Mysterios Mesetas

Walking the Camino Meseta

Carrion de los Condes to Leon( many days of walking)

"It 's a dangerous business going out your front door-you never know where you'll end up ", said Bilbo Baggins to Frodo. 

The second Road on the 500 mile Camino is known as the Road of Meditation.

Burgos to Hontanas

 We have passed through the more than two weeks of traveling the  Road of Pain and Suffering and I am assuming that means that there will be no further pain and suffering on the Meseta but perhaps the pain and suffering from the last two weeks may linger?
Already on the first day of walking the Meseta I am aware of the quiet, the hot sun, the huge horizon and flatness of space and for the first time, my aloneness, although Jim is walking ahead and pilgrim bicyclists roll on by and an occasional walking pilgrim passes me.

This is the Meseta Central ( inner Plateau) plains of Central Spain and I am walking them.  I know that many pilgrims simply skip this part of the Camino and  I am amazed that one would chose to miss this quiet beauty but soon understand the path of meditation and the play of it on the mind.
 This is the part of the walk when I cry at the loss of my father and my youth as a toll is taken on my body.  I cry for the pilgrims killed upon their Camino: from the Canadian who died so close to Roncesvalles after a major storm exploded from his start in St. Jean the day we arrived to the German bicyclist on the Meseta from many years ago who fell and hit his head to his death.
The Meseta seems to bring it all up for me and allows
me the space to grieve.
 My heart is open and I connect to this world like never before.

Albergues

Pilgrims waiting for this Albergue to open

The housing for Pilgrims on the Camino is called an Albergue.  In every town, village and city there are at least one Pilgrim Albergue and in most places, many Albergues.
 Albergues can be part of a church or monastery or built in the last few years to accommodate the increase of Pilgrims.

a new Albergue

 They can be sponsored by the city or town as municipal Albergues and these are usually most simple( no kitchen) and least expensive ( donation of 5 E).
 From between a donation to 9 Euros a Pilgrim can show their credentials, earn the stamp of the Albergue, shower, wash clothes and in some,use the kitchen and sleep with from 20 to 300 other pilgrims in bunk beds.
Hospitaleros(a) are the greeters, hosts, the support for the Pilgrims.  These folks are usually volunteers who themselves have walked the Camino.  They are from Spain , Germany, France and all of Europe and Korea and Asia too.  Most are a gift to the Pilgrims, a few are a bane but it is all the same on the Camino.
The Hospitalero(a) sets the procedures of that particular Albergue.  Doors locked and lights out  at 10 PM.  Lights on at 6 AM with heavenly music piped in to the dormitories or shrill alarms.

From Holland and Germany to Hospitaleras

 Everyone out of the Albergue by 8 AM.  No staying in the same Albergue two nights in a row unless sick or injured or staying one extra night for a day off.
Breakfast of bread and jam and coffee or no breakfast served.  Pilgrim meal at 7 or 8 PM or you must go to a restaurant where they serve the meal. No wi fi( wi fee) or pay for a computer or no technology at all.
There are some larger Albergues that have from one to several private rooms with baths for up to 30E.  We take advantage of this one time and it is heaven. The absence of plastic bags being rustled at 5 AM as Pilgrims try to get off early is lovely.  The absence of snorers is better.  The absence of the fit and not so fit hanging around in their underwear is the best.  Simple pleasures.
Pensions, available rooms in the homes of the local Spanish and Hostels, a hotel setting, are also found on the Way and may cost 30 E or more but are a great treat once a week and we do take advantage .

Estel, the peregrino rescuer.

Javier

The Hospitalereos

I meet Javier, a Spaniard Hospitalero who shares his clothes pins with me and puts some wood on the fire when I sit down and shares his hot chocolate and plays Vivaldi as we settle in for the night.  After a day of walking uphill with wind pushing us back and rain pelting down we stumble into the Albergue run by Estel who helps me off with my bag and with her hand on my arm lets me know she knows just how I feel.  She has many, many candles lit everywhere and I try to take it all in as my mind goes from fear of never resting again and my body lets go of exhaustion and my heart opens to what is.  Another day saved through the kindness of strangers.

Albergue at the end of the world.

Three Roads

It is said that there are three roads on the Camino.
The first road is pain and suffering.
The second road is meditation and the third is enlightenment.
My experience supports this idea perfectly.

And because the beginning of every journey may have pain and suffering, the Camino is not unique.
We get stronger, meet strangers who become friends along the way who lessen our load.  We learn to trust and accept.  We may not understand everything that is happening to us but we have learned that things will change, over and over again. The only way to be free from the pain and suffering is to keep going forward, going through.  No going back.  No skipping ahead.
In the middle of our Way, we find the ability to calm ourselves one step at a time, one breath at a time. We have experienced the impermanence of pain and suffering and do not feel the sting of them any longer.  We may continue to create blisters and other challenges but we have found our way to relax into it without the suffering. We have found the joy of the journey.
Finally, we have awareness and focus. We are present to the journey and are now a part of it.  It is no longer separate from us.

It is said, as well, that to reach Santiago on the Camino we must use three  parts of ourselves in equal measure.
The physical, the mental and the emotional.  All three must be in harmony, working together.  From lightly leaping through the paths on the Camino to putting one foot in front of the other to continue ; the physical is ever present.

 We have learned to understand our mind and how it wants to give up and tell us this is too difficult or we are too old.
Our bodies are stronger and the load is lighter.
  Our emotions are lighter as well.
Those final three mountain peaks are to dance through.

We are above all the challenges  and simply feel the joy and beauty of it all.
We have become children again in our open hearts and trusting nature.  The mud, the hills and mountains are our friends,our family at least for a time.

Follow that Sign!

On El Camino, following signs pointing to the Way can be a challenge.  They can be found on posts, on barns, on the ground and on the roof of some structures.  They can be yellow, blue shells or yellow arrows . They can be piles of stones.
Leaving cities or a number of villages early enough you can follow other pilgrims or listen to locals yelling the Way or stand long enough on a bridge or highway or road and drivers will  slow down enough to shout and point you in the right direction. Or follow a map.
You can stop at every possible transition place with more than one choice and wait for others to figure it out or go ahead and take your best guess chancing the necessity of doubling back.  Taking extra steps on the Camino is not favored buy the sore of toes peregrinos.

Starting out with my husband we easily spotted the signs and the other pilgrims.  But when he and I went at a different pace we went a different Way as well.
Jim stopped and I kept going moving though a small town with many pilgrims and coffee shops.  When I finally slowed down I turned around and no Jim could I see.
I waited and waited and walked some more and waited again.
I met a couple from Holland , Hans and Pauline who heard of my unplanned solo walk.  They were concerned and could not understand why Jim and I had no phones and especially why I was not worried.  I was only an hour into walking alone and believed that the concept of "worry" was just not allowed on the Camino.
  I kept walking and Hans and Pauline kept meeting up with me. Each time, I worked to put them at rest and at ease. I was OK and Jim was OK and it would work out.
Six hours later, I walked into a small village and in front of me was Jim sitting with Pauline and Hans.  Jim had missed a Camino sign, got off the road and ended up walking for hours on the highway.  He managed to get in front of me while finding his Way back.
  When he got to this small village my friends from Holland were getting settled in the town and talked to Jim about getting a stamp for their Pilgrim Credentials.  Jim said, "well first I have to find my wife" and Hans said, "you mean Rosemary from Minnesota?".  "Wait right here and she 'll  walk into town in ten minutes"  And I did!
We left our new friends with hugs and tears from Pauline and walked the last 6 km of the day together. Pauline was amazed and touched that it all worked out without phones and fears and hysterics.
But, that was our Camino.

Trusting in each other and the Universe and the Camino .  We knew we would have everything we needed on this journey. It may not all look pretty and smell sweet but would be perfect.

Food

First course on the first meal.

Our very first night in Rocesvailles we walked into a very busy and full bar/restaurant and were immediately shown a table which happened to have an open bottle of wine on it.  This puzzled me but it was my first evening on the Camino and I was just not prepared to question anything.
 The wait staff came and offered us our choice from the first course, garlic soup,lentil soup, pasta, green salad or vegetable stew.  We then had our second course choices, beef and potatoes, lamb and potatoes, fish and potatoes, chicken or rabbit or goat or pork and potatoes! Our dessert choices were the best! Flan, yogurt,chocolate cake, rice pudding or cheese cake and sometimes ice cream.
We find out half way through this first Pilgrim's meal that the wine on the table was ours.

Once,  we stayed in Gañon at an Albergue that is donation only but the hospitadae fed us dinner and breakfast. We ate pasta and bread and then pastries on long tables with 35 other pilgrims, singing songs, telling stories and drinking wine. Some played music for us as well.

It is unusual that  the Albergue people also feed us. Some though have kitchens and several times we shopped and cooked our own Pilgrim ' meal.

 Because we are walking 12 to 27Km a day through hills and mountains and valleys and towns there are usually plenty of places to eat along the way.  When we see that there are no towns for that day of walking we buy bread and cheese or a couple of nights ago made rice balls in the kitchen of the albergue to take with us for the walking day.  Otherwise there are restaurants and coffee bars along the way.
Our Pilgrim's meal is always at 7P.M. and my first three days of walking I was too tired to stay awake for it and suffered for that.  You need to eat and eat well every day and the Camino businesses make it easy for you.

Coffee

 Yet,one time I had to wait 3 hours of walking until we came to a town with a coffee bar but it was worth it.  Every cup of coffee is freshly ground and brewed when you walk in the door.  I had been enjoying café con letche but now I have café americano  which is black but is prepared differently somehow. 

It is good food, fresh, local and homemade.
 The Pilgrims are honored on the Camino and folks think about what our bodies need and serve us well.  They  ask that we pray for them when we get to Santiago and charge us form 5 to 9 euros for our meal
It is at that evening Pilgrim's meal that the days healing begins with the shared stories and laughing .  We are getting full and letting go and ready to begin again.

Coffee

.

Burgos

Burgos

Jim and I have walked almost 290 KM now and have about 500 KM more to go. 

 We have walked every day for 2 weeks from 17 to 30 KM and today, we have our first and probably only rest day.  To keep our rather slow walking schedule and make it to the end in time to catch our return plane, we must walk a minimum of 19 KM a day for the next 4 weeks. 

It is a bright , relatively warm sunny Saturday in Burgos.  We will stay another night in our modest Albergue (5 Euros) that only holds 16 pilgrims . We were delighted to get to stay there another night, the 7 of us and just leave our STUFF.

We had our cafe and other treats and visited the Cathedral and now are hanging out at the library using their computers. 

Most pilgrims have their own technology and just make certain that the Albergues have wifi which they do not all have.

  All I want is a bed at the end of my walk, a bottom bunk is preferable but I imagine I could get someone to boost me up. I no long consider the humiliation of that possibility.

Amazing how things change.  I no longer am as interested in the quaint little towns and villages we pass except to see if they have a coffee bar or a clean bathroom.  My life has been reduced to these things.

The best food thus far.

I am still trying to figure out the very best foot care and body stretches along the way never mind yoga and tai chi.  How to sooth particular aching muscles is my goal.

Our Albergue in Burgos with out host serenading us.

Burgos is a great place to have a day off and many pilgrims take time here.  It is lovely with ancient ruins and museums and cathedrals and the best food thus far!!

Burgos is also the place of transitions.

The Belgian mother, Elise and daughter, Lisa have finished their 2 week walk and now take the 17 hour bus ride back home. Lisa is a teacher and must return. 

 The boys, Jack, James and Henry and moving on to the end today and I suspect we will not meet again so of course I found myself weeping a bit with their hugs.  

The 3 Spanish women have also finished their walk and say goodbye to the Camino.

Burgos

Jim playing the Uke 

And most sad, our group of 7 is breaking up.  Marie also from Winona who has been sick and tired most of these weeks and taking buses and staying in hotels but meeting up with us at the end of the day, will move on and off the Camino as well.
  Christian , also not walking much anymore but hanging out with us at night will finish his Camino. 

 I am not certain about Kyoung and her mother as they had to bus in yesterday because of a foot injury of Helena.  They are also determined to finish but will probably do a bus, walk thing. 

 We have been a wonderful group.  Everything you want, support, information, love and care, laughing and crying together(more laughing) and now it all will change.

And now I say goodbye:

Most of you helped me through a very rough period on my walk with my physical body stretched to its limit and my mind resisting with periods of crazy thinking and doubt.  

Having your presence and support and words of wisdom kept me going, as did the  incredible food and wine of Spain.

Thank you , George for telling me that we would get stronger.  You were correct.  Thank you Kyoungsin for always knowing the very best Albergue where we could find rest.  Sleep was medicine for me.  Thank you Christian for making me laugh and feel so lighthearted for I surely would have succumbed to my fear at those difficult moments.  Thank you Jim for finding the energy to play the Ukulele and get us to sing a long and be together in the mornings and evenings. 

After so much walking

Burgos

I know we were indeed very blessed with the support we gave each other.

 There is nothing I would change.  It was everything I needed. Stepping into the unknown and finding so much but especially finding you.

Buen Camino my friends.

 Of course that is the Camino.   Rain one day, sun the next.  Nothing to hold onto , every thing changes except sadly, my sore feet!!!

Why We Walk

Christian and Jim 

This morning on our walk, Christian the 27 year old from Norway told me he was walking to find what to do with his life.  He is so gifted in many ways. Gifted with humor and fearlessness and directness and intuition and the ability to read and know people. He can enter the circle of people who are speaking other languages and not only make new friends but get what he needs.  He is thinking long and hard about his life.  He is even letting go of the hearvy wine drinking( available at every meal) and smoking.  He is becoming family.

Many pilgrims walk alone,some in groups and some in families.

  Elisa from Belgim walks because of the loss she has endured, her deep depressions.  She says she feels free here on the Camino.  

Kyoung from South Korea walks because she decided to quit her job after ten years and now does not know quite what to do.  She is considering returning to host at an Albergue once she has finished her walk.

George and Kyoung

 Her mother, Helena walks because she is a devote Catholic and wants to visit every church( but there are too many!!)

 George just ended a long time relationship,Ray just started a new relationship. 

Three women from South Africa walk in friendship and fun.  They are eating and drinking their way across Spain.

The Women from South Africa

Two couples from Ireland are on a week long  holiday from their teaching.  They sleep in hotels and have a service carry their bags.  They are totally enjoying their 150 KM walk from Sarria to Santiago.  They say that this section of the Camino looks a lot like Ireland except that Spain has sun!  But, they have not walked the mud and rain and snow days of the Camino.

A couple from Ireland

Hans and his wife from Holland walk slightly in front or behind us and have done this walk several times.

Hans and Etta

 Couples from France walk because they are just next door.  

Biking groups of Italians and Spaniards and French we see briefly as they pass us by . There are solitary bikers as well but the groups seem to be in a contest of speed.
 By foot, bike or horse on the Camino.

Spaniards and other Europeans take their week or two week holiday on the Camino and each year walk a new section. The goal for all is to complete the entire Camino in six years and earn their Compostela in Santiago. 
The woman in red and her dog from England walk because I do not know! It looks so difficult for her with her heavy, heavy backpack and her rather unfriendly dog.
 The two German( Black Forest) women walk because of some pain in their past . When they greet me along 
the way it is with a long and deep hug.

And me, I walk because I can( just barely). It is in my heart to walk.  The energy of the Camino calls to me. There were days, desperate moments when I asked myself , "why" and could not give myself any answer but this particular door is still open.  It is closing. So I walk because I still can! 

Because I can

Water or Wine

It has been two weeks on the long and hot and sometimes dusty road through the Mesetas from Burgos to Leon.  We are are at the end of another 20 Km walk just a few km from our town.  And then rest and sleep.

Miguel's front yard

Across the street from us we see a Spaniard

Miguel and Jim

tending his modest wine orchard and at the same moment he sees us and waves.  We are invited over for water which we accept and although we carry our own water bottle we do not want to miss an opportunity to visit.
He invites us into his home, serves us bread and meat and cheese and then asks if we want water or wine.

Miguel's wine operation

At every evening menu del peregrino we hear the very same inquiry.  Water or wine?  Water flows from fountains in every town and village and you just have to put your head under it to fill up or hold out your water bottle.  It is always a lovely experience.  But in the restaurants they serve bottled water and that is what most pilgrims want when they have water. Why not have wine?

Vineyard in mid April

Vineyard in early April 

Because our host, Miguel has newly formed raisins hanging like little jewels all over this kitchen and I can smell his wine,and even though it is not yet 2 P.M., I choose  un vaso pequeno de vino .
I watch as he fetches a bottle and pours a full glass.  As I watch him pour the wine, I see the vines outside his door and imagine him tending each one and making this wine.  I am filled with awe and anticipation. His hand on the bottle.  The wine flowing into the glass. Yes, it is the very best wine I have ever tasted.
I have another glass.

More Pilgrims

Other pilgrims we meet along the way:
 Katie who is from Belgium is traveling with her daughter,

Katie, Jim, Lisa and Rosemary

Lisa  who has developed tendinitis and can not walk so Katie ends up walking with us from time to time and meets her daughter at an Albergue.  We have been walking with her for 8 days now. She is involved in peace and justice issues in her country and when we leave each other in Burogos she weeps a bit and expresses some gratitude at meeting Pilgrims from the USA who helped her to experience an attitude change toward Americans.

Margaret and Amy from the U.S.and Franz from Germany

William from Holland

  There is the woman and her dog whom we met walking who is from Germany.  She speaks no Spanish and Jim has had to help her find a room at night where she could stay with her dog.  Albergues do not allow dogs.
She has walked a week now starting in France .  He dog is not friendly and yet it is easy to see the bond between them.  At first I had judgements that she comes to Spain with her dog and no Spanish speaking skills and expects to have others figure things out for her.
 Now, I do see the bond, the love between this woman and her dog and know nothing more about what is happening and believe that whatever happens she will find what she needs on the Camino. We have not seen her for a couple of days and suspect that she has returned home.
I met a Spanish father with his 10 year old daughter in Los Arcos .Also, the German and the young man from Barcelona have  met on the Way and have a similar pace of walking and are now walking together as often happens.
 We meet for a moment while tying up our shoes or walking  or having cafe and exchange pleasantries and soon are good friends and hold each other when we part with our, ¨buen camino¨.
 There is the lumbering man, very large , overweight carrying a huge pack on his back and one on his front and looking very ill equipped  but is walking one foot in front of the other.  I think of him often as I deal with blisters and a pack too heavy and want to whine.  Every once in awhile I also feel like I am
 the lumbering man putting one foot in front of the other .

I notice  groups of young people looking so strong with just the perfect clothes and packs and then the lumbering man and even Christian and we all are going together and we all support one another perfectly.

It looks so easy for some, a Sunday stroll in the park and others, sometimes me,  impossible.   

Some pilgrims we meet at night in the Albergue and never see again for they have walked ahead or been slower than we.  Others we meet and after 10 days of walking are still seeing them like William from Holland.
  Our little group of 7 is hoping to stay and support one another to the end.

Kyoungsin and her mother and Christian