Pictures, at long last

Hello faithful friends and followers of our sad little blog.  After crashing many computers and photo kiosks at Walgreens all over town, we resorted to finding a professional photography studio to recover our pictures.  It turns out that we had a bad memory card which is our lame excuse for the pictures being posted long after everyone has stopped asking or caring; ) We will do our best to select some representative photos to add to our entries.  Hopefully it will help others to more fully share in our wonderful adventure.  Please have patience with the speed at which they are added, we kind of have a lot going on.  A quick update for those who care...

We successfully moved to Greeley, Colorado and Brian has been getting settled in at his job teaching at the residency here. In other news we are closing on a house in two weeks and are very excited to become first time homeowners!  If friends are in the area, we will have room to spare and would love to have visitors.  Life has been good to us and we continue to ask the questions that we set out to answer on the Camino.

Also we are including a link to an amazing short video made by a fellow pilgrim that we met along the way.  He truly captures the beauty and emotion of the journey (without any of those pesky down sides; ) If you really want a taste of the experience check this out.  It was filmed and edited by Henk van der Klok.

http://www.todayisagoodday.org

From Pilgrims to Tourists

Hello dear readers,

We have had a lovely adventure sight seeing in Barcelona for the last four days.  It was a long eight hour bus ride from Burgos to Barcelona but we were able to be greeted by familiar faces and stay with our friends Megan and Susana that first night.  We have been finding traveling as tourists to be more challenging than just being pilgrims.  We are used to walking everywhere, so that has been a low cost way to explore the city.  Barcelona has many beautiful things to see and we made our best effort to see almost all of them ; )

We stayed with a friend of a friend in the Gothic district for the first few days and toured around the local markets, cathedrals, the Barceloneta (the beach on the Mediterranean Sea), Montjuic, toured the Palau de Musica Catalana (amazing architecture), art museums, walked the ¨Rambla,¨and walked about as much as we would have on the camino!  We then moved up a little higher in the city and explored the Grácia neighborhood, toured the Sagrada Familia and saw many of the other buildings designed by Gaudí.

Yesterday we made our best effort to adhere to the Spanish time schedule.  We ate tapas late in the afternoon, took a long siesta and met up with Megan and Susana for dinner at nine pm!  We ate paella and other delicious food with our friends and stayed up until after midnight, our latest night yet!  We were so proud of ourselves, yet when we got back to where we were staying, everyone else was still up and someone got home around four.  We are just not made for the night life it seems. 

We´ve had a wonderful time in Spain.  We will be posting pictures and editing the blog a little bit once we are settled back in the states.  Tomorrow we fly to Dublin and will get to see two of our Camino friends from our first posts, Mark and Marcela.  We are really looking forward to it.  Tuesday we fly from Dublin and will be back in Chicago.  Keep checking back for pictures!

End of the Road in Sight...

Hi everyone, Brian here.

I´m sure some of you are wondering why we´ve been able to post so frequently in the last day or two.  Well it´s a bit of a story that starts in the last town we made it to, Hontanas.  When we arrived to our 4 euro albergue at 2pm I showered and immediately fell asleep for the rest of the afternoon.  After a 5 hour nap, I woke up and had fevers and chills.  I had no appetite and went back to bed only 2 hours later for the rest of the night.  We had decided during dinner that I couldn´t walk the next day and that we would find a bus back to Burgos, the last big city, to see a doctor.

The next morning came and I was still burning up.  The chills became intermittent, but I couldn´t walk very far and I couldn´t carry very much.  My sweet wife took almost anything of weight and put it into her backpack for the 5 block walk to the bus stop.  I use bus stop loosely.  Hontanas has about 500 people living there, so we were instructed to go and sit in front of a small pinkish colored house sometime between 8:30 and 9:00am.  We thought we´d found it and I dropped my stuff and sat on a bench.  Just then a woman asked us if we were waiting for a bus, because if so, this was not the pink house.  Apparently, the one we needed was a few blocks further, "we couldn´t miss it". 

We boarded the bus around 9:00am and the bus driver was very animated.  He took one look at us and exclaimed that we were going the wrong way to get to Santiago.  We explained that I needed to see a doctor before walking any further.  He was unbelievably kind.  He even went so far as to drive us to the urgencia once we were in Burgos, in the commercial bus!

What we thought was an urgent care ended up being the emergency room.  The doctors there drew labs and examined me and I was admitted.  This was no short process.  They would wheel me in my chair or gurney off for this or that, leaving Jess in a busy room with both of our packs not knowing when I´d be back.  For long periods of time, we didn´t know exactly what was happening.  We got up to the room and another doctor was in to see me within 30 minutes.  He was very kind, but he wasn´t sure quite what to make of my symptoms: abdominal cramps, weakness and fatigue, fevers and chills, and no appetite.

Later that evening I was examined by 2 residents (who would see me again 2 more times that night with their attending).  I was given an IV and started on fluids and medicines to reduce my fever.  Later that night they decided to add an antibiotic.  I was very fortunate to have my own room.  The man that was in the other bed was discharged a few hours after I arrived.  Jess sat by my bed all afternoon and all night, tending to me with a cool rag. 

Hospital day number 2 - Saturday, October 1st.
Things were a bit better when I woke up on Saturday.  My fever had broken and my strength was coming back.  Unfortunately, my stomach felt a bit worse and they put me on the dreaded "clear liquid diet".  I don´t know how many of my own patients I´ve subjected to this awful excuse for feeding some one, but I´ll never do it again.  Also, I will never order an arterial blood gas.  Why they needed this test on me (twice!), I do not know.  A third doctor saw me that day and explained that I was doing well and would likely go home on Monday, if I could advance my diet slowly to normal food.  It was then that I learned that in Spain, no one works in the hospital on Sunday, not even the residents!!  If there was an emergency, there was a doctor in the building on-call, but absolutely no adnimistrative work or patient care was done.  We decided it would be best for Jess to stay at a nearby hotel now that I was on the mend and the old hospital was not the most hospitable place for a guest.  We made a comment about the small size of the room and were informed that they´re closing this hospital soon to open a new one.

Hospital day 3 - Sunday, October 2nd
I was up early with nothing to do and not expecting any medical visitors for the day.  I had advanced to a full diet by the previous evening and was continuing to get better.  Jess, knowing that I had another 24-36 hours in the hospital, lovingly ran around the whole city taking pictures of what turned out to be the Feast Day of El Cid, the city´s legendary war hero.  I began to wander the halls with my hospital issue pj´s and IV pole when who do I run into, but Dr #3.  We chatted for a bit and he asked if I wanted to go home.  Awesome!  It was 10:15am, if I left now I could get to the hotel before Jess left to see me, or so I thought.  They disconnected my IV, I got changed, and they gave me my walking papers. 

I arrived back at the hotel to find Jess gone.  We´d just missed each other and I decided to wait.  30 minutes later, I checked in and showered.  She didn´t get back until after noon.  Apparently, she had spent the morning buying magazines and taking pictures of people in mideval costume so that I had something to do all day.  She arrived to the hospital to find my bed empty and, as she puts it, "had a moment" before the nurses told her I´d been discharged early.

Overall, it was a very anxiety filled and vulnerable experience that I will not soon forget in my own care of hospitalized patients.  Jess and I walked through the festival a bit and made the decision to come home 2 weeks early.  It´s been a great experience, and certainly one we intend to finish some day.   The people we have met and the realizations we´ve made have been well worth the journey.  We´re looking forward to coming back.

-Brian

Ampollas!

A blog about the Camino would not be complete without a post regarding ampollas, or blisters.  Once an area of irritation begins to form, or "a hot spot", it must be addressed immediately.  There are no shortage of remedies passed among pilgrims.  Everyone is an expert.  We have heard many approaches which I would like to share.  Vaseline, one should keep the toes free of friction by applying vaseline every few hours.  Liner socks, move inside the main sock and are meant to protect the foot skin from friction.  Pads, that´s right, not just for women.  Pads are placed on the insole to absorb any moisture (pads with wings help the pad stay put, but are not necessary).  Retying the boots in a certain pattern to reduce movement.  Compeed, it´s like a second skin that has some strange medicine in is to help reduce the blister once it has formed, (although it can expand the size of the blister) and should not be removed.  Duct tape, it seemed a little barbaric, so I didn´t try it, although Brian brought some along.  Syringes can be used to suck out the fluid and pus. Another barbaric technique that I now swear by is the needle and thread remedy.  A threaded needle is passed through the blister, and then tied off so the fluid can slowly wick out without opening the entire blister to an infection.  We also saw someone with huge cotton balls taped to their heals.  Tape can be used, but then I found all of my toes sticking together like one massive club foot, which led to other discomforts.  Really, when it comes down to it, you just do whatever seems to work for you.  Or, be like Brian, who claims that he has so much foot surface area that a blister or callus cannot be formed. Lucky.

Tardajos to Hontanas

People start shuffling at 6am (as predicted) and we are up and out on the road around 7am with our teeth brushed, our water bottles filled, and head lamps on.  Sunrise has been around 8:13am and it´s pretty dark until about 7:45.  Walking in the morning always seems romantic.  The stars are still out, and there are TONS of them!  And it´s usually just the two of us walking.  Recently, some of that has changed.  It´s getting pretty cold in the morning, hence the Burgos stop for hats and gloves, it´s also inefficient walking time.  Remember that we have almost no idea where we´re heading each day if not for the yellow shells and arrows.  It really slows you down to be looking for them in the dark!

Usually, we stop for breakfast around 2 hours into our day.  This is generally at a small town bar that traditionally serves café con leche and tortillas for breakfast.  A café con leche is espresso with steamed milk and a tortilla is an egg and potato dish that is cooked like a fritata and then served by the slice.  Very tasty, but sometimes gets old.  We miss cereal. 

Leaving Burgos, we officially started the Meseta, which represents the high plains of Spain.  It´s windy, hot, and open.  There isn´t much to look at other than the massive, modern windmills.  It is a bit Don Quijote of the 21st century.  The terrain is akin to a dirt road with gravel and large, smooth river rocks mixed in.  The path through the Meseta, as we were told, is man-made.  This makes sense as there is no river or waterway nearby to leave this kind of terrain.  It´s hard on the feet.  Very hard.  Jess´s blisters have been taking a beating.

When you stop for breakfast, pilgrims will usually buy a baguette and a few pieces of meat and fruit for lunch as there may not be a place to stop for the next 5-6 hours.  The towns around big cities tend to be in clusters that are 1-5km apart, but most of the time it can be 10-12km before you see another building.  That´s 3-4 hours of walking.  We´ve been sustaining a diet of home-made "bocadillos", or little sandwiches, made of chorizo slices, laughing cow cheese, and baguette.  We tend to buy lots of nuts, fruits, and chocolates too.  Nothing too exotic.  We´ve stuck to apples, oranges, and peaches :)

We arrived to Hontanas around 2pm and checked into an albergue.  This particular one cost 4 euros per person.  It´s on the low end, but not worrisomely cheap. 

And there you have it.  It´s a very simple existence, but it affords alot of time for reflection and conversation.  Unfortunately, not as much journaling or blogging :)

A day in the life of a peregrino

So we left Burgos with all of the necessary provisions to push on.  Jess had found a warm hat, gloves, more blister care stuff, and I had gotten a warm hat too.  Other people also faired well after visiting the wonderful wizard of Burg-Oz (as a point of reference, no one calls it that except Jess and I, who were delirious with walking).  Some people were able to get much needed new footwear or hiking pants.  Our typical day of a pilgrim starts on our next day out of Tardajos.

Burgos to Tardajos was a short 3 hour walk after spending most of the morning admiring the cathedral in Burgos.  We arrived at 3pm.  We continued to follow arrows and shells that are painted everywhere that guide the way along highways, through cities, and open fields.  These guides are typically posted in several strategic areas.  For instance, on curbs, lightposts, houses, buildings, bridges, sidewalks, and on large immobile rocks. It´s really quite amazing that young ruffians and houligans don´t vandalize them.  Some are, however, elaborately decorated in graffiti...we´ll get a picture of that up soon.

So you continue to follow your arrows for the allotted number of hours of hiking in a day.  Burgos to Tardajos was only three hours, a very, very light day and only about 10km.  Occassionally, in high season, people have been refused from lodging places for traveling such a short distance unless they are able to prove sickness or injury!  Arrive in your destination town, Tardajos.  Read a bit about it, whatever your guidebook has.  Check in to the albergue, refugio, or hostel that you have secretly heard good things about that you wouldn´t share with anyone because there may only be 12 beds ;) and start your afternoon ritual. 

Generally, we arrive in the early aftenoon, say between 1 and 3pm.  First things first, shower and wash your clothes.  Remember, that for all intents and purposes, we are carrying roughly 2 sets of clothing each (with additional rain layers and warm layers) which get pretty filthy pretty quick.  Washing your clothes by hand and line drying them is a staple of pilgrim life.  And if your clothes aren´t dry by nightfall, you bring them inside because it gets cold and wet at night.  Then you hang them from your bunk overnight and then usually from your pack whil you hike the next day. 

The showers are really hit or miss.  Some places are co-ed and separated by a curtian or plate glass.  Others are gender specific and have plenty of space.  One thing that we cannot figure out is how we are supposed to get dressed.  There is no place to put clean clothes, or dirty clothes for that matter, while you shower.  I´ve been putting my dirty clothes on the floor with my clean clothes on top...not sure how Jess has been managing.  We have been lucky to have hot water everywhere we´ve stayed.  Lots of places have a push-button that gives you about 20-30 seconds of water....not cool.

So you´ve arrived to town, done some laundry, and showered.  Now it´s time to find something to eat, because you´ve burned 10,000 calories today.  The most economical option is generally to go to the market and buy-prepare your own food.  Usually that is difficult, because of siesta.  This varies from region to region and usually lasts 3-4 hours in the middle of the afternoon (when hungry pilgrims, and especially americans, want dinner).  The spanish do not usually eat until 7 or 8pm at the earliest and can be as late as 11pm any day of the week.  Many times you´ll find a "menú peregrino".  This is a 3-course meal that is roughly the same in every town.  A small salad or pasta, some type of pork platter, and a dessert in a plastic cup.  The kicker is, if you order this, you are entitled to a refillable bottle of water and a refillable bottle of wine with your meal :)  It´s tough to pass up, especially when you walk through some of the world´s finest vineyards all day. 

Dinner is not quick and no one is in a hurry, ever.  7pm is the earliest we´ve been served menú and you usually can´t leave until at least 9pm.  Then you get back to your bunk and situate your sleeping bag and brush your teeth.  One last look at your pack to make sure that you can get out efficiently in the morning.  Arm yourself with industrial TSA-style earplugs because the snoring never ends (I´m sorry that we received negative comments about our discontent with snorers, but I stand by most of our advice!)  Lights out around 10pm and there´s really no need to set your watch, the French or the Germans will be up by 6am rustling about.  On the road by 7 or 730am with minimal sleep and a long road ahead.  Buen Camino!

Next post.  Tardajos to Hontanas...

The best on the Camino!

Although the Pyrenees were by far the biggest mountains, we are constantly finding ourselves going up and down.  The views are amazing, and it makes us excited to be moving towards mountains when we get back to the states.  So the day of September 25th we hiked up a bit to Villafranca Montes de Oca.  We stayed at an albergue that also has a high end hotel on the other side.  The owner, Pedro, was very proud of his establishment and assured us that his place was the best on the Camino and that we should have dinner at his restaurant because it is the best on the Camino! Because he said so!  He was quite a character, and he wasn´t wrong about the food.  It was wonderfully prepared, and a wider range of dishes than pilgrims are usually offered.

The next day we only made it as far as Ages, when we saw Yoga room advertised as a part of a hostel.  The owner, Ana Maria, was so kind and welcoming.  She prepared all of the food herself and had created a welcoming, sacred space.  Each room had three or less bunks and a private bath (unheard of!).  I taught a yoga class to eight fellow pilgrims in the Yoga room.  It felt like a strange mixing of my Camino life and my life back home, it was an honor to offer a practice for my friends.  Ana Maria said that she had built this place for people like me.  Her warm hugs made such a difference this far into our tiring journey.

Burgos, the wonderful wizard of Burg-oz!  After so many small towns, everyone had a long list of things to do in a big city.  You would hear pilgrims say "Everything will be better once we get what we need in Burgos.¨ I was afraid that the city could not live up to all of our expectations for it.  Entry into Burgos was a long brutal city walk. I would never consider walking across a whole city in the states, it would be miserable.  The same is true here.  We stand out a bit with our dusty clothes and big backpacks, desperately trying to follow the yellow arrows painted as markers through the city.  Once in the historic district, all of our Burgos dreams came true.  We checked into our hotel (our weekly treat to ourselves) and went exploring the city.  The Catedral is an overwhelming Gothic structure.  There is no way to see all of it at once from any street view.  It was stunning, and that was from the outside... OK, times up, we`ll tell you more about Burgos and where we are now soon.  Thanks for reading and for your patience.  Blogging has been more difficult than we thought.  We appreciate your prayers.