Beauty vs. Pain

Logroña

The shells keep us on track. 

Navarette is in sight!

Some of the bobsled team. 

Inside the cathedral of Navarette. This picture isn't close to doing its beauty justice!

90 beds in 1 room

Hola amigos! It's Katie here. So the el Camino is the most beautiful thing I've ever done.  Beauty in every sense of the word. Walking through the rolling hills of Spain. The terrain is green with dashes of red poppies and yellow flowers broken up by beautiful  citadel towns. All of that is just the mere backdrop to the story. I know I've gone on and on about the people. But they are the el Camino experience. Everyone left home because they are searching for something: God, direction, adventure, challenge, love, etc. Everyone has their own story to tell. At the moment my blister count is at the all time high of 6, my shoulders hurt from my pack and the back of my legs and ears are sunburnt. This added, does not come close to the amount of pain I have in my knees. I have never had knee pain. It is horrible. For the last 4 days my knees have hurt going downhill. It's like little lightning bolts of white hot pain. It has made my cry nearly every time I come to a decline. I've been advised to do so many things, rest, ice, push through the pain, meds & creams. I chose to push through the pain, grin, & bear it. Well yesterday I broke. I talked to Bea and basically decided if this isn't fun, if I'm crying, what's the point? I'm not doing this to experience religious suffering. I'm doing this for adventure, not tears. So yesterday after 8k, I broke down and got a taxi. I got to Lagroña, Hobbled around town, bought beer for the Camino bobsled team/my knee, claimed my bed at the hostel, and planted myself in the terrace with a liter of beer and two ice packs.  I iced my knees and actually felt a lot better. In the process, I met so many more wonderful pilgrims. A retired Irishman walking with his grandson. He actually started with his granddaughter as well, but after 3 days she went home. He said she wasn't mentally prepared for the journey. He also let my borrow his electric shock pen. He has TWO artificial hips. He uses this pen to sooth his joints. I think it works. He was at the hostel the same time I was and he walked the whole way! I met an English guy who just got his chainsaw certification because he doesn't think he passed his second year of university. So he's going to cut up some stuff as a backup. I met an Irish guy living in Canada. I met a Canadian Lutheran Pastor. Then my bobsled team arrived! They said the last 12k was very challenging. It was hot and all downhill. After they showered they came down and we all hung out drinking beer on the terrace. It was great. Then we napped as all of the beer made us sleepy. Afterwards the boys went to church and Bea and I met up with Luke, a Dutch boy, and two German girls he had been walking with. 

He had a flyer for a pizza restaurant. 6 empanadas, 3 salads, 2 large pizzas, and 6 drinks. Luke is a growing Dutch boy, he eats for 2 easily. Even with that we still couldn't finish all the food. It was a trilingual dinner. Luke speaks German, Dutch, and English. So he speaks German with the girls, Dutch with Bea, and English with me. It would usually come back to English which everyone spoke. It was great. Bea and I had to hurry home to make our 10 o'clock  curfew. 

The next day I accidentally woke up at 5:15am. My phone died and people started getting ready so I joined them. (I was in a different room than my friends since I got their early). I went to the bathroom and realized the time, but decided to get ready anyway. The night before, I wasn't sure if I would walk or not. At last I decided I would give it a go.  I woke up the others at 6 and we were out the door by 7:20. We stopped for breakfast at a cafe. 2€50 for a croissant, freshly squeezed oj, and a cafe con leche. Two American sisters from Seattle joined us for the day. I loved them. We are on day 8 and they are on day 10 I think. They said they are not very sporty girls and they want to do what is fun. If they get tired, they stop. They will get to Santiago in their own time.  I made it 13k before surrendering. Less than 1k out of the Navarette, the pain in my knee moved to the side and up my thigh. I made it to the town and we stopped at a panaderia to gather ourselves, chocolate croissant in hand. I decided that I didn't want to injure myself further, I would take a taxi, and meet the bobsled team in Najera. I went to a cafe to see if there was a bus. They pointed me down the road. I found the bus stop and a woman from Tennessee. She had a really bad blister and was looking for a way to the next town. The bus did not go to the town we needed, so we went back to the cafe to ask if they could call a taxi for us. I took out the taxi business card I got as I entered the city. They looked at it and mimed a phone. Through mime I explained our phones don't work in Spain. A woman holding a cellphone directed me to a pay phone.  I was shocked. Usually everyone is so kind to pilgrims. It would cost them nearly nothing to call for us. Well Mary and I kept walking. We couldn't use the payphone as we no speaka epanish. We stopped in another bakery and mimed to the baker, she happily called for us and wished us a buen Camino. Mary was a curious lady. She sent her bag ahead to  the hotel she had reserved. She is walking about 8k a day and then taking a bus/taxi to the destination. She also put lipgloss on. The closest thing i have to lipgloss here is the vaseline i use to soothe my blistery feet. She was very lovely and chatty however and we were glad to have each other to split the €25 taxi fare. 

I am currently laying in my albergue bed trying to rest my leg. This albergue is less nice than last night. There isn't a terrace to drink in and it is just a wee bit outside of the centro of town. But it is a donation albergue. You give what you can. All the workers are volunteers. I checked in and begged for a bottom bunk due to my knee. An Italian man named Mario showed me to my bed out of the 90 in the room. He is so nice, he worked for GE and various other American companies and ended up living in America for a while. I hope the bobsled team is tackling the last 17k safely and hope that I can join them for the whole stretch tomorrow. 

The first week in pictures

A week gone by.

Hi everyone this is Bea. It has been a week since we started in St Jean and I can't believe we are almost a quarter of the way in! The Camino is no doubt hard. In one week we have suffered many hardships. We climbed up hill in the pouring rain and the freezing cold through the pyrenees. We trudged through mucky muddy streams and waded through rivers. We sweated in the hot hot Spanish afternoon sun. We got eaten alive by mosquitoes in the forests. Not to mention the toil that seven days walking takes on your body. Muscle pain, shooting pain, headaches, blisters, callices, sunburn, insect bites, you name it we ve had it all in on week.  Every day there seems to be a new struggle. On Saturday all I wanted was for it to stop raining. On Monday all I wanted was some shade from the glaring sun. Today I got the shade but wanted there to be no insects. You always want what you don't have.

Reading all this you are probably wondering why are we putting up with all this? Why don't we just hop on the next train to the South of Spain and spend the next few weeks sunbathing and drinking cocktails on a hot beach.

The truth is I've enjoyed most of the week so far immensely. I can't say I ' ve enjoyed every secobd as that would be a lie. Who likes staying up all night due to the snoring of fellow pilgrims or getting ridiculous tan lines? I've enjoyed about 80% immensely. There are two things that make all the toils worth it to me. The first is the sights and the second is the people.
By walking though Spain you really see how beautiful the country is. The rolling countryside, the wheatfields, the mountains and the wild flowers provide spectaculaur views eery time you can afford to take your eyes off of your feet. Not to mention the beautiful architecture of the towns and villages we pass through. Everywhere you look looks like a postcard.

Secondly the people you meet in the hostels and along the way are some of the nicest people I have ever met. Everyone has their own story to tell and this is what makes the 23 kilometres or so everyday interesting to walk.

Along the way you get to kbkw familiar faces and although you are walkibg rhe Camino at your own pace you run into the same people at each hostel. Every evening is spent differently, chatting to new people, discovering the town, or eating the pilgrims meal.

Two people worth a mention are Zach and Adam. For the last five days or so we have been walking the way with them. Already I feel like I have known them a long time. Thy are tge exact opposite of each other and form a perfect balance. Zach is like the donkey in Shrek. He always has a joke, song, story or movie quote and is full of energy. He is training to be a priest and is an eternal optimist. Adam is very rational and full of facts. He is pragmatic and is able to put a good spin on any bad situation. He is very cobscientious of his actions and is constantly looking after others.

Congratulations if you have managed to read this far. I will finish by saying that although the Camino is difficult it is worth every step.

Day 4: el sol!

Hi friends and family! It's Katie. Bea loves 3rd person writing, but it's just a bit awk for me. Ok, so yesterday was incredible! As seen from the pictures posted yesterday. Not only did we not have rain, but we saw the sun!!! We started the day a bit late and enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at a cafe. The coffee here keeps getting better with every step closer to Santiago. We finally left the city around 9, which is an hour and a half later than we usually leave. We had a shorter trek today, yet it ended up taking a very long time. The seven of us left together, but about 5k in, we lost Sara and Justin, an American couple. Sara pulled a tendon in her leg and needed to go very slowly. The Camino Bobsled team continued quietly through fields of yellow immortels, red poppies, and green wheat. Everyone is dealing with their own aches and pains. Bea has knee pain and my feet are just covered in blisters from my heels to in between my big toe. This path was very rocky so it was not easy on our feet. Even though everyone goes at their own pace, we pass and repass 

different groups multiple times. We've all grown to know each other. There is a couple traveling together from Oklahoma/Arizona. We passed them yesterday as the woman was rubbing her feet, we asked if she was alright, she said that once she starts up again she has decided to love the pebbles from now on. There are 2 guys from Canada traveling with one of the guy's 10 year old son. As we started climbing a very big hill, the one that leads up to the copper figures overlooking the vista, the 10 year old bolted past me on my struggly way up, overflowing with energy. There are other people that we have met from sharing a hostel bunk or a meal. It really becomes a Camino family out here. It really renews my faith in humanity, which is one of the reasons I wanted to do this. Today was a bit brisk in temperature, dry, and windy. We ate a quick lunch by a fountain we found which a Spanish pilgrim to us was the Devil's Fountain. 

The view from the top of the hill was incredible. The descent however was challenging. The surface was made of big pebbles. It was hard to get your footing. Bea was as to conquer it quickly. I had a hard time. The rocks kept hitting my blisters and it hurt so bad. Through all this I think I started walking weirdly to prevent the blisters from being hit. That's when my knee started to hurt, just a little bit. I hardly thought anything of it. We all met up at the bottom. We slowly made our way to our destination with many stops in between. We found a lovely hostel for 5euro. I washed all my clothes because it was finally necessary. I rested my feet and then we headed out to dinner. Dinner was amazing. 3 courses, wine, and water for 10euro. The food was great and the company was even better! After that I hung up the laundry to dry, we spent a bit of time on the Internet, and then headed to bed. 

We saw the sun!!!

Breakfast!

On the road again. 

Fields of flowers!

Day 4 and still friends!

Where the wind crosses the stars. 

Downhill is hard on knees and blisters. 

Puente de la reine. 

Three days in!

Crossing a stream

Then the bridge was flooded, so we had to take our shoes off to wade through. 

We made friends!

Almost at Pamplona!

Camino bobsled team!

They say the third day is the hardest. This is according to the Australian boy we met who had already been walking for 30 days. Your muscles are sore, you have so many blisters and you walk slower than you thought was humanly possible. This was definitely true for Katie and I. Everyone however seems to have a different sore spot which annoys them the most. For Bea it's her left knee, her shoulders and her lower back. For Katie it's mostly the blisters on her feet. 

Yesterday can mainly be described as 

trudging through rivers. It rained all day. After we were shooed out of the hostel at 7:30 in the morning we were not looking forward to the walk ahead. It was windy and miserable. In such  weather it was hard to remember why we were doing the Camino at all. 

Luckily a bakery saved us, and after a hot coffee and the most delicious croissant / pain au chocolat ever, we felt more motivated to continue. We trudged on that second day and soon our spirits rose. Despite the rain and the storm, there were many fellow pilgrims battling the weather and heading to zibiri. It was nice as you often come across the same people. 

Along the way the track suddenly turned into a rushing river. Many pilgrims were gathered around wondering how to cross. In the end people started taking their shoes off, rolling up their trousers and wading across with socks and shoes in their hands. The water was freezing and the current was strong but weave bit across with our feet relatively dry. 

We needn't have bothered with all the effort as for the next six hours we trudged through the mud and streams, needless to say, at the end of the day we were completely soaked. 

Along the way we met two American boys who were walking to Santiago too. They were about our age and we had a lot to talk about,. Later on a Dutch boy joined our group. We then named ourselves the Camino bobsleigh team. 

After the days walk we finally reached zibiri. We found the cheapest hostel their for 8 euro. It wa the most basic hostel we  had stayed in so far.  A room full of about 20 bunk beds and cold showers. Everyone hung their clothes up to dry so soon the room smelled like damp and sweat. 

The evening was spent drinking beer in a bar, and eating the pilgrim s meal with our new group. We went to bed hoping our clothes would be dry in the morning. 

Day three started off as wet clothes day. Every thing we had been wearing the day before was still soaked. Nevertheless we starred the long walk to Pamplona. 

Amazingly it had stopped raining and it was perfect walking weather. Not too hot or too cold and a nice breeze. We could really appreciate the beautiful scenery around us as we didn't need to watch our footing along the way. The walk was quite enjoyable but since it was day three many of our group were complaining about various sore spots. 

Along he way an American couple joined the bobsleigh team. We were now seven.  With the new people to tallk to and the beautiful scenery the walk passed quickly. 

We went through many town. In one of them we stopped for breakfast which we bought at a supermarket which was basically someone s sitting room. The owner was very nice though and eager to speak English. 

We got to Pamplona at about 3;30. The city is beautiful and it's old city walls are still intact. There were people everywhere and it was bustling with life. A strike was going on as the people of the basque land wanted to be separated from mainland Spain. 

The hostel we are staying in us another renovated monastery. It is beautiful and only cost 7 euro. We slept in a room with such a beautiful ceiling it could have been a church. The showers were hot and we got a chance to dry all our clothes. It was also right in the city centre.

When we had all recovered we went out to explore. The city was so beautiful and the architecture was amazing. The houses were all painted different colours. We got a three course delicious meal in a bar for only fifteen euro. Bea finally got something other than pasta with red sauce for dinner. 

Then the Camino bobsleigh team split up to do their own thing. Some went to mass intrigue cathedral, others looked for backpack covers, towels or blister patches to busy. At 9 o clock we reunite and had a couple of drinks in a bar. We got back before the curfew of 11 o clock. 

This morning Katie and I are sitting in the beautiful hostel waiting on the bobsleigh team to be ready. Although our muscles are sore we feel rejuvenated by the city of Pamplona and are encouraged and excited to see what else lies along the way. Today we will walk 20 kilometers to the place where all the pilgrim tracks meet.  But let's get breakfast of hot croissants first.