laugh with.  I was excited to have all four of these great friends at dinner together that night. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to click with each other the way I hoped.

Marc and Simon mostly spoke to each in German and Ha and Kim chatted with me about South Korea. I ordered my first Spanish paella and it was a disappointment swimming in grease. Thankfully, Ha insisted she had too much pizza and offered me some. 

After dinner we got a few drinks at a nearby bar and our group seemed to mesh better. It was great to have some women to tell me that I definitely needed a haircut, which I had suspected. They also agreed with me that my calf muscles had grown hugely in the last few weeks.

That night I had trouble sleeping and talked to Kyle a bit on my tablet. It was strange how long ago it felt that I’d walked with my quirky American friend.  It had been really hard to talk to Martin with our time and schedule differences, so I had agreed to get online from 3:00-4:00 AM to talk to him through instant messenger. 

I woke up at 3:00 and didn’t find an email from him. I wrote him over messenger and told him how I love him and miss him and how I’m excited to talk to him. A few minutes later he responded with, “I’m outside. I love you. Good sleep.” I was really crushed and discouraged about our relationship.  It felt like a long time before I slept again.

Camino Monday

Unfortunately, I felt less than rested the morning after my break from walking. I woke up early and shook Marc awake on the bunk below me. 

After searching thoroughly, I realized I must have left my change purse at the pizza bar the night before. I was disappointed in myself for losing it, though there wasn’t a lot of money inside. It was an unfortunate time to have no change because we were so early the only drink or food available was from vending machines. I was too proud to ask my friend to lend me some money. This was ridiculous because from the first day we met, Marc and I had been trading off buying each other’s coffee or tea. Instead of speaking up, I dwelled in a bit of self-pity and felt kind of faint and sick as we walked the next few hours. 

Thankfully, we ran into my Irish guru Phil and he distracted me from feeling bad with his chatter. Marc, I knew, was totally zoned out. I’d learned quickly that he is not a morning person and even after a few cups of coffee he prefers silence until the sun is fully shining. 

Eventually, we parted from Phil and the two of us continued quietly. I was increasingly frustrated that we weren’t reaching a town where we could stop and have breakfast. The day after a day of rest always feels like a Monday. So, I had the camino Monday blues.

Since we didn’t talk a lot, I took the time to think more about my relationship. In the beginning of the camino I would think about our past times together and imagine our perfect future. Each day I walked I gained a little more perspective and realism. I realized that I was about to fully commit to a man I had only really known for four months. I was in love, but was I ready? Everything seemed less certain the nearer I was to Santiago.

Eventually my mood improved and I went from miserable, to contemplative, to in awe of the beauty I was walking through. The clouds overhead and the fields all around and the tall piles of stones left by wishful pilgrims all combined to create a sort of fairy tale setting.

It was only noon when we reached the town we planned to stop in. We had to sit outside with some other pilgrims and wait for the hostel to open. Sitting on the steps of the village church, a feisty older Italian man started up a conversation. We shared no common language, but he happily showed me pictures of his hometown in the south of Italy and I made the appropriate ‘oohs’ and ‘aahs’ at the lovely Italian countryside.

This albergue wasn’t as nice as some of the others we had stayed in, but I was grateful for a bed. After a nice siesta, Tom and I walked around outside and found Simon. We convinced him to stay in our albergue so we could enjoy the evening together. There was very little to see in this town so we sat on a curb across from the minuscule convenience store that posed as a super market. We talked about a lot of things and Simon showed me his juggling moves. 

The town’s only restaurant was so full that we decided to buy meals in the 'super' market. I got a microwave dinner and the boys decided to share some cereal and milk. It was a funny scene as they scooped up their cold, unusual dinner. We enjoyed conversation as always. Somehow Simon convinced us that he didn’t believe in the moon landing. 

                                                  

I felt so close to these two guys. It was hard to believe I’d met them only a few weeks before. Despite my horrible attitude in the beginning of the day I went to bed thinking how grateful I was for good friends and fun times together.

Day of Rest

Though life was brilliant, I looked forward to a day of rest

on the camino. I took three in total, the first had been in Pamplona and my day in Burgos would be the second. For the first time in weeks I was able to sleep past 7:30 and see the morning and afternoon come and go from the same location.
Marc and I had a relaxing beginning to our day. We went to a bakery around 9:00 for breakfast and then lay around until check out time. We sat quietly at a cafe until the muncipal albergue opened and then settled in there easily.

A statue of a pilgrim washing his feet.

Simon and Marc had arranged a meeting time, as Simon had pretty much decided to stay in the city as well. He had spent his morning in the Museum of Evolution and had lots to tell us about the museum as well as his night in the albergue. Though it was early afternoon, and most pilgrims wouldn't have considered moving on, Simon was indecisive about what to do next. He considered just walking to the next town and staying in an albergue there, or possibly going to the hostel Marc and I had just come from. While sitting in the cathedral square discussing these things we were approached by Bill, an older American man who had met Marc earlier on the way. Bill was a nice man, also looking for a hostel so he tagged along as we searched for one for Simon. Unfortunately, Bill had a bit of a hygeine problem and smelled terrible.
Bill continued his hostel search alone when the three of us decided to get a picnic lunch from a supermarket and enjoy the beautiful day. He was welcome to join us, but we were all a little relieved to be just the three of us again. After eating we checked another albergue and were very pleased  when Simon decided to check in there and spend the rest of the day in Burgos
In front of Simon's hostel we met Henrik and Andreas and the five of us conversed in the street for a while. During that conversation I discovered that Simon had been walking the entire camino with juggling balls in his backpack and had yet to give us a show. I was excited to see him juggle, but Marc, Andreas, and I had agreed to do laundry together that afternoon so we made plans to meet again for dinner.
Often, laundry along the way meant using a sink and some soap you had brought to wash a few things by hand and then hang them to dry. In places like Burgos though, there were usually machines to use. No one on the camino had more than three or four outfits so we often combined laundry to economize paying for a machine. While the machine ran, Andreas and Marc talked to each other and I journaled.
Like Simon with his juggling balls, I had brought a few less than practical things as well. After laundry I took a shower and put on the skirt I carried for days like this when I wanted to look like a woman not a pilgrim. Then I took out the small watercolor set my mom had given me and prepared to walk into the city and find a bench in the sun where I could paint. I didn't invite Marc or Simon, who I ran into at the door. As much as I enjoyed their company, I looked forward to some time on my own.

In the end, I had only a few minutes to myself before Andreas, Marc, and Simon all descended upon me with good spirits and smiles. I didn't mind much. There's a different kind of peace that comes with being around dear friends.
The four of us found a really cool bar to hang out in that evening. There weren't a lot of seats, but we found a table to stand at in the crowded room. Everytime you ordered a drink at this bar they gave you some pizza as a kind of a bar snack to go with it. We made this our meal and stayed at the bar for about four hours talking, laughing, and half watching the music videos on the TVs around us.
Marc, was a pretty heavy smoker, going through about a pack a day on the camino, though he said he was smoking less than normal. That night in Burgos he happily smoked his last cigarette and we all gleefully congratulated him. It was Marc's intention for the camino to be a new start for him. Sometimes it felt like the camino had this magic that could inspire you to change or delevop. However, we came to find that the way is more about learning. Learning who you are, what you want, and just how hard change really is.

An Eternity of Walking

After days of walking together and staying in the same places, Simon, Marc, and I were getting very close. I woke them both up after our night in the less than stimulating town of San Juan de Ortega. Marc and I were ready quickly, but Simon seemed to take forever. We waited for him outside in the cold dark morning and were glad we did, as it was nice to start the day together.

Sometimes we would see these massive rock arrangements... Aliens?

Andreas started after us, but caught up later in the morning. That day was exciting because we would arrive in Burgos, one of the largest cities along the way.  Unfortunately walking into big cities is pretty miserable. First of all, walking on concrete and pavement is hard on your knees and hot. Also, walking into cities feels like it takes an eternity. You walk through suburbs and outskirts, past shops and markets, alongside streets with lots of traffic, but you can still be kilometers from the city center.  

A midmorning break

Most of the day was really nice, thanks to my companions.  We made fun in small ways, half-singing songs and me learning bits of German. I found out that David Hasselhof is extremely popular in Europe (at least in Germany and Switzerland). This was so shocking to me that I thought Marc was joking when he said he was a fan.

The last kilometers into Burgos I started to feel really bad. At one point we were a little lost, so I just sat in the middle of a sidewalk at an intersection while the men decided which way to go. 

I think Marc noticed that I was lagging and in pain. Sometimes he’d slow down to walk beside me and I appreciated his encouraging smiles.  

Finally, we reaching the main plaza in front of a stunning cathedral.  As the Camino de Santiago is an ancient pilgrimage, it takes you from church to church where the pilgrims of old would find shelter.  The cathedral in Burgos was by far the most amazing building we had seen thus far.  

We sat down at a restaurant terrace in the square to eat olives and drink expensive cokes.  None of us were sure what to do next. Marc and I knew that we wanted to stay an extra day in the city and that meant we needed to find a private hostel to stay at because the municipal only allowed pilgrims to stay for one night. Simon hadn’t decided if he would stay an extra day, so he headed to the municipal albergue and Andreas ended up treating himself to a night in a nice hotel.

Marc and I agreed that we would find a non-camino hostel so that we wouldn’t be awoken at 6 or 7 AM on our tourist day.  Our hostel search was far from fruitful.  The one we wanted was closed and others seemed few and far between. The few that we checked out were over 50 euros and we couldn’t justify spending that.  After walking around 30 kilometers to get to Burgos we probably added on another 5 that afternoon just wandering around. Finally, as we had nearly given up, we went into a slightly sketchy hostel not too far from the cathedral. The proprietor was friendly and soon enough we were checking in.

The view from our restaurant

It wasn’t a very high class location and the single bathroom was shared by a lot of people. I waited several hours before getting a chance to shower. After showering and relaxing a bit we walked around the city some and found a restaurant that served delicious cheeseburgers. Heading back to the hostel we ran into Harry and Tippy who we hadn’t seen since my birthday. It was nice to catch up a bit with them. 

Marc and I both went to bed early that night and I slept very well.  

The farther I walked on the camino the farther I felt from the dreams and expectations I had started with. I didn’t feel like I was gaining a ton of new insights into myself or what my life should look like, but slowly the life that I’d thought I wanted was slipping to the back of mind as I focused on each day as it came and watched my feet take step after step.