hello
i am in a beautiful albergue, sun shining through the window and some jazz playing on the radio. There is a flower garden outside of the window, pink azaleas and pink roses. across the street are adobe homes. i am in a town called santa croya del tera. i am at the edge of galicia. the weather these last few days has been perfect for walking. blue skies and cool temperatures, perhaps 65 to 70.
i have a new group of pilgrim friends. a french couple, eveline and jean-marie, a spanish couple from leon, nita and mr.nita, a man from holland, root is the phonetic spelling of his name. there are secondary characters too, a spanish man and a young woman ( root says his 'nurse'.) and another single spanish man.
my walk from zamora to monmarta was kind of sad and hard, for no real good reason except that i didn´t have michaels laugh and the italians txt messages. but it seemed more than that. somedays are just like that. the next day was the opposite, i could have floated over the land. all i saw were blue skies, and various shades of brown fields. once and a while there would be a small vineyard. i have been thinking about what it means to walk not alone, but on my own. to me there seems to be a big difference. on my own i have such freedom.
the man from holland and the french couple and i have had dinner together the last two nights. the man from holland translates for the french and i. eveline has a very expressive collection of facial expressions and sounds that little translation is needed. yesterday i walked from granja to tabara. the morning again was cool, the full moon was visable opposite the rising sun. i started walking on rolling hills and fields.after two hours i got to walk on a scary rocky cliff over a river. the views were gorgeous. actually i ran into the spanish man and his nurse in a compromised position. they saw me, i said 'hola' they said 'hola' and i walked on.
in the first town, 6 hours after i started, a woman was walking with a big pail of green grapes. i stopped to talk to her and she gave me a big bunch to eat. they were delicious. she was very sure to tell me the grapes were 'sin chemicle'.the entire area she said grrows grapes sin chemicles. a bit later on the edge of town a sheperd called out 'hola'. i stopped and he came over. i told him my grandsons would like his sheep. he asked me how old they were. then he asked me how old i was. then i asked him how old he was, he said 57, the same as you he said, young. he asked if i was alone, or married. in the meantime the sheep were milling around and the dogs were rolling their eyes, saying could we get back to work here. root told me later that the sheperd talked to him too. what if he is an extrovert, what a hard job for him.
my walk was supposed to be 27 km. about 15 minutes before i was to finish, i lost my way. no more yellow arrows to follow. i ended up on a highway. i couldn´t decide which way to turn, right or left. that is when i made my worst mistake. i looked at a google map on my phone. tabara was to the left on my phone. i turned left and walked for 30 minutes before it dawned on me that i was walking east, not west. i was walking back to the town i had just left. ( the last two years i have walked south to north. all of the sudden i am walking west. i think that was why i was disoriented. the crazy sun wasn´t where i thought it was. damn. so i turned around and walked on the highway till i arrived in tabara at 5:30. i started in the morning at 8. i was so tired, dirty and thirsty that i checked into a hostel, not the albergue. that was the right decision.
i have learned an important lesson these last two days. be careful about asking a man where the camino is. he will tell you to walk on the highway, directly, either to the next town or to santiago. it makes no difference. and they are so confident because of course they are right.
today i ate wild grapes, beautiful wild grapes outside of a deserted bodega that eveline and jean marie discovered. the grapes were amazing,deep purple, sweet and juicy. what a gift. i may like them better than the figs of the camino frances. oh by the way, in granja you can either walk north to the camino frances or west to the camino sanabrais. see in the photo- one way or the other, now is the time.
i have to run to the famacia now. i have gnat ( i'm sure thats what they are) bites all over my face and hands. ouch and ick.
adios and love,
mom, nonna, mary
i am in a beautiful albergue, sun shining through the window and some jazz playing on the radio. There is a flower garden outside of the window, pink azaleas and pink roses. across the street are adobe homes. i am in a town called santa croya del tera. i am at the edge of galicia. the weather these last few days has been perfect for walking. blue skies and cool temperatures, perhaps 65 to 70.
i have a new group of pilgrim friends. a french couple, eveline and jean-marie, a spanish couple from leon, nita and mr.nita, a man from holland, root is the phonetic spelling of his name. there are secondary characters too, a spanish man and a young woman ( root says his 'nurse'.) and another single spanish man.
my walk from zamora to monmarta was kind of sad and hard, for no real good reason except that i didn´t have michaels laugh and the italians txt messages. but it seemed more than that. somedays are just like that. the next day was the opposite, i could have floated over the land. all i saw were blue skies, and various shades of brown fields. once and a while there would be a small vineyard. i have been thinking about what it means to walk not alone, but on my own. to me there seems to be a big difference. on my own i have such freedom.
the man from holland and the french couple and i have had dinner together the last two nights. the man from holland translates for the french and i. eveline has a very expressive collection of facial expressions and sounds that little translation is needed. yesterday i walked from granja to tabara. the morning again was cool, the full moon was visable opposite the rising sun. i started walking on rolling hills and fields.after two hours i got to walk on a scary rocky cliff over a river. the views were gorgeous. actually i ran into the spanish man and his nurse in a compromised position. they saw me, i said 'hola' they said 'hola' and i walked on.
in the first town, 6 hours after i started, a woman was walking with a big pail of green grapes. i stopped to talk to her and she gave me a big bunch to eat. they were delicious. she was very sure to tell me the grapes were 'sin chemicle'.the entire area she said grrows grapes sin chemicles. a bit later on the edge of town a sheperd called out 'hola'. i stopped and he came over. i told him my grandsons would like his sheep. he asked me how old they were. then he asked me how old i was. then i asked him how old he was, he said 57, the same as you he said, young. he asked if i was alone, or married. in the meantime the sheep were milling around and the dogs were rolling their eyes, saying could we get back to work here. root told me later that the sheperd talked to him too. what if he is an extrovert, what a hard job for him.
my walk was supposed to be 27 km. about 15 minutes before i was to finish, i lost my way. no more yellow arrows to follow. i ended up on a highway. i couldn´t decide which way to turn, right or left. that is when i made my worst mistake. i looked at a google map on my phone. tabara was to the left on my phone. i turned left and walked for 30 minutes before it dawned on me that i was walking east, not west. i was walking back to the town i had just left. ( the last two years i have walked south to north. all of the sudden i am walking west. i think that was why i was disoriented. the crazy sun wasn´t where i thought it was. damn. so i turned around and walked on the highway till i arrived in tabara at 5:30. i started in the morning at 8. i was so tired, dirty and thirsty that i checked into a hostel, not the albergue. that was the right decision.
i have learned an important lesson these last two days. be careful about asking a man where the camino is. he will tell you to walk on the highway, directly, either to the next town or to santiago. it makes no difference. and they are so confident because of course they are right.
today i ate wild grapes, beautiful wild grapes outside of a deserted bodega that eveline and jean marie discovered. the grapes were amazing,deep purple, sweet and juicy. what a gift. i may like them better than the figs of the camino frances. oh by the way, in granja you can either walk north to the camino frances or west to the camino sanabrais. see in the photo- one way or the other, now is the time.
i have to run to the famacia now. i have gnat ( i'm sure thats what they are) bites all over my face and hands. ouch and ick.
adios and love,
mom, nonna, mary
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