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"When you Fall When you break When you feel you can't go on Keep your head Don't forget It's the pain that makes us real..." I sang these lyrics over and over again and again in my head while walking whenever I felt like I wanted to quit because of the pain that I was experiencing. The Camino is no joke. It honestly is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I think that I should stop calling it a "walk" and start calling it what it really is, which is a long term "hike."
When FaceTiming my younger sister one night she asked me, "what the heck are you doing right now?" because she could see that I was doing something with my knee. I told her that I was icing my knees and ankles because they were really hurting me. Her response was, "Oh, yeah... I forgot that walking is such a hard thing to do..." in a very sarcastic tone. Her and I joke often and give one another a hard time, in a loving way of course. But it was at that moment that I
realized I had presented the Camino to my family as, "Oh yeah, I'm just going to walk and take a stroll across Spain." Stroll the Camino is not.
I have met many people along the Camino who have had to quit prematurely due to injury. Many people try to push themselves really hard in order to finish the Camino in a certain amount of time. I knew this beforehand and that is why I gave myself six weeks to walk the Camino Frances instead of the four weeks that most guidebooks use as a time frame. I did not want to be one of the people who would have to quit due to an injury that could have been prevented.
Even with being extra cautious and trying my best to listen to my body, I still did encounter many aches and pains. You have to realize that you are asking a lot of your body to continually move all day long... Being someone with weak joints to begin with, I realized quickly that I was asking my body to do more than I ever had. I tried my hardest not to complain about my aches and pains but
made sure to include them in my journal so that I could remember that the Camino was not just a "stroll in the park" for me. Although, for some people who are very fit, I suppose it could be an easy thing for them.
Either way, you learn quickly on the Camino that you have to listen to your body and take rests when needed...
April 18: Burgos to Hornillos Leaving Burgos was rough because I had fallen in love with the city. I was afraid to leave for fear of possibly never seeing it again. Oh the love affairs that occur with foreign cities... yes I said with, not in. I have this tendency to fall in love with places and I am positive that I am not the only one. It is an amazing but scary feeling. I know that I will return to Burgos, I just feel it.
Journal Entry-------------------- Wednesday April 18th, 2012 Sara and I left our comfy hotel room some time after 0800 and ventured out into the streets of Burgos one last time. Todays walk was about 21km and it was windy almost the whole time. Lucky for us though, it only sprinkled rain for about 20 minutes.
We made really good time today and arrived in Hornillos at 1400. When we got to the municipal albergue we were so confused. A bunch of people were waiting around in the kitchen area and no one spoke English, or Swedish for that matter. After uncomfortably waiting for 25 minutes a woman finally entered and chaos ensued. People evidently already had beds but we did not. After finally figuring out what the hell was going on we got checked in and went to our room with 12 other people in it. I am a little grossed out because their is mold all over the windows and the bed are kind of gross. I hope I don't get bed bugs.... --------------------end of journal entry This day was quite funny. I will always remember the look on Sara's face while we were sitting in the kitchen at the albergue in Hornillos trying to figure out what the heck was going on. I live for these awkward moments while traveling... I am sure that everyone in the room could read the look of utter confusion
on our faces. We discussed leaving but decided to wait it out. While the albergue was nothing great, I am glad that we waited it out if not just for the memory of our 25 minutes of pure confusion...
April 19: Hornillos to Castrojeriz Oh the snoring you will encounter on the Camino. Ear plugs are an absolute must! Even with ear plugs, if you are a light sleeper you may have trouble sleeping some nights. I have never felt so lucky to have a husband who does not snore. I have learned through walking the Camino that I cannot sleep when annoyed, and snoring makes me feel very very very annoyed. With this being said, I must admit, that I also snore a little bit... but NOTHING like some of snorers that I have heard.
The night before this day is one to go in the books. I later found out from Elliott and Catherine, who stayed in the same room with us, that Elliott actually got up in the middle of the night and grabbed the guys foot who was sleeping below me because he was snoring so loudly. After that, Elliott went
down to the kitchen and slept ontop of the kitchen table. He told us later that he was not alone, that another woman woken up by the crazy snoring competition going on in our room had also snuck down to the kitchen and slept by the fire.
The Camino is full of snoring stories. I do however feel bad for those that do snore loudly and know that they do. I am sure this causes them some discomfort knowing that they may be responsible for keeping fellow pilgrims from a good nights rest.
Journal Entry-------------------- Thursday April 19th, 2012 Last night I did not sleep hardly at all. There were two really bad snorers in the room. One was right next to me and the other right below me. Sara and I left the albergue and headed out into the cold. Todays walk was another very windy one. The meseta is so bare and the wind rips right across the naked land. We stopped halfway for a coffee. I love the coffee here because it is only half coffee and half hot milk... delicious!! We arrived in Castrojeriz at a good hour, around 1400 and checked into our freezing cold albergue. Sara and I walked back and forth up and down the main street in town. It was a ghost town until after 1800.
We went to a nice bar for a drink- Piña for me of course, and then returned later on to the same bar for dinner. We had a nice meal with Elliott and Catherine from California. We have been running into them for the past couple of days and I really like them. My ankle is really hurting today and my knuckles are still swollen with lots of painful bumps on them. All of my joints are swelling and going crazy! --------------------end of journal entry Mmmmmm coffee. I must admit that before walking the Camino if asked I would have said that I do not like coffee. This is simply not true though. I have since edited my response to, I do not like American coffee. I however am in love with the coffee con leche in Spain. I had forgotten how wonderful it was when I was in Spain for four months about five years ago.
April 20: Castrojeriz to Frómista What
a beautiful day. The weather during my Camino was all over the map. One second it would be raining and the next the skies would clear up and present the most spectacular blue sky you have ever seen. This day started out awful because I was having a really hard time walking. As soon as the sky cleared, I forgot about the pain. The views are unbelievable. My camera could not capture the scene the way I saw it! I took so many pictures during this one stretch where the sky looked like it went on forever and the clouds were so fluffy!
Journal Entry--------------------
Friday April 20th, 2012 Oh the pain!!! Walking out of the albergue this morning was rough. My ankle felt like someone was stabbing it with every single step. I almost started to cry because I really thought that I would not be able to walk today. I went on despite the pain. It was another windy and cold day, but the views today were so beautiful! The sun started to shine and the clouds were gorgeously huge and fluffy. I walked over 25km today! Which is great, but now my ankle is bigger than before.
Sara, Niko (a nice man from the Netherlands), and I went out to dinner to eat the pilgrims menu, again. I am getting so sick of eating the same food. I almost would rather not eat anything at all. I stopped outside of the restaurant to use the wifi to FaceTime with Lee. I miss him ALOT! On the way back to the albergue I thought I could just die. My ankle is in so muck pain. I really do not know if I will be able to even walk tomorrow. I hope that I will because if not I will be so sad and extremely bored... oh and probably cold! --------------------end of journal entry Sometimes it is hard to listen to your body. This day I knew that I shouldn't be walking with my knees and ankles in such bad shape. I took a bunch of ibuprofen and crossed my fingers. I had grown accostumed to taking two 600mg ibuprofens first thing in the morning... sounds awful but my body has gotten so used to ibuprofen over the years that I need to take larger doses for it to work. It's a
good thing that it is so cheap in Spain because I went through many packages of it. I don't know what I would have done without it!
The horrible thing that kept entering my mind at this point was, "what if I continue to hurt myself and am not able to finish?" I was so determined to keep going and not waste anymore time. It's not that I didn't have the time to take an extra rest day or two, it's that I just didn't want to. Sometimes there isn't much to do in the little towns that you stop in and I couldn't stand the thought of being bored...
This day was my last straw with pilgrim menus. Don't get me wrong, pilgrim menus are awesome. They are such a great deal usually costing around €10 for a four course meal. The food is usually pretty good too. I loved having the pilgrim menu when it was the hosts of the albergues cooking the meal becuase they tended to be tastier and were much more diverse. The choices that you get at the restaurants that offer pilgrim or menu del dias started to feel repetitive after a
while.
I do not mean to complain because I think it is awesome that they try to make the Camino affordable for people, but after a while you just want to go to the grocery store and make your own food sometimes. The problem with this is that many times the kitchens, if there even is one, in the albergues are often very crowded as they are normally quite small. On the flip side this usually sets up a situation in which you could get invited to join someone else who is cooking... Which is a wonderful opportunity to meet new people.
Day 21: Frómista to Carrión Journal Entry-------------------- Saturday April 21st, 2012 Today I was in pain from my ankle hurting and so I walked very very very slow. As usual it was windy but not as windy as I know that it can be. It's so odd how it can rain for twenty minutes and then stop all of a sudden and be sunny and bright with brilliant views. Sara and I stumbled into Carrión and decided to stay in the albergue that is a convent. We walked around the streets for a bit looking at all of the vendors that were selling goodies. We bought a chocolate cake and brownie and ate them as dessert. Tonight I am going to try to go to bed early before everyone else in the room because we have a guy that snores really loud staying in our room.
The sides of my thighs look horrible covered in a symmetrical rash. I have noticed that the rash is growing. I have large welts and huge rings around some of them. I really hope that it doesn't get infected. Tomorrow I will go to the farmacia if they are open... --------------------end of journal entry Upon arrival in Carrión we noticed that the streets were filled with people and tents. Under each tent were different kinds of goodies! There were also lots of big tractors parked outside of a little park. It was a special day for celebration, although we weren't sure what they were celebrating.
We checked into the convent and went back out into the streets to wander around. After leaving the convent we realized there was a donkey tied up right outside of the entrance. He had bags
tied to his sides so we assumed that someone was walking the Camino with him. We later met the man who was his owner. He was an older gentleman from Austria who had a donkey at home and wanted to bring him on the Camino for companionship and to carry his belongings. It would cost too much money to have him shipped to Spain so the man came to Spain and bought a donkey here to take with him. He told us that once he arrives in Santiago he will sell the donkey to whoever wants him for €1!!
It was really nice to walk around the streets and look at what was being sold. I wanted to buy so many things but on the Camino it just isn't realistic to shop because then you have to carry so much more weight! It's funny how you start to calculate how much every little thing weighs...
The chocolate goodies that we bought this night I will remember for the rest of my life! They were the most delicious chocolate cake/brownies that I have ever had! I scarfed them down!
At this point on the Camino I started to
be able to recognize and identify people who snore. This might sound bad, but as soon as I would recognize someone who I knew snored, I would try to sleep in a bed as far away from them as possible. This night, I actually forced myself to go to sleep very early while people were still out roaming the streets so that I would be sound asleep by the time anyone could have the chance to start snoring... It actually worked!
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Noni
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I love reading your blog.