Day 1: Puebla de Sanabria to Padornelo

Puebla de Sanabria to Padornelo

Distance: 7 miles ( twice ) / 12 km.

You should know before reading that all ends as it should have, but that today was that kind of day that really tested my patience, my stamina and endurance and most importantly, my mental ability to stay focused on task and to achieve what I needed to achieve despite all kinds of serious problems being thrown in my path.

I know blogs aren't supposed to be long but so much happened today that I need to put down in writing.

Notable memories

I woke up at 7 to get started and the first thing I noticed was that it was still completely dark. Okay, no problem. I've hiked in the dark before.

When I got outside and started walking, it was amazingly cold outside. This kind of surprised me. Although I had appropriate clothing on, my gloves were buried deep in my backpack, and I was hesitant to stop and dig them out.

Within about an hour even though the sun had started to break on the horizon behind the mountains, my fingers were numbing up. But I pressed on, and after a couple hours the cold temperatures finally broke.

The hike itself was pretty fascinating: passing through groves and woodlands, walking along the banks of the Rio Castro, visiting an old chapel, seeing many beautiful places along the trail. I was enjoying the peacefulness and solitude.

When I got to Requeho, today's midpoint, everything completely fell apart.

When I took my backpack off to get a coffee at a bar, I noticed that the side pocket of my backpack was unzipped and completely open. I instantly feared that I had lost my passport and my pilgrims credentials. I looked through all my stuff and could not find the packet with my papers.

I immediately asked the bartender to call me a taxi. I needed to get back to the albergue in Puebla de Sanabria. I placed a call there but no one answered.

The cab driver took me back to Puebla de Sanabria. At the hostel, no one reported seeing my passport. I also checked with some pilgrims on the street who were headed down the Camino. I asked them to keep an eye out for my passport and we exchanged phone numbers.

Next the cab driver took me to the Guardia Civil police station where I filed a report on my lost passport.

I also called the embassy and they gave me instructions and how to get a new passport. Basically I had to go to Madrid in person.

I decided that my best option was to retrace my steps which meant walking the entire day's Camino all over again. But I felt I had no choice.

So I started out at 1 p.m. exactly in the same place where I started out at 7:30 a.m. earlier in the morning. I had prepared myself to retrace the entire eight miles.

I had no luck anywhere finding my passport. I knew it was a long shot at best.

I arrived back to Requeho sore and tired and hurting. I called the cab driver and asked for a ride to the next town.

Once in Padornelo I checked into a hotel and I tore my bag apart. And at bottom of the bag buried in a bunch of stuff was my passport and in a separate packet was my pilgrim credential. I don't know how I missed it earlier in the day when I did the earlier check, but I did.

Simultaneously with the passport, all day long, I had to decide what losing my pilgrim credential meant to me. It's important because it gets you into pilgrims hostels which you can't otherwise get into.

But emotionally it also meant I wouldn't have a certificate for completing my Camino Sanabres.

As the day went on, I fought back and forth within myself about what did it mean to walk the Camino without the official papers. The truth is I already have three certificates from past Caminos and I have two completed credentials from past Caminos. So how important was this lost credential?

The interesting philosophical point of today's experience for me on the Camino is not that I lost the passport or thought that I lost the passport.

It is that I had to decide quickly whether to repeat my actions hoping for a different result or to press on and put in the past what had happened, accepting the consequences of the decision.

Regarding the passport I decided that I would just have to go to Madrid and get a replacement. But maybe I'd spend a day or two there and enjoy the city.

Regarding my Pilgrim credential, I realized that the question was 'How important was the paperwork to me over actually enjoying the Camino'? I decided that I didn't care anymore about the credential. I was walking the Camino for the simple act of doing it.

I think philosophers could debate on end  about the ramifications of reliving the past or moving forward. I only know that today in a very problematic sense, I was faced with those decisions.

I can't say that I like the choices that I made today, but it is what it is.

And it's a valuable lesson from the Camino to me.

Follow up: I left the hotel to get some food for tomorrow. I stopped in a little store. The owner did not have fresh fruit available. But he went in the back, grabbed four pears from the harvest and gave them to me for free. I did not realize how significant his act of kindness would be.

I hadn't walked 5 minutes down the road when for whatever reason, I had a complete breakdown. I couldn't stop it. That after such a hard day, I would come across a person who would display such an act of kindness was beyond my comprehension.

I went back to tell him how important his act of kindness was to me. I'm sure he thought I was crazy or out of touch or whatever. Or maybe he's helped other pilgrims.

To know me is to understand how deeply I believe that the Camino provides what we need, not what we want.

I needed today to be a test of faith. Sometimes the Camino gives what hurts - a lot - but it's what you need the most.

Alto de Padornela - Early evening

On the Road At Last

Trip Anthems

On each camino, I like to have theme songs that I can sing in my ahead (if with other hikers) or aloud (if alone).  Not only do these songs help pass the miles as I hike along the Camino, but they are reflective of where my head is.

Link	Lyrics	(Spanish)
Una Noche Mas  (One Night More)	I remember the image of you drifting away, The ground under my feet sinking away. I was falling into the abyss Unable to hold on to life. How could I have imagined? What could I have had to give you? I in my maturity And you in your youth ... The years are not forgiving. I am only praying that you give me One night of love. I'm only asking for one night more in which you can cheat me one more time. I curse that you will never cry, That your heart turns to stone, That your soul loses any happiness, while my body grows old. I am only praying that you give me One night of love. I'm only asking for one night more in which you can cheat me one more time.	Recuerdo tu imagen alejándose. La tierra se hundía bajo mis pies. Fui cayéndome al vacío Sin poderme agarrar a la vida. ¿Cómo pude imaginarme Que tenía algo que darte? Y yo en mi madurez y tú En tu plena juventud ... Los años no perdonan. Sólo te ruego que me des Una noche de amor. Sólo pido una noche más Que me vuelvas a engañar. Te maldigo para que no puedas llorar, Que tu corazón se vuelva una piedra, Que tu alma pierda su alegría, A la vez que mi cuerpo envejece. Sólo te ruego que me des Una noche de amor. Sólo pido una noche más Que me vuelvas a engañar.

Emotions

What am I feeling? Nervous and anxious. Glad and happy. Really wanting to just be on the plane.

Training: All done!

On the road

6:30 a.m. Wake up.

7:30 a.m. Quick falcon watch.

8:30 a.m. we have Carlos's for the airport.

9:30 a.m. Waiting at the gate. Lost my tablet at the checkpoint. Found my tablet at the checkpoint. I lost my phone. Found my phone. I need to get my head out of the clouds. LOL

11:30 a.m. sitting in the terminal at JFK. Waiting for my 4:45 checkin.
5:15 pm. Leave JFK. I sit next to Oliver Leonard, an obvious Irishman from his accent. 15 minutes into the flight, he pulls out his secret stash of vodka and starts mixing it with the Bloody Mary mixes he got from the flight attendant. 3 hours later I finally get some sleep. Lol
4:00 am Sunday. Dublin.
6:15 am. Leave Dublin.
10:00 am. Madrid

Tim Gilfoil and I met up again after 40 years. We're both shipments from Attack Squadron 81 back in the 1970s with the u.s. Navy. Tim now lives outside of Madrid. Tim was kind enough to meet me at the airport and get me to the Madrid train station.

4:00 pm. Puebla de Sanabria. The start of Camino 2018.

Puebla de Sanabria

 Rio Tera

Albondigas, pan, tortilla y cerveza

Today's short story

The pilgrimette at JFK

Walking down the terminal corridor at JFK's JetBlue terminal, she was conscious of her dress. The way she kept pulling at her skirt and her sleeves made her feel like everyone was looking at her. The sounds of her flip-flops didn't help matters any in making her feel more comfortable.

She knew that all the people running back and forth, going to and fro had their own issues and problems, expectations and hopes to deal with. But when confronted with deep personal issues, she always felt the need to withdraw into herself. This need kept her focused on what she was feeling, much to the detriment of any observation of what was really going on around her.

Too much time to wait in the airport, too much time waiting in her life ... Too much time waiting for things to happen.

The flight to Madrid was the salvation. Getting on the plane meant a new life. Crossing the ocean meant leaving everything that was bad behind.

Up ahead were challenges she never planned to take on. In her future lay expectations that she hoped to fulfill.

The days of hiking ahead, the many miles that would pass under her feet, the hills and mountains that she would climb and descend we're about to become more than a symbol on some map of some terrain in some foreign land. Each hill would be a major irritation in her daily life. Each mountain would be surpassing an insufferable personal tragedy.

Ready to take that first step, she had to let go of what was holding her back. Leaving it all behind, she had to get on that airplane. 

This is what she wanted to think about as she walked down the terminal corridors. 

Like the little eyas learning to fly like a falcon, she had to leave the nest, fall and then struggle to soar. She gave her boarding pass to the agent, got her new life scanned by the machine and stepped onto the boarding ramp.

-- this story is based on someone I saw for all of 10 seconds in the terminal.

3 Days to Go

Trip Anthems

On each camino, I like to have theme songs that I can sing in my ahead (if with other hikers) or aloud (if alone).  Not only do these songs help pass the miles as I hike along the Camino, but they are reflective of where my head is.

Africa - Toto

I hear the drums echoing tonight
But she hears only whispers
of some quiet conversation.

She's coming in, 12:30 flight,
The moonlit wings reflect the stars
that guide me towards salvation.

I stopped an old man along the way,
Hoping to find some old
forgotten words or ancient melodies.
He turned to me as if to say
"Hurry boy, it's waiting there for you".

It's gonna take a lot to drag me
away from you;
There's nothing that a hundred men
or more could ever do.
I bless the rains down in Africa,
Gonna take some time to do the things
we never have.

The wild dogs cry out in the night
As they grow restless
longing for some solitary company.

I know that I must do what's right
As sure as Kilimanjaro rises
like Olympus above the Serengeti.

I seek to cure what's deep inside,
Frightened of this thing that I've become.

Emotions

I've been indulging my creative literary side over the past year with courses at Writers And Books. This dovetails nicely with my purpose on this Camino. My overarching goal of personal discovery continues strong, but I had lacked a specific purpose for the journey. I now have that purpose ... I will use this camino to develop my story/stageplay for the 2019 Rochester Fringe Festival. ... Let the creativity begin. LOL

Tried to confirm my seating assignments. Turns out the my Jet Blue confirmation number is not recognized by Aer Lingus. Travelocity was not exactly helpful. I'm in the middle of a computer war, I think. Fortunately, I called 48 hours before the flight so I have tomorrow to work it out among the three.

Training

Date	Exercise	Description
9/23/18	GVHC hike	5 miles around Highland Park and the ever beautiful Mt Hope Cemetary
9/24/18	Flow Yoga	Good stretch and chance to calm the mind.
9/26/18	3 mile run	Just over 36 minutes. Was antsy and had to do something, anything.

That's all, folks.

One Week To Go

Trip Anthems

On each camino, I like to have theme songs that I can sing in my ahead (if with other hikers) or aloud (if alone). Not only do these songs help pass the miles as I hike along the Camino, but they are reflective of where my head is.

Oblivion (m83  & susan sondfor)

Since, I was young, I knew I'd find you
But our love, was a song, sung by a dying swan
And in the night, you hear me calling ...
You hear me calling
And in your dreams, you see me falling, falling.

Breathe in the light,
I'll stay here in the shadow, oh
Waiting for a sign, as the tide grows
Higher and higher and higher.

And when the nights are long
All those stars recall your goodbye ... your goodbye
And in the night, you'll hear me calling,
You'll hear me calling.

And in your dreams, you'll see us falling, falling ...
And in the night, you'll hear me calling,
You'll hear me calling
And in your dreams, you'll see us falling, falling.

Breathe in the light and say goodbye,
Breathe in the light and say goodbye.

Emotions

Lots of swirling feelings right now as the date gets closer. 7 days from today, I board the plane in Rochester to begin my longest Camino yet, with no clue as to where I will end up.

That is the mystery and wonder of the Camino.

Just like in life, we make our own path, walk our own Camino, go where we see fit to take ourselves.

I used to debate internally about how much free will we have versus our fate as determined by the cosmos. How affected am I by 'a butterfly in China, flapping its wings'?

I no longer can accept or live by the precept that overwhelming forces govern our lives. We can choose, if we choose, to navigate the currents around us, or we can just go with the current.

If there is anything that I've learned on the Camino de Santiago, we can navigate difficult waters, we can swim in the swirls and we can keep our heads above water if we just accept the 'life preserver' that the Camino is.

Let the path begin!

Training

Date	Exercise	Description
Sep 17	Yoga	flexibility
Sep 18	YMCA	Racquetball and a 1-mile run
Sep 19	Hiking	3.5 miles in Abe Lincoln, lots of eskers and valleys.
Sep 20	Hiking	Corbett's Glen where I missed getting nailed by a falling tree by about 1 minute.

Two Weeks Before I Leave

Trip Anthems

On each camino, I like to have theme songs that I can sing in my ahead (if with other hikers) or aloud (if alone).  Not only do these songs help pass the miles as I hike along the Camino, but they are reflective of where my head is.

Now in this case, Diane Lane (yes, that Diane Lane) is singing (technically, lip-syncing) about her true love. LOL. I imagine that most males, like me, would imagine that she is singing to them.

What It Means To Be Young

 (from movie 'Streets Of Fire')

I've got a dream 'bout an angel on the beach

And the perfect waves are starting to come.

His hair is flying out in ribbons of gold

And his touch has got the power to stun.

I've got a dream 'bout an angel in the forest,

Enchanted by the edge of a lake.

His body's flowing in the jewels of light

And the earth below him's starting to shake.

But I don't see any angels in the city,

I don't hear any holy choirs sing.

And if I can't get an angel,

I can still get a boy

And a boy'd be the next best thing,

The next best thing to an angel.

I've got a dream 'bout a boy in a castle

And he's dancing like a cat on the stairs.

He's got the fire of a prince in his eyes

And the thunder of a drum in his ears.

I've got a dream 'bout a boy on a star

Looking down upon the realm of the world.

He's there all alone and dreaming of someone like me,

I'm not an angel but at least I'm a girl.

I've got a dream when the darkness is over

We'll be lying in the rays of the sun.

But it's only a dream and tonight is for real.

You'll never know what it means

But you'll know how it feels.

It's gonna be over (over)

Before you know it's begun

(Before you know it's begun).

It's all we really got tonight.

Stop your crying, hold on (tonight)

Before you know it, it's gone (tonight).

Tonight is what it means to be young,

Tonight is what it means to be young.

Let the revels begin,

Let the fire be started.

We're dancing for the restless and the broken-hearted.

Let the revels begin,
Let the fire be started.
We're dancing for the desperate and the broken-hearted

Say a prayer in the darkness for the magic to come,

No matter what it seems

Tonight is what it means to be young.

Before you know it it's gone

The things they say

And then the things they do

Nothin's gonna stop us if our dream is true.

Emotions

A Stream-of-Consciousness sonnet I wrote in 2015, just before heading back to Spain for my 2nd Camino de Santiago.

Letchworth

Under hundred foot trees,
the foliage provides an emerald canopy
against the rain
stacked up on the leaves
dripping down on us.
A flowing covering against the storm
overwhelmed by the elements.

The rain is not a hindrance
nor an annoyance
but an addition
to the ethereal mood of the trail.

The color saturates the forest floor
as we walk along
the forest is more primeval than 21st-century.
There's no one out here
but us three.
No talking, chatting or sound from us
creeps into this pristine place.

People maintain the trails
but if not,
nature would quickly reclaim
the manufactured hiking strip.

Training

Date	Exercise	Description
Sep 12	Weight machines, treadmill, yoga	Felt like a 'whatever' day
Sep 14	4 mile run, Pilates and Racquetball	Haven't run 4 miles in decades.
Sep 15	GVHC 5 mile hike and follow-on 2 mile walk	Both in Ellison Park

Three Weeks Before I Leave

Trip Anthems

On each camino, I like to have theme songs that I can sing in my ahead (if with other hikers) or aloud (if alone).  Not only do these songs help pass the miles as I hike along the Camino, but they are reflective of where my head is.

This weeks honorable mention is:

Somewhere Only We Know
Lily Allen

I came across a fallen tree
I felt the branches of it looking at me
Is this the place we used to love?
Is this the place that I've been dreaming of?

Oh simple thing where have you gone?
I'm getting old and I need something to rely on
So tell me when you're gonna let me in
I'm getting tired and I need somewhere to begin

And if you have a minute why don't we go
Talk about it somewhere only we know?
This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?

This could be the end of everything
So why don't we go
Somewhere only we know?

Emotions

2 Sep - felt that nervous feeling in the belly, "butterflies" with the realization that I will be gone from family, friends, my dog and cat, work and all the social structures that make up my daily life. This is my fifth time heading off to the Camino de Santiago and sometimes I still feel like a virgin at this.

7 Sep - Reading a Camino memoir by John Zachman . In an interesting twist of fate, in spring of last year, I was hiking with Genesee Valley Hiking Club and met a man who was training for the Camino. We chatted and that was pretty much it. After returning to Rochester, having completed the Camino Frances in 2017, I was moving from my apartment and chatting with my next-door neighbor whose father had just completed the CF, as I had. Well, my neighbor's father was my son's next door neighbor.  On my next visit to my son, John had already given my son a copy of his memoir for me. I went over to John's house and we relived our Camino experiences.
His story moves me so much that I can only read a few pages at a time because of the powerful emotions that that his memoir evokes.

Training

Date	Exercise	Description
1 Sep	YMCA	Zumba, Pilates, Racquetball
1 Sep	Downtown	2  mile hike
2 Sep	7 Mile GVHC hike	Bridges of Downtown
3 Sep	10 Mile GVHC hike	Seneca Park to Ontario Beach and back
8 Sep	7 Mile hike	Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge
9 Sep	6 Mile GVHC hike	Genesee Greenway - Scottsville

Random Musinigs with Four Weeks to Go

From Home to The World

Due to some events on the home front (not me personally), I am starting to wonder about my future as I hit the 65-year old mark. I have always taken great pride in my work, but watching others around me, I now wonder if it is time for me to explore the world once more, as I did in my Navy days.

Four weeks from now I will be in Madrid, waiting for the train to Puebla de Sanabria.  And when I get there, I'll find an albergue and rest for the coming days of mountains and valleys, sun and clouds and grey and rain, and I will be deliriously lost in Galicia, alone on the path with only my own thoughts to keep me company and my inner voice to listen to.

Notable memories

My son, d-in-law and grandkids here in Rochester with me, allowing me to be a close-by g'pa.

Living in parts of Asia (Japan and Korea) and Europe (Spain) (away from family).

Being a top-rated Russian linguist in the USN.

Leading popular hikes in Rochester for GVHC.

A Poem About The Pueblo of Tabara ( Camino Sanabres )

Uses the enjambed style which means that the line breaks and the end of clauses/sentences do not match. It is more free-flowing than rhyming poetry and simultaneously, encourages the reader to parse closely, looking for the 'breaks' in thought.

The Way

    Larry OHeron

For more than a thousand years,

people of many faiths, backgrounds, generations

have made the pilgrimage,

walking the path to Santiago de Compostela

walking the Way of St James.

The sunflower stems

taller than me

browning

in the Castillian sun.

Late afternoon

cloudless sky

temperatures climbing

summer sun

only now starting its descent.

High rock covered banks climbed

cool blue waters of the Río Esla

flowing under my feet

miles ago.

Zamorans gladly accept

90 degree temperatures

not me

wet pack on my wet back from the sweat

lips salty from the drops on my face.

water too low

skin too brown

too many days here.

Where are the little yellow arrows

pointing the way to Tábara --

markers for the pilgrims

pointers that point the way.

Turn around?

Press on?

Go forward,

Go back.

Was that bleach white town Tábara?

Do I get to rest,

take the pack off my aching shoulders

pause and ponder, rest and reflect.

Not enough arrows to know this is the right track;

insufficient enough arrows cause doubt this is the right track;

sufficient enough to almost convince you, this is the wrong track.

How can I know

I made a mistake

long before I admit

I made a mistake.

Am I on the path? Off the path?

I’m not lost.

I know where I’m going,

I just don’t know where I am.

I should be in Tábara.

I should be on the right path.

But I’m not and I’m probably not.

Is that bleach white town Tábara?

What Does Spirituality Mean?

For me the spirituality of the camino came from the inside but only because I opened myself to the sights, sounds and scents of the Camino. (VdLP, Sanabres and CF). I like to think that as I walked along those centuries of trodden ground that I not only picked up something of the 'ghosts' of pilgrims past, but that I also left a bit of my spirit there for others to feel.