Day 8: Skinny Statues

This is me with the peregrino sculptures.

Day 8: Laundry, Peregrino Style

The sinks in this alburque have built in scrub boards.

Day 7 Sleeping Arrangements

I reached the hamlet of Zariquiegui around 2:30 pm. While 2 pm might seem like a short day, it's when the race for a bed has already begun. This tiny town (population is under 200) has two alburques. The first I went to was already full, but I found a bed at La Posada de Ardogi, the other alburque. My bed is the bottom one. The room holds 8 beds, and there are other rooms. There were 21 peregrinos at dinner. There are only 2 showers and 2 toilets. Each shower is in its own stall but they're in the same room, so it was a little awkward when I was showering at the same time as some lady.

The church in this hamlet shows up in the movie The Way. The character Sarah is sitting on the wall when Tom and Joost meet up with her.

Tomorrow I should be walking past the windmills and the ”skinny sculptures” on Alto de Perdón.

Motivational crisis

It is the morning of day 7 and I just don't want to do this anymore.

Days 1 and 2

The pilgrim's office suggested taking two days over the Pyrenees and I took their advice even though it would put me a day behind schedule. I'm glad I did. The mountains took everything I had.

Finally made it to Roncesvalles at the end of day 2.

The end of a journey, the beginning of the way

After 2 planes, 2 trains and 2 busses for 29 hours of straight traveling, I have reached the start of my Camino in St Jean Pied de Port.

Another day 0

Thursday begins in Paris, with trains to St. Jean Pied de Port

Day 0

Lunch at an obscure Canadian place.

Day 0

Lunch at an obscure Canadian place.

Mapped

I already laid on The Plan in a previous post, but I thought it would be fun to see how it looks on a map. Sadly, Google Maps has a limit of 10 stops for a route, so this took more work than it should have. This is what the trip looks like:

Being miniaturized to fit on the page, there's some errors. For example, it looks like Santiago is skipped! For a more accurate map, look at the full version then turn on the terrain view!

Of course, this is the plan. Like life, the Camino has a way of making its own plans. It will be interesting to came back to this post and look at what actually happened.

Coin of the Realm

In day to day life, I tend to use a debit card. I think that a credit card is a safer option for the Camino, however, as I prefer something that isn't linked to my bank account. not being a huge fan of credit, I only have one credit card, and that's a Discover card. While I love my Discover card and I've never had a problem with it here in the states, I have found that its acceptance overseas is somewhat lacking. Discover tells me that it should be accepted wherever I see the Diner's Club logo, but a recent trip to Canada pointed out how useless that, too, can be.

I decided that I should take along a Mater Card or a Visa, instead. I checked out several cards, but only found one that didn't charge any fees for foreign purchases. I applied, and was accepted. My new card should be here next week or the week after.

Credencial del Peregrino

When a pilgrim — a peregrino — finishes the Camino, they can receive a certificate from the Cathedral, provided that the peregrino had walked (or rode a horse) at least 100 kilometers (around 62 miles), or had ridden a bike at least 200 kilometers. In order to prove the distance traveled the peregrino carries a credencial, also called a "Pilgrim's Passport". It is also used to "prove" to the alburges that one is a peregrino and not just some tourist looking for a cheap bed for the night.

The credencial is a small booklet, a little like a real passport. Like a real passport, a peregrino gets the Credencial stamped at various points along the route. Rather than getting it stamped when entering a new country, however, the peregrino seeks out stamps from alburges, churches, bars, and cafes. It is recommended that it gets stamped at least once a day when one is more than 100 kilometers away from Santiago, and twice a day once one is closer. Many peregrinos like to collect stamps — or sellos — more frequently than that.

A credencial can be picked up at the Pilgrim's Office when one starts their camino, or it can be ordered in advance from the national pilgrim's association. Each association prints a different credencial. Being American, my national association is American Pilgrims on the Camino. If you ask them, they'll send you a credencial for free.

Here's what I got from them:

If my math is right, it has spaces for 56 stamps.

The Plan

With the tickets bought, it's time ask some questions. I want to walk from St. Jean Pied de Port to Santiago de Compostela, but if I don't have enough time, I plan on "skipping" (by bus) a number of days in the middle. How many days, if any, will I have to skip? If I'm lucky enough that I don't have to skip any, will I have time to fit in Finisterre or Muxia?

Using my new guidebook (Anna Dintaman & David Landis' (A Village to Village Guide to) Hiking the Camino de Santiago, which I'll review soon, I promise!). I worked backwards and developed my plan for the Camino. It looks like I get to have a pretty full experience! I don't have to skip any days, and I get to go to both Finisterre and Muxia!

Here's what the plan looks like:

Date	Day	Arrive in	Miles		Notes
			Daily	Total
6/17	-1	Toronto	—	—	Arrive by wheeled conveyance.
6/18	0	Paris St-Jean-Pied-de-Port	—	—	Fly to Paris; train to SJPdP
6/19	1	Roncesvalles	15.3	15
6/20	2	Zubiri	13.9	29
6/21	3	Pamplona	13.1	42
6/22	4	Puente la Reina	14.8	57
6/23	5	Estella	13.5	71
6/24	6	Los Arcos	13.4	84
6/25	7	Logroño	17.1	101
6/26	8	Nájera	18.4	120
6/27	9	Santo Domingo	13.0	133
6/28	10	Belorado	14.2	147
6/29	11	Agés	17.2	164
6/30	12	Burgos	13.9	178
7/01	13	Hontanas	19.5	197
7/02	14	Boadilla	17.7	215
7/03	15	Carrión	15.2	230
7/04	16	Terradillos	16.5	247
7/05	17	Calzadilla	16.4	263
7/06	18	Mansilla	14.7	278
7/07	19	León	11.1	289
7/08	20	Villar de Mazarife	13.4	302
7/09	21	Astorga	19.6	322
7/10	22	Foncebadón	16.1	338
7/11	23	Ponferrada	16.8	355
7/12	24	Villafranca	15.0	370
7/13	25	La Faba	14.7	385
7/14	26	Triacastela	16.0	401
7/15	27	Barbadelo	14.3	415	Must walk from here to earn a compostela
7/16	28	Hospital Alta da Cruz	18.3	433
7/17	29	Melide	17.6	451
7/18	30	Arca	20.5	471
7/19	31	Santiago	12.4	484
7/20	32	Negreira	13.6	497
7/21	33	Olveiroa	20.7	518
7/22	34	Finisterre	19.5	538
7/23	35	Muxía	17.4	555
7/24	36	Santiago	—	—	Bus or train back to Santiago.
7/25	37	Toronto	—	—	Was going to walk, but I can't hold my breath that long, so I'll fly.
7/26	38	Home	—	—	Arrive by wheeled conveyance

So, that's the plan. But in the words of the famed Scots poet, "The best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft agley, an' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain for promis'd joy!"

UPDATE: I added a map on a new post.

Humor, 36 days out

I'm a regular reader of a web comic called The Dog House Diaries. In theory it has nothing to do with the Camino, except today they ran this comic:

Clearly, I'm prepared for my Camino!

I wish. 36 days to go...

(Special thanks to The Dog House Diaries for using a CC BY-NC license that let me use their strip here.)

The Stuff Gets Real

There comes a time when the nebulous plans of the Camino have to solidify into a less flexible form. When “maybe Portugal, or maybe France” becomes “France”. When work wants definite dates and when it's time to buy the plane tickets, then that time has come.

After far too many hours on Kayak, I decided it was time to talk to a real travel agent.

The first call was to a local agency called Charlie Cheapseats. They never called back.

Being one who doesn't believe in rewarding bad service, I went next to my local AAA agent. I had a nice meeting with an agent there, but the prices she quoted were higher than the prices I found on Kayak, and then there would be a service fee on top of that.

I gave Charlie Cheapseats another try. This time I talked to an agent, who was helpful and provided some information, but when I called back and left a message she never returned my call. Strike two.

Finally relief came from Whitaker & DePrez, which is the parent company of Charlie Cheapseats. After some great service there, I am now booked!

It turns out that flights are significantly cheaper from nearby Toronto than they are from here, and it's possible to take a Megabus from here to Toronto for only $10!

So I will be flying from Toronto to Paris to walk to Camino Francés (though there's still time to think about the Camino del Norte!). Once I get to Santiago, I will be flying from there to Madrid, then to Paris for my return flight.

The dates are set. The tickets are paid for. It just got real.

The Rain in Spain Stays Mainly in the Plain

It is increasingly looking like my trip will be happening in the latter half of June through the front half of July. This was a little later than I originally intended, as something I read advised avoiding the summer heat of Spain. Curious about how much heat that would be, exactly, I decided to look for meteorological data about the area and compare that against the same data for where I live.It turns out that the two areas are pretty close in terms of high temperature, and the overnight lows are a bit colder in Spain.

I think I'll be okay.

So They All Rolled Over, and One Fell Out

While John Lennon made it famous, it's Allen Saunders who's first on record as saying "Life is what happens to us while we are making other plans." Indeed, it seems that life has happened while making plans for the Camino. Due to the happening of life, this means that my brother, Don, won't be making the trip.

This isn't going to stop my plans, but it might change them. I'm now considering doing the more traditional Camino Francés instead of the Camino Portugués.

Woot! A camera!

I bought a camera!

In a previous post, I went through my thought process about which camera to take on the Camino. In that post I ruled out the Nikon S9700, but recently online shopping site Woot was selling them at a great discount, and I made the purchase.

I had mentioned that the camera had a reputation for breaking. The ones being sold by Woot are refurbished, so I assume that the one I'll be getting was affected by the problem, but that it's now fixed. I plan on giving the camera a thorough workout during Woot's 21-day return period. If it's defective, I will return it.

I also mentioned that I thought that the Sony was a superior camera. I still believe that to be the case, and with a $10 difference between the two, I would still recommend the Sony over this Nikon. But the sale price made this camera $100 cheaper, making this the better deal.

That's it for this post, but there's more in the works. I have picked up some other gear, and I'll be making future posts about that. I will also post my thoughts about the camera once I get it in hand.