strange beer variation

A popular refreshing drink on the camino is beer with lemon soda, like Fanta. A draft beer is called a "caña", so you can just ask for a caña con limon. Apparently this is also popular in other places, and is called Shandy in the UK.

It was not actually dreadful but I preferred plain lemon Fanta. Anselmo put away one or two large ones each afternoon.

equipment for trekking

We carried some specialized equipment to survive on the Camino.

The Albergues had beds but we carried special sheets and towels. The special sheet was made of silk and very light weight. The special towel was made of some weirdo material that somehow absorbed water but the material itself was extremely thin and close to weightless, even after you used it to dry off.

In addition to the sheet and towel we carried tiny lightweight sleeping bags. Our packs were also extremely light, made of a material like parachute cloth, with a little padding at the back.

We carried small mesh bags. If you washed your socks and they did not dry, you put them in this mesh bag and tied it to your pack. The socks would presumably dry in the hot sun as you walked. A side benefit is that if you turned suddenly, the mesh bag would swing around and hit you.

Clothing for trekking:

Before this trek, I imagined that Spain would be really hot. My plan was to hike in a running bra and fast-drying shorts, using my midriff as sort of a radiator. Here is the problem with this approach: my backpack absorbed all my sweat! By late in the hike it was reeking!
A more practical approach is to wear a sleeveless mesh t-shirt that dries fast like the shorts. That way some of the sweat goes into the t-shirt instead of the pack!

Also, everyone on the camino wears the pants that zip off into shorts. It is a fashion necessity.

It is freezing in the mountain passes, so some kind of jacket is necessary. I did well with Liz's rain jacket since it was an effective wind breaker.

Footwear for Trekking:

I wore running shoes. I discovered that my feet hurt less if the shoes were laced as loose as possible.

Closed shoes make your feet very hot and sweaty and more likely to blister. Many people wear sandals.

Anselmo wore geeky sandals with socks. They worked very well for him except he had to stop every few seconds and shake the gravel out of his shoes. This gave me lots of time to stretch and get bored.

Anselmo finally reaches the End of the World

We did not have time to walk to Finisterre, as it is 4 days out of Santiago.

We decided to rent a car and drive out there. We drove to the coast and then up, seeing some incredibly spectacular beaches. The mountains come right down to the sea. They are all bare and covered with rocks.

The sea is deep turquoise!!! It is stunning. The ocean and rocks and all were just breathtaking, with little stucco villages perched on the hillsides overlooking the sea.





We went out to Finisterre for the sunset. There were lots of people out there. There were people burning their clothes. That is a very bad idea when your clothes are made of synthetic materials derived from petroleum or some kind of plastic.

It really smelled bad! What a bad idea.

Finisterre is this huge cliff sticking out into the pounding Atlantic. The blue sky and the turquoise water was just gorgeous. The scenery there is breathtaking, you can´t really explain it.

Finisterre has a long history. The ancient Greek and Phoenician geographers knew that it was the westernmost point in Europe. The ancient Druids thought that the sun died there and they had a temple to the sun like Stonehenge.

The Romans also believed that it was the end of the world and that there were monsters and perhaps Atlantis on the horizon from Finisterre. I was struggling to read the information folders, which were written in Gallego, the local dialog of Galicia. The folders claimed that Saint James destroyed the Druid´s sun temple but I don´t believe it.

Some History of the Santiago Cathedral

Here is some history of Santiago from Wikipedia.

According to legend, the apostle Saint James the Great brought the Message of Christ to the Celts in the Iberian Peninsula. In 44 AD he was beheaded in Jerusalem. His remains were later brought back to Galicia, Spain. Following Roman persecutions of Spanish Christians, his tomb was abandoned in the 3rd century. Still according to legend, this tomb was rediscovered in 814 AD by Pelayo, a hermit, after witnessing strange lights in the night sky. Bishop Theodemir of Iria recognized this as a miracle and informed the Asturian king Alfonso II (791-842). The king ordered the construction of a chapel on the site. Legend has it that the king became the first pilgrim to this shrine. This was followed by a first church in 829 AD and again in 899 AD by a pre-Romanesque church, at the order of king Alfonso III of León, causing the gradual development of a major place of pilgrimage. In 997 this early church was reduced to ashes by Mohammed ibn-Abi Amir (938-1002), army commander of the caliph of Córdoba, Spain. The gates and the bells, carried by Christian captives to Córdoba, were added to the Aljama Mosque. When Córdoba was taken by king Ferdinand III of Castile in 1236, these same gates and bells were then transported by Muslim captives to Toledo, to be inserted in the cathedral Santa Maria.

Construction of the present cathedral began in 1075 under the reign of Alfonso VI of Castile (1040-1109) and the patronage of bishop Diego Peláez. It was built according to the same plan as the monastic brick church of Saint Sernin in Toulouse, probably the greatest Romanesque edifice in France. It was built mostly in granite. Construction was halted several times and, according to the Liber Sancti Iacobi, the last stone was laid in 1122. But by then, the construction of the cathedral was certainly not finished. The cathedral was consecrated in 1128 in the presence of king Alfonso IX of Leon.

the spiritual path to spain

We are in Santiago. We stayed in Arco de Pino last night. The walk in this morning was only about 12 miles, although Anselmo´s foot was acting up a bit. I was kind of shocked that there was trash all over the Camino and the signs pointing which way to go were all defaced and covered with graffiti. However the other pilgrims, of which there are lots now, were all in good spirits.

We went to the office to get our Compostela certificates. Compostela does not mean compost. It means "Field of Stars" (Campo de Stella), which stands for the field where the remains of Saint James were found in 1000 AD.

We looked at the Cathedral, which was quite impressive. I have not read about the history of the cathedral but it looks Baroque. They need to clean it like the Burgos cathedral.

Our hotel has free Internet. I will try to go online later. I don´t see the actual computer, just the keyboard and display, so I don´t think I can upload photos.

raindrops, "Sobrenatural"

Today we had to walk from the environmental resort back to the camino. We walked up and down hills till we reached the town of ???.

It was sprinkling during the morning. Fortunately we were near a cafe when it started bucketing rain. We sat in the cafe eating and using their computer for a while.

Eventually Anselmo called a cab. He hates walking in the rain. The cab lady was explaining that most of the people were not making money farming, and that all the new houses being built were built by people who had made money outside of Galicia.

The cab took us to the Casa Milia, a small Bed and Breakfast in the countryside. It was run by a middle aged squat loud lady. She wanted Anselmo, it was clear. She called him "usted" (thou) and she called me "La Senora" (that lady).

A few other pilgrims also showed up. One of them had a dreadful blister. Anselmo encouraged him to go to a doctor.

That night I was watching Spanish TV and was surprised to see the lovely faces of Jensen Ackles and Jared Padelecki. It was the first season of "Supernatural", dubbed in Spanish!!! I didn't know those guys knew Spanish!!! It was awesome. I understood one phrase "Somos Investigatores Paranormales"!!!!

A Play House for Big People

Sarria was really nice, modern and clean. We stayed in a nice hotel with a hair dryer.

After Sarria we walked to Portomarin. It was a lovely forest walk. Portomarin is a town on a reservoir. It was the first lake that I have seen. It was really pretty. The Camino crossed the lake on a bridge.

We were staying at an environmentally conscious resort.

They had a giant photo voltaic panel that they use to run electricity to the resort. I should mention that Spain is very into alternative energy. All the mountaintops and ridgelines are lined with windmills for generating electricity. We also saw solar farms for electricity and solar hot water panels on rooftops.

Anyway, this resort had camping, but we stayed in one of the tiny cabins by the lakeside. The owner called it a "Play House for Big People".