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Published: October 10th 2009
Hi Everyone!
A bit soon to blog again, but I am now in a small town called Hospital de Orbigo....one stop before Astorga. I will be here for 2 days because of a bad infection in my foot....let me start at the beginning, or again, where I left you last time...in Atapuerca...
The next morning, we went back to that same restaurant and had the same big-bellied, smoking, very slow guy serving us...took about a half hour to get a coffee and a chocolate croissant - that has become my breakfast as often as I can get it! And then there´s always the Ibuprofen for dessert. Anway, I started off alone that day and walked for a while on my own, singing as usual. There were actually a lot of people on the road that day, so as I passed people, or they passed me, it was always with a smile and a Buen Camino, altho people are now getting tired. I met up with a nice couple of women, Sandra from Australia and her Finnish friend (not sure of the name). Anyway, we walked together and chatted for a bit. Then I stopped for something to eat and they went ahead.
As we started getting closer to Burgos, it was getting hotter and hotter and uglier and uglier. We had to walk thru the industrial section of the city to get into it. Burgos is quite a large city and you have to walk about 8 or 9km just to get to the city center which houses a famous cathedral and 2 or 3 Albergues. At a certain point just as we passed the industrial section, we came to some suburbs but we had to walk beside the busy highway and it was quite a shock, coming from days in the quiet of the country to this busy, hot highway that had big trucks, cars going quite fast...just too much. So Benita, Rebecca, Luna and I decided to take the bus into the city center. The bus was wonderful! It was only .85E and brought us almost right to the cathedral. We went to one of the Albergues which was actually a hospital for peregrinos. The 3 other girls decided to stay there, but it just didn´t feel right to me, so I decided that I would visit the cathedral and then walk on to the next town.
I went to the cathedral and it turns out that if you want to walk thru it, you have to pay!! There was no way I was going to do that, so I just kind of skirted around the areas that you didn´t have to pay and then started moving on.
Right outside the cathedral, I ran into Bente and Emanuel who were on their way out of the city so I started to walk with them. On the way out, we saw a fountain and decided to fill up our water bottles and bladders. I put my walking sticks down...(btw, Suzie, I´ve wanted to let you know for a long time now how VERY GRATEFUL I am for those walking sticks!! I must thank you 3 - 5 times a day for them. They are wonderful!! and have saved me from falling a few times. They help me going up hill as well as down and they help me to push myself on the last 3 or 4 kms of the day...just to get to the next albergue! so THANK YOU!!) ...I put my walking sticks down and forgot to pick them up again when we went on. Well I had gone about half a kilometer when I realized that I had left them...OMG, I panicked and almost ran all the way back to get them! Someone had taken them and pulled one of them apart (they are the kind that slide into one another with 3 poles in one) and threw them down on the ground about a block away from where I had left them. The one that was apart was broken!! I almost cried...I really rely on them to get me thru so much...even just standing around, they support me as I lean on them. I tried to put it back together but couldn´t. I decided that I would take it and try to fix it at the next albergue.
I finally caught up to Bente after about 1 hour because they had gone ahead. I was very glad to see her as it was getting harder to find the way out of the city as the arrows weren´t marked very well anymore. We finally found the way along a canal. We stopped and had a snack, aired our feet and then went on. As we were getting out of the city, I noticed this little, pink Ermita that had an angel on either side of the door. It looked so sweet. I went up to the door and they had iron bars locked, but the wooden door was open, so you couldn´t go in, but you could see in. It was so special inside...an amazing energy in there. I´m finding that the more special places are the smaller or more simple places. Now, I would have paid to go in there!
as we walked along, I took the one working walking stick out and started using it as a staff. Thank God I did! Just as I came to a corner, a small dog, came out of nowhere and attacked me, barking his head off!! I used the stick to fend him off and started yelling at him so he backed off. His owner came around the corner and didn´t even say anything! I was so startled that I just kept walking, but now I kind of wish that I had given the dog a good whack with the stick! haha! It´s all about the love! ha ha ha
We had planned on stopping at the next town, Villabilla, where the guide book showed that there was an Albergue. It was about another 8kms. It was hard walking on a gravel road with nothing to see. When we got there, it turns out that all there was was a park and a sign...but absolutely NO sign of a town, let alone an Albergue! So we had to walk on...and on...and on...omg. We walked and walked and walked. Along highways, thru hayfields, over highway bridges. We would see a town in the distance, but the road always turned and led us away from it! We were getting sooo tired and I was having a problem with both of my big toes...the nails were starting to hurt. Altho, walking with Bente was quite funny. We would walk in silence for a while, then I would say something or make a comment about something and she would say "Yes...that´s right." and then it would be silence again...then all of a sudden she would say something that was hilariously funny and we would laugh and then silence again.
We finally started seeing some signs for an Albergue ahead - 3kms!! Yay!!! We ended up coming up to what we thought the town where the Albergue was but it wasn´t!!! OMG...we were sooo tired and hot, but thank god I had Bente there with me walking, otherwise I think I would have given up. We stopped in this town at a bar where there were a whole lot of men playing some sort of cards tournament. We took off our boots and replaced them with our sandals as both of us were really hurting.
all the old men were looking at us, saying something in Spanish and laughing at us! haha! We had a juice and then walked on. It turned out that the town we were going to, Rabie de las Calzadas, was only 1.5kms away so that was a huge relief. It also turned out that the Albergue we decided to stay in was wonderful!! Newly renovated, spotlessly clean, had wonderful showers, had a washer and dryer to do laundry, had a wonderful dinner AND she put us in a room by ourselves which was an incredible treat for us!! It was like being in heaven! We had walked over 30Kms that day! That night, before dinner, I took a look at my big toes and it was not good...ugh! One of them was seeping and oozing pus and a bit of blood. So I cleaned them up as much as possible and put bandages on them. I also went outside for a bit and found John, from Ireland, staying at the Albergue across from us. He told me that it was a terrible place and that the hospitelero was a crazy nazi lady who made them put everyting in bags to avoid bedbugs! ha ha!! Before I went to ed, I tried putting the broken walking stick together again and I finally did it!! Thank God!
Next morning, I could not put on my boots my toes were hurting so much. So I started walking in my sandals - my crocs...the ones you gave me, Lorrie!. It turns out that today was the start of the Meseta...so I started walking across the Meseta with my crocs. This idea came from Benita a few days before. She had started walking in her crocs a few days before cuz her blisters were so bad and she loved walking in them. But hers were the original kind where as mine are the summer kind that are much thinner on the sole. As I walked, I noticed that the balls of my feet were getting hot, so I put on an extra pair of socks to save from blisters. The start of the Meseta was beautiful! It was pretty flat and the roads we were walking on were gravel roads, with lots of big rocks on them so a bit difficult, especially with sandals. Anway, it was a very hot, sunny day with no shade anywhere and no place to stop and get a cafe con lettche. Ugh! I started out walking with John and Bente. After a while, John went ahead and Bente lagged behind. I was by myself with my own thoughts trying to surrender to the pain...I couldn´t. Then I had to pee, so I walked along hoping that something would come along that I could pee behind...the meseta is very flat and you can see a loooong way! I finally came to a corner that had some trees on it that I could hide behind so that if John, who was ahead of me, turned around, he wouldn´t be able to see me pee. So I run over there, take off my back pack (I´ve learned THAT lesson!) and started undoing my pants. When I turned around there were about 30 or 40 people coming up behind me!! So I quickly do up my pants, grab my pack and start walking again, almost peeing in my pants! Luckily, there was a large haystack just across the road so I could quickly duck in there and pee just in the nick of time. The group started going by me just as I came out around from the haystack!
These people were so loud! They were all talking at once and they kept coming! More and more of them! All I wanted was silence and my own thoughts,so I tried to hurry to get in front of them but quickly gave up, stopped and let them all get ahead of me. I had stopped on a little slab of concrete and watched as they walked past me in little groups of 2,3, 4 or 6. As the last of them went by, I turned around to follow them and they had all stopped for a break about 10 minutes up the road! So I had to walk thru them again...omg, they were so obnoxious!
So I walked as quickly as I could to get ahead of them. I managed to stay ahead of them until we finally got to a town that I had planned on staying at, but the Albergue there was above a bar and EVERYONE in Spain smokes so they still allow smoking inside the bars. Needless to say, I walked in and walked out again cuz I couldn´t breathe! ..another 30km day with my sandals on! The group of obnoxious French caught up to us so we booted it out of there!
The town that we ended up at that day was called Castrojeriz. A strange and creepy little town that was very narrow, but very long. We all got there at different times so ended up staying at different Albergues. The one I was at , Casa Nostra (take note of the name cuz it will come back up), was filthy but had lots of beds available so I picked one on the 2nd floor in a room where there was noone else. It was kind of gross, but I couldn´t take another step to try to find someplace else. So I showered, washed my clothes by hand and discovered that I had 2 huge blisters on the balls of my feet! They were soooo sore!!
I went down to get on the internet and it was so slow, that I could barely read my email. Just as I was about to give up, I heard Bente´s voice behind me saying "Is that Jackie?". I was so glad to see her! She told me that the place she was staying in was just a metal barn that had bunkbeds in it and that it was terrible too.
The two of us decided to go (or should I say limp!) to the farmacia to get something cuz she had all kinds of new blisters from walking with her sandals too. So we got some Compeed and and bandages and went up to a plaza and sat on a low fountain wall to tend to our feet. In the middle of doing this, a bunch of people started coming out of a building behind us. We didn´t really take any notice until this woman with no teeth and funny looking hair came up to us and started speaking to us in Spanish...then we realized that we were completely surrounded by about 30 mentally challenged people! This woman kept touching Bente and telling her something and then laughing her head off! All the nurses that were supposed to be taking care of these people were standing by the door smokingand talking to each other without even looking at their patients! We decided it was time for Vino Tinto! My favourite pain killer!
After a couple of glasses of wine, we found a very nice restaurant to eat at where I had my first paella. It was delicious! After dinner we tried to find our way back to my albergue and ended up getting lost, but founf John´s albergue which was really nice...if only I had gone few more blocks! We finally made it back after talking to John and a couple of others and I went to bed. I was the only person in my section, so I decided to sleep with the light on to try to avoid bedbugs...I had a feeling that there may be some there.
I could hardly sleep cuz I kept getting creeped out as I lay there...I just wanted to get out of this weird little town. As I lay in the bed, I noticed a little bug crawling across the wall and figured that it must be a bedbug (I´ve never seen them so don´t really know what they look like). This is one of the biggest fears on teh Camino for me...ugh! Bedbugs! So I killed this little guy and just lay there, waiting for the morning so I could get out of there!
Next morning, I was ready to go by 6:30am, 8am is my normal starting time. I started limping down the road, wearing my boots again and about 2 blocks in, one of the large blisters under my left foot burst...It was so painful, it felt like someone was stabbing my foot everytime I stepped down.! I could also feel all the pus between my toes and under my foot, but there was NO WAY I was staying in this weird little town!!
Of course, to get out of the town, we had to climb a very steep hill to get back on top of the Meseta...another, long, hot day of walking, each step, more painful then the last! As I was resting at the top of the hill, John came along and we walked together for a bit, chatting. It turns out that the more you walk on blisters, the easier it gets...I think the body becomes numb because it´s so painful.
In the middle of nowhere, there was a guy who was selling coffee and fruit out of a truck so we stopped and had a bite to eat. Bente caught up to us there and her and I started walking together again. And again, a hot afternoon with no shade whatsoever! We were crossing a bridge and on the edge of it there were a bunch of business cards for an Albergue up ahead in a town called Boadilla. On the card there were pictures of the Albergue and it looked like heaven, plus it had a pool! I told Bente that I was going to stop there for the night and she said that she would go on to the next town. As we walked towards it, all I could think about was getting there and plunging my feet that felt like I was walking on hot coals into the pool! I imagined smoke coming off my feet as they hit the cold water! I could hardly wait! As I was going along, I noticed that I was starting to swerve a bit and then felt like I was going too pass out or vomit. I realized that I was getting heat stroke. Luckily, there were a couple of trees ahead. We stopped for a few minutes to cool down and drink lots of water. The albergue wasn´t too far ahead and when we finally reached it, I threw off my pack and headed straight for the pool! When my feet hit the water, I´m pretty sure there was steam coming off of them.
En El Camino was the name of the place. It was like a little oasis in the dessert. It had lush green grass, the pool, cool sculptures in the garden. It was clean and bright and they were so accomodating! The food was amazing too. AFter me soaking my feet and then showering and handing in our laundry (yes! laundry facilities!!) we sat down to a pilgrim´s meal early, served to us by Edwardo and Hugo, two wonderful and not bad looking men. Edwardo kept asking people if they wanted black rice "the rice was white, but now it´s black" he kept saying. Finally, I asked him how the rice got from white to black. He just looked at me with a secret smile on his face and said, "Maman!".I laughed. Maman worked tirelessly in the kitchen. She was a beautiful woman with a huge and hearty smile and laugh. Always willing to do whatever it took to make you happy...along with her boys...I still dream of that place! We ate and slept like queens there and even tho it housed about 70 or 80 people, one never lacked for anything!
Anyway we went for a siesta after our meal and then got up to go have yet another meal at about 9pm. Most people were just finishing up their meal so we had to wait a bit outside the dining room. I´m standing there waiting and who walks in but the guy who saved me from the ditch back in Monjardins, with his 2 women friends!! I turned and looked at Bente and told her he was here! They didn´t really notice me so I didn´t say anything, but then we were all sat at the same table. As soon as the women saw me they recognized me! ha ha! So we all had a great little chuckle about it again. we had a nice meal and then went to bed for a great sleep! One of the few I´ve had.
THe next morning I was slow getting started so Bente went on ahead of me. I was walking very slowly and in a lot of pain. I don´t really remember that day too well. I know I walked about 20kms to a town called Villasirga. I got to the municipal Albergue in tears. Poor Manuel, the guy who was running it couldn´t figure out what was wrong at first cuz he speaks only Spanish. I felt bad but I couldn´t stop crying. AFter taking care of signing me in and stamping my credentials, he took my pack and helped me up the stairs to the room with all the bunk beds. He showed me the ropes how things worked there (it´s a bit different in every place). Then let me lay down and put my feet up. After a bit a couple of older spanish people came in. They were very helpful to me, giving me bandages and sharing the hot water. We had to put 1 euro in a box out in the hallway to get 10 minutes of hot water. It was actually quite funny how we tag teamed for the showers, even tho they spoke no english and I spoke no spanish. So after showering, I did my laundry and hung it out to dry. I went and sat on the bench that was just outside the door of the albergue. Manuel came out to sit with me. He kept asking me if I was ok, then he lent me his lap top so I could get on the internet, but again, very slow connection.
This town has a very famous church that the Knights Templar had a lot to do with. So when the church opened, I went in to take a look around and it was pretty neat inside as well as outside. If you wanted to see the 3 dimensional artwork behind the altar, you could put a euro in a box and it would turn on a light so you could see the artwork. ha ha! Then the priest came in.he was very cranky. I tried to ask him if he was saying mass and what time and he barked some answer at me something about 7pm. Then I asked him if he would do a pilgrim´s blessing and he barked NO and waved his hand at me to go away. ha ha...so I decided not to go to mass!
When I got back to the albergue, Benita, Newla and Rebecca were there! It was wonderful to see them again. The 3 young guys that I had met at tosantos were there too. we all had dinner together along with Manuel and created a plan. Manuel offered to drive me to Moratinos the next day which was 36kms away from villasirga. The other girls wanted to get there too but it was much too far so we decided that Manuel and I would take their packs with us so they could have an easier walk. It´s not necessarily the kilometers you walk, but the load you carry that gets you! The one thing that may have put a kink in the plan. Moritanos was not really an Albergue. It´s actually someone´s house. Rebekah Scott has a blog on the Camino that many people follow, Newla being one of them. She knew about them and desperately wanted to stay there. We decided that if they wouldn´t take us, that we would meet up in the Albergue in the town before.
So next day, the girls set off. I had to wait for Manuel to finish his clean up chores before he could drive me. I helped him sweep up the place and then had to sit down. I could not believe how painful and swollen my feet were! We headed off to Moritanos and....
more to come...just have to get off the internet now. I´m still a few days behind writing this, but I will continue tomorrow!
Love to everyone! Oh yes, I did 3 camera dumps on my FB so I could delete some and get some room on my camera. All the pics I´ve taken so far are on there but in no particular order and no editiing or comments. If you want to peruse them here are the links.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=322120&id=623980696&l=cfeb4c8a06
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=322140&id=623980696&l=3c9e2f52cf
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=322182&id=623980696&l=8eb459a136
xoxo
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Kathy
non-member comment
Happy Thanksgiving
Jackie, I don't know how you do it. Just reading your blog I feel your pain in your feet and want to cry. I am go glad you are meeting all these wonderful people to help you on your journey. Getting these blogs helps me not to worry so much about you being out there on your own. Love, Kathy.