Help is always just around the corner

Greetings from Santa Domingo de la calzada

Some quick stories about how pilgrims are always willing to help other pilgrims.

There is a blind man walking the 500 miles to Santiago. He and his guide dog stay at the refugios until someone is willing to walk with them and help them as needed. We saw him at one point but didn´t know the entire story. I´m not sure where he´s from, but the man who told the story, (we got in the middle of it), said that he had guided him for two days, but since the going was so slow, he had to leave him and make better progress or lose his trip with the lost days. He has been making his way, slowly, but assuredly, along and there always seems to be someone willing to give a day to help him in his quest.

There is a Frenchman who pulls what looks like a dolly with which you move washers and driers about and has an oversized wicker basket attached to it. It has the two handles and weighs 100 pounds, but can be balanced easily and, therefore, is not like carrying the entire weight. Everybody likes to pull it for a while just to see how difficult it is. Nice little break for him. On a 15 mile walk, he pulls it maybe five miles On the wide roads we´ve had recently, it wouldn’t be too hard, but on the places where the trail is only a couple of feet wide and very uneven at that, it would seem to be almost impossible. However, he has been walking since the 10th of March from way north in France, so he´s obviously making progress.

There are many people who have big problems with their feet, and there are always people willing to retrace their steps and carry the packs of those who are in pain. They can walk but the weight of the packs is really hard on knees and feet with blisters.

So as you can see, everybody knows that everybody´s hurting and everybody wants everybody to be successful. When I showed my video of the day’s walk to Spanish Tina last night she said: "Dios mio, we all look like we´re crippled." and indeed we are. Hardly a soul is without pain of some sort.

On that score, I´m happy to report that Carol´s day off did remarkable benefit to her, and yesterday she walked the longest section we´ve done so far, a full 18 miles without any real difficulty. Today was a shorter section only 12.5 miles, and again she was able to walk fairly easily, I say fairly, cause, as I said, we´re all hurting. My little toe on my right foot is of semi-serious concern. I don´t see the blister yet, but each step reminds me that things are not as they should be. I´ve felt sooooooooo fortunate because my new shoes have held up admirably and I was able to walk with confidence.

The last three days we´ve made about 48 miles and so the miles start to pile up. We´re about 25% of the way now, and it feels that we´re no longer rookies on the Camino. It´s amazing how many people do this time after time. People do this 2, 3,or even 4 times

The Spaniards we see along the way are also very supportive. We always say: "buen Camino" to each other, but the same comes from dozens of people each day as we pass them on the Camino see them just walking to their fields, or to a neighbor’s house. In the villages (there are over 200 of them along the way) they smile and inquire as to how our Camino is going. Cars, trucks and tractors all honk in support as they pass us, no matter the direction they are travelling. It just gives a little boost when you begin to flag in spirit and energy just to have somebody is that supportive.

The last three days have been "flat." remembering that flat is a relative term for Spain. Long pulls of gradual slopes followed by equally long down slopes are countered by the ever present short hills of about 1/2 a mile with an elevation gain of 200-300 feet, and then the inevitable downside over the top. Dozens of these occur in each days "flat" sections. This, as opposed to Tuesday´s walk, when we have to descend off the meseta. We´ll drop about 3000 feet in about 8 miles. Looks like a bad knee day to us.

We´ve all got sunburned legs in the back since the morning sun begins to warm up and beat down on us from behind as we progress steadily westward. It´s warmed up considerably, somebody said yesterday was about 100 degrees. Tomorrow it´s possible rain showers, and everybody´s trying to figure out whether they´d rather have the hot sun or, walk with ponchos in the rain. We´ll all probably moan and groan no matter what happens:-)

The gang of four as we call them, consists Herman from the Netherlands and Patty from England, both in their late 40´s or early 50´s and are teamed up with Kevin from Scotland and Tanya from Vancouver, both in their early 20´s to form the international drinking party. They were ragging on the 5th member, Bill from Boston, who bailed in Viana because he had heard that there was an internationally famous chef there and he wanted to stay and enjoy some great cuisine. "Not the true spirit of the Camino," they said. Well, last night the four of them started drinking at 2 in the afternoon upon their arrival from the long day, they were dry after all. They didn´t move until 9:45 in the evening and only then because the refugio closes at 10. They were totally wasted. They clambered upstairs to their beds pissing everybody off with their noise and incoherence. Tanya helped Kevin up to his top bunk, took all the things which he had left on the bed and put them on our stuff, and then proceeded to join him for some extra curricular activities. Don´t try to tell them they don´t understand the nature of the Camino. The whole thing happened about two feet from my bunk and the worst of it was that I didn´t even wake up to observe. Carol had to tell me about it this morning. Geez, I miss all the fun. This morning they were back on the Camino full of energy and enthusiasm. Kevin had two beers for breakfast. "If I don´t drink this morning, I can´t walk," he said in his thick brogue. We all roared.

Tonight is a real treat. We´re in a converted barn, so the ceilings are very high and not just about 3 feet above our heads. They are single level beds, not bunk beds, and I found a double bed, so Carol and I can snuggle instead of our usual: quick kiss and “sleep well” that is our usual modus operandi. But with beds and fellow pilgrims all around, we´ll be the epitome of decorum.

Today´s walk was short, just 12.5 miles and so we got into town about 1 p.m. and that after an hour for a full bacon and eggs breakfast, a real treat. We had time to get clean, wash our clothes go for a walk around town, now there´s a bright idea, and time to relax. Other days we just take care of the essentials and then to bed, like last night.

Carol and I are in great spirits. Lots of time to talk about everything, both big and small, important and trivial. So often, there seems to be so many things which we just gloss over since we´re all so busy, but when you walk day after day for 6-8 hours every day, things get into a lot of depth. We love being together and sharing this grand adventure, and we both look forward to tomorrow to see what it will hold in its mini journey, all part of the grand scheme of things.

Hope all of you are well, we´ll write again when we can.

Carol and Jim send love to all