Camino de Santiago \ April 24, 25

LEON
April 24 & 25 (no KM)
Arrived in Leon, by bus, around 4ish in the afternoon. Not far into the part of town we wanted to stay in so we walked it. Leon is one happening town. It is about the same size as Burgos but has the heartbeat of a much bigger city. Pretty sure we will be able to find anything we want here….including an iPod charger (ended up getting shipped to Santiago de Compostela).

Left Nathan at a bar to watch the bags and Cort and I headed off to find accommodation. Turns out that there are several weddings in the area over the weekend and we are out of luck on getting a room. Wandered around looking long enough for Nathan to kick back a couple beers. Finally found a hostel a bit off the main drag but more than suitable for our meager means.

Like I said this is one pumping little town 150,000) . We did find an iPod charges (yippiee) and could have shopped for days. The Cathedral here lived up to the hype it gets in travel guides. We spent most of our time wandering about checking out the beautiful buildings and mingling with the weekend crowds.

Did manage to book our final train ticket. It is over a holiday week and in the end we have to do the long leg of it...from Santiago de Compastela to Madrid (9 hours) in 2nd class then change trains to Malaga down in Southern Spain. As we left the train station in search of chocolate we saw a man who had just been hit by a car. The ambulance finally got there, still wonder if he is ok. Didn’t look good.

On a brighter note, we found our chocolate. In Spain they are into their chocolate.

Camino de Santiago: Rabe de las Calzadas to Carrion de los Condes \ April 21,22,23

From Rabe de las Calzadas to Castrojeriz April 21

Day 2 on the Camino (28.5KM)

Towns: Rabe de las Calzadas, Hormillos del Camino, Hontanas, Castrojeriz)

Stayed at Camping “Camino de Santiago” (had a house to ourselves)

Woke today at around 7am, still dark. Found out that the time changes by two hours in Spain for Daylight Savings which means waking in the dark. Hit the road, er Camino, with the sun just wakeing. It was chilly and misty out. Very cool for a couple gals who read horror movies into everything. The village was just as asleep at 7am as it was the night before.

It actually felt great to put our packs on and start walking. We ended up walking almost 30 km by the days end. The trail from Rabe de Calzadas to Castrajeriz was basically deserted except for a smattering of Pilgrims. It is only day two and we keep meeting up with the same small groups (ones, twos and threes) of pilgrims. It looks like there is only about five sets of us on this bit of the Camino. The folks on bikes are always seeing new faces as they move on so quickly.

The greeting on the Camino de Santiago is “Bueno Camino” or “Good Camino”. You hear it almost every time you pass by someone, whether they be a Pilgrim or a local. Just a quick mention of those living along the Camino. It amazes me that they are all so friendly to us (smelly, hungry, tied) Pilgrims. It would seem that we would get on their nerves, especially when it picks up in the summer, but no, everyone is exceptionally kind and go out of their way to make you feel important.

Today we seriously tested our walking. Our packs are a bit bigger than most others for the mere fact that we are going on after this journey. Because of this simple fact, our packs start out weighing a couple pounds more than those just here for the Camino. We also don’t have super sleek, super expensive sleeping bags. We have bulky cheap blankets instead. Figure we can give them to a homeless folk at a train station after the walk.

From Castrojeriz to Bodilla del Camino

April 22 \ Day 3 on the Camino (18.9KM)

Towns: Castrojeriz, Itero de la Vegas, Bodilla del Camino)

We had a fantastic nights sleep. With the economy like it is and less than half the usual pilgrims we ended up with an entire house to ourselves…yes, a living room and all. Grabbed a bottle of wine and settled in for a bit of Texas Hold em’. Little Man Nate taught us and Cort and I cleaned the floor with him. It was good fun.

It would appear that 30km did us in as I had a nice big blister and all of us were quite the gimps. I heated the end of a needle and sewed a piece of thread through my blister (leaving a bit of the tread in the blister to drain it). By the am our bodies were healed and my blister was no more. Time to hit the road.

As it turns out we slept in until 9:30, which is crazy late on the Camino. Typically someone wakes you by 6ish to be on the road no later than 8am. I must say we got the best nights sleep ever. Nice and cool in the room and so ridiculously quite. It was fantastic.

Any who when we finally made it to the reception, bar area the owner said Buenas tardes to us, meaning good afternoon. He was giving us crap for getting up so late. I figure we might as well take advantage of the chance to sleep in. I have a strange feeling it won’t happen often on the Camino.

We ended up hitting a road block of sheep today. I bet farmers think it bizarre that tourists grab for the camera when they see sheep in the road. We did stop for coffee is some itty bitty town and ran into everyone we have seem along the Camino. They all stopped for the night but we were tough and carried on another 8km to Boadilla del Camino and stayed at a beautiful private pilgrims hostel. This beauty had a fantastic common outdoor area with a small pool (not warm enough yet) and the staff was super friendly. We ate olives, bread, cheese, and ham along with two bottles of vino. Played Texas Holdin’ and chatted with the staff.

At these Pilgrims Hostels they turn out the lights at like 9:30pm (these places do only cost 5 Euro). Everyone, I am talkin’ 20 plus people in the dorm where already in bed by nine For some reaon this struck Cort and I as just about the most amusing thing ever. Will an entire room of adults sleeping before dark, Cort and I began a 30 minute laugh fest. One of those can’t stop no matter how hard you try. Even went to the bathroom to try and contain it by to no avail. We tough we had done a good job of controlling it, which meant stuffing blankets in our mouths but Nathan informed us the next morning that everyone hear us. Couldn’t help it.

From Boadilla del Camino to Carrion de los Condes

April 23 \ Day 4 on the Camino (25.3KM)

Towns: Boadilla del Camino, Ista, Poblacion de Campos, Villovieco, Villalcazar de Sirga, Carrion de los Candes

I really only have one thing to say about today…we walked, and walked and walked. It was hot and we walked. Later in the day we ate and walked. Then after walking for a while we drank some water and then walked some more. One fun thing that happened when we got water was that there was an army of caterpillar crawling up the fountain we got our water from. Cortney and I are quite sure that we have some strange caterpillar amoeba brain bacteria now. Nathan thinks we will start pooing butterflies within the month. Over the horizon we say Carrion De Los Condes so we walked into town got a room (no Pilgrim Hostel this time) and stuck needles in our blisters then walked around town and ate.

Over dinner we realized that the only way to get our full month in Morocco is to cut a few days off the walk. Looking at things it seems that now is the best time to jump a bit of the walk as it would be several days of walking along the main road anyway, and seeing a ton of the same thing we have been walking through. Will look at jumping on a bus to Leon in the am…that should cut two and a halfish days off the walk and give us our full month in Morocco. Cool!

(next morning) There is a bus at 12:45 and we bought tickets at the bar this morning over coffee. Many people waiting for the bus with busted up feet, wow. Nathan and I just have a couple blisters.

Very glad we took the bus in the end. The Camino followed the motorway most of the way to Leon. Feel like we picked the best bit to skip. Looking forward to Leon.

Camino de Santiago

From Rabe de las Calzadas to Castrojeriz April 21 \ Day 2 on the Camino (28.5KM)Towns: Rabe de las Calzadas, Hormillos del Camino, Hontanas, Castrojeriz)Stayed at Camping “Camino de Santiago” (had a house to ourselves)Woke today at around 7am, still dark. Found out that the time changes by two hours in Spain for Daylight Savings which means waking in the dark. Hit the road, er Camino, with the sun just waking. It was chilly and misty out. Very cool for a couple gals who read horror movies into everything. The village was just as asleep at 7am as it was the night before.
It actually felt great to put our packs on and start walking. We ended up walking almost 30 km by the days end. The trail from Rabe de Calzadas to Castrajeriz was basically deserted except for a smattering of Pilgrims. It is only day two and we keep meeting up with the same small groups (ones, twos and threes) of pilgrims. It looks like there is only about five sets of us on this bit of the Camino. The folks of bikes are always new faces as they move on so quickly.
The greeting on the Camino de Santiago is “Bueno Camino” or “Good Camino”. You hear it almost every time you pass by someone, whether they be a Pilgrim or a local. Just a quick mention of those living along the Camino. It amazes me that they are all so friendly to us (smelly, hungry, tied) Pilgrims. It would seem that we would get on their nerves, especially when it picks up in the summer, but no, everyone is exceptionally kind and go out of their way to make you feel important.
Today we seriously tested our walking. Our packs are a bit bigger than most others for the mere fact that we are going on after this journey. Because of this simple fact, our packs start out weighing a couple pounds more than those just here for the Camino. We also don’t have super sleek, super expensive sleeping bags. We have bulky cheap blankets instead. Figure we can give them to a homeless folk at a train station after the walk.
From Castrojeriz to Bodilla del Camino April 22 \ Day 3 on the Camino (18.9KM) Towns: Castrojeriz, Itero de la Vegas, Bodilla del Camino)We had a fantastic nights sleep. With the economy like it is and less than half the usual pilgrims we ended up with an entire house to ourselves…yes, a living room and all. Grabbed a bottle of wine and settled in for a bit of Texas Hold em’. Little Man Nate taught us an Cort and I cleaned the floor with him. It was good fun.
It would appear that 30km did us in as I had a nice big blister and all of us were quite the gimps. I heated the end of a needle and sewed a piece of thread through my blister (leaving a bit of the tread in the blister to drain it). By the am our bodies were healed and my blister was no more. Time to hit the road. As it turns out we slept in until 9:30, which is crazy late on the Camino. Typically someone wakes you by 6ish to be on the road no later than 8am. I must say we got the best nights sleep ever. Nice and cool in the room and so ridiculously quite. It was fantastic.
Any who when we finally made it to the reception, bar area the owner said Buenas tardes to us, meaning good afternoon. He was giving us crap for getting up so late. I figure we might as well take advantage of the chance to sleep in. I have a strange feeling it won’t happen often on the Camino.
We ended up hitting a road block of sheep today. I bet farmers think it bizarre that tourists grab for the camera when they see sheep in the road. We did stop for coffee is some itty bitty town and ran into everyone we have seem along the Camino. They all stopped for the night but we were tough and carried on another 8km to Boadilla del Camino and stayed at a beautiful private pilgrims hostel. This beauty had a fantastic common outdoor area with a small pool (not warm enough yet) and the staff was super friendly. We ate olives, bread, cheese, and ham along with two bottles of vino. Played Texas Holdin’ and chatted with the staff.
At these Pilgrims Hostels they turn out the lights at like 9:30pm (these places do only cost 5 Euro). Everyone, I am talkin’ 20 plus people in the dorm where already in bed by nine For some reaon this struck Cort and I as just about the most amusing thing ever. Will an entire room of adults sleeping before dark, Cort and I began a 30 minute laugh fest. One of those can’t stop no matter how hard you try. Even went to the bathroom to try and contain it by to no avail. We tough we had done a good job of controlling it, which meant stuffing blankets in our mouths but Nathan informed us the next morning that everyone hear us. Couldn’t help it,
From Boadilla del Camino to Carrion de los CondesApril 23 \ Day 4 on the Camino (25.3KM) Towns: Boadilla del Camino, Ista, Poblacion de Campos, Villovieco, Villalcazar de Sirga, Carrion de los Candes)
I really only have one thing to say about today…we walked, and walked and walked. It was hot and we walked. Later in the day we ate and walked. Then after walking for a while we drank some water and then walked some more. One fun thing that happened when we got water was that there was an army of caterpillar crawling up the fountain we got our water from. Cortney and I are quite sure that we have some strange caterpillar amoeba brain bacteria now. Nathan thinks we will start pooing butterflies within the month. Over the horizon we say Carrion De Los Condes so we walked into town got a room (no Pilgrim Hostel this time) and stuck needles in our blisters then walked around town and ate.
Over dinner we realized that the only way to get our full month in Morocco is to cut a few days off the walk. Looking at things it seems that now is the best time to jump a bit of the walk as it would be several days of walking along the main road anyway, and seeing a ton of the same thing we have been walking through. Will look at jumping on a bus to Leon in the am…that should cut two and a halfish days off the walk and give us our full month in Morocco. Cool!
(next morning) There is a bus at 12:45 and we bought tickets at the bar this morning over coffee. Many people waiting for the bus with busted up feet, wow. Nathan and I just have a couple blisters.
Very glad we took the bus in the end. The Camino followed the motorway most of the way to Leon. Feel like we picked the best bit to skip. Looking forward to Leon.

Update

sorry i havent had any new posts lately. have not had computers with flashdrives, all my blogs are on my laptop.

we are now in tangiers, morocco. took the ferry over from tarifa, spain yesterday. i will try and find myself some wifi in the coming days and upload a few blogs.

here are a few photos from the camino de santiago. as you can see, i cant find caps on this arabic keyboard.