CAN WE TALK

So what does it all mean? I won't attempt to answer that. Just let it be said that taking 3 months off work (well, in my case quite a bit longer) and travelling without much care in France and Europe can't be a bad thing.

Would I do it again? In a minute. Wouldn't it be something if I could get a job stint of 8 months and then do another camino next Spring. I would like to do the French routes from Vezelay and Arles to St. Jean Pied de Port. I don't think I would do the St. Jean to Santiago route anytime soon--though doing it in the jubilee year of 2010 when the numbers of pilgrims just mushrooms is just perverse enough to intrigue me. There is the Ruta de la Plata from Sevilla that bekons. So maybe....

Some notes:

I don't know how much weight I lost. I did weigh myself the day before I left and was horribly disgusted but mercifully forgot (I swear!) the number. I know it was over 20lbs and more like 30.

WEIRDEST PILGRIM MOMENT: It had to be the cloudy, rainy morning I took a coffee break in a bar. On the television was a Barbie commercial. I kid you not they were selling Barbie with a dog. Weird you say? Well this dog actually pooped little plastic turds that Barbie could pick up with her own pooper scooper. I think it was a combination of the inclement weather, me overheated under my poncho, mad for a dose of caffeine, the upbeat music of the commercial, and the pictures of several little girls anxious to get their turn scooping little plastic turds http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.do?product_id=4960468. Could I have been hallucinating?

WORST PILGRIM EXPERIENCE: Oh, come on, it wasn't that bad. But the last 3 miles into Moissac were dreadful. And if I never have to walk from Sarria to Portomarin again, I won't mind. I had to do it last year in a veritable squall. This year was a little better--the rain was more vertical than horizontal and less wind. But I had to do it with the only blister I got in over 1500 miles.

BEST PILGRIM MOMENT: Have to do a top 10 here (in no special order). I could probably do a top 40 without any trouble. It seems to be Spain heavy, probably because that is freshest in my memory. But all of France was incredible.

--the communal meals

--the sunny days early in Navarra after almost 2 weeks of overcast humid days

--my time in the spotlight doing readings at Conques and Rabanal

--the cocido in Astorga (with Amanda and Guillerme) at the Hotel Gaudi (see picture)

--any one of about 60 showers at the end of the day. And let it be noted that I got the first shower at Roncesvalles on the first day beating out over 70 other men.

--French cheese and Spanish wine

--tapas in Leon with my friend Miguel

--octopus and crucifixes in Melide (see picture again)

--all the wildflowers and the storks. Especial mention has to be the time Richard and I had a few beers in the square at Logrono watching a dozen storks doing aerial acrobatics from their nests in the towers.

--THE HORSEMAN (see picture--it wasn't another hallucination)

WORST PILGRIM MOMENTS:

--bathrooms in Melide

--going over the Pyrennes in fog

--the sleeping rooms in Portomarin, not fit for sardines

--the early risers especially in Logrono.

--finding out that Richard (the 39 year old un- married hunk from Tasmania) was a priest.

--the 70 year old bathing beauty in skimpy swimsuit at alburgue in Mazarife.

Well, if you want more details I intend to write up all my journal notes, add numerous pictures (from my store of over 600) and copies of some of the postcards I collected (probably another 300). I have my photo/ postcard albums already done (hint, hint).

ADIOS ESPANA

NEW YORK, NY

Yes I am back. I guess a round up is in order so I can move on to bigger and better things. Yeah!

After Valencia I went to Barcelona. Dave joined me there for 4 days of musuem going and walking. Too many tourists, especially young Europeans intent on drinking as much as possible. But the place was beautiful. We went to Sitges for the day and did the beach scene.

Then on to Bilbao for the absolutely magnificent Guggenheim. It was good to see the city in better weather.

Then we had 7 days in Madrid--probably a little too long. Made day trips to Segovia and El Escorial. Again, lots of museums and walking. But the trip was just fantastic. Lots of Spanish wine and you just can't beat the art.

Postcard wise I did pretty well. Lots of bullfighters and soccer (football) players. I found 5 Manneken Pis cards that I didn't have (though 3 were different editions of cards I already had) in a shop in Madrid. But France certainly was the fount of most my finds.

So on my trip I not only survived French and Spanish but Basque (both French and Spanish dialects, Galega, Valencian Catalan, and Barcelona Catalan. I can assure you that I am equally inept in all of them--though my feeble French did surface as soon as I got to Spain.

PPPS VALENCIA

Went on a night train from Santiago to Madrid. I had a rather stuffy sleeper compartment that was well worth the extra 20 euros and which I shared with 3 Spanish men, two of who were rather charming. The trip to Valencia was uneventful on a fast train. Joseph met me at the station. He is a camino mate from last year, a 22 year old taciturn German student. He is interested in Spanish history and is spending a year in Valencia learning Spanish and taking history classes. He was sweating his final in Theory of History and so did not have a lot of time to spend with me.

Valencia is very rich and busy. Lots of nice old buildings with domes and towers and bric-a-brac. Lots of plazas, fountains, little parks, stores, young folk, partying, and traffic. There were too many remnants of America´s Cup which was held on the Mediterranean and had just recently ended. Lots of blonde big guys and blonde babes in Polo-ish shorts and flip flops.

The old city is mostly surrounded by a diverted riverbed that has been turned into a park. The traffic is on all the old bridges above. At the port end is the Calvatratta museum building complex that is probably his signature work. I got to see it in the sun, under blue skies. The sheer size and audacity of the project are stunning. The plazas are grand and spectacular. Pilgrim walker extraordinaire that I have been, it was easy for me to course through and around them. I do wonder what other lessser mortals think of all that hiking. Spain is getting a(n) (un)healthy dose of American style overweight bodies--they are most evident on weekends at at tourist locales. They seem more geared to driving to the mall and walking to the nearest fast food outlet.

I went to the beach too. Water was not as beautiful as Finisterre but a whole lot warmer. The beach stretched for many a mile with a wide vale of smooth sand. Sailboats out in the distance and only one skidoo to mar the calm. Many more bodies too. For the men, there seems to be a law that the bigger the belly the smaller the swimsuit. And there were a lot of tiny little numbers stretched to their limits. Most of the women had their right arm up holding their cell phone to their ears, talking and yelling at their children at the same time

Now I am in Barcelona. Dave gets here in 2 days. I hope to get to the beach again. Since the city is filled with lots of young people, I fully expect the beaches to be too. I hope not too many Celtic tattoos!!!! What do these young people think they are expressing? Identity, independence, specialty cult? Oh well, I was young once, I just survived without a permanent physical mark.

Post Post Script--Suero de Guiterrez

Santiago de Compostela, Spain

Oh, I had a 7th thing I wanted to do on this repeat camino. I wanted to see the iron collar of Suero de Guiterrez. He is probably my favorite camino personality and I am sorry he died about 700 years ago and I cannot meet him.

He was a love sick Spanish knight who fell in love with a lovely lass but was spurned by her in his offer of marriage. He donned a iron collar, challenged all the knights of Europe to jousts at Hospital del Orbigo, a lovely spot with a long long bridge that is a little over halfway from St. Jean to Santiago. He vowed to break 300 lances or die trying.

Knights from all across Europe answered his challenge and came to Spain. He was successful and when he broke his 300th, he doffed his iron collar after he walked to Santiago as a pilgrim. He left it there and it ws supposedly in the museum collection. I do not know how his love interests fared. But he continued on as a knight, participating in the interminable Spanish civil wars. He was out in the field on a day some 20 years later and met the last knight whom he had defeated at the bridge. They had a final battle and it was Suero who fel--this time to his death.

So I am in the museum yesterday looking for this item. Surely, I thought, it would be a manly studded affair, something that Mel Gibson would have worn in MAD MAX. I saw nothing to fit the bill. I was stymied and went up to the guard. Luckily I was wearing the only shirt with a collar I had. I pointed to the collar and asked "¿que es en espanol?" Of course I had to repeat the request the requisite 4 times before he understood me, giving me perplexed looks all the while. So he said"cuello" finally. So I asked, " ¿ Donde est el cuello de ferro de Suero de Guiterrez?" That was the longest--and probably the most intelligent question I have ever asked in Spanish. I was really quite proud of myself. Of course, the guard did not understand me. I had to keep repeating it, but unfortunately had forgotten already the word for collar. So I kept saying "de fero" and "Suero" before the light clicked in his head and he figured out what I was so insistent on.

It turns out I was right across the hall from the hallowed object. It was in the reliquary room, always my favorite outpost in a religious musuem anyway. I garnered from the guard's detailed instructions (alas, of course, in Spanish) that Suero´s love necklace was in the middle of the wooden altar cum retablo. The guard thankfully took me in and pointed it out--otherwise I would have certainly NOT spotted it on the neck of the absolutely fab CAPUT ARGENTEUM, a golden bust reliquary that purportedly holds the head of St. James Alpheus (a close relation????) .

So did this studly knight have the big dog collar like something out of MAD MAX that I was expecting.



NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!

He had a dainty little choker (pictured here--sorry for the fuzzy picture--I had to stay behind a gate to take it) that would have looked divine on Audrey Hepburn´s neck. It looked a lot like gold not iron and had a huge stone in the center. No wonder Suero had to fight so much. He had to prove his manhood wearing that piece of stunning jewelry. Bet he was the butt of many a joke on the battlefield. And it is no wonder that the last knight he conquered was burning so with revenge--can you imagine the ribbing he got from his mates. "So, you couldn´t even knock down the guy with the lady´s necklace, huh?"

Explanations? Well, I might have been shown someone else´s collar. Or the original collar might have been gilded and be-stoned. But I kind of like to think of this manly man riding out on his valiant steed probably humming songs from BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY´S and fingering his little choker and wondering which boots would look best with it at the castle later that night. I wonder if he missed it later?

POST SCRIPT

Back in Santiago...

Yes, life is tough. 3 months in Europe with nothing much to do but get up, go to the bathroom, get a cup of coffee, don backpack and walk, have lunch and more coffee, walk more, find a room for the night, shower, eat and sleep. Or carouse with like minded people. Now that is over and I can relax.

I went with my friend Diego, the Argentinian to Finisterre by bus the other day and stayed 2 nights. This is the spot where medieval pilgrims supposedly went because it was considered the end of the world and had something to do with St. James' bones being found near there, etc.

Modern pilgrims go for the sunset, to drink wine on the rocks, and burn something from the camino.

I just spent time on getting a serious tan and having some seafood. It was blessedly cheap. We paid 12 euros each for a shared room without bath (but nice one down the hall). The above picture was the view from out window. The picture below is the beach we went to. Water was quite cold but refreshing and clean. Unfortunately, not much eye candy. But that is life.

I met Anne Marie again in Finisterre. She had walked there with a few of my other friends. I had a few little pangs about not walking myself but they were soon extinguised. Anne Marie is going to WALK BACK TO PARIS. She is already a camino legend. I have a reputation as an intrepid fast walker who is all over the place. Kinda like the cow shit in Galicia, I guess.

Back to Santiago yesterday. I found a lovely room with private bath and double bed for myself. A minor luxury at 40 euros but not much else available in town. Next month the place with have to accomodate 3 or 4 times the number of pilgrims here now. Many will have to sleep in the streets methinks. I met a bunch of Turks here and so get to speak my foreign language. The Turkish pilgrim got here yesterday. We are all going out for Turkish food tonight.

I bought some English books today--JUDE THE OBSCURE by Thomas Hardy and THE NEW SPANIARDS by John Hooper (now I can learn more about this country, eh?).

Since I have a lot of off time, I also decided to get a knitting project. I walked about 50 blocks of the city looking for a shop, only to find one about 50 ft from my hostal. That was a riot trying to get yarn, needles, a pattern and what all in my fractured Spanish. But I have to devise own pattern. Oh well, should keep me out of trouble.

To Valencia tomorrow.

YES, DOROTHY, THERE IS A YELLOWish BRICKish ROAD

Santiago de Compostela, Spain
June 3, 2007

I think I left off with news of a freak snow storm impeding my progress on the trail. And that I was intending to just throw caution to the wind and walk 202km in 5 days. Well, I was 5 km short of that and ended up in Monte de Gozo right outside last night. I was helping an injured German teenager with bilateral shin tendoNEEtis, right Achilles tendonNEEtis, bilateral knee pain, and right hip pain get to the last alburgue, fondly called "the modern grief" by my guide´s author. Other people have helped me on the way, so I was not at all sorry to give him a hand. It didn´t hurt that he was very appreciative, witty, charming, and quite grown up for all of his 19 years.

The snow storm was up the highest point and the weather got very nice for an afternoon. I then had overcast days for another day with high humidity and put in about 47 km. On the next, I had to climb the steepest portion of the camino, O CEREBRIO, home of the Holy Grail. I had to do that in a rain squall at 7AM. All the pilgrims were huddled in all the densely crowded bars so I went down the mountain in the squall and ended up doing another 45 or so. And that is when I came down with the first blister in 2300km of walking this road over 14 months. It was on my right heel and slowed me down only a little. I popped it after the first day, dressed it, and it pretty much went away.

Kilometers don´t really add up--I should have finished those 202 easily by Saturday but fell short. The way was fantastic when it wasn´t raining. I hit another rain storm at the 100km mark, the same as last year but not nearly as torrential or never-ending. This camino was a breeze in many ways.

So I got up this morning, not having imbibed the large amounts of wine that most people seemed to have. I was probably the first or second pilgrim in the square. I did have to share it with all the drunks coming back from the discos. They were peeing in the corners but I decided they weren´t worth photographing as they wouldn´t be on postcards.

Part of the push was to get to Santiago on Sunday to see the world´s largest incense burner in action--5 men have to swing it across the transcept. Pilgrims are a smelly lot and need to be fumigated and deloused. Well, it turns out that the rope was in need of repair and the butafumenco is out of service for the interim.

I wanted to accomplish 5 things on this camino.

One was to go over the Route de Napoleon which I couldn´t do last year. I did that but in complete fog.

2 was to walk from Villafrance to Ages on the camino. It was fantastic and beautiful.

3 was to see the 4 brothers' haircuts in Sahagun. I saw 3 of the 4. The oldest brother was not around--last year he had dyed quarter sized blonde dots on his head looking quite a bit like a walking fuzzy large golf ball. #2 I actually spotted in a town truck as I was coming into town. His long locks are still luxurious but not so well kept. He looked worn out. I couldn' t imagine how I could have had all those fantasies about HIM. #3 put on a bit of weight, was not attentive like last year and now sported one of those pencil thin carefully trimmed beard things that Latin men seem to love and look so good on. I think he has a love interest. #4 was the epitome of charm. Last year he had shoulder length straight hair with a half inch of bronzed tips This year he lost the tips, still had the shoulder length hair but on the sides it was closely trimmed back to the middle of his ears--I guess some kind of punk thing.

4 was to have lunch in the most upscale restaurant in Molinaseca--where I could not get served last year due to Father´s Day crowds. Got there on a Monday and everything was closed.

5 was the butafumenco and you know the story....

Still all it all it was a blast. And I still have another month in Spain. So the Karaoke Camino is not exactly over. YET!!!!!

REPEAT OSCAR WINNER

LOOK LATER FOR PHOTOS WHEN I CAN DOWNLOAD

Yes, another stunning triumph yesterday. I was chosen to do the reading on Pentecost Sunday at a pilgrim wedding in a little town of Rabanal, high up in the mountains. While my first award winning achievement was in the medieval city of Conques on Easter Sunday in a fabulous Romanesque jewel of a cathedral, last night´s repeat was in a simple village church undergoing restoration in a mountain town. Two pilgrims tied the knot. It was really quite moving--he was diagnosed with terminal leukemia 3 years ago, had treatment, then did the camino and is still surviving.

I must say, in all modesty, that my interpretation in English of Letters to the Ephesians 4, 3-6, was far superior to those in Spanish, French, and German. What I cannot understand is that after the service when I went outside and waited for my accolades, everyone was teary eyed and moved about the wedding and NO ONE congratulated me on my performance. Weren´t they listening? What is the use, I must tell you.

I wonder how I can finagle a star part in the pilgrim benediction at Santiago. The church is not immune to financial incentives. I wonder if they take Mastercharge in order to let me swing the botufeminco, the largest incense burner in the world. THAT would be a final, wonderful end to the long, long walk.

202 km to go. Today we climbed to the highest part, Cruz de Fero. I did this in wind and snow flurries. Yes, you are reading this years account, not last year when we also had snow flurries. Almost June and I freeze my little a-- off going over the mountain.

I get to share a little room of 4 beds (2 bunks) with 2 Italians and a Croatian tonight. That is some reward, eh? People are getting antsy. I intend to do 5 days of about 40, get in on Saturday night, do all my compestella crap on Sunday and then RELAX. We shall see.

I am off, I have to help my little Emanuele (not Big) with the spaghetti carbonara. Ciao