Saturday, March 10, 2018

El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 20: Villares de Órbigo to Astorga

Michelle wrote:
26 Sept. Tuesday
Morning Selfie at Albergue Villares de Orbigo
We left the albergue at 7:30 am and began walking in the predawn light. We couldn’t get a good picture of the end of the meseta because it was too dark. We climbed a hill and looked out over the vast flatness and said, “Goodbye meseta!” It is good to be back in the hills with vistas to look forward to.

A short 2.5 km walk brought us to second breakfast, or Santibanez de Valdeiglesia. Then up and down the hills we went. Near the top there is a man who lives on the camino and he offers fresh fruits to the pilgrims.  His house is right there and kind of open. It is called La Casa de los Dioses (the Abode of the Gods). He is a New Age/42nd Parallel kind of guy.  Just after passing his place we reached the top of the hill and could see Astorga below.  That was nice to see where we would be at the end of the day.  


2nd Breakfast at a bar in Santibáñez de Valdeiglesias
As we came into the suburbs of Astorga we met a fun Irish couple that hike a part of the camino for 5 days every year.  They will probably finish this year.

Astorga is an ancient city up on a hill and surrounded by a big wall.  There are some ruins of a Roman home with a beautiful mosaic floor.  It is right in front of a church.  I am glad they are trying to preserve the ancient history here.  We check into a big 150+ bed albergue - Siervas de Maria, and were lucky to get a small room with just one bunk bed for 5 euros each.  The bathroom is across the hall:  3 showers, 3 sinks, and 3 toilet stalls.  All coed.  It is not quite as comfortable as other private rooms but costs 25-35 euros less.  Ironically, those mattresses on the bunkbeds were the most comfortable of all of the albergues we have stayed in!  The albergue is very clean and smells good, too.  The volunteers there were 3 Americans and a German.  We haven’t seen any other American volunteers on the camino.  

We had to wait in a line to do our laundry because there were only 2 working washing machines.  After we hung up the clothes we walked through Astorga to the big beautiful cathedral.  We went into the gift shop, but didn’t take the cathedral tour.  Next to the cathedral is the Palacio Episcopal (Camino Museum now) built by Gaudi.  We took the tour of that fascinating and beautiful building.  I’m not sure if someone like an archbishop lived there or what, but it doesn’t look like a house to me!  It is very beautiful and ornate.  Now it is home to a lot of art that refers to St. James (Santiago).  High arched ceilings and stained glass windows that are different in each room.  Very impressive!  In the basement there were a lot of Roman artifacts, mostly stone.
We ate dinner at a bar that served pizza. It tasted really good because it wasn’t a pilgrim meal! We have to get an early start in the morning for a difficult day that is mostly uphill. Curtis’s toe is still hurting, but he's trying to tough it out for 3 more days.

Curtis writes:
Leaving Villares de Orbigo we immediately walk through the hills. We stopped for a quick breakfast and bathroom break while it was just getting light in Santibanez. (Actually it was second breakfast because the Belgium woman had hot chocolate and toast for us at 7 this morning when we left her place.) Shortly after that we passed these cows along the road.

When she was younger, Michelle's friends
named a calf after her.  Baby animals have
a special place in this girl’s heart.
Sometimes she's a tease


Climbing the gentle hill we looked back over the meseta. The picture with the sun coming up does not adequatly show the expanse of the plain, but the lighting has it's own interesting effects.
Sunrise over the meseta, from the western end.

We stopped for a break in the shade provided
by this planted grove of trees along
Arroyo del Valle de Rozas.

Our first hint that we are approaching Astorga: you can see the Cathedral through
an opening in the trees and maybe even the Episcopal Palace designed by Gaudi.

Astorga from the East
Beyond Astorga you can see the mountains we cross 2 days later.

Entrance to our albergue in Astorga: Siervas de Maria

We are staying in a huge place with more than 150 beds. The people running the place are well organized volunteers. We were fortunate enough to have a room with our own bunk bed in it.

A simple clean room with bunks that don't squeek every time you roll over.

View from our room in Astorga, looking south away from the city.


View from the wall.  Our albergue is the building on the far left.
View from the wall  the wall adjacent Jardín de La Sinagoga

Self-portrait with Calle del Jardin in the background

I liked Astorga. They seemed to be more sensitive to the tourist trade than other small cities we've been through. Leon had a different feel to it, mostly because it's more of an industrial center. Next time I visit Astorga, I want to tour the Roman excavations, tour the cathedral and stay in a nice hotel where I can sleep in. I should check and see when their Feria is, and plan accordingly. The feria in Logroño was a blast!

El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 19: Villar de Mazarife to Villares de Órbigo

Michelle wrote:
25 Sept. Monday
Morning Selfie at Villar de Mazarife
We began our walk at 8:00 am and had a pleasantly cool, long, straight walk for almost 10 km from Villar de Mazarife to Villavante.

The fields are now mostly corn and it was much more pleasant than the walk yesterday.  We are getting closer to the hills and mountains again and everything looks better.  We saw an Australian man pushing his handicapped daughter in a 3-wheeled wheelchair.  We’d seen him in Leon.  He is giving her a chance to experience this pilgrimage - very admirable.  He is quite popular on the camino because of his selfless love for his daughter.  And he is very friendly.  

The town of Hospital de Orbigo was not very impressive as we came into it.  When we got to an old, very long bridge our impression completely changed.  The bridge was built in the 13th century over an existing Roman bridge.  The river used to flood, hence the long span.  Then they dammed the river to provide irrigation water for the fields.  The river is now much smaller, but still beautiful.  There is a big field in the former floodplain and every year in June they have a jousting re-enactment there.  I’d like to see that sometime.  


We ate lunch just across the river and enjoyed the walk through this side of town.  We then had a short 2 km walk to Villar de Orbigo and passed a farmer harvesting his potato crop.  There was a tractor that turned up the dirt and sucked/scooped up the potatoes.  3 people were in a trailer behind the tractor and they seemed to be sifting the potatoes from the dirt.  It was interesting to watch for a few minutes.  We also saw a tractor carrying huge peppers in the shovel part of his tractor.  I’ve never seen such big peppers!


Left foot soaking in epsom salts with Tea Tree oil

My blisters and sore tendon problem are pretty much gone now, but Curtis developed problems with his left foot.  His little toe was being pushed underneath the next toe and was becoming increasingly painful.  It looked like a blood blister was under the toenail.  A nice Australian couple at our albergue offered some salts for Curtis to use to soak his foot in hot water and then cold water, back and forth.  They also put a few drops of tea tree oil in the water.  They were very kind to offer some help. I took a picture and sent it in a text to Dr. Joshua Marshall in Albuquerque and he gave us some good advice on how to get through the last 4 days of the camino.  No need to run to a doctor here. It will heal.  Whew!


We weren’t able to wash our clothes last night because we got to Mazarife too late, so today we had even more clothes to wash.  We had to hand wash them in the courtyard but this place had a machine that spun the clothes to get most of the water out.  It was very helpful and we were amazed at how much water was spun out, even though we thought we had wrung them well.  I felt bad about using up so much room on the drying racks, so we hung our underclothes in between the bunks in our room (we had a “private” room with 2 bunkbeds, but we were the only ones in the room).  The other clothes are outside on the rack and we found another rack that we took out to the street in the full sun and wind.  They are drying very quickly now.   I sat on a bench enjoying the afternoon sun. 
Albergue Villares de Orbigo and the bench where Michelle sat and wrote
in her journal while our clothes dried in the breeze and sun.

 It is a nice peaceful town, but it also has some life.  The local men were in the bar across the street talking, drinking and playing games.  That was nice to see during siesta.  When siesta ended, 4:00 pm, we went to the Farmacia and the pharmacist suggested a gel type of wrap that slips over the toe and protects it.  She didn’t see any sign of infection, so the salt water baths helped with that because his toe looked better than it did when we first got to the albergue.   The pharmacists are like doctors here and have been very helpful to us.  

We enjoyed a nice home-cooked communal dinner and enjoyed talking with the other pilgrims.  We especially enjoyed talking with a Canadian couple from Ontario.  They were very interesting people and conversed well on different topics.  

Curtis writes:  The highlight of this day's trek was the bridge at Hospital de Orbigo, and the adjacent jousting ground.

The place we stayed last night was also quite quaint and we would definitely come back to it. It was run by a lady from Belgium. There were about 22 guests there that night. Two were from Korea, 3 were from Australia, 2 from France, 3 from Ireland, 3 from Brazil, 2 from Canada, 2 from Germany and 4 of us were from the US.

Most of us participated in the communal dinner served by our Hostess from Belgium. It was a three-course meal starting with a cream of zucchini soup followed by a salad with fresh melons and tomatoes and after that there was chicken stew with potatoes and Chicken on the bone.

During dinner we sat across from the couple from Canada. He had been a banker and then changed careers to be a school principal in a small town in the province of Ontario. We found them quite interesting to talk to. While hiking, he hurt his foot and so rather than wait around two days for it to heal they rented bikes and rode the bikes through most of the meseta which is the flat section of the trail. It was interesting to learn that such a thing could be done. The bikes came with all of the equipment they would need to store their stuff while cycling.

Part of the discussion included the question of why it is so rare to see children in the streets in these little towns. We are finding that the town's are slowly being abandoned and that young families move to the city.

On a less appealing topic there have been problems developing with my little toe. I took my shoe and sock off in the courtyard of the albergue and the hostess came by and noticed it. She said: "That needs to be soaked." Then an older gentleman from Australia saw it and recommended that I soak it in hot water and then in cold water and then in hot water again and again. This Australian is a cross between Jimmy Durante and Crocodile Dundee. 

So we took one of the laundry buckets and the hostess filled it full of hot water and we took another one and put cold water in it. Then the Australian  brought down some salt that he poured in the water and also some tea tree oil.  I soaked my foot alternatively in hot and cold.  It helped soothe the ache, but it did not solve the problem, since it's a structural issue with the shape of the foot and the shoe.

Later in the afternoon, we visited the town pharmacy.   We asked about Epsom salts.  There was some available for us but she (the pharmacist) said if you are pilgrims you don't want to carry this. You should simply ask the albergue for some table salt.  She took a close look at the toe and recommended a silicone sleeve, which we bought for a few euros.

El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 18: Leon to Villar de Mazarife

Michelle wrote:
24 Sept. Sunday
Laundromat in Leon
We woke up at 8:00 am and got my backpack down to the neighboring albergue for pick up by Jacobtrans. We'd missed the pick up at the hotel. 30 minutes later we checked out of the hotel and saw my bag picked up and put on the van. Whew! Barely made it! We went to the nearby lanudromat and put our clothes in the washing machine.

Curtis went to find the church, which we knew was close by, and I stayed with the clothes.  I was starting to get concerned because the clothes were almost done and he had the money for the dryer and we needed to finish in time for church.  When he came back he said that the mission president was finishing an interview with a missionary just as Curtis walked into the church.  The mission president, Pres. Kevin Pack, used to live in the Collins Hill Ward!  They moved out in 1997, three years before we moved in.  His wife Cindy was the first RS president of the newly created Collins Hill Ward.  They are good friends with a lot of our good friends from that ward.  Small world once again.  
Curtis & Pres. Pack at
 the chapel in Leon


There was no Sacrament meeting that day because it was District Conference and it was held at a hotel just up the street a bit.  We got the clothes dried quickly (very efficient machines!) and walked to the hotel, which was on our way out of town anyway.  Perfect!  It was a good thing Curtis found out where the church was early, or we would have missed the conference.  It started 30 minutes earlier than Sacrament meeting would have started.  



After church we started the walk out of Leon.  I liked Leon.  We walked through the suburbs and industrial parts of the city.  We didn’t see hardly any pilgrims.  They’d either already passed through or were stopping in Leon for the day.  After 8 km of this, we realized that we hadn’t eaten lunch, so we stopped for a bocadillo and lemonade.  Things felt better after that!  

Plaza de Santo Domingo and facinating building we passed as we were leaving Leon

We took to the optional path that took us away from the highway.  The land has changed again and there aren’t very many plowed fields or any type of active agriculture.  We passed through 2 small villages and saw a total of 3 other pilgrims.  One was an interesting woman from Belgium who had a lot of flag patches of the counties she’s visited.  The 4 km brought us to Villar de Mazarife - a 21 km walk from our hotel in Leon.  We left Leon at 12:30 and made it to Mazarife at 5:30.  

We were happy that we were able to walk 21 km in 5 ½ hours!  I was worried that my leg wouldn’t hold up for that long and I’d have to slow down, but my leg didn’t tighten up at all!  A blessing for making church a priority today? Sure! I’ll take it!

Our albergue is called Tio Pepe’s and it is okay. It’s probably considered a good one, but we had just spent the night in a very nice hotel. It wasn’t fair to compare it to the hotel. It was still better than the dormitory rooms. The private rooms are nice but expensive. This one cost 50 euros. We had to repack our packs before going to bed. We plan to leave early in the morning.
Pres. Kevin Pack of the Spain Madrid Mission after District Conference in Leon 
Pres. Pack wrote the following on his Facebook post:
"This past Sunday I was able to attend a conference of my church in León, Spain. I always enjoy these gatherings and leave spiritually renewed as I gather with friends and fellow believers, and this was certainly the case on Sunday. In addition, about an hour before the conference began, I met a man named Curtis Whetten from Georgia who was walking the Camino De Santiago with his wife. As we spoke, we discovered that we had many friends in common back in Georgia. It made me think about one of the great blessings of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. Because of my membership in the Church, I have friends literally throughout the world, wherever I go. Paul's words to the Ephesians indeed rang true to me that day...."Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." (Ephesians 2:19-20) I am grateful to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ, built upon a foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ himself as the chief cornerstone."

Curtis writes:
Our time in Leon was too short for the things we wanted to do. We prioritized and got the most important things done. Another year we can tour the cathedral and maybe even attend an organ recital there. THAT could be awesome.
Rio Bernesga on the west side of Leon
As with most of my blog entries, the photos are posted in the order they were taken. We didn't take our "morning selfie" until after doing the laundry, and after attending Church meetings and after hiking west, across the Rio Bernesga, out of Leon and up the hill side in the adjacent community of Trobajo del Camino (yes, spelling is correct). Finally at this point we remembered to take the picture.
In Leon I was able to replace the hat that I left on the west side of Bercianos del Camino (most likely).

Just a note about style: I liked my other hat better.




It was nice to have a good walking surface.

This is the first field we came across with this unique pattern in the soil.

Dove coat on La Meseta
You can see this spot in Google Maps when this tree was still green.
Dove cote near Villar de Mazarife

Welcome to Villar de Mazarife
This mosaic mural welcomes pilgrims near the entrance to Villar de Mazarife.  Though the technique is ancient, this is a modern work of art.
We stayed at Albergue Tio Pepe.  The reviews rated it highly.  My experience was not quite the same.  We had our own room with a private bathroom.  That was nice.  Unfortunately, it was right over the bar.  So, like the night before in Leon, there was a lot of noise that kept me up: a loud TV and a passionate discussion between a couple of bar patrons.  Finally, around 10pm (which is really late for pilgrims but not late at all for the men in the bar) I went down and asked if they could turn the TV down a little.  The dormitory where most of the other pilgrims were staying was across the small courtyard, so they were not bothered by the noise.
Albergue Tio Pepe