Traveling with Joe

I wrote a long piece about why I thought I might be walking the Camino a second time.  Looking back I’m not 100% sure that I nailed it but there is some truth to what I was thinking.  Uh, then there’s the rest.

When I came here in October I got my ass kicked.  By the end of the first week I had almost bombed out because of my knees and even the 76 year old woman from Australia was walking faster than I was  I had “trained” some but nowhere near what you would need to jump into a 34 day long walk.  Just an FYI, these are some long-ass days.

I was also curious what it would be like to walk the exact same trail just a few months later.  Would I be bored?  Would it be just as hard?  Lots of questions.  I think by day ten I have the answers now.

First, this trip has absolutely no relation to the one I did in October.  The weather is so totally different that, combined with the complete shift in scenery from Fall to early Spring, it’s like I’m doing a completely different hike.  There have been moments where I recognize where I am; at the end of the trail yesterday I walked straight to our hotel which was a few blocks off the Camino but I remembered exactly where it was.  For the most part, if you had blindfolded me and changed the Guide’s name, I wouldn’t know where I was.  

I have had a minor physical challenge.  For reasons unknown I have developed shin splints on this trip.  Last time I was in far worse shape and I am wearing the exact same boots (another new pair just like before) but my right leg (mostly) got pretty bad.  If I had listened to the Guide I might have had to take a few days off but I went online and found out what Marathon runners do (wrap the crap out of your leg with tape) and I have limped through the worst of it.  I’m not sure I will completely heal before the trip ends but it’s not stopping me from finishing the hikes.  

That purple area on my leg is what a bad shin splint looks like.  I’ve had them before but they never discolored my skin.  These guys were painful until I started wrapping them, covering the with an anti-inflammatory cream, and taking Ibuprofen during the day.   Fun, fun, fun on the Camino but they have only slowed me down, not stopped me. Now instead of excruciating pain it’s just bad enough that when I walk you hear “ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch, ouch…….” you get my point.  

Another HUGE difference on this trip is the Group  Last time I think there were 12 of us.  Some couples, some singles, all very different.   This time there are 6 individuals.  5 women and me.  I hear some of you laughing, but the Camino is populated with a huge percentage of women over men.  It’s extremely rare to see a man doing the Camino alone but women do it all the time.  In our Group, two of the women have done it before and for one of them this is her 3rd complete Camino.  She has spread them out over several years and she’s done other multi-day walks as well but she’s back again.  I think, like me, she enjoys the Guides and how well laid out this walk is for us.  Unlike the “average” Pilgrims that sleep in Alburgues (Hostels) every night, we have a nice warm hotel room with a private bath waiting for us at the end of each day.  

One thing that is the same as before is the synchronicity you find between other groups also walking the Camino.  We are scheduled to finish on April 17 (I think – don’t quote me on that) and there are a handful of people that have started about the same time as us and will finish with us so we end up seeing them every day on the trail  This is my favorite group.

They didn’t know each other when they met on the Camino.  One is from Germany (Center), one is from Canada (Left), and the 3rd is from Rhode Island (Right).  The American (Right)  has to be one of the most upbeat people I have ever met.  She developed Bells Palsy on this trip which, for those of you who don’t  know, is a partial facial paralysis that looks a lot like a stroke.  When her condition manifested itself, several people including the owner of our Tour Company, a Pharmacist, other Pilgrims, and then a Doctor, all pitched in to diagnose her, get her on Meds and get her back on the trail.  She didn’t miss a day.  They don’t really know exactly what causes this condition but people who have had Lime’s Disease are prone to it and this girl has lived through that as well.  They are a joy to run into because they are always smiling and happy to see us.  

My “Girls” are a little older.  

From left to right we have Margarita (3rd Camino), Marji, Charlotte (One of the women from the group above), Jane, and Margaret (far right).  Margaret is from Canberra, Australia which, ironically, is the same city where one of the women came from on the October trip.  She’s a trooper out there walking every step on her 2nd Camino.  

The photo below includes Jorge, our guide for the first part of the trip.  He peels off on April 4 and Lu, the woman who guided the entire trip in October will take over.  I’m excited to meet up again with Lu because she took such good care of me during the first trip, probably saved my entire Camino for me, and she’s a workhorse.  I expect the last couple weeks with her to be doubly fun.  

Jorge is a great guide, very intelligent and hard working and since he’s Spanish, he REALLY speaks the language.  Lu’s from Great Britain.  She’s still bilingual, but there’s just something about having a native speaker sometimes.  Judy, the owner of Spanish Steps (our Tour Company) ONLY hires great people so we don’t have to worry about that part.  These people work their asses off to make sure we have a good experience.  

If you followed my Blog in October you might remember we only had 3 days of rain and mostly warm sunny days.  Well, this trip hasn’t exactly started out like that.  We couldn’t walk the trail at the beginning because it was snowed over, it’s been freezing cold, yesterday we had almost blizzard conditions all day long covering the fields completely with snow and then today it melted off resulting in flooding.  

You can see in the photo below how hard it was snowing.  Personally I loved it but it spooked a lot of people that weren’t accustomed to it.  Who knew that there are actually people out there that have almost never seen it snow before?  I guess it could be creepy especially since the roads and trails were quickly disappearing into a blanket of white.  

But give me snow anytime over this.  That flooded area you see below IS the Camino.  We had to walk alongside a very busy road to get past this particular patch and this was after we had gone around another flooded area by walking through a field.  How was I supposed to know the mud would be almost a foot deep?  Marji fell once and I almost did.  But here’s where I have to give a shout-out to Ecco Shoes.  When they say “Waterproof” they mean it.  I have not had a single drop of water make it into my boots either from the rain, the snow, or the mud.  Marji also got good boots so the two of us have had warm dry feet the entire time.  

I promised I would stop and smell the roses on this trip more than before and when the opportunities arise I have been.  We heard about a winery that had an actual wine fountain so we had to check it out.  This is the real deal.  You just walk up and guzzle away.  if it hadn’t been 9am (or earlier) I might have tried it out.  Marji said the wine was OK.  I can’t believe they have something like this along the Camino.  They must give away a lot of wine every year.  You gotta love that.

 

So, that’s about all the news that’s fit to report.  This trip is flying by, my body is not trying to sabotage me completely; just a gentle reminder with the shin splints, and we’re having a lot of laughs.  We took over an entire (small) hotel last night and had one of those 2-1/2 hour dinners where the food and the wine and the liquors flowed until we had to peel away and go to bed.  I woke up at 5am with a cotton ball in my mouth, my clothes crumpled in a pile next to the bed, but surprisingly clear headed.  That’s when I posted the “Walking on Sunshine” post which I personally think is funny if you know the song.

I did have a “moment” yesterday during lunch.  I had walked over to a Parador which is a Government owned hotel usually a converted Castle or Monastery or some other magnificent ancient building that Spain has converted into a chain or hotels.  I just wanted to be surrounded by “nice” for a while and have a lunch that did not have bread or ham in it.  But by the time I got cleaned up and got there I was hungry, lonely and tired.  Three out of the four emotional triggers (Hungry, Angry, Lonely & Tired). Tim texted me that he was available to take a call and I had a wave of bone-crushing homesickness.  Big crocodile tears ran down my face, I rushed my meal so I could get out of the restaurant and go somewhere private, but thankfully it faded quickly.  Tim and I had a chance to chat and I think I just needed food.  Again, for those of you who followed me in October, the homesickness followed the physical problems making the first 2/3 of the Camino a huge challenge.  This time, not so much.

I appreciate the comments; keep them coming.  I’m sorry there aren’t more photos but I’m not going to ruin a new camera in the rain and the phone I have here in Spain takes crappy photos.  There’s still 24 more days so don’t give up.  I think most of the people in the group are taking photos even if they are only iPhone pictures so when we have some free time I might be able to get some of theirs.   So far, by the time we all get in from the walk, get showered, hear the briefing for the next day and then eat dinner, we are DONE.  In fact, two of the group (Margarita and Eileen) are taking a taxi to Burgos this morning so they can take a day off and avoid a hike through the mountains (and snow) today.  I’m positive that we would all like to do that with them but there’s something to be said for finishing every last step.  

I think it would be “Damn that hurt”.  

March 24, 2015

Joe Jeterr

 

March 24, 2015

Joe Jeter