Our Last Few Days

From Finisterre on...

We left Finisterre and traveled for several hours the next day and headed to O Grove, a peninsula above Portugal with some great beaches. We stayed there 3 nights and did absolutely nothing. What a great few days! Beach bums to the max. Stay up late, sleep in late, and enjoy some great food. We walked a lot more, but we enjoyed it. Our hotel overlooked the ocean, but the closest beach was a 30 minute walk away.

But Trey and I both enjoyed body surfing so much! Except for the small detail of the water being about 45 degrees!!! Literally, it was that cold. We ate a ton of seafood while we were there too. And seafood in foreign countries is a slightly different experience than it is in the U.S. The shrimp and fish are completely whole: eyeballs, tenacles, gills, fins, etc. looking right at you and you get to spend more time preping your food than actually eating it. Pulpo is really popular as well. Octopus legs cut up and served on a wood platter in little bite size pieces with the suckers and all. What an experience.

We took a bus back to Santiago today and are taking a train to Madrid tonight at 10:30pm. We were supposed to be on the 1:45 train, got there at 1:30 and they were sold out. So we have an overnight train to Madrid and will be there at 8 in the morning. Two days in Madrid and then we´re leaving on a jet plane!!!

The End of the World

The same day I found my guitar Kelsea and took a bus to Finisterre. Finis means end much like finish and Terre means earth so the combination means the end of the earth. It is the farthest west you can go in Europe. Some consider Finisterre to be the unoffical end of the camino.

After we arrived at the lovely port city of Finisterre, Kelsea and I had dinner at a restaurant overlooking the port and its colorful fishing boats and old men repairing nets. We ordered brown crab and the waiter grabed a crab out of the tank and asked us if that one was ok. It was so much fun to watch the waiter grab the crab that I was about to eat.

After dinner Kelsea and I went back to our room. Thats right: our own room with a private bathroom! Not a dorm with fifty bunkbeds and fifteen snoring old men and five showers for everyone in the albergue. Oh the luxury!

Next we walked the last 3km to the light house at the End of the World and we couldn´t see a thing because a thick fog had rolled in off of the ocean. We could see about three feet in front of us.

There is a pilgrims´ tradition that when you get to Finisterre you burn an article of clothing. I burned my linen shorts that had two gapping holes in them. I had been wearing them all trip and they were in about the same condition since Burgos. Kelsea burned a pair of her socks. It was alot of fun. I love burning things.

The next day we headed to O Grove were we booked a room that overlooks the ocean. It is so great; however the one thing Kelsea wanted was to be by a beach...... O Grove is on the wrong side of the penensula and the beaches are about 15kms away. Tomorrow we are taking a taxi to the beach. Other than that the view from our room is fantastic and the food by the beach is wonderful. I had the best paella. All of the seafood was staring us in the face: shrimp and their beady black eyes and all.

Tonight we are going to watch the U.S.A soccer team dominate its way into the next round of the world cup. I can´t wait to see everyone and hopfully we will have pictures up on facebook soon!

:)

A Great Day

Wednesday was a bad day. Kelsea and I got breakfast and then rushed to the cathedral to get a seat for the pilgrims mass. Pilgrims mass is the mass where they announce which pilgrims got to Santiago the day before. As we are walking into the cathedral the secrutiry guard told me that I could not take my guitar into the cathedral. I asked the secrurity guard if I could leave it by him in front of the cathedral. He told me he would watch it. Kelsea and I got a seat for mass that was great. The botofumare (a large insence burner that they swing over the mass) was going to swing right over our heads. Kelsea and I heard them anounce two Americans who started in Roncesvalles (which was us) and then waited for the botofumare. The botofumare never came.

After mass we walked through the cathedral and saw all of the beautiful alters and statues. We walkmed around the cathedral and went to get my guitar. My guitar was not with the security guard and the guard was gone. The guitar that my grandmother gave me before my secound camino that had traveled to spain with me twice and to africa with me once was gone. I started crying.

The day got better as the picutres Kelsea and I stared posting on facebook froze and then my iPod stopped working. Kelsea and I just went back to the albergue and went to sleep.

The next day I woke up and felt happy. I just had this felling that it was going to be a good day. Kelsea and I went to the cathedral to see the statue of the apostle and his tomb. We got to go through the gate that has not been opened since the last holy year (when july 25 falls on a sunday) in 1993 and I have wanted to walk through since my first camino. We saw the tomb and Kelsea said to me, "Lets go see if your guitar is there." We walked back to the front of the cathedral and the security guard was there. I went up to him and asked him about my guitar. He said it was in the pilgrims´ office. We rushed over to the pilgrims´ office and there was my guitar!!!!!!!!!! I had my guitar back! It was great.

Santiago!!!

We finally made it!!! After long hours and many days of walking, we arrived in Santiago. The town is great and the cathedral is beautiful. We walked around for a while (just in case we didn´t do that enough ;) and saw the city. We have run into so many friends that we have met along the way and have seen recently or have not seen in days. It is great to see everyone once again, but at the same time, we are saying goodbye everyday to many people we will never see again. It is a bittersweet time.

We have learned so much about life on this journey. We have experienced so many other cultures frst hand without the label of a tourist. We have journeyed with these people and shared in their pain, their joy, and their lives. We have truly experienced Spain at it´s best and worst. We have met people from all over the globe and gotten a new perspective of their cultures.

We went to Mass today and barely got a seat one hour before it started. It was lovely and we both got to see this magnificent cathedral. We had a great morning at breakfast and Mass... and then Trey´s guitar got stolen. Great.

But life is good and we will be home in a week. We hope to see you all in July! We will spend a few days on the beach and a few days in Madrid. We will be back on July 1 late that night. Love you guys and see you soon!

PS- more pictures will be on Trey´s profile today.

More Wonderful Days

We are still having a blast!!!

We have had several beautiful days lately. The weather has been up and down. We have climbed high mountains and then come right back down on the other side. The views have been beautiful.

We started in Ponferrada and saw an awesome castle that was from the 12th or 13th century. The albergue was beautiful as well. Then we started our journey on to Villafranca del Beirzo and walked 15 miles by 12:30. Mission accomplished. We met a group of students from William and Mary in Virginia and the University of Alabama. Two professors have been great friends over many years from the two universities and brought some of each of their students this year. One of the professors says he lives his life in between Caminos. It is great to have some native English speakers to talk to every now and then.

The next day we made the 20 mile treck up to O Cebreiro and the last 5 miles is really steep, straight up the mountain. The view at the top was absolutely amazing!!! And totally worth it. We were so lucky to see the view. An hour later, the weather got so bad you couldn´t see 15 feet in front of you. And that continued on the next day down the mountain till about 11 in the morning.

We came in to Triacastela and stayed in one of the most wonderful albergues so far. We met a couple in their 60s from Denmark who are volunteering to help take care of the place for two weeks. It was so wonderful to hear their stories and they were so excited for us on our journey.

Today the weather could not have been more perfect! We walked all morning through some beautiful wooded trails and are staying in Sarria tonight in the albergue with several of our friends that we have met.

And then we are going out to dinner for my birthday!!!

Love you all and can´t wait to see you!
Kelsea

The weather is beautiful

The weather changed today! It was beautiful and we are so excited. Post more later!

Slight change of plans......

After 45 degrees, heavy rain, and blustry wind we decided to find some prettier weather. We took a taxi to Fromista then a bus to Palencia and then a train to Leon! I love Leon! First thing we did when we got here was walk past their magnificient cathedral. Next we checked into the alberque. The rooms are separated into men, women and married. I thought that was funny. They had a picture on the co-ed bathroom that had a stickfigure man + sitckfigure women = stickfirugre child with a lollypop.

After the albergue we found one of my favorite places in Leon: McDonalds! Nothing like a good old fashioned burger to make you feel at home. After that we went to the albergue and washed clothes..... In a machine and with soap! What a luxury! Later we went to a vesper service and then to mass. After that we went to sleep early.

We got a hotel to get a break from the snorring in the albergue and are going to spend the night in Leon. After we get all of our pictures uploaded (which takes a long while) we are going to go to the two cathedrials in Leon and then go to the castle. I think lunch or dinner may be at Burger King. The Spaniards are scandalized.

Everyone should check out the pictures that we posted on my profile today!

Just out for a pleasure cruise at night. Through... eel infested waters...

This is not the Meseta I remember. Last time I walked through the Meseta it was hot; very hot. Today we walked from Castrojeriz and it was cold; very cold. I could have handled the cold but it was also windy and raining. We only walked ten kilometers and decided the we had entered Camino Hell and it was time to stop for the day. The rain turned the mud path into a slip and slide. As I was walking, my feet slid, but I never fell. The wind blew the rain into our face and it stung because the wind was blowing so hard. I would write about the scenery however my face was buried in my pancho.

One of the problems with the Camino through the Meseta is that you cannot walk small distances. You have to commit to at least 10 kilometers before you reach the next town. Tomorrow we have a few smaller distances. Which is good because the weather doesn´t look like it is going to get much better... for the next 5 DAYS! I looked at the forcast through Monday. It looks much like the same. The wether is about 50 degrees before the wind chill which takes the temperature down to about 40 degrees.

¡Buen Camino!

Some amazing people

I met one amazing lady on this trip. Several days ago, we were leaving Pamplona early in the morning and a lady asked us in her very broken English, "Do... you... know... the way... out of the city?" We said we thought so and she was more than welcome to stay with us as long as she liked. Karstr (sounds like car-star) is from Germany and began to tell me what brought her on the Camino. She said her mother and husband had passed away several years ago and she had no children. She had taken this as a wonderful chance to travel since she had no one to worry about her and did not have to call home. She was free as a bird. She had sung in a choir at her church for several years and loved it.

Now she decided to travel further and walk the Camino. She started walking in Germany a few months ago and then came to France. She said, "The weather was just too bad, so I took a bus." Then she started in St. Jean in France (which Trey and I started the day after this cause it was way too hard without training). And this lady decided to SLOW DOWN to walk with us. My feet were hurting so bad then that we stopped for about two hours to rest and Karstr stayed with us. Then she doctored my feet and waited on us and then began again with us.

I asked her how she was able to do this alone. She said, "God gives me strength for today! If I do not have Him, I have nothing. That is what keeps me going." She continued on ahead of us and we have seen her a few times since. She is doing so well and we hope to see her again soon. She plans to walk all the way to Santiago.

Karstr will turn 72 in September.

On we go!!!

We continue on down the path of Santiago. Today we walked in some amazing weather to start the Meseta. The breeze was perfect and the clouds filled the sky. No hot weather to worry about today. We passed through some Medieval ruins that have been around since the 15th century. When we arrived in Castrojeriz, we went to Mass and saw several ancient artifacts in the church. We arrived at our hostal around 1:30 and made it right before it started raining. Tonight we will stay in a small albergue and get up around 5:30 and start walking again in the morning!

Two days ago we stayed a full day in Burgos and it was absolutely amazing!!! It was a huge town and we saw an old cathedral that took us almost 2 hours to see. Several paintings were collected here and they are restoring several parts of the interior and exterior of the building.

We saw several friends then and said goodbye to many. Everyone here is traveling at different paces. Some have more time than others and some walk much further than others.

Trey and I miss you guys and look forward to seeing you when we get home!

Kelsea

Grañon to Tosantos

Hello again!!!
We had an amazing time in the albergue last night! We stayed in a peroquial albergue, which means it is owned by the church, donation only, and run by different volunteers throughout the year. It was beautiful! The albergue was in a bell tower attached to the cathedral and we got to got to the top of the tower and see the town. We arrived and asked if we were at the albergue and asked if this was it and they said, "This is not an albergue! It is a hospital! We are here to take care of you and give you whatever you need." It was a breath of fresh air to have such amazing people there. The donations from the people who stay the night before pay for the food for the following day. The donation box was open and had a sign on it that read, "Give what you can, take what you need." Absolutely amazing. I should live my life like that more often. We all pitched in and cooked dinner together in Grañon, as well as Los Arcos the night before, and now we will do the same tonight in Tosantos.

Tomorrow will be our day of rest and we will most likely take a bus or taxi into Burgos and spend the day resting and seeing some of the town.

Check out Trey´s Facebook profile and we have several pictures from the first part of the trip posted!

Talk to you again soon!!!!
Kelsea

A typical day

Here is a typical day on the Camino de Santiago. We wake up about 5:30 am and leave the albergue (these are the hostals that we stay in that line the Camino.) We walk for two hours. As we walk we watch the sun rise and we pass pictuersque towns. At one of the little towns we get a cafe con leche. Coffee in Spain is always espresso so we are basically getting a latté and it only costs €1.50. We always eat outside on the patio and the street is a beautiful scenn of old houses with family crests on them.

After breakfast we walk for another two hours and we stop for coffee again and continue walking. We usaully arive at our desitnation between 1 and 2 in the afternoon.

The walking varies. There are some days where the views are breathtaking and the towns are picturesque, and there are other days where we walk through urban sprawl and we can hardly breath because of the fumes from the cars.

After we finish our day, we get lunch from the little shop. Lunch consists of cheese, nuts, cherries, and a drink. After we check into the albergue we meet up with our friends that we have made. We will play the guitar and talk. Some nights we go to mass and most nights we cook with friends at the albergue. The next day we start over. Its pretty wonderful!

Nevarria

Its gotten hot. We are having a wonderful time but the heat can be relentes. We made the dreaded walk from Los Arcos and the sun started beating down hard. I saw the 5 kilometores sign that sunk our hearts the last time I was walked that streached. We decided when we got to Los Arcos that we will try and stop walking at 12:30. We walked a bit farther today but we didn´t wake up till 6:15 and did not stop walking till 7:30. With all of that we walked fast.

We have been having trouble getting internet access. I am getting kicked off the computer so I will hopfully post when we get a chance tomorrow.