London!

I arrived in London Wednesday evening. I survived the plane trip, and am glad I don't have any more planned for the near future. I don't like flying.

Wednesday I arrived, made my way to my new flatmate's, and fell into bed since I was very tired (as anyone would be after taking two subways, a plane, a train, a bus and walking a bit on either end) and had a terrible headache from the plane.

Thursday, the two of us went grocery shopping, and she showed me some other places nearby. I also acquired a winter coat.　I learned that it gets dark really early here – it was almost completely dark by 5pm. Then we returned home and cooked quesadillas and fajitas for dinner.

Today, I went into the city centre for my orientation (organized by the agency that I got my working holiday visa through), and then braved the crowds of Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road to acquire my mobile phone and my computer.

So now I am at home, enjoying being connected to the world again. This weekend I will relax and explore the area, as well as acquire some more professional clothes for job-hunting, and then on Monday, the job search begins.

Now that I am somewhat settled here for the foreseeable future, updates on this blog will be less frequent, since there won't always be something interesting to report, but I will try to give updates weekly at least as to how things are going, what my future plans are, and so on. When I start travelling again, then there will be more frequent updates again.

Bye for now!

More Porto

This morning, my host, a friend of hers and I went on a wine cellar tour and tasting (since Porto is known for Porto wines). It was interesting, and I learned about the different Porto wines and how they are classified and made.

After lunch, they went to class and I went up in the Torres dos Clerigos, the highest tower in Portugal. The views of the city from the top were stunning, but I was afraid I would fall off, because there were large gaps in the walls and it was windy. But I made it down safely.

I acquired my Portuguese Harry Potter book, and another book to read on the plane tomorrow (in English), and went back to my host´s flat, where I was soon met by her, another Couchsurfer (this one from Switzerland) and my host´s boyfriend, and then we all went out for dinner (along with her roommate), and then dessert somewhere else. Talking to them all was fun.

Not quite sure yet what I am doing tomorrow morning, it may just end up being repacking my bags for the flight, and then getting to the airport in the early afternoon.

Tomorrow evening I arrive in London! Hopefully the next post I write will be from my own computer, to be acquired in London in the next couple of days.

Até logo!

Porto!

I have successfully arrived in Porto, Portugal!

It was mostly easy, though I didn´t know that Portugal is an hour behind Spain in terms of the time, and hence in the same time zone as the UK.

Was met by my Couchsurfing host, and am currently at her apartment. This afternoon while she was in class, I wandered about the main shopping street trying to acquire some new clothes, as I am absolutely sick of the ones I´ve been wearing for the past month, and prices here are better than they will be in the UK.

I found some pants, a shirt, socks and winter gloves, but was not able to find a winter coat like I wanted - sizes here seem to run really small for them, but other things fit without problem. Strange.

Tomorrow I will explore the city some more, and in the evening, another Couchsurfer will be arriving here as well. Then Wednesday, it is on to London!

Santiago/A Coruna

So Thursday and Friday were spent in Santiago, doing a variety of things, mostly in the company of the German guy.

Later on Friday night, after he had to head back to the family that was hosting him here in Santiago, I went back to my room at the pension (cheap hotel), and there in the pension I met a group of architecture students studying in the UK, and they invited me to come out to dinner with them and the rest of their group.

There was a group of about 28 of them from their program (students from all around the world studying in London), and they´d walked about a week of the Spanish part of the Portuguese Camino route (the route I walked was the French route, there are many different ones), since they´re working on a project about the pilgrim hostels, and ¨how to build a better pilgrim hostel¨.

The four that were staying in the same place with me consisted of two girls, one from Sweden and one from Poland, and two guys, one from New Zealand and one from Latvia! So now I´ve been able to use all of the languages I know or have studied on the Camino - Latvian was the last one I was waiting to use.

During the dinner, I was introduced to others from the program, and their supervisor, and they were all very impressed with the amount of walking that I had done. I got contact information for some of them, so I might meet up with them again when I get to London. I told them more about the pilgrim hostels I´d stayed in, and what was good and bad about them, to help them with their projects.

Saturday, the German guy and I made a spontaneous visit to A Coruna, on the northern coast of Spain - round-trip train tickets were only 8 euros, and the train took only an hour each way (unlike the bus to Finisterre, which takes three hours each way).

We walked around the city, visited the Tower of Hercules (the oldest working Roman lighthouse in the world, though it has been restored many times), walked along the beach, and walked a few kilometres of the English Camino (medieval English pilgrims to Santiago would take a ship to A Coruna and walk from there, and some people still do it today). Learned that the English Camino is terribly marked - the tourist office drew the route in on a map for us, but we only saw about three markings the entire way.

Then we returned to Santiago in the evening (almost missing the stop, since we both fell asleep on the train), and then it came time to part, since he was flying back to Germany early this morning. He has some things to do in Germany before he can continue his walking around the world. I hope to see him again at some point in time when we´re on the same continent, but I don´t know when that will be.

Today I´m wandering Santiago on my own, since everyone I know has headed home. And tomorrow morning I leave for Porto!

Hasta luego, for what is probably my last post in Spain!

Santiago!

Arrived in Santiago at the Cathedral yesterday around 5:30pm in the company of the German guy, and we met back up with the Italian not long after we arrived.

Got our Compostelas, and the Italian had already found a good place to stay - 13 euros a night, single rooms, and just around the corner from the Cathedral.

After the evening mass (where they swung the botafumeiro, a gigantic incense burner that requires several men to power the ropes), a celebratory dinner, which continuing in the trend of the past month, was twice as expensive as the place to sleep (most pilgrim hostels were 3 to 5 euros). A huge pile of seafood - crab, scallops, and so on. Yum yum.

Anyways, lots to do in Santiago today, so I must be going. Not sure of my plans for the next few days, I´ll let you all know when I do.

Hasta luego!

Arca!

Arrived in Arca today, 19km or so. Spent most of the walk chatting with the German guy I mentioned yesterday.

Now we are in a private pilgrim hostel here - more expensive, but so much nicer. It has Internet (unlike the public hostels run by the Galician government), and lots of space, and since most people seem to be going to the public one, it is quieter as well. There are only six of us here right now, but more people might come.

There is also a pastry shop across the street. This could be a problem, because I love Spanish pastries, and will eat them as often as I can. I´ll try not to be tempted too much today, but since I haven´t had a bocadillo (Spanish sandwich) today, I might get lured in by the chocolate eclairs and other assorted pastries.

Tomorrow - Santiago! About another 18km I think.

Mixed feelings on it - on the one hand, that means the Camino is over and I don´t have to carry my bag for 20km or so everyday. On the other hand, there comes the uncertainty of what comes next. I´ve arranged things with a Couchsurfer in Porto, but nothing is clear for the UK yet. Nor is what I will be doing between Thursday morning and Monday morning, when I leave for Porto. I will take the bus to Finisterre at some point, but I don´t know for how long I´ll stay there. I´m sure everything will work out.

Hasta luego!

Arzua

In Arzua now, another 15km or so.

Walk was pretty uneventful, the path was exactly like the guidebook said, up and down, up and down.

Had my octopus yesterday. It was good, but not something I particularly want to eat again. Shared it with a German guy who wants to walk around the world - the Camino is just the beginning. Very ambitious project. Exchanged contact information so we can share information in the future about our travels.

Tomorrow - Arca. Then Wednesday we arrive in Santiago!

Hasta luego!

Melide

Relatively calm 15km to Melide today. I say ¨relatively¨, because while the walk itself was calm, the leaving the pilgrim hostel wasn´t, because before we could leave, we had to unpack our entire bags in the reception area for the police, because someone´s camera had gone missing. So that delayed our departure somewhat.

Once that was finished, came the rolling hills as per usual, and eventually we arrived in Melide. I had a nap, and now went out in the town to find Internet. No octopus yet, that comes later.

Tomorrow on to Arzua. Hasta luego!

Portomarin/Palas del Rei

Yesterday went to Portomarin, about 22km or so I think. The last 9km was a lot faster paced than usual, since it was getting late, but it was okay since we made some new friends, two Venezuelan men, a Swiss German girl and a Brazilian girl (who lives and works in Mozambique), and all of us pretty much raced into Portomarin together.

Portomarin is an interesting town, in that it has only existed in its current place since the 1960s, when Franco decided the river needed to be widened so it could be dammed and made into a lake or something, so the town was flooded and moved up the hill. You could see a bit of the remains of the old town, but not much, and nothing good enough to get a photo of.

Today was up and down and up and down, as per usual, across to Palas del Rei, which was again one of those towns hidden out of view until you stumble upon it. About 24km, depending on which guidebook and which guideposts you pay attention to (everything seems to say something different).

Tomorrow is a short day of about 15km to Melide, which is a town that is very much known for its pulperias - restaurants that serve pulpo (octopus) as a specialty. One of the things on my list of things to do in Europe is eat pulpo in Melide, so that shall be done tomorrow night. I´ve eaten squid ink already, I can eat octopus too!

Just a few days away from Santiago now. From Melide is Arzua, then Arca, and then Monte de Gozo, and then Santiago!

Hasta luego!

Sarria!

Got to Sarria today, taking the long road via Samos, so around 24km I think.

Along with hiding towns in little crevices that can´t even be called valleys, Spain also somehow manages to magically create mountains or hills out of thin air. You´ll be walking up one, and see the top, and then upon reaching the top, find that there is an even bigger mountain or hill behind it. Today was full of quite a few of those.

Sarria is an important place to reach, because it is the last major urban centre before Santiago de Compostela, and also the last big place from which someone could start the pilgrimage to qualify for the ¨Compostela¨ (certificate of completion of the pilgrimage), because you have to walk at least 100km to qualify, and Sarria is about 110km from Santiago.

I don´t really qualify to get a Compostela, because you have to have religious or spiritual reasons for doing the pilgrimage to do so, and I don´t really think that I do. But apparently there is an alternate certificate they grant to non-religiously-motivated pilgrims, so we´ll see what happens.

Hasta luego!

O, O, O Cebreiro

Made it to O Cebreiro yesterday, and onwards to Triacastela today. Rained both days. Welcome to Galicia, indeed - Galicia, Spain´s most northwestern province, is the rainiest province in Spain, with, according to my guidebook, rain at least once every three days.

The trip up O Cebreiro was mostly okay (only about 10km), until the last part which was cold and rainy and very windy - about what you would expect going up a mountain in Galicia. The hostel was the first experience with Galicia´s pilgrim hostel network. Unlike most other provinces in Spain where the pilgrim hostels are operated by local governments, here in Galicia they are centrally managed by the province, since Galicia is very proud of the Camino (and probably all the tourist dollars it brings in, since Santiago de Compostela and Finisterre, the end points of the pilgrimage routes, are both in Galicia). The accomodations were decent enough, and warm, but no Internet, which appears to be the norm for government-run pilgrim hostels in Galicia.

So today, several of us (the Italian, as well as a Canadian girl, Australian guy and German man that we´ve sort of travelled with today, and two of the Italian guys from earlier, though the Canadian and American girls aren´t staying here) checked into a private pilgrim hostel, which costs a bit more, but is smaller and has Internet, along with other amenities such as cheaper laundry, so it works out about the same. Since I don´t know how many public vs. private pilgrim hostels I´ll be staying in over the next week, updates could be sparse.

Today´s hike was about 20km, and it was cold and rainy most of the way. The rain finally let up in the half hour before we got here. I even saw the sun peek through the clouds in the distance, though not anywhere nearby. Maybe tomorrow there will be sun?

Tomorrow, on to Sarria. About 130km left to go to Santiago. Hasta luego!

Ruitelan

Made it to Ruitelan. 19km have never taken so long.

Well, it was probably longer than 19km in the end - instead of taking the route along the road, the Italian man and a Brazilian girl who had joined us this morning (though she has gone on to O Cebreiro) and I took the scenic route over the mountains.

That is plural on the mountains. Though it was mostly just up one, and then around the sides and up a bit on the others. And down, can´t forget the down - down is harder than up, actually.

Ow that was painful - mostly in my back, it feels like my pack has gotten heavier for some reason, even though there isn´t anything new in it. I even got rid of some things.

Maybe it was because I was carrying a variety of clothes instead of wearing them - today was uncharacteristically warm, compared to the past two weeks. Today I was only wearing three layers as opposed to the usual six.

So far it is only the Italian man and I in the hostel here, but we will more than likely be joined by five French (four women, one man), because three of them send their packs on with a delivery service rather than carrying them, and their packs are here, so they should be as well. Whether the Canadian and American girls and their Italian boys end up here as well probably depends on which road they took - they were still in Villafranca del Bierzo when we left, but if they took the road route, they could be miles ahead of us by now. I guess we´ll see.

Now it is time to go rest and have a little snack. Dinner here in the hostel tonight, so no need to search for a restaurant. Hasta luego!

Villafranca del Bierzo

Made it to Villafranca del Bierzo today. 23km or so.

Spain has a habit of tucking towns into random little valleys, where you don´t see them until you´re in them. Sometimes this is nice, because you happen upon the next town before you expect to, but a lot of the time it can be annoying, because you think you can see the next town you are going to, only to find out that it isn´t the town, and the one you want is actually over three hills and to the right of what you were looking at.

This was the case today. I thought I saw the town, but then the path ended up heading off to the right and over a bunch of hills before reaching a completely different town. I´m not sure what the town I saw was. I´ll look at a map later and see.

Tomorrow begins the journey towards the last set of mountains to cross. After that, the landscape levels out somewhat through Galicia. And in Galicia the mad seafood-eating begins!

Hasta luego!

Rabanal, Acebo, Ponferrada

In Ponferrada today.

Where were we? Ah, last post was in Astorga. That day, after I made my post, I met back up with the Italian man I was travelling with earlier. I also saw the British teenagers that I´d travelled with the first two days of the Camino, as well as the Belgian priest I´d seen often at the beginning. They´ve all headed on further at this point though, since they move a lot faster.

However, since Astorga, I have been seeing a lot of this pair of Canadian girls travelling with a pair of American girls, with a trio of Italian boys thrown in for good measure. They like to drink a lot, which makes things loud sometimes, but they are good to chat with.

So anyways, after Astorga, we headed to Rabanal del Camino. The pilgrim hostel there was nice enough, and I also saw the American that I´d seen in Pamplona. They had Internet there, but it was outside in the entryway, so I didn´t come online, because it was cold.

The next day was up and over the mountains to El Acebo, where the downhill part was especially painful - walking steeply downhill on rocks is not fun.

Today was generally more mellow, but there were some steep downhill parts on slate rock which weren´t fun - I´m just happy it wasn´t raining.

Now in Ponferrada, where it took a bit of a hike and asking a lot of people to finally find an Internet cafe. But I found it, and am posting now, so everyone can know what has been going on. Also visited an old castle that was built by Templar knights.

Tomorrow, on to Villafranca del Bierzo. Hasta luego!

Still in Astorga

I decided to stay another day here in Astorga, because the albergue is wonderful and warm and I really need something like that to get better from this cold.

On to Rabanal or Santa Catalina tomorrow, where somewhere along the way I will probably also meet up with the Italian man again, because he also decided to take the bus to Leon and is in the area now.

When it gets warmer in the day I´ll probably head out to a few museums, but for now, I´m going to curl up in front of the fire with a book. Hasta luego!

Hospital de Obrigo/Sant Ibanez de Valdeiglesias and Astorga

What a couple of days.

I was the only person in the pilgrim hostel in Villar de Mazarife. It was chilly and lonely.

Then yesterday, I headed into Hospital de Obrigo optimistically, even though I didn´t see any other pilgrims along the way and even though I still wasn´t feeling the best.

Got to Hospital de Obrigo. All three of the pilgrim hostels were closed, even though one of them is supposed to be open year-round. Was not happy. The priest that ran the parish pilgrim hostel took pity on me and let me rest there for a few hours and gave me hot cereal and milk, and then drove me the 5km to Sant Ibanez de Valdeiglesias.

Which was a tiny town, with another chilly pilgrim hostel, that I was the only pilgrim staying at.

However, it was made better by the fact that unlike the previous one, the hospitalero cared, and tried to make things warmer. Also, part of the fee included dinner, which, since I was the only one there, the hospitalero made just for me, which was nice (unlike the people the previous night, who, when seeing that I was the only pilgrim there, decided to only serve sandwiches instead of a pilgrim menu). Hot soup with rice (with the stock made from scratch), eggs with fried potatoes and chamomile tea.

Today I made the relatively short (11km) trek into Astorga, and the pilgrim hostel here is wonderful. Warm, even has a fireplace downstairs, and I have met other pilgrims again (after two days of sleeping alone, I was starting to wonder if I was the only pilgrim left). Went to the Museum of Chocolate with another Canadian. I think Canadians are actually the largest group of people that I´ve met on the Camino, save for Spanish and French.

Had a nice warm shower. Tonight I want to find a good restaurant for dinner, and being as Astorga is a decent-sized city, that should be easily done. Unlike the small towns that only have one or two places to eat at - some have been good, but others, not so much.

And I need more chocolate. Chocolate gives me energy throughout the day, and Astorga is the chocolate capital of the region, so I shouldn´t pass up an opportunity to acquire more here.

Tomorrow I head into the beginning of the new set of mountains. Internet could be touch and go, so if there are a few days between posts, that is why. Hasta luego!

Leon and Villar de Mazarife

Made it to Leon yesterday, but since the hostel didn´t have Internet, and it was a holiday so most Internet places in the city were closed, I didn´t get to post.

The bus trip was pretty uneventful. It took a similar route to the Camino, so sometimes I saw pilgrims (twice even people that I knew), and it got me to Leon in three hours.

Being on the Camino, and hence walking pretty much everywhere, really distorts your sense of time and space. The idea of taking the bus for 180km seemed so long, because walking that would be about eight or nine days, but three hours in a bus and you´re there. 20 or 30km seems like a great distance when you´re walking, because it is essentially a whole day´s walk.

Upon arrival at the hostel in Leon (which was in a monastery), the first person I saw was one of the people I´d started out with in Saint Jean Pied de Port (one of the Dutchmen that had been walking since the Netherlands). Seeing someone familiar was nice, and we wandered about the city for awhile and spent some time in a cafe chatting. He´s pretty fast though, so most of the people we started with are still behind him, so I´ll probably end up seeing them in the next couple of days.

Today was about 21km to Villar de Mazarife. Finding the Camino out of Leon was a bit difficult, but together with a French-Canadian couple I found my way. We parted ways about 7km after we started, since they took the main route that followed the highway, and hence the ¨pilgrim treadmill¨, while I opted for a more scenic route to Villar de Mazarife.

So far I´m the only person here at this hostel, but since there are at least three in town, it could be that there are other pilgrims staying in town, but I haven´t seen them (most people are probably in Villadangos, on the main route rather than the scenic route). The hostel also has a bar-restaurant that will serve a pilgrim menu at 7pm, so I can eat without having to leave the hostel, which is nice because it is cold (though not as cold as Burgos - it appears the snow I thought was in Leon is actually further south along the Via De La Plata, the pilgrim route that comes up from Sevilla).

Tomorrow is a relatively short day (14km) to Hospital de Obrigo, where I will spend the night so that I can take another short day of 16km to Astorga on Tuesday. Then the days get a bit longer again as I cross another mountain range, though apparently not one as difficult as the Pyrenees. We´ll see how that goes.

My feet are doing a lot better, and I could´ve gone on for a few more kilometres today, but being as the next place with a pilgrim hostel is Hospital de Obrigo, that wasn´t possible, since a 36km day is not quite what I had in mind. And Vicks Vaporub isn´t just for colds - it was suggested to me to rub it on my feet before walking, and it does seem to have made a good difference in terms of relieving aches and pains around my heels, so that is good news.

Time to sign off and go read about the route for tomorrow. Hasta luego!

P.S. The person ¨i¨ who has been commenting - do I know you? You haven´t mentioned who you are.