/.Brianna in España.\: El Camino de Santiago

July 18, 2010
10:06 PM
Five days and 112 kilometers down. I have successfully completed El Camino de Santiago!

Contrary to what I previously wrote, I’m not sure my sins are actually erased, even though I did walk the minimum 100 km to receive a certificate of completion. I didn’t, however, specify that I walked the Camino for religious reasons, so apparently I might still be culpable for anything I’ve done… oh well… ☺

Some brief history on the Camino: the Camino is a pilgrimage to the remains of St. James (Santiago) that are purportedly buried near the western coast of Spain in Galicia. That the remains are actually St. James is obviously extremely unlikely, but according to my professor the remains are human and from the right time period (1st century AD), so that’s something at least! Pilgrims (“peregrinos”) have been making the journey since the 9th (?) century AD when the remains of St. James were “found” with the help of falling stars (the place is now called Santiago de Compostela – Campo + Estrella = country, star). Originally the pilgrimage was encouraged in order to fund the Reconquista efforts to drive the Muslims out of southern Spain and also in order to repopulate the largely barren region of northern Spain. Towns already located along the Camino thrived and grew, and many pueblos sprung into existence alongside the Camino to provide shelter, food, and protection for the peregrinos. “Albergues” were created for the peregrinos to stay in free of charge, and peregrinos were given every protection possible to make their journeys safe and comfortable. If you’re interested in finding out more, the Wikipedia article is here. I wrote all of the above from my understanding from the class I took though, so if there are discrepancies, lo siento.

Although the Camino is probably much more comfortable nowadays, the general idea is the same. Peregrinos walk along the same Camino that has been in place for a thousand years and stay in albergues that cost only 5€ a night. In order to stay in an albergue, you must provide proof of peregrino status (a pamphlet that documents every place you have been and proves that you intend to complete the Camino) and be on foot. After all peregrinos walking the camino have been accommodated, some albergues will then accept bikers and those going on horse, but peregrinos on foot always have precedence.

The albergues are actually very nice, and all the ones that we stayed in were pretty much the same. They open at 1 PM, and in order to have a spot assured you have to be there at least half an hour ahead of time, with an hour being better. Each peregrino receives a one-use pillowcase and one-use mattress cover and is assigned a bed in a room of anywhere from four to 20 or more bunkbeds. There are showers and bathrooms, and also generally shared kitchens and tables available for use. The albergues are locked at 10 PM (if you’re not inside, bad luck for you), and everyone must be gone by 8 AM the next morning. There are also private albergues where rooms can be reserved and meals are sometimes provided, but they are obviously more expensive. We stayed in private albergues two nights and public albergues the other two nights, and all were completely acceptable – plus it was really cool to meet so many other peregrinos!

Our trip was very fun and rewarding, but actually much more difficult than I had expected. Each morning we woke up around 5:30-6, ate breakfast (much too small, as usual), and were on the road by 6:30-7 AM. We would walk straight until we arrived at the next albergue, usually around 12-12:30, only stopping for bathroom breaks and to stamp our credentials – every bar/restaurant/albergue along the way provides stamps which are used to create a record of the trip. Technically they are supposed to prove that you are indeed walking the Camino and not just driving from albergue to albergue or something, but mostly they just make a really cool souvenir. There are 40 spots available for stamps on the credentials, and some people in my group managed to fill them all. I only got 28, partly because I forgot to get many the first day, and partly because sometimes you just don’t feel like stopping… Once we got into the albergue, which sometimes took up to an hour after the albergue opened because they are SO SLOW – they have to fill out everything by hand, including pretty much any number anywhere on your passport – we would shower, eat lunch, and then sleep for two or three or four hours. Get up, write in our diaries (our assignment for grammar class), eat dinner at 7:30 or 8 (early!! Yay!), and be in bed by 11-ish.

The schedule sounds very do-able, and it was, but we also covered some serious distance. I am definitely not used to walking 25 kilometers (~16 miles) a day, even if the terrain isn’t that difficult, and our pace was pretty fast the whole time. I have learned a few key lessons from this trip:
1) Running shoes are not acceptable to walk long distances!
2) Cotton socks = bad idea
3) If you are going to use running shoes and cotton socks, bring TONS AND TONS of bandaids
4) And a needle to drain all the blisters that you will get.
5) And antiseptic to clean out the pussy, bleeding sores that you will develop.

In addition to these feet issues that most of us encountered during the trip, we also got to experience the effects of the Camino on leg muscles. I have done a lot of hiking, and I have NEVER had so much pain in my legs. The main reason we only stopped for stamps and bathroom breaks, and never to eat or rest during the morning, besides the fact that we had to make the albergue in time? If we stopped for any more than five minutes, it was almost impossible to go on. One day we had to eat en route as there was nowhere close to the albergue, and those last 1.5 kilometers after lunch were the longest, most painful, kilometers of my life. It was actually really hilarious to see everyone at the albergues each afternoon, because everyone was in equal amounts of pain, hobbling around and avoiding any sort of steps or inclines. After a shower and a couple hours of sleep my legs would be back to normal, but until then, PAIN!

I found it incredibly interesting, the difference between distance and difficulty. I guess I’ve generally avoided super long hikes by backpacking in to places so I only have to go one way in a day, and I really don’t do more than eight miles in a day. The miles are hard though, and it’s always more than enough of a workout. The Camino, on the other hand, was not difficult. The path was very well maintained and the hardest parts were really only semi-steep hills. Nothing was technically hard. But the distance definitely made up for it! Apparently you get used to walking that much daily in about a week, which I could definitely see, but I never really got to that point in the five days we walked. Definitely a new experience – I never even had to breath hard on the Camino, whereas I have felt like I was about to die many times in my life climbing up mountains, but the Camino ended up being just as much of a workout as anything I’ve done in my life.

Anyway. The Camino class became really close during those five days and it was actually strange to meet up with the rest of our group at the end. Santiago de Compostela was very cool though. We stayed in a really old seminary school that is also now a hotel (but there are still priests-in-training everywhere), and went to mass this morning at the church. I think that was my first mass ever? It was very cool, although I only slept four hours the night before so I may or may not have drifted off a couple times… ☺ The incense-spreader was sweet though, it was this huge thing that needed to be operated by like four people and it swung over the heads of everyone (I was so scared it was going to kill someone). Kind of like the one at Grandpa’s funeral, only about 500 times bigger! Haha

Oh and funny story – there is this one shirt company in Spain that makes really awesome shirts, but I didn’t have time to buy one in Santiago. On our way back to León today we stopped by an albergue/pueblo about 160 km away from Santiago, and I was trying to buy a shirt from that company there. Unfortunately it’s an año de Xacobeo (the year of the saint) and so there are tons and tons of pilgrims who are apparently all buying all the smalls and mediums of the shirts that I want. The owner of the store was trying to help me find a shirt in my size and eventually ended up trying to sell me this shirt that said, translated: “I didn’t walk the Camino de Santiago, but at least I bought this shirt!” and I really think he didn’t believe me when I tried to tell him that no, I HAD actually just walked the Camino, and the shirt didn’t apply to me. I did end up with one pretty cool shirt though, that says: “El dolor es algo temporal. La gloria es para siempre. Camino de Santiago.” (“The pain is temporary, the glory is forever.”)

Well, not only am I done with the Camino, but I’m now also almost completely finished with my classes here. Our exams are on Wednesday, and those people not doing the internships leave for Madrid on Saturday. I am going to be so sad to see them go… I’m going to miss everybody! I can’t believe how fast these four weeks have gone by. On the other hand, I am also really excited to start my internship. I made the decision today to work at an archeological dig outside of León, which should definitely be an experience! It might be a tad hot, and I’m not excited that we have to wear long pants the whole time, but I’ll get the chance to meet more Spanish university students and probably improve my Spanish a lot more! Plus, one other girl from my program is going to be doing it with me, so I’ll at least know someone. And I’m hoping to get some traveling in during the weekends, maybe to Barcelona, Paris, Zurich, Italy… but we’ll see ☺

OH ONE LAST THING. I tried “pulpo” on the trip. Pulpo = octopus. I was only able to make myself eat one of the pieces that wasn’t obviously a curled up tentacle, but I did it, and it was actually pretty good. Much better than calamari, in my opinion, although others disagree with me.

Brianna