After walking 800kms across Spain in 31 days we finally arrived into Santiago for the midday pilgrim mass which was held in the beautiful Santiago cathedral.
What a journey! This is without a doubt the most incredible experience I´ve ever had in my life. When I spotted Santiago city, tears of joy, gratitude, happiness, accomplishment overwhelmed me... I couldn´t believe I´d finally made it.. Seriously, words cannot explain how I felt at that moment... Thank god I made it!
Monique you were right, I don´t think I´ve lost any weight whatsoever, I´ve been eating it up BIG time...hehehe...Although I´ve never felt as fit as this. My biggest walking day was 47kms (which was on the 2nd last day) to arrive into the village and be told the hotel was full...what the? Luckily the Universe was on our side and a room at a Casa Rural was available.... We have been living it up for the past couple of nights staying in hotels and eating great food which makes a drastic change from the refugios/municipals we´ve been staying in for most of the Camino.. Although I believe the spirit of the Camino lies largely in these (refugios/albergues) this is where I met all these beautiful people, it also makes you appreciate the large amounts of comforst we have in our lives..
Last night David and I hit the town we ate Tapas and drank our way around Santiago, to end up sitting in front of Santiago cathedral chatting about our Camino experiences and then dancing with locals to Spanish music. This day will go down as one of the best days I´ve had on my Camino.
Today (Wednesday) I went to the midday pilgrim mass again to greet the other pilgrims I met along the road. It was sooo nice to see them walking towards the church we embraced and congratulated eachother for the massive accomplishment we´ve all been through. It´s definitely a unique experience... I think it´ll hit when I get back to Oz the amount of land we covered...Crazy stuff hey...
Rod just to let you know, I laid your scallop shell to rest in Santiago. I sent out a wish that one day soon you will complete your Camino and experience these magical feelings.. It brings tears to my eyes as I type this.. Thank you my friend fr your support and belief in me and my walk....
With this I´ve decided to walk to Finnisterre (as 800kms isn´t enough...hehehe) which should take no more than 3 to 4 days max.. It´s roughly 89kms. Back in the day they call Finnisterre the end of the world. Only a small percentage of pilgrims walk to Finnisterre it´s more common to jump on a bus from Santiago to Finisterre.
It´s symbolic to continue on to Finnisterre pilgrims burn an item which rids themselves of the old/past and makes way for the new. We met this crazy Brazilian guy who walkd a bit of the way with David and I the other day he gave me a great idea.... Make a list of all the negativity, doubts, fears etc etc and burn it.... So that´s what I´m going to do... Thanks Eddie... Another funny thing this guy said (which I believe to a big extent) The Spanish call the Camino the Mental hospital of Spain...hehehe... I can see why....hehehehe
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Friday, May 9, 2008
Albergues
Since Eduardo left the family we´ve stayed in some amazing albergues (both on detour routes)
On Monday night (5th May) we stayed in the peregrinos albergue located in Besciano del Real Camino on that night I experienced the essence of what I believe the Camino life is about.
The albergue runs off donations and the warm greeting was next to none. One of the hospitalerios (volunteer workers) was named none other than Jesus...Can you believe it? He definitely had a twinkle in his eyes that´s for sure. On that night I even dreamt he was God and the look he gave me in my dream was of love, support, faith and re-assurance it was a very strange but realistic kind of dream. I seem to be dreaming alot here, another night I dreamt a man and lady were doing Reiki on me and I could actually feel it in my dream...weird stuff...hehehehe...As many of you know this isn´t at all weird for me...hehehe
Anyways back to the albergue, it slept roughly 40 people, all the pilgrims helped with the dinner preparations and washing up. We then sang songs in our native languages, we watched the sun set followed by a candlelit meditation expressing the reason why each one of us are walking this road...It was an amazing evening with so many amazing people (approx 25 of us). This is what I feel the Camino life is about the spirit of sharing, friendship, reflection, giving thanks for the many many luxuries we have in our lives...This life is a very simple one it shows one you don´t need much... My Camino family have shown me this time and time again and for them I´m truly grateful..
Last night we stayed in Leon (Santa Maria convent) this is the 2nd time we´ve stayed in the convent (Eric wasn´t allowed to move his bed close to Gitta´s...hehehehe...Inside joke) we went to the 6pm Mass at Leon´s Cathedral which was lovely although Burgos Cathedral is sooo much nicer and alot more detailed than Leon (I was very disappointed with Leon) there wasn´t any substance to Leon´s Cathedral... All in all the outside of the Cathedral was lovely though... At the convent the nuns held a 9:30pm pilgrim Mass in their church which was very nice...
Tonight we´re staying in another awesome albergue (alternate route) called Jesus albergue (Jesus is everywhere...hehehe) and it´s donation based as well... You can write on the walls like naughty school kids...hehehe...I´ve written my saying and also one for Eduardo and taken photos...hehehehe... The albergue has a backyard and hammock (what luxury) you should have seen our faces when we scoped the joint we thought we were in heaven...hehehehe
Tomorrow we´re off to Astorga which is a 30km clicker...Wish us luck cause we´re sooo going to need it...hehehehe
Love, light and smiles to you all
On Monday night (5th May) we stayed in the peregrinos albergue located in Besciano del Real Camino on that night I experienced the essence of what I believe the Camino life is about.
The albergue runs off donations and the warm greeting was next to none. One of the hospitalerios (volunteer workers) was named none other than Jesus...Can you believe it? He definitely had a twinkle in his eyes that´s for sure. On that night I even dreamt he was God and the look he gave me in my dream was of love, support, faith and re-assurance it was a very strange but realistic kind of dream. I seem to be dreaming alot here, another night I dreamt a man and lady were doing Reiki on me and I could actually feel it in my dream...weird stuff...hehehehe...As many of you know this isn´t at all weird for me...hehehe
Anyways back to the albergue, it slept roughly 40 people, all the pilgrims helped with the dinner preparations and washing up. We then sang songs in our native languages, we watched the sun set followed by a candlelit meditation expressing the reason why each one of us are walking this road...It was an amazing evening with so many amazing people (approx 25 of us). This is what I feel the Camino life is about the spirit of sharing, friendship, reflection, giving thanks for the many many luxuries we have in our lives...This life is a very simple one it shows one you don´t need much... My Camino family have shown me this time and time again and for them I´m truly grateful..
Last night we stayed in Leon (Santa Maria convent) this is the 2nd time we´ve stayed in the convent (Eric wasn´t allowed to move his bed close to Gitta´s...hehehehe...Inside joke) we went to the 6pm Mass at Leon´s Cathedral which was lovely although Burgos Cathedral is sooo much nicer and alot more detailed than Leon (I was very disappointed with Leon) there wasn´t any substance to Leon´s Cathedral... All in all the outside of the Cathedral was lovely though... At the convent the nuns held a 9:30pm pilgrim Mass in their church which was very nice...
Tonight we´re staying in another awesome albergue (alternate route) called Jesus albergue (Jesus is everywhere...hehehe) and it´s donation based as well... You can write on the walls like naughty school kids...hehehe...I´ve written my saying and also one for Eduardo and taken photos...hehehehe... The albergue has a backyard and hammock (what luxury) you should have seen our faces when we scoped the joint we thought we were in heaven...hehehehe
Tomorrow we´re off to Astorga which is a 30km clicker...Wish us luck cause we´re sooo going to need it...hehehehe
Love, light and smiles to you all
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Thank you for your support
Thought I´d write up a quick entry (seeing I´m overwhelmed with so many upflifting, loving and encouraging comments and emails). I just wanted to say a BIG thank you to you all!
Monique and Nancy you ladies would understand what it feels to recieve soooo much encouragement especially on those hard days it it means sooo much to me. I had another hard day yesterday and today. The 3 of us have come down with a cold and walking isn´t making it any easier. I´ve also obtained 2 new blisters (total of 5) and very slight pain in my heel (man I hope it´s not tendinitous)
It´s raining, thunderstorm, lighting and hailing tonight (3rd time it´s rained on the Camino) they are predicting the same kind of weather for the next few days with a maximum temperature 9 degrees, talk about the Universe throwing curve balls...hehehe...So the moral of this entry is thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, prayers and love you have no idea how much they have helped me along the road...Thank you my beautiful friends... Thinking of you all and placing little stones along the way with good wishes for you all..
xxx
Monique and Nancy you ladies would understand what it feels to recieve soooo much encouragement especially on those hard days it it means sooo much to me. I had another hard day yesterday and today. The 3 of us have come down with a cold and walking isn´t making it any easier. I´ve also obtained 2 new blisters (total of 5) and very slight pain in my heel (man I hope it´s not tendinitous)
It´s raining, thunderstorm, lighting and hailing tonight (3rd time it´s rained on the Camino) they are predicting the same kind of weather for the next few days with a maximum temperature 9 degrees, talk about the Universe throwing curve balls...hehehe...So the moral of this entry is thank you all for your kind words, thoughts, prayers and love you have no idea how much they have helped me along the road...Thank you my beautiful friends... Thinking of you all and placing little stones along the way with good wishes for you all..
xxx
Monday, May 5, 2008
Halfway (according to my guidebook)
Well we´ve made it to the halfway mark (according to John Brierley´s guidebook). The place is called Terradillos de los Templarios and last night we stayed in a new albergue which was absolute luxury.. Gitta, Eric and I stayed in a room just for the 3 of us and I was sooo stoked as it had an ensuite...hehehe... So far this is one of the best albergue´s we´ve stayed in.
Yesterday was a sad day as Eduardo finally left our group (and then there were 3)... Due to a knee injury and the little time he has to walk to Santiago Eduardo decided to catch a taxi from Ledigos to Sahagun and then train to Leon where he´ll continue his walk to Santiago.
Good luck my friend remember ´piano piano arriviamo´ thank you for everything you have been one of my Camino angels on this adventure, I´ll miss you heaps...Ciao and Buen Camino bello.
It´s funny cause Eduardo use to be our motivator, in the mornings he´d get us all up and out of bed and this morning was the first morning without him...Man we are sooo lazy this is the latest morning we´ve started our Camino (9:30am) usually we start around 6:30am... Eduardo where are you...hehehehe... I think I´ll have to be the time keeper in the mornings, I may just buy an alarm in Leon...hehehe
More later....
I´ll jump on later to write more, but now it´s time to walk walk walk...
Yesterday was a sad day as Eduardo finally left our group (and then there were 3)... Due to a knee injury and the little time he has to walk to Santiago Eduardo decided to catch a taxi from Ledigos to Sahagun and then train to Leon where he´ll continue his walk to Santiago.
Good luck my friend remember ´piano piano arriviamo´ thank you for everything you have been one of my Camino angels on this adventure, I´ll miss you heaps...Ciao and Buen Camino bello.
It´s funny cause Eduardo use to be our motivator, in the mornings he´d get us all up and out of bed and this morning was the first morning without him...Man we are sooo lazy this is the latest morning we´ve started our Camino (9:30am) usually we start around 6:30am... Eduardo where are you...hehehehe... I think I´ll have to be the time keeper in the mornings, I may just buy an alarm in Leon...hehehe
More later....
I´ll jump on later to write more, but now it´s time to walk walk walk...
Saturday, May 3, 2008
Nearly half way
My Camino family has shrunk. Today Eduardo and I left Gitta and Eric in Bodarilla (or something like that) and we continued on to Fromista after 34kms of walking today we were greeted to the last 2 beds in the village. We´re sleeping in the corridor it´s the funniest thing ever...hehehe...There are other people sleeping under the breakfast table, man this is what one calls an adventure. So far we´ve been rejected from 6 refugios due to overcrowding... Once we settled into the refugio we had a look around the village where Eduardo and I were fortunate enough not to pay to enter the church, talk about the Universe looking after us... Thank you God...
At the moment we´re making excellent ground, more that I thought... In 13 days we´ve walked approx 330kms and most of the people we met at the beginning of the walk are well behind us, which is a little sad as the quickier we walk we bump into new groups of people, which has a toally different feel...Although there´s 2 young fit German guys we keep bumping into and I think they´re trying to race us...hehehe...As I say to Eduardo ´slowly but surely wins the race´...hehehehe... Another guy we met along the road at the beginning couldn´t believe how much we walked he had to jump on a bus as he´s boots we´re hurting him.... When I told him we walked all this way he honestly throught I was kidding... That´s when I realised we´re firing ahead...
Tomorrow will be another massive walk roughly 36kms in 28 degree heat, we´re planning on getting up around 5:30am to avoid the heat as there´s not much shade throughout this part (Meseta)... w
Our plan is to get to Leon in 4 days..Eduardo needs to complete the walk in 29 days (total) I´ve decided to hang in Leon until Gitta and Eric arrive which should be a day or 2 after I arrive.
Burgos was a lovely city, the cathedral was absolutely stunning...I can´t believe we had to pay 2.50 euros to go in, but hey, it was worth though...
The weather has been out of control, from the blazing sun to freezing windy and rainy conditions (it honestly felt at times it was about to snow) we´ve walked in them all... It´s crazy but we´re having sooo much fun and soooo many laughs... It´s funny walking an average of 7-10 hours a day the different kinds of games you make up to entertain yourselves...
It´s been sad to have people from our group drop off one by one, at the same time I´m sooo happy I´ve met and exchanged so many memorable moments together. I can´t wait to insert my pics when I get home for you all to see the beauty of this place, it´s sooo different here in Spring compared to summer...
I´ve taken to drinking vino tinto every night (hehehe) and enjoying the different types of wines from the different provinces..
Anyways my friends I best be off as the bar closes shortly and I have to prepare our beds for the night in the corridor of the hostel (the owner is an angel and soooo lovely, another help from God). I´ll write more when I get to Leon .
Take care hope your all well thinking of you and placing little stones along the way with good wishes for you all.
Lots of loves and hugs
Sonia
At the moment we´re making excellent ground, more that I thought... In 13 days we´ve walked approx 330kms and most of the people we met at the beginning of the walk are well behind us, which is a little sad as the quickier we walk we bump into new groups of people, which has a toally different feel...Although there´s 2 young fit German guys we keep bumping into and I think they´re trying to race us...hehehe...As I say to Eduardo ´slowly but surely wins the race´...hehehehe... Another guy we met along the road at the beginning couldn´t believe how much we walked he had to jump on a bus as he´s boots we´re hurting him.... When I told him we walked all this way he honestly throught I was kidding... That´s when I realised we´re firing ahead...
Tomorrow will be another massive walk roughly 36kms in 28 degree heat, we´re planning on getting up around 5:30am to avoid the heat as there´s not much shade throughout this part (Meseta)... w
Our plan is to get to Leon in 4 days..Eduardo needs to complete the walk in 29 days (total) I´ve decided to hang in Leon until Gitta and Eric arrive which should be a day or 2 after I arrive.
Burgos was a lovely city, the cathedral was absolutely stunning...I can´t believe we had to pay 2.50 euros to go in, but hey, it was worth though...
The weather has been out of control, from the blazing sun to freezing windy and rainy conditions (it honestly felt at times it was about to snow) we´ve walked in them all... It´s crazy but we´re having sooo much fun and soooo many laughs... It´s funny walking an average of 7-10 hours a day the different kinds of games you make up to entertain yourselves...
It´s been sad to have people from our group drop off one by one, at the same time I´m sooo happy I´ve met and exchanged so many memorable moments together. I can´t wait to insert my pics when I get home for you all to see the beauty of this place, it´s sooo different here in Spring compared to summer...
I´ve taken to drinking vino tinto every night (hehehe) and enjoying the different types of wines from the different provinces..
Anyways my friends I best be off as the bar closes shortly and I have to prepare our beds for the night in the corridor of the hostel (the owner is an angel and soooo lovely, another help from God). I´ll write more when I get to Leon .
Take care hope your all well thinking of you and placing little stones along the way with good wishes for you all.
Lots of loves and hugs
Sonia
Monday, April 28, 2008
Longest Day so far.....
Today our Camino family became smaller. Clara (from Spain) had to leave the family and join her friends and Leopoldo and Luciana left us yesterday. Gitta and I are left with 2 Brazilians guys and 1 Italian guy, today has been the best day so far...Although we walked 35kms starting at 7:30am and arriving into Azofra around 7pm.... A blister finally formed under my foot, but that does not compare to the adventures we seem to be having time and time again... The past couple of days have been tough for me mentally, I question myself time and time again why the hell I decided to do this, let me tell you, this walk tests every aspect of the human spirit and body, it´s the weirdest feeling.. I wanted to give up yesterday but I¨m sooo glad I didn´t as today was worth the wait.... We had sooo much fun it really depends on the company and I´m blessed to have made some gorgeous friendships who make me laugh and who support eachother in sooo many beautiful ways...
Tonight we arrived at a refugio (hostel) and found out it was completely full so we´re sleeping in a classroom...hehehe... There´s about 10 of us in the room the rest are a group of guys from Italy it´s the funniest thing to see blackboards and chalk in the room.... Unfortunately you´ll have to wait till I get back to Oz to see my pics (as some of you know everything weighs)..
Anyways I best leave it here as my time is running out, thank you all for your kind wishes it only makes me stronger and continue my journey... I´ve been thinking of you all and sending out good wishes.
Ciao for now
xxx
Tonight we arrived at a refugio (hostel) and found out it was completely full so we´re sleeping in a classroom...hehehe... There´s about 10 of us in the room the rest are a group of guys from Italy it´s the funniest thing to see blackboards and chalk in the room.... Unfortunately you´ll have to wait till I get back to Oz to see my pics (as some of you know everything weighs)..
Anyways I best leave it here as my time is running out, thank you all for your kind wishes it only makes me stronger and continue my journey... I´ve been thinking of you all and sending out good wishes.
Ciao for now
xxx
Thursday, April 24, 2008
Walk, walk, walk
The dream has finally arrrived.... I´m sitting here in puenta della reina typing up this entry.. To date we´ve walked just a little over 90kms through rain, wind, mud, sun did I mention mud...Heaps of the stuff... This journey has been unbelievable from the word go... I´ve meet sooo many people from the plane ride to England from the plane ride to the starting point (SJPP) the guy I met on this particular plane ride is part of the group I´m walking with. There´s 5 of us walking together 3 from Italy and 1 from Hungary and so many others...The majority of people walking the Camino seem to be French, Germans and Italians... I´ve only met 2 other Aussies one of them used to live in North Narrabeen (small world hey)...
The Camino is a simple life and I´m loving it!!! We get up around 6:30am pack our bags, head out to a bar to have breakfast walk, then stop at another bar to eat lunch, walk some more, rock up to a refugio (hostel) wash our clothes and shower, check out the village/city, head to another bar to eat dinner (pilgrim menu) write in our journals and head to bed around 10pm...That´s it!!! I could do this for awhile and thank god I have awhile.
It´s an extremely cheap holiday (roughly around 25 Euros a day). Yesterday my knee went slightly I was sooo worried my Camino would have ended there and then so I went to church prayed for divine intervention and popped a 600mg anti-inflammatory and waaalllaaaa my knee was right as rain today... I can´t believe in Oz you need a prescription for 50mg, here in Spain they sell 600mg over the counter, thank the lord...hehehe
Apologises for any mistakes, the keyboard is slightly different here and my money is slowing running out but the truth be told I couldn´t be bothered to go over this post...hehehehe
All in all I´m going to leave it here and say ´life requires one step at a time and in good time one will arrive to their destination. Let´s pray in my case it´s Santiago de Compostella in great health... (As I´m definiteyl eating lots and lots)...hehehehe
Anyways my friends hope all is well with you all...
Adios for now
xxx
The Camino is a simple life and I´m loving it!!! We get up around 6:30am pack our bags, head out to a bar to have breakfast walk, then stop at another bar to eat lunch, walk some more, rock up to a refugio (hostel) wash our clothes and shower, check out the village/city, head to another bar to eat dinner (pilgrim menu) write in our journals and head to bed around 10pm...That´s it!!! I could do this for awhile and thank god I have awhile.
It´s an extremely cheap holiday (roughly around 25 Euros a day). Yesterday my knee went slightly I was sooo worried my Camino would have ended there and then so I went to church prayed for divine intervention and popped a 600mg anti-inflammatory and waaalllaaaa my knee was right as rain today... I can´t believe in Oz you need a prescription for 50mg, here in Spain they sell 600mg over the counter, thank the lord...hehehe
Apologises for any mistakes, the keyboard is slightly different here and my money is slowing running out but the truth be told I couldn´t be bothered to go over this post...hehehehe
All in all I´m going to leave it here and say ´life requires one step at a time and in good time one will arrive to their destination. Let´s pray in my case it´s Santiago de Compostella in great health... (As I´m definiteyl eating lots and lots)...hehehehe
Anyways my friends hope all is well with you all...
Adios for now
xxx
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