San Juan de Ortega, Spain
I stayed in Villafranca last night, walked through San Juan de Ortega on my way to Aterpuerca.
The square in San Juan was full of peregrinos, and as I looked around, I realized that all of us look like vagabonds. We all have no more than 2 outfits - 1 to wear, 1 to wash - no one is carrying a brush or shaving apparatus, and daily showering is a nuisance, and overkill besides. We walk through mud, dust, fields and gravel, and no matter how often we wash our white socks, they remain streaked with brown, with an overall grey pallor.
For most of us, at this point in our journey, we have walked 10-30 km every day for the last 2 weeks. We have discarded every scrap that is not vital in getting us to Santiago, including deodorant, make-up, conditioner, and those little bottles of hand sanitizer. The albergues have baskets of these discarded luxuries, free for whoever wants them (no one does). The town people look impossibly clean and smell like chemical flowers. I have a hard time remembering why I would ever torture my feet with high heels. But they are gracious, and while they don't seem to like the way we smell, they are polite and helpful to a pilgrim who strays from the path.
Week one was full of physical pain and adjustment. We had to learn to walk with our packs on, many had blisters, and all had bruised feet. With physical pain occupying our thoughts and conversation, there was not much reflection or talk of anything else. The pain has subsided for most in week 2, our bodies have gotten the message: we are walking. Far. And long. It rains, we walk. It hurts, we walk. We're tired, we walk. Talk is turning more reflective, though mostly self-referential. Pilgrims are examining their experiences and comparing their former lives to their walking lives.
I'm curious to see what week 3 will bring.
Dad, this is a hard walk, but there are people doing it very slowly. There are albergues every 6 km or so. That's very do-able. Like I said, Navarra is gorgeous and you should walk there at least a few days. I fell in love with the region, absolutely. Skip the Pyrenees, though ;)
Sent from my iPhone
The square in San Juan was full of peregrinos, and as I looked around, I realized that all of us look like vagabonds. We all have no more than 2 outfits - 1 to wear, 1 to wash - no one is carrying a brush or shaving apparatus, and daily showering is a nuisance, and overkill besides. We walk through mud, dust, fields and gravel, and no matter how often we wash our white socks, they remain streaked with brown, with an overall grey pallor.
For most of us, at this point in our journey, we have walked 10-30 km every day for the last 2 weeks. We have discarded every scrap that is not vital in getting us to Santiago, including deodorant, make-up, conditioner, and those little bottles of hand sanitizer. The albergues have baskets of these discarded luxuries, free for whoever wants them (no one does). The town people look impossibly clean and smell like chemical flowers. I have a hard time remembering why I would ever torture my feet with high heels. But they are gracious, and while they don't seem to like the way we smell, they are polite and helpful to a pilgrim who strays from the path.
Week one was full of physical pain and adjustment. We had to learn to walk with our packs on, many had blisters, and all had bruised feet. With physical pain occupying our thoughts and conversation, there was not much reflection or talk of anything else. The pain has subsided for most in week 2, our bodies have gotten the message: we are walking. Far. And long. It rains, we walk. It hurts, we walk. We're tired, we walk. Talk is turning more reflective, though mostly self-referential. Pilgrims are examining their experiences and comparing their former lives to their walking lives.
I'm curious to see what week 3 will bring.
Dad, this is a hard walk, but there are people doing it very slowly. There are albergues every 6 km or so. That's very do-able. Like I said, Navarra is gorgeous and you should walk there at least a few days. I fell in love with the region, absolutely. Skip the Pyrenees, though ;)
Sent from my iPhone
2 comments:
Hi Jessica, you are doing great! I enjoy reading your comments and your photos; your feet do look great! Spain seems to have better graffiti than the U.S. HA HA
I would love to make this trip some day. Your cousin,
Danny
Cool! I tried replying on the site, but google wants me to do backflips to comment. Let him know I saw it and said he totally should do it!!!! Anyone can do it and its such a beautiful country with plenty of infrastructure to support Amy kind of walk you want to/can do
Love you!
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