Justin and Aleza Circumvent the Globe.

So . . . This is what it sounds like when doves cry.

2008-12-14T19:44:00.003+07:00

Just finished our porridge and tea at my aunts house and are readying ourselves to go down to the city (Dublin)

We spent Thursday and Friday night in Galway and had an excellent time. We stayed at Kinlay House Hostel right near Eyre (Air) Square. It was a really nice hostel although a bit more than we wanted to spend (14 euros a bed).

The first night we found an art opening and went in. There was free wine (with refills!!) and interesting art to view. Great find. Friday we got roommates! A couple from Miami and a girl from Australia - all 18 -19 years old. I'm not used to being the older person in a group - it was interesting. We ended up being the group leaders I think because we were older. The couple from Miami was new to backpacking and very excited about traveling without reservations. The lady from Australia got into a fun debate with Justin about Celsius vs Fahrenheit. I think Justin won it.

That day we went to the ocean and found some second hand shops where Justin bought his second pair of women's pants this week. This pair was fake leather - I'll have to get a picture up here.

We went for fish and chips at the famous McDonagh's. Justin said he has a tshirt from a previous trip there. It was very tasty.

In the evening we got the troops together to go to a pub. First we stopped for crepes. Snowy - from Australia- can't eat Gluten and they had Gluten free buckwheat crepes that she was very excited for. We got advice from a Kiwi there on a good pub and went.

The pub was pretty typical I think. There was a small little band playing without speakers or anything in the corner. The great news was there was some beer promotion going on and the nice people in charge kept giving us free beers. I think 4 or 5 free pints in total. What a deal!!

Saturday we found a great open air market with crafts and yummy Indian curry. Then back to Dublin on Saturday.

We went out with my cousins Saturday night to a pub in Dublin. They had friends and boyfriends in tow. I taught them Presidents and Assholes that we played a lot in Thailand. Another good night out.

Today there is a xmas market that we're going to downtown and then a calm evening at home. we have to get out the door pretty early to go HOME!!!

I'm excited for:

Family
Friends
Bathtubs
Sewing/knitting/crafting
Driving
Thrift stores
Speaking English
Cooking (especially Thai food)
Having a variety of clothes

We'll post again from the US when we are back. Thanks as always to our loyal readers (mainly our parents and Jon) for all the love and support!!

PHOTOS! Part 2

2008-12-10T05:24:00.001+07:00

Here are the photos from Leon to Finisterra. Enjoy!

Slamdance!!

2008-12-10T04:14:00.002+07:00

On an unrelated note . . . My brother - Daniel Berube- got a short film of his (One-Half World) into Slamdance film festival. Here's the official link for the festival. I'll provide more information as it becomes available.

Congratulations Daniel!!

Turty- tree and a turd (33 1/3)

2008-12-10T02:09:00.003+07:00

we made it to ireland!! full of english books and english tvs. how lovelerly!

in finisterra we burned justin's socks and said a little prayer. i thought about what i have taken away and what i want to leave behind in spain.

here are some of my thoughts:
find the good
walk often and slowly
spend time alone
hold hands often
appreciate everything small and big

the first pilgrim we met, christina, in pamplona before we started, we met once more in finisterra. peculiar. she burned instead of clothes thoughts she wants to be rid of. i like that idea more i think - mostly because from my mother i got an inability to throw out or burn clothing.

tomorrow we are going on an excursion with irish jenny who was a teacher with us in thailand. we are thinking of going to galway thursday - saturday.

it's been lovely having a place with my aunt, uncle, and cousins. justin is currently tuning a guitar with the simpsons on in the background and a fire going.

today we took a bus downtown, walked around, bought books, saw the college. cold, but sunny.

more soon!! love to all!

Feet don´t fail me now: The last 21 km!

2008-12-06T00:30:00.003+07:00

Hola from the ends of the earth!

As your comments of success have guessed, we did indeed make with all our appendages to Santiago! I took Sil´s suggestion and took a big deep breath in front of the cathedral and thought about how many others had stood in my exact spot, with sore shins, tired shoulders, and maybe sandaled feet and felt what I was feeling in some capacity. Pretty amazing.

The cathedral itself looks pretty gloomy to me, but it was more what it represented than what it actually was. We haven´t gone in yet because we caught an early bus to Finnisterra. We are going back to Santiago Sunday and will go Monday morning I believe.

The actual hike into Santiago was pretty normal. It drizzled all day, but nothing too heavy. Had some good talks about Nigerian email con artists and the vigilantes that punish them. We didn´t bath in the river because we felt pretty clean from all the rain. The locals seemed pretty disappointed about it :(

We got in around 4pm to Santiago and headed for the only open alburgue- Seminario Menor. After getting a bit lost, we found it only to discover it closed!! Till April 2009! We thought it was pretty bizarre not to have an open alburgue in the one town that pretty much every pilgrim will stay at. I´m not quite clear on that.

We asked a young fellow with a backpack to point us towards the cathedral and we wandered that direction (justin telling me the whole way that his feet were done walking). In the pilgrim´s office is where you get the ticket out of purgatory for walking the camino. HOWEVER, we failed to qualify!! Eek!! They have you fill out your information and ask if the pilgrimage was religious, religious and other, or not religious at all. Being the honest pilgrims that we are we said not religious. She double checked that with us and then gave us a certificate of completion more or less instead of the get out of jail free card. Oh well. We´ll have to rely on our good hearts instead.

From the pilgrim´s office we found nice, cheap accomodations across the street. There were some other pilgrims we knew there as well. It was 13 euros a piece for a private room with shared bath. Not too shabby.

The only problem was that we were right on a main street in the old town. About an hour after we checked in we heard someone screaming at the TOP of their lungs in French. On and on for at least an hour. We peaked out our window and saw who it was: the young fellow with the backpack who we had asked for directions screaming in French. We never found out what he was so angry about.

We had a cheap meal out that night, before crashing. Friday morning we walked to the bus station and took a 3 hour bus to Finisterre/Fisterra.

We found a great place to stay here because the alburgue does not take pilgrims who took the bus here. It is only 10 euros a person for a private room, with a kitchen, free washing machine, and a bathroom with a bath tub!! It´s called Pension fin da terra, and you can get info at the Re100 gift store near the harbor for anyone headed that way.

I feel a bit ill today so have been taking it easy. I took my first hot bath in a year today and read. Leading the good life over here!

It feels very nice to rest our tired bodies and be by the ocean. It´s a HOT 60 F here, woo dog.

Justin and I were both impressed by how tired we are. We thought after a month of walking we´d be roaring to go, but our feet especially feel very burnt out. (Justin´s understandably so.) My leg muscles do feel stronger and my endurance is higher. But my shoulders and feet still feel sore. I remember a German guy in Logroño telling me that. He had been walking 40-50 km a day since Germany and said that he was surprised at that: no matter how long or how far he goes, his feet still get sore. Good to know.

We both have really loved the Galicia province of Spain. It has a very different feel from the rest of Spain. They believe in witches here and other spirits too I think. Maybe Sil can tell me what the little raised houses with crosses on both end are? We haven´t figured that out yet.

On a totally unrelated note, Justin wanted to add that we met a Dutch guy about a week back who kept commenting on all the ¨snorking¨in the alburgues. Justin loves this new word for snoring and would like as many people to start using it as possible.

Also I can´t remember if I wrote about Justin´s melting his last pair of American flip flops?? He put them over the heaters to dry and left them over night. In the morning they were all curled up on the ends. Oops! He flattened them out a bit, but has since switched to his back up pair. Maybe he´ll find something in Dublin.

Ok that´s all for now! Thanks Sil for the biking links! Thanks to everyone SOO much again for following and all the comments.

abrazos y amor para todos!

Day 30: Melide - Pedrouzo (36 km) Almost there!

2008-12-04T15:39:00.002+07:00

Hola!! I am in a cafe in Pedrouzo the morning of Dec 4th getting ready to head for Santiago!!

Yesterday was our longest day yet. We felt surprisingly untired and ready to keep walking - but we stopped anywas.

Our alburgure last night was full to the brim - 18 people- which was odd because we´d been pretty much alone the last two nights. We met back up with a few old friends which was very nice.

One girl, Mary, said some people we knew got stuck up on O Ceibrero with over a meter of snow!! I´m glad we didn´t stay that day and kept on going.

Thanks Sil for all your advice. We´ll be sure to bath as much as possible!

So yesterday, lots of rain/sun. The rain was never too hard or for too long. We used our headphone splitter to listen to an ipod together and sing. That was entertaining. We were both still a bit tired of walking and looking for new entertainment.

There was a giant puddle that day that I had to put on sandals for. A sheep farmer warned us about another one later on and to take the road. I wore my sandals today for the first time without socks. How luxurious!!

We had lunch on the road which helped us with our good time. (Left at 8:30, got in before 7pm) We made vegetable sandwiches the night before and ate them as we walked.

The scenery the whole day was eucalyptus forests (smelled like California), streams, woods, and insanely bright green grass. It was warmer - in the 50s. It felt like the first warm spring day when you overly excited and go out in shorts and a tank top. I guess it kind of was our first spring day after the blizzard.

We ate dinner with Mary and her boyfriend. Afterwards I had some wine with the French group. They were listening to Eminem and Linkin Park. The French lady got pretty tipsy and started dancing into chairs. It was pretty fun.

This morning the hospitelera got made that we hadn´t left yet at 8:40. I think her and Burgos guy should get together.

Now just 21km to Santiago!! Woo Hoo!! We´ll be sure to take it all in once we get there.

Oh and Sil, we are thinking of doing this maybe with Jan and Dan on bikes?? If you have any tips for that!

We have both been SOOOO thankful for everyone following the blog with advice, encouragement, questions, comments, everything. It has been really motivating and fulfilling to have this group with us as we travel.

Buen camino.

Day 29: Hospital da Cruz - Melide (29 km)

2008-12-03T00:55:00.002+07:00

And now today. It was a pretty long day, but we made good time. We left right at 8 am and got in around 4:30.

It was bizarre to start in the dark and watch the sun rise. It was SUPER icey on the roads and we both nearly wiped out a couple of time.

After a couple of hours we got a delicious tostado at a bar. It´s just a giant, thick piece of heated bread with butter and jam.

By about noon we were out of the snow again. There was a lot of mud on the trail though. It was again through beautiful forests and little towns the whole day.

This town is a bit bigger and we were able to get new batteries for Justin´s headlamps and have internet! Still only 2 other people in our alburgue. I can´t figure out where everyone is.

Two more days till Santiago and then somehow to the ocean!!

Oh and sorry Amawalker we didn´t go to that school because we didn´t read the comment till now. It sounded really neat though.

Abrazos y calor!!

Day 28: Samos - Sarria (12km)/ Portomarin - Hospital da Cruz ( 12km)

2008-12-03T00:44:00.003+07:00

Monday . . . this was our 4 week anniversary on the trail! Also meant 1 week till Ireland and 2 weeks till Carbondale!!! Exciting stuff.

The weather Monday until the evening was snow free and above freezing. Just how we like it.

The trail was again for green with lots of forests and rivers.

We decided to take a bus or hitchhike today because we want to get to Santiago by Thursday to have more time on the coast. We found a 2 euro bus in Samos that left at 2. Perfect. Then we were able to keep walking in the evening and make it to Hospital da Vega.

The last couple hours of the day we crossed back up into the snow line. The whole day we could see the snow just above us. So we spent the last hour playing catch with snow/ice balls. We also played Justin´s game where you threw up snow balls and keep walking to see if they hit you on the head. A very silly game, but fun all the same. We both got nailed a couple of times.

Monday was the something broken, something stolen, something lost day. Justin´s flip flops broke, the first pair to break since the trip. He has 1 more good pair and 2 Spanish back up ones, so he´s still doing well. (Side note: the number of comments on his flip flops has increased proportionally to the rise in snow so now it´s up to 74!) I also sat on my Thai sunglasses and broke them.

Then when we were waiting for the bus, I got my walking stick stolen!! What!! Who would still a walking stick? I´m hoping it was a very poor person with a limp who couldn´t afford a cane. I´m going to continue thinking that so I will still feel good about humanity. It was leaned up outside the bus station with Justin´s. They left Justin´s and just took mine. Who knows. Justin told me he was planning on figuring out a way to ship mine home for xmas too. Oh well. Asi es la vida.

And then I put my umbrella in my belt and it slipped out when we were walking. So that´s lost. But only a few more days on the trail, so no big deal.

We got into Hospital da Vega around 6. The town is about 50 people with one bar and one alburgue. We were the only 2 in the alburgue. It was nice because it had lots of heaters so we were able to hand wash pretty much all of our clothes and have them dry by morning.

Justin made some soup and pasta for dinner that we had brought with us and then bed.

And now for today . . .

Day 27: Triacastela- Samos (10 km)

2008-12-03T00:36:00.002+07:00

Hola! Sorry for the long delay! We have been without internet for a few days. Dan called us today to make sure we hadn´t been swallowed up by any snow.

I´m going to start where I left off, so I´ll try not to get ahead of myself.

So this is Sun the 30th. We started out in some snow, but by Samos it had cleared and we were quite happy to be walking just in rain.

The trail was very green and lush. Galicia feels a lot like Ireland (it does have a lot of Celtic influence) with lots of trees and so far a lot of rain. Also more stone walls and sheep.

We stopped early because Justin started feeling fluey and had to lie down. He had a little fever, but it went away with some tylenol.

The only alburgue in Samos was pretty basic so we got a hostel for 27 euros with a private bathroom. Not too shabby.

We didn´t do much the rest of the day especially since everything was closed and we didn´t have a kitchen. I went on a nice walk along the river in town and saw either a stork or a heron who thought I was folllowing him.

We went for our second real dinner out in the evening and got some homemade chorizo as well as some croquettas which I love. They are a mix between mozzerella sticks, french fries, and something else. Here´s some info on them.

And now for Lunes . . .

Day 26: O Cebreiro- Triacastela (21km )

2008-11-30T01:05:00.002+07:00

Hola!! Sorry for the confusion. The last post was written this morning because we didn´t have internet last night and because I fell asleep about an hour after getting in.

And thanks for the advice we did stay on the highway all day.

So today was probably the most miserable weather yet. All day it snowed, maybe an inch an hour on top of the foot plus we had already. The plow trucks were coming regularly so that helped. We got to know the two drivers very well.

Most of the day we spent staring at the road with our heads hunched over from the intense wind. If we looked up for a moment our eyelashes would freeze. It was pretty hard core.

Early on we saw a car stuck in a snow bank and helped pushed them out. Lots of shouting and Justin almost getting run over a few times.

After about 4 hours and 13 km we got pretty sick of the whole thing. We had passed the two high points and were going down, but the weather seemed to be getting worse. So we gave up and decided to try and hitchhike if we saw any cars.

The first one we saw was a nice SUV with a warm looking fellow inside. We both stopped, thumbs out, and watched him drive smoothly by. Justin got a bit angry and hoped for him to get stuck in the snow.

Low and be hold, 15 minutes later we see him stuck in a snow bank looking a bit sheepish. We spent a while trying to help him with no success. Another young couple stopped to help as well, but still no luck. The young couple was very nice and drove us the last 9 km. Hooray!!

We also got a much better view of the scenery from the car than we would have staring at our feet in the snow.

Our alburgue is relatively warm with a kitchen. It´s still snowing here though, but not sticking as much. Hopefully tomorrow as we leave the mountain completely we will enter into rain instead of snow.

The bags between the socks worked well and my feet were drier. Justin liked his socks with flip flops and still refuses everyone´s advice for shoes. What can you do? I´m regularly checking him for blackened appendages.

The rest of our group from last night went farther today except for two young people who we are eating with.

Thanks for all the support, advice, questions, concerns. We will take the highway tomorrow most likely, and if we get too miserable we will hitchhike again. Our thoughts are we are doing this for fun, not for our free ticket into heaven, so it´s ok if we ¨cheat¨.

LOVE to all and warm dry hugs!!

Day 25: Villafrance - O cebreiro (29 km): BLIZZARD!!

2008-11-29T15:35:00.002+07:00

We are currently on top of a mountain in a blizzard. Yikes. We hope to book our way down this mountain and find somewhere less snowy by the end of the day. It´s about a foot right now and still snowing. We plan on taking the road down and not the trail since it will be paved.

I´m wearing two pairs of socks with plastic bags in between (i now fully recommend bringing water proof shoes of some variety) , three pairs of pants, two shirts, and three jackets. Justin has flip flops with two pairs of socks, two pants, 4 shirts, a jacket, our towel as a scarf, and a hat.

Yesterday was beautiful but very very very snowy. We got in at 6 and were totally beat. The whole town was covered in fog and it looked a bit like we were on the edge of the world.

One of the highlights from yesterday for me was getting to talk to my parents, grandma, aunt megan, zoe, and eli!!!

I´m going to eat my eggs and toast now before hitting the road.

Thanks for all the Thanksgiving wishes!! We miss everyone!! LOVE and WARMTH!!!

Day 24: Ponferrada - Villafranca del Bierzo (27 km): Turkey Tapas!

2008-11-28T01:57:00.001+07:00

Happy Thanksgiving!! We have just finished our communal dinner here at Villafranca at the alburgue Amawalker recommended. I have not been healed yet by Jesus because I got in trouble for icing my leg. He said he would heal me after his dinner.

I felt a bit sad all day being away from home, but I´m trying to make the best of it.

Before I forget about the rain poncho. I like it because it´s easy to get on and off when it starts raining instead of having 3 different things to put on possibly. The downside is that I can´t get to my bag easily from under the poncho and I look kinda crazy.

And I forgot to include my sleeping bag and pad on the packing list. The pad I have yet to use in the winter except for pilates because there is always plenty of beds. So you might want to think about not taking one.

We were a bit tired and sore today from our big walk yesterday. The scenery and weather were both still very lovely today. Walked in the valley with lovely views of the mountain all day.

When we got into the alburge we ran into a lady from a few nights back and found out a pretty wild story. She was traveling with her friend of 5 years who we met a few nights back. He disappeared right after we met them. The police came into our alburgue looking for him the night after we met tham. We heard about that the next day but didn´t think much of it because we didn´t know who they were looking for. So she told us today that apparently he ran off with that adorable French gay couple we told you about and didn´t speak a word of it to her. So she is going on without him. Nuts. I can´t believe he would just leave her without a word.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving dinner with everyone at the alburgue. I said what I was thankful for and a few other people did as well. It was a bit hard to explain with all the languages we had.

I am thankful for: family, Justin and his family, warmth, food, water, legs to walk, the means to travel, holding hands, pilgrims, alburgues, the camino, thailand, my bed in the US, parents who taught me how to be a helping person, love, socks, and hats. To name a few.

Tomorrow the alburgue we were supposed to stay at half way up the mountain is closed so we will either get to the top or stop earlier. There is talk of rain tomorrow. Eek.

That´s all for now. Love and thanks to all our readers and family!!! Abrazos!!

Day 23: Rabanal - Ponferrada (35km)

2008-11-28T01:20:00.004+07:00

Yello! It´s cold! It was -3 in (celsius) this morning. BRRRRR! At 10AM! Yikes!

Well, we walked in the snow yesterday. About 3 to 6 inches for a few hours at the top, maybe drifting up to a foot. Still in the flops, but the weather was splendid! I nailed Aleza between her back and her pack with a great snowball, and the snow was stuck in there for hours. Awesome.

We did 35 f$%&%/ kilometers over a %)·=%(!Q$· mountain! How cool is that? In the snow.

Also, interesting to see the comments on our blog - you are all fools to follow in our path. But thanks for the comments nonetheless!

In response - Garlic Soup (AKA Sopa de Ajo) is the best thing ever.

OK, not much to say.

We saw about a jillion puppies on the top of the mountain, and about a jillion giant dogs wandering on the highway and through the villages. At night we saw 3 200+pound Saint Bernards prowling for dinner and we froze. They sniffed us and passed. I felt as if I were stranded in the African savannah and had been bypassed by a pride of lions, full already.

Alright, talk soon!

LUV4EVER

J (Justin)

Packing list

2008-11-26T01:52:00.003+07:00

For anyone planning a camino, here is what I brought and some thoughts on it.

- smart wool socks
- compression socks
- liner socks
- running socks
- sports bra
- regular bra
- synethic underwear 3
- Nike yoga capri pants
- Nike long yoga pants
- thick long underwear
- synthetic leggins
- synthetic tshirt
- long sleeve zip up synethic shirt
- fleece long sleeve zip up shirt
- long sleeve silk long underwear (thanks Jan!)
- thick fleece jacket
- wind breaker type jacket
- rain poncho that covers my backpack
- warm gloves (not waterproof- would have preferred that)
- hat
- New Balance trail runners (not waterproof- that would have been preferred. i really like having regular shoes instead of boots though)
- Chaco walking sandals (great for hiking in for a change from my regular shoes)
- Cell phone and charger (good for calling ahead to alburgues. we got ours in thailand so we can use SIM cards)
- camera and charger
- i pod and charger
- long book
- 3 notebooks and 3 pens (i used up 2 pens and 2 notebooks already)
- head lamp
- ear plugs
- eye cover (great for alburgues!!)
- 1st aid kit ( most important so far: vasoline to prevent blisters, icy hot, ibuprofen, super glue, small thing of duck tape, bandage wrap, sewing kit. haven´t used: water treatment pills, stomach problem pills)
- toilet kit (very minimal. scissors are great to have)
- bungee cords
- baby wipes

I would have liked to have slipper socks for the alburgue. Let me know if you have any questions about what I packed and why!!

Love and warmth!!

Day 22: Astorga - Rabanal del Camino (23 km)

2008-11-26T01:37:00.002+07:00

Nieva!! Snow!! Saw our first snow in 2 years today. Pretty exciting. The weather today was actually quite nice compared to yesterday. Sunny, fairly warm, no precipitation! There was snow on the ground which we assumed fell yesterday when we were getting rained on. A lot of it has already melted.

Justin has promised me to start wearing socks with his flip flops so I won´t worry about frostbite. We are going to cut and sew them into sock mittens for the flip flops.

We both slept very well last night. After a breakfast of yogurt, muesli, black tea, and kiwis we hit the road. The trail was quite lovely with lots of hills and forests and mucho sol.

We wanted to stop in this one town for lunch, but when we arrived all the cafes were cerrado. The older lady who told us this was standing by a van filled with bread. We asked if we could buy food there and she said yes. So we got really yummy pie/calzone/sandwiches. Thin squares of pie crust filled with meats. So yummy and buttery and perfect.

We met a nice Dutch man in that town who started in Amsterdam. We´ve met so many people who started in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, etc. It makes what we´re doing seem very tame and a bit lame. It´s also inspiring for future adventures!! He said France is really great to walk through, maybe we´ll try that next.

We spent the afternoon singing xmas songs in the snow. Justin also tried, with no luck, to teach me how to carry a tune. I guess we have 13 more days to work on that.

Our alburgue is very lovely in our town of 50. Nice fire and good company. We ran back into the Belgian Nina impersonantor - Anna- here. She has bad knee problems and has been resting in alburgues and taking buses for 2 or 3 weeks. She´s walking now but only about 10 km a day. She started in Belgium and has been walking 4 months. I´m astounded at her resolve to continue.

In other news I lost my Peru hat on the trail today! I was very upset, but I didn´t go back because I had no idea when it fell out of my pocket. An hour after getting to our alburgue though a man from Spain came in the room with hat in hand!! Hooray!!

Tomorrow we climb a mountain and meet the man at the top. We wanted to stay with him tonight, Amawalker recommended it, but we couldn´t make the 32 km today.

Love and snowballs to all!!

Justin and Food and Spanish Regional Pride!

2008-11-26T01:07:00.003+07:00

Hello America and the Rest Of The World:

Observation 1: There is a weird regional pride in this country. Everybody wants to seperate. Some jackass (es) apparently walk (s) around and spray paint (s) over road signs with the (Catalan or Basque) spellings of words in a clearly Castillian region. Rio Junto becomes Riu Xunto. Stupid stuff. It makes me want to spray over the whole damn sign and rewrite it in English.

Observation 2: The food. Food report time!

What we eat:
1. Tortillas! Not like in Mexico, these are made with potatoes and eggs and onions and oil and they are the best thing in the world! We eat them everyday- sometimes on bread, sometimes not! Still, Mexican ones are better...

2.) Chorizo! It´s so disgusting and fatty and it stains my hands orange with ¨colorante¨- some wierd coloring agent that looks like artificial cheese powder. Awesome and we also eat this everyday.

3.) Boxes of wine! 69 cents for a liter of wine! Yes please!Also, really cheap, local, extra wine reserves in sketchy looking bottles with no labels. And it´s good! I now am of the opinion that 2 bucks is expensive for a good bottle of locally grown wine.

4.) Lentils in glass jars. Lentils plus tabasco plus ham flavored chips equals mmmmm

5.) I ate blood sausage (tastes like meatloaf) and beef tongue (really, really, really good). Side note - odd to taste something designed to taste you, no? Like making eye contact or smelling someone else´s nose maybe.

6.) Tapas are weird and frantic. Beer plus tapas is about 1 euro and you stand and eat and everyone eats fast and you cant buy just a beer. Its really hard to get drunk when you keep eating greasy tapas. The bars are smoky, really smoky, and people throw all their trash, cigarettes, etc. on the floor. Pretty nasty.

7. Breakfast equals bread and butter and jam or marmelade for the most part at the albergues. Not bad, actually.

OK, enough

It´s cold and theres a lot of snow in this town. I threw a snowball for the first time in years! Aleza was angry cuz I promised not to... Ill probably do it again tomorrow, then she will throw some back at me and Ill slip into a hypothermic coma and she will feel really bad. Or there might be an avalanche. Well, talk to all in a few days if were still alive!

PS: Sorry about the lack of contractions and apostrophes. I keep forgetting where the keys are!

Day 21:Villar de Mazarife - Astorga 31 km

2008-11-25T02:59:00.002+07:00

3 week anniversary!! 2 weeks to go!!

What a day today, phew. The wind and rain and long distance kicked our behinds. We nearly toppled over several times from the wind. The freezing rain was also fun, although quickly blown off by the 90 mile winds.

No, no we´re doing alright. Today I wore two shirts, three pants, two pairs of socks, and three coats. I felt pretty alright. Justin of course didn´t dress as sensibly, but I sneakily got him to wear my scarf by asking him to hold it, but not asking him if he wanted to wear it. Worked like a charm.

The first half of the day was our last bit of flat, straight road and then into the woods. The trail was quite lovely the second half of the day with lots of forests and much more greens.

We both still have a bit of shin trouble, but not too bad considering the distance. I think tomorrow I might try to get a hot water bottle guy to fill with either cold or hot water in the evenings for our shins.

Our alburgue in Astorga is lovely with lots of warmth and more free internet! We haven´t met back up with any former friends though which is sad. We´ll have to try harder to make friends with the French folks here.

Today to fill the time we had an animal impersonation contests. I won for elephants and monkeys and Justin got horses and pigeons. Ahh what a day.

Justin´s cooking dinner and I think it´s ready. Pasta with veggies, salad, and this yummy sparkling wine we got in Leon.

I think tomorrow I´ll try to post a packing list (exciting!!) for anyone planning a camino trip and just for the general enjoyment of our faithful readers.

Missing America and turkeys a bit!! Love and warmth to all!!

Day 20: Leon- Villar de Mazarife (24 km)

2008-11-23T23:50:00.003+07:00

Hola amigos!!

We are back on a normal schedule which we will hopefully keep up the rest of the walk. Before I forget I found another nice website about the camino if you´re interested.

Last night we went out with Maria´s friends again and played BINGO. Her friends won twice for a total of 117 euros. Pretty good. Justin and I didn´t win, but we did get to practice our Spanish numbers- so in a way we did win. The place seemed pretty similar to in America- lots of old, depressed people concentrating. No stamper guys though and they go REALLY fast. Justin said I might be able to play with his grandma in Wisconsin. It was quite a rush.

After BINGO we went out for more tapas and then home for an early night (1am). This morning we left at 10 am. Maria dropped us off at the highway a few km from the trail.

We were both pretty lathargic today, I think partly from the day off. I´ve heard pilgrims say that at refugios (alburgues): it´s better to take a short day then to stop completely.

The trail was also a bit lack luster as well. We walked on the highway for an hour in the morning and then plains most of the rest of the way. We didn´t see another pilgrim the whole day although there are quite a few at our alburgue.

We got in around 5 with lots of breaking in the day. It´s a really nice alburgue with 2 kitchens and fun writing all over the walls. The internet is also not timed! I got to talk to Nancy on facebook for a bit which was quite the thrill.

Tomorrow we have 30 km - hopefully we make it because we have a mountain to cross on Wednesday and we hear talk of snow. Dun duh duuuuuhh. . .

Love!!

Day 19- Leon to Leon (0 km)

2008-11-23T01:22:00.003+07:00

Another rough one on the trail. Wooo dog. We promise to buckle down after this luxurious break. We want to try to stay with the recommended lengths in the book after this in the hope of making it to Finisterra on foot by the 8th. But we won´t hurt ourselves trying, of course.

Thanks for the warning about snow too. We looked at the weather today and it looks like it´s going to get colder this week. We´ll see how that goes.

Last night we had some momentous occassions. 1. We stayed out past 10pm (until 4am in fact). 2. We ate blood sausage for the first time. 3. We ate tongue for the first time.

Pretty good evening.

We left around 9pm to get tapas, they were all mighty tastey. We are already making plans to recreate a lot of them in Carbondale for a Sunday dinner. We went to the bar Maria´s parents own but don´t manage and got a ton of free food and wine. It´s all about who you know. My favorite was this really really tender steak with loads of salt.

We met up with a bunch of her friends from high school later (I poured coke on one of them, but she didn´t seem to mind too much). We went to a couple of discotecas and Justin and I practiced our Latin dancing. A lovely night all and all minus the intense smoke in all the places. I´ll be very happy to get back to Illinois and the smoke free nights.

Today we did laundry and relaxed. We went and saw a lot of cathedrals in the afternoon and hung out with Maria´s grandma. We made a very late lunch too of chicken and dumplings for the whole family.

I can´t remember if I´ve mentioned this, but early on in the camino I mentioned to someone that in America we usually eat between 5:30 and 7. No one would believe me and insisted that I was making that up.

So we finished our ¨lunch¨around 630 and are now hanging out till dinner and BINGO later.

We hope to be on the trail around 11 tomorrow- we´ve already stocked up on groceries for the Sunday shut down.

Love to all!! Thanks as always for the advice/comments/questions!

PHOTOS!!

2008-11-22T16:24:00.001+07:00

Here are some photos so far, hopefully more to come.

Day 18: Mansilla de las Mulas- Leon (17 km) The first frost.

2008-11-22T02:47:00.002+07:00

Hola from Maria´s casa. We are in Leon and living the city life. I´m wearing one of Marias shirts and perfume!! Feeling very upscale here. She is an amazingly generous host and it feels wonderful to be in a family´s home with moms and warmth.

The big news of the morning was the sizeable amount of frost on the ground when we got walking. Yikes! It didn´t feel too cold last night, but I did feel the drop in temperature this morning. All in all the weather today was above average. It warmed into the 50s during the day (mid teens as they say in this part of the world) with mucho sol. We think these next few days will be our main chance for snow, but after we get into Galicia there shouldn´t be any concern.

Other news from the morning, there was the CUTEST French gay couple in our alburgue. They had several completely matching outfits that they wore. Matching shirts, pants, shoes, and I´m guessing socks. We spent a lot of time today imaging the conversations that take place in the morning as they decide what to wear that day.

Justin and I are now seriously considering this route as a couple. Let us know what you think.

We both slept well last night and were pretty warm. They had space heaters there which one of our new friends was VERY scared of. Whenever someone messed with one he would hide behind the door. I guess there are a lot of explosions in Spain with them. We´ll watch out for them.

The trail wasn´t too scenic today. We were beside or on the highway for most of the day. We did climb two hills though which is a major change.

We had lunch at a very cute bar where the tapas were free with a beer (Maria says that´s the trend in Leon). The bartender´s little sister came out at one point to practice her English with us. It was very adorable.

And on that same vein, Justin´s been endlessly practicing his Spanish. He wants me to teach him more, but it´s a bit like the blind leading the blind. So today in Leon we got a Spanish-English dictionary and he has it out all the time frantically looking things up.

We both think we want to take some kind of Spanish course when we get home.

Once in Leon we bought 2 new books- A Picture of Dorian Gray and Great Expectations. So with those and Catch 22 we should be set for the trip. We also will be ready for Intro to English Literature 101 if we choose to enroll.

Tonight we are going out for more tapas and to Maria´s friends house. Tomorrow we might meet up with people from the trail last night for karaoke.

Thanks for all the camino people linking our blog to their pages. We really appreciate it!

Besos y brazos!

Day 17: Carrion - Mansilla de las Mulas ( 78 km)

2008-11-20T23:35:00.003+07:00

Phew are we tired. BIG day!! No no, only joking. We took the bus like the big cheaters we are.

It felt a bit sad and boring to not walk today: much smokier too. We constantly smell like smoke because every bar and restaurant is filled with it. When we walk we don´t notice it as much because we air out a bit, but today we only sat it bars so we smell quite rank.

It was funny walking around a town too and not being on the trail. Everywhere we walked people (especially older men) would tell us we´d lost the trail and ask if we needed directions to an alburgue. It was very sweet.

Most of the day we wandered around, went to bars when we were cold, found a fun outdoor market (Justin replaced his lost scarf), nothing much. At 1pm we took the bus and got in around 2:30. If you want to get somewhere quickly I recommend this way over walking- much faster. The buses here have been insanely nice suprisingly - big comfy seats and lots of leg room. I´ll get Justin to tell me about the one Jess mentioned though. Sounds like a good story.

The alburgue is MUCH nicer than last night. The one last night was the most expensive we´ve paid - 7 euros with no kitchen, internet, real common area, etc. Plus the beds were very uncomfortable. I don´t recommend it.

This one is 4 euros and the internet is the cheapest we´ve seen, 1 euro for an hour. Everywhere else it´s 1 euro for 20 minutes or so. There are some very friendly young people who are cooking dinner for everyone tonight so we (by we I mean Justin) are making a salad and trying some grilled mushrooms with garlic we ate at a bar.

For John - thanks for the question! We both have ipods and have had NO trouble charging them plus our camera and cell phone. There are usually lots of outlets free. It´s been nice having it as well for the night if it is noisy and if you want a change of pace while walking. Other advice would be pack as lightly as is possible. I have one outfit for the day and one I change into in the alburgues. Bring REALLY broken in shoes - I´m doing sneakers and I think it´s helped with the blisters. Also bring lots of vasoline or a&d to grease your feet up with before you start walking in the morning. That also really helps with the blisters. And I like having a guide book. The one we got seems to be the smallest (and I think best)- ít´s called the Rother Walking Guide by Cordula Rabe I believe. That was a lot of advice- let me know if you have other questions.

Thanks to all our loyal readers and their loyal questions/comments!! Warm thoughts to all!

Day 16: Fromista - Carrion (19km)/ Kansas of Spain

2008-11-20T00:09:00.002+07:00

Well we have arrived in the Kansas of Spain. The whole day flat as a pancake minus a few farm houses peaking up in the distance. And the wind, lord all mighty. Justin thinks up to 30 mph. It nearly knocked us over several times.

The big news for today is my victory over Justin in the health department. We went to the pharmacy yesterday, despite his protests, because my shins were hurting me. They gave me some bandage tape/wrap to wrap up our shins while we walked. Justin´s shins were hurting him this morning so he agreed to use the wrap. Low and behold, 20 minutes later he feels great! He apologized as well and danced for a good part of the walk. Happy day!

We had a lovely, easy walk today despite it being by a road the whole way. We sang Disney tunes and haven´t run out of things to talk about yet.

Our alburgue is a little uncuddly, but the town here is nice and bustling. We don´t have a kitchen again which is too bad because we spent all day planning our dinner. Oh well.

Tomorrow we are taking a bus to Reliegos and cutting about 2 days walking out of our trip. We feel a bit like we are cheating, but we need to get to Leon by Friday so oh well.

This part of the trail has felt a lot emptier, I think because a lot of people skip Burgos to Leon. Hopefully it will liven up after Leon.

We miss everyone! Feliz camino to all!

Day 15: Itero de la Vega- Fromista (15 km)

2008-11-18T22:18:00.003+07:00

Another shorter day, but we are slowly adding length back. Tomorrow I think we will go 18 and then catch a bus closer to Leon.

Today is was colder, cloudier, and windier. Usually it breaks in the afternoon, but it didn´t today. There might be some rain tomorrow :(

The walk was pretty flat and uneventful today except for some geese and following a canal for a while.

We are in a government alburgue tonight with no kitchen, but it seems pretty nice. We are with a friend we met our first night on the trail- it´s always fun to run back into people you know. We liked being alone last night, but it was a bit lonely as well.

Two things I wanted to talk about, stop me if I´ve mentioned this already. . .

1. I love the simplicity of being on the trail. All day we talk about what to eat for lunch and dinner and where to go to the bathroom. In the evening we tend our wounds, stretch, find/make food, and sleep. It´s lovely to have almost all your energy go to these basic necessities.

2. I love to watch and be a part of the ¨sizing up¨that occurs when 2 pilgrims meet. There are some basic questions you ask to figure out who is the superior pilgrim: ¨Where did you start?¨ Pamplona? - oh I started in Poland. ¨How long have you been on the trail?¨Two weeks? Oh I´ve been walking 6 months. ¨How far are you going today? ¨ 20 km? Oh I´m going 45km.

It´s fun to be a part of. It´s never malicious, but always informative.

One guy in particular was terribly obvious with his motivations. We met Juan in Villafranca when we had taken a half day. He asked where we´d started today ¨oh only 15 km, I walked MUCH further¨then he took a good 10 minutes to show me on his map how much farther he had walked than us. ¨Where are you going tomorrow?¨¨Only 20km? Oh, I am going 40, to Burgos¨ Again with the map to demonstrate what a big difference this was.

Later that night he got very drunk and kept showing us pictures of his ¨coche¨a ¨Yundai (ie Hyundai)¨He kept them tucked in his wallet like the photos you would have of your children, if you´d neglected to have children and instead bought a Hyundai.

Oh for Jess- Today we had 2 more flip flop comments which brings the total to somewhere in the 20s, not as much as I would have thought. And no he has not switched to regular shoes because . . . God only knows. I´m going to stop suggesting it though in hopes that it motivates him. Today he wore gloves for the first time! Woo Hoo!!

Alrighty, that´s all for now from the road. Thanks to all our loyal readers and your loyal comments!!

PS - Mom- David de españa is very different from David de North Caroline. We travelled with both for a while. David from Spain is older, buddhist, on a year break from working with alternative energy, likes to sing. David from NC is young, not buddhist, travelling between years in school, doesn´t sing as often. Both very good people!

2 week anniversary: Castrojeriz - Itero de la Vega (10km - woo hoo!)

2008-11-18T00:20:00.004+07:00

Our days are getting progressively shorter and shorter, oh well. Justin´s shin and foot still hurt when he walks too long so we are taking it slow. He promised me that if it still hurts in Leon he´ll go to a doctor.

Our current plan is to walk as far as we can till Friday and then take a bus to Leon to meet Maria there and hopefully stay with her family for the weekend!! We´d like to not bus, but we´d like to stay with Maria more than that, so oh well.

Last night we met Paco who is wonderful! He runs the alburgue near the main plaza in Castrojeriz.

Last night we were very hungry but no one was cooking food till 8pm so we were sitting around our alburgue feeling sorry for ourselves when in rushes Paco, panting, with a giant pot of garlic soup and a big grin! Hooray!!

After plopping down the soup he mumbled something in Spanish and raced out the door again. 20 minutes later he races back in with a Spanish omelette, panting again. Both the dishes were superb and terrribly generous!

THEN around 9 we decided to go for a drink and who should we see at the bar but Paco! We went to order and he ended buying both of our drinks! What a guy.

We gave the bartender some money and, hopefully, explained to him that the money was for drinks for Paco the next night.

Because Paco is so laid back we got to have a late start in the morning. We didn´t wake till 7:45 and didn´t leave the alburgue till 9! What a treat!

The weather has been quite cold and windy in the mornings, but by 1pm it seems to clear and get sunny and warmer.

The short hike today was lovely with a steep climb in the morning that gave us nice views (most notable of the hundreds of wind mills all around). We also crossed a lovely river and met lots of tractors. This part of the trail is definitely less scenic, but it also has been far from roads and much less developed which has been a nice change of pace.

We decided to stay in Itero de la Vega which is a very small town of 100. We are the only people in this alburgue which is a first and pretty nice. We got a private room for only 5 euros and the owner also has a small restaurant so we got to use his semi- professional kitchen as well.

Justin and I cooked chicken and dumplings again and are about to go and eat. This whole trip all I ever want is warm soups.

Thanks for all the comments! We love them!!

PS- Mommacita- The Dutch woman runs the alburgue/cafe in San Bol.

PSS- The comment about Justin´s broken toe is from when he was a baby and the toe he broke didn´t heal quite right.