Astorga: Volunteering in an Albergue

 

This is the albergue where I am working. It used to be a convent, and it’s huge. In high season it had a capacity of 144 pilgrims. Yesterday there were 70 overnight, but a lot fewer today, maybe 50.

Astorga is a beautiful, interesting town. It has a palace designed by Gaudí, a huge cathedral, and foundations of buildings from when it was a province of Rome. 

Here is what was originally supposed to be a palace for s bishop. It’s a museum today. 

This is just one of many plazas. The big building at the end is a town hall. On the left and right are arcades, archways that have restaurants and stores.

I sent a couple pictures to my family of the back patio of the albergue. It’s the pilgrims’ patio but I love it. In the morning I go out and sweep it and wash off the tables. 

Here is the patio at sunrise. Tonight I had my supper out there at sunset- so it was at the opposite end. Also beautiful!

Getting to upload these photos has been a big surprise. I’m going to see if I can’t add a few more. 

A Short Visit with Ethan: A Weekend in Cambridge

 

Ethan and his grandma in front of King’s College, Cambridge, where we did not pay to go inside and roam around the gardens.

On Friday October 10 I flew from Santiago to London to visit my grandson Ethan. I got to see his home, and he drove me around on the wrong side of the street. With his British. right-side steering wheel Lexus! Amazing.

First I walked a mile from my hostel to the bus stop in Santiago, got on the airport bus, paid one Euro and was out to the airport in about a half hour. I flew Ryan Air because it was a good connection- but be prepared for gross inefficiency if you need to use Ryan. I flew into Stansted Airport on the east side of London.

At Stansted, Ethan directed me to go downstairs to catch the train for Cambridge. He bought my train ticket and emailed it to me. When I got off the train in Cambridge,  he pulled up in his car. 

Here’s Ethan in front of his house with his car. On Saturday we walked to his local train station and I took a picture of a thatched-roofed house up the street from him. 

Local train stations have a live station-master and hinged gates.  These wooden gates go across the train tracks. A few minutes before the train comes into the station, the stationmaster comes out of his guard house, unlocks the gates, and walks them onto the road. Both sides. Now all the cars stop, as the train comes in to the station. After it passes, he comes back and walks them back across the tracks, locks them in place, and car traffic resumes.

Nothing goes up in the air, like our crossing gates. I tell you about this different style of gate, because I was reminded of a bit of family lore involving my sister Kathy and our neighbor Junior Bergman, who were rescued about 60 years ago by an on-duty crossing master one day in Lebanon. They were intently watching the train while hanging onto the gate, were not  prepared for the crossing gate to go up in the air and went up with it. 

Ethan actually lives close to Newmarket, of racehorse fame, and we went into town for a British breakfast, which has all kinds of things - some greens, a tomato, baked beans— in addition to the foods we usually have. There were a lot of people dressed “ up” for a Saturday and he said they were probably going to the horse races. There was a special breeders’ race that day, a futurity.

Then we went to Cambridge where we walked around several of the many colleges. I posted a picture of us in front of King’s College, but that one would’ve cost us 10£ to enter. Some of the less-hallowed ones were also very beautiful, including Christ’s and Clare’s colleges. We really enjoyed seeing the grounds and squares inside the gates of the colleges. There were some very old trees. We went into a history museum that had a lot of artifacts from the immediate area, some found by archaeologists and some just by local metal detector hobbyists. Ethan said his dad would love to look around there- there were tools and things from Roman times.

Sunday I flew back to Santiago. It was a quick trip but totally worth it to see how well Ethan is doing overseas!

Santiago: Some Favorite Things

 Once I reach town, I will attend mass at the cathedral. They have a huge mass three or four times daily, so I can always find one.  And if I attend I always sit in the nave, to the left or right of the altar, in case the tiraboleiros appear in their burgundy robes, to swing the giant incense burner at the end of the mass. In this picture you can see the Botefumeiro hanging from the ceiling. If they’re going to use it in a service, they lower it from the ceiling and fill it with burning incense before they start swinging it.

The incense fumes float up to the ceiling and symbolize our prayers going up to God  This incense burner is pretty spectacular in that it weighs 200 pounds and swings in a huge arc, it almost seems to touch the ceiling at either end of the building. Eight men are pulling on the ropes and giving it all they have. They ask us to put our cameras away so I don’t try to film it myself.

Another thing I love is the rooftop tour of the cathedral. You can go up by the tower stairs and walk around on the roof, look in the windows and check things out from a different angle.

Here is another view of the Botefumeiro. First, a little window next to the roof.

Our guide in front of what looks like (from the inside) a small round window next to the roof.

And then, the incense burner as seen through that window, hanging from the ceiling:

A third favorite of mine are the “Tunas” or Estudiantinas, men’s singing groups. They dress in medieval costumes and play guitars snd mandolins, and sing traditional songs, some more modern ones with their old-style harmonies. What I especially love is that the crowd sings along.

I’ll try to put a video into this post. If it comes through, you can hear the audience clapping and singing along.

None of the old videos from this original blog 16 years ago is up or running, so I don’t know if -or for how long- this one will work.

Warriors on the Way

Early on in this blog I included a link for a CBS piece on El Camino de Santiago adapting to the 21st century.

https://www.cbsnews.com/video/the-camino-de-santiago-trek-adapts-to-the-21st-century/

If you’d like to see it, I hope the link works. In the article, Father Steve Rindal is interviewed, and I wrote that I met him several years ago at a Camino gathering in Asheville,  North Carolina, where he spoke about a foundation he works with called Warriors on the Way.

The afternoon before I walked in to Santiago, I noticed a gathering, a small discussion circle, on the balcony of my albergue. Later I met a woman with the group and asked if their leader was Father Steve and she said yes. 

So I went and said hi to him, and told him that I’d heard his presentation in Asheville, and how much I admire his work. Here’s our picture together. He told me this group has been one of the best yet, in terms of insight and healing and working together.

Here’s Alane, who served as a nurse in Afghanistan. We walked together awhile on Wednesday. She retired to Arkansas now, but told me she just came back from England, where she visited some guys who were just little boys when she became their friend while serving there.

The albergue where we were staying that last night was huge, and a couple blocks off the Camino, so I was not really happy with it. None of my friends were there. So what a nice surprise to run into this group.

I Arrive at the Cathedral, October 8

 

I walked into the square in Santiago on October 8, about 12:30. My goal was to arrive around 1pm, Sarah, from Lancaster, whom I met early on at Portugalete, and hiked with off and on all the way to Villaviciosa, was going to leave Santiago around 1:30. 

There were several people who left the Northern Camino at Villaviciosa to hike the Primitivo over the mountains and this was my chance to say congratulations and goodbye.

Here’s Rachael who I hiked with alot. She liked to swim when we got to a beach. No matter how cold it was.

And I did get to see Sarah:

And, a very nice surprise was spotting Angela, my friend from Australia who I only walked with the last 5 or 6 days, but didn’t get to say goodbye to. She arrived a day sooner than I did, and took a different Camino into town.

We got to have supper together Wednesday night and catch up before she left to go visit some other places and friends in Spain.

These are repetitive but traditional and there’s a whole bunch more I won’t post.

In Santiago I got a room in an albergue around the corner from the cathedral. I like being close to it, but unfortunately in the old town are lots of bars and really loud behavior. Till 4am, in the case of my first night here.

Here’s my room, I got a bottom bunk. Here’s a little balcony that I can sit out on, and below in the street, pilgrims come by all day long on their way to the Pilgrims’ Office to sign in and ask for a Compostela, a certificate of completion.

Our balcony:

And the street and café below me, where pilgrims are arriving all day long:

Night Before Santiago Day: October 7-8

 

Last night there was a spectacular moonrise I watched from the albergue patio.  I was sitting with Bernard, who Has a German accent, so I thought was from Germany. Turns out he was born in Austria but has lived the last forty years in Greece. He’s a potter, married to a Greek woman and raised four children on an island there. 

He walked the French way. In Pamplona he met a group from California who came to do a pilgrimage with their priest, only he got sick and couldn’t come with them. They prayed for a priest, and met a young priest named Father Matthew who came alone to the Camino, and he has been accompanying them across Spain on the French Way. So Bernard has been to lots of masses. He said sometimes they were outside, sometimes concelebrated in the local churches with the parish priest.

Hearing Bernard talk about the California group he walked with reminded me of the Malaysian group I met, they finished yesterday.

Today I will arrive in Santiago. What an amazing and challenging walk it has been. I have spent a lot of the time just thinking, inside my head, marveling at nature, I think of my kids and my grandkids, of the friends wbo sent me notes on the way, I think about God, about all the people I have met. The photos are coming in now from different friends who have already arrived at the Cathedral.

Right now it’s 4:22am in this last, very large albergue where I am staying. Lots of people are already up and packing their packs. I want to leave early but it’s going to be dark for a long time. (Spain is tacked onto a bunch of European countries’ same time zone. The sunrise here is not until 8:30) I am hoping to leave around 7am.

Cruce de los Caminos: Crossroads of the Caminos

Today I walked the last stretch of the Northern Way to a town called Arzúa. Up till now if we met anyone there was a better than 50-50 chance we would’ve seen them before, known their name, or knew mutual pilgrims.

Lots of pilgrims on a square at night

There are fewer albergues on the Northern Camino, which means again, there’s an increased chance that when you arrive you will know someone or many people, even.

I forgot all about this huge bubble of pilgrims on Monday and foolishly told Angela, a pilgrim friend from Australia, that I would see her in town when we arrived. I didn’t know the name of her albergue or her contact information.

I haven’t seen her yet. I’m hoping I find her in Santiago tomorrow.

Here’s our picture at the Monastery in the cloister.

It was a nice walk into Arzúa. It’s hard to believe we will be in Santiago on Wednesday afternoon.  

Filled Church at mass in Pedrozou. Crowds everywhere now.

Sunday Walk to the Monastery

 

Tonight I am staying at a Monastery albergue. We got to attend evening vespers at 7, and the monks’ singing was beautiful. I will attend mass tomorrow at 7:45 before I walk 12 miles to Arzua. Only 60 km remaining to reach the cathedral in Santiago!

Today’s walk was beautiful. I’m falling asleep but wanted to post this before I do. Forgive all errors!

This was the delicious kind if path I got to take through the woods today.  Here’s another:

Here’s a little flock of goats and sheep cleaning out the area around my mile marker. The funny thing was that the pack of dogs who were supposed to be guarding them were all lovked up, across the street.

And here is the Parga River, where I began my walk this morning at 9:15. Buenas noches!

Variedades

 Today is Sunday. It’s almost 9am and I’m one of the last to leave the beautiful nature preserve albergue,

Last night I asked our hostess if she had a place for us to put our food. I had cheese, yogurt, hummus, some fruit and a little bread. I was thinking she didn’t want it in her bedrooms. She said she could put it in her fridge. Unfortunately the kitchen is locked and I don’t know when the cleaning crew is coming. If they’re not here at 9 I’ll have to go without it. I was hoping maybe a neighbor would be coming in to start washing sheets etc.

Here is Luis, a pilgrim from Madrid. He is a wealth of history and knowledge of the Caminos. I love this umbrella. He was dry yesterday when I was wet. Luis told us that on Friday 3,700 pilgrims came in to Santiago from all the different paths. Everyone is scrambling to make reservations.

I jumped a day ahead by leaving my friends at Baamonde. I walked with Claire for 4 or 5 days, and will see her again in Santiago when she arrives.

Something I’ve been meaning to write about is the eucalyptus forests that abound in Asturias and Galicia. They are beautiful to look at and smell wonderful, but are an environmental disaster. They are raised as a cash crop, and can be harvested in ten years, for paper pulp. They are invasive and spread easily and no animals eat them or use them for habitat. We have been seeing hunters (Sundays and Thursdays, but not if it’s a holiday) but the only remaining animal now is the jabalí, the wild boar. All the deer, rabbits, and little ground animals and birds are gone.

Here are some harvested eucalyptus logs. You can see how fast they grow by how wide the rings are. 

October 4: An Albergue Like a Spa

 Saturday there was a light rain all day. Many of us chose a short walk- like 12 miles— to Baamonde, a town 100 km from Santiago.

This was very exciting but we arrived so early the town albergue was not yet open. It was only 12:30. A friend a few days ahead of me wrote to tell me about an albergue that was on a slightly different hiking path headed in the same direction. If I followed it, I would shorten my Camino by several kilometers. Plus it goes through a nature preserve. The only kicker is, you must hike a 25km section the next day.

I decided to push on; the albergue was 8 miles from Baamonde. Here’s a picture of the Camino markers, one heading north, one south. I don’t know if you can read the kilometers, but I decided to go for it.

The albergue was indeed really nice. Here is a picture of the living room, with a view out the back window.

At supper I sat with Angela, a nurse from Australia who’s here on her third Camino, a couple from Sweden and a couple from Spain.

On Sunday I am walking 15 miles to a famous old monastery that has been restored.

Friday, October 3: Two Camino Friends

 Nearing 100km left in our walk to Santiago. There are two nurses from Barcelona who I keep running into. 

Aine, a nurse from  Barcelona

I first met them sitting on a bench in the woods a week or so ago.. I hadn't seen them before; it was their first day and they asked if I needed to sit down, and made space for me on the bench. They were so delightful I stopped to talk with them and have seen them almost every day since. Yesterday I mentioned that the chest strap in my backpack was broken, and that not having it operational was hurting my shoulders. Aina looked at it and fixed it in less than a minute, and Andrea asked me for a needle and thread, and sewed a couple rounds to keep it from coming apart again.

Andrea, one of the “ Barcelona Girls”

Tonight we ended the day in Abadín. I took some pictures in town, evidently a big cattle and animal sale area, because they had a lovely new sale barn in the center of town.

On the sale barn was posted a big homemade sign advertising natural, environmentally-sensitive lawn mowing services:

Offering sheep, goats or llamas to come trim your lawn the natural way.

There was also a big community building, a pavilion with glass sides. Posted all over the two buildings and also all around town were posters that I took to be an invitation to a wedding.

“This Saturday there won’t be a referee, but there will be a priest”

There are two players but the woman is wearing a wedding dress and a photo-shopped face. But if it actually did refer to a real couple marrying-why wouldn’t the groom’s face also appear? I asked Andrea and Aine, and they thought it was a prank.

September 30, Mom’s Birthday

 On Mom’s birthday my siblings and I exchanged our usual birthday greetings. I took a short walk and veered off the Camino a few hundred yards to stay at a farmhouse in Villamartín Pequeño, Granja de Calor. Here I am walking with Claire, a really lovely woman from the south of England.

The farm where I was headed is owned by a German couple, Freddy and Nicole.

They have bought a run-down farm and are working to build up the soil. They offer 3 beds to pilgrims. I was lucky to get one. It’s a very humble place but they are great hosts and really good cooks.

Here I am in the pilgrims’ area. Two sisters from Quebec were there with me that night.

Before we came in to supper, Freddy was out calling an animal. We asked what he was looking for and he said, one of their cats. This seemed odd to me, but he said they have to get everything in before dark, that the wild boars would attack them, otherwise. Here is the sunset from their backyard.