Camino De Santiago Day 2

We slept on the floor on my second night and it was good that the albergue had some mats. It was a bit chilly, Ze and I strategically placed ourselves near the heater as we were the only ones without sleeping bags.

We woke up quite early that morning which was advantageous because it provided the group a good head start. I had salchichon for breakfast, which the others thought was weird because it is considered heavy food for breakfast.

It was still a bit dark when we continued on. A few meters ahead we saw a fork but the arrow was hard to find in the darkness. We just trusted our gut to take the left route. We had walked a considerable distance already but haven’t found any sign yet. Trucks on early morning trips were rumbling from a distance. Other than that, the darkness was just filled with our footsteps.

I was worried that we were headed to a wrong path but after about 500 meters Ze’s flashlight hit upon a yellow arrow sign. I heaved a sigh of relief

We took a break at a sloping path and several pilgrims walked past us. Whatever headstart we’ve had was slowly thinning down.

Early morning start

Just off the woods, a bold in-your-face Camino de Santiago was conspicuously displayed. I took this opportunity to take a photo of the jersey my buddy lent me. I was pretty sure he would love the idea.

Jersey shot

A girl who was travelling alone caught up on us. I remember her.  She slept on the same floor of our albergue. She asked something in the morning in the voice so loud that almost woke up another group that were still snoozing.  In her defense she was not aware that there were still other folks on our floor. She was quite apologetic when we informed her that there were still some people sleeping.

I took the opportunity to ask her if she could take a photo of our group. From then on she decided to stay with us. I was initially annoyed at her because she kept on teasing me for taking photos here and there.  Her name was Kacha and she came from Poland.

Group shot taken by Kacha

Kacha with Chico and Ze

Further on my camera just stopped taking pictures. It dawned on me that I have forgotten to charge my camera. I was a bit annoyed because a lot of magnificent views came. Murphy’s law at work.  There was one magnificent view of the seaside as we were going down a hill that I recall. Now my only reminder of this was a selfie shot taken from Chico’s phone.  

Last shot from my camera for the day

Selfie from Chico's phone

As we were walking, Spanish folks would great us “Buen camino” which literally means “ Good walk”. That was when I realized the origin of a popular Filipino surname “Buencamino”.

"Buen Camino !" Photo taken from my phone

We had a game introduced by Kacha which was like the “Pinoy Henyo” game. Someone will think of a person in mind. The rest will take turns in asking questions answerable by yes or no only. One loses a turn if the answer to the question is a no. The game ends when the name of the person is guessed. I realized that sometimes an “easy answer” is quite difficult to guess if you don’t ask the right question. Such was the case of a popular European figure in Politics whom we had a hard time figuring out after several rounds, until the question “is he from Vatican?” was asked.

It made me realize that in life in order to find the answers we are seeking we need to ask the right kind of questions.

We had lunch at the ascending path of a hill beside a playground. I recall smelling a dead rat nearby. The guessing game we were having was stalled because it was Chico’s turn and he did not want to give up. He was almost close to guessing the name of a person who was a member of the Beatles. I just realized how competitive Chico was.

Ze seemed like he had a second stab at childhood because he was swinging in the playground with such glee. Ze’s fun was contagious , Chico, Kacha and I explored the playground as well.

I found a stick along the way. It was long with a slight arch on the end. It seemed to glide quite easily when I use it so I thought of carrying it with me.

In one of the stops, I left my glasses. We walked about 300 meters when I realized I forgot it.  Not wanting to stall the group I told them to go ahead as I had to come back to search for my glasses. Fortunately I found it at that spot where I sat down. I was quite lucky to have found it. A strong wing could have easily blown the leaves and made it difficult for me to find it.

After the walk in the woods we once again walked along the streets of a town. I recall passing by a small chapel with minimal illumination as if it was abandoned. There was a stamp available . It had a note inviting the pilgrims to go ahead and put a stamp on our passport.

Then we passed by Redondela, a beautiful town that has a narrow bridge across a river. Once again a nice view. I rue again the fact that my camera at that point was nothing but an annoying  extra load on my back.

As we nearing Pontevedra, I noticed the two American girls we saw the previous day, running as if they were contestants in the Amazing Race. Turns out they received news from other pilgrims that the Albergue in Pontevedra our intended stay for the day  was getting full and they were trying to claim the remaining slots.

Upon hearing the news our group started to walk faster than usual. But we were no match to the speed of the two girls. 

We finally reached Pontevedra. There were 6 slots in the albergue and there were 7 of us (including Kacha).  We finally resolved it that 4 of Ze’s family will share in 3 mattresses and the other 3 will have a mattress each.

We arrived at 6 pm so we didn’t have time to explore Pontevedra anymore. I just went to the supermarket to buy food for the following day.

Camino Portugues taken from a poster in the Albergue

It was March 31, a day before April fools day. I told Ze about a prank I played on my MBA classmates. I was planning to have a big reveal on April Fools Day. Ze liked the idea so we decided to play a prank on Chico. We slipped a piece of paper underneath his pillow supposedly a love note from one of the pilgrims. (This was cleverly handwritten by Kacha).

I was supposed to do a speech to be taped by Ze but by then I was really tired and I prioritized finishing a blog post as part of April Fool’s day prank to my MBA classmates.

And so we went to sleep. The room filled with snores from other pilgrims but I was dead tired that I too easily fell asleep. And that was the second day of my Camino.

Camino De Santiago Day 1 Part 2

Our stop happened to be just around a creek. A group of pilgrims passed by (from Madrid if I recall correctly) and we asked one of them to take a photo of the brothers and me sitting on a small bridge. The photographer in me was hoping it would be a perfect shot but Ze had his eyes closed. Bummer.

At a bridge in Tuy

We trudged on and the three of us were getting a little bit behind because we would occasionally stop to take shots here and there.  There was one area where Chico borrowed my camera to get a shot from an elevated position. The effect was rather good because he focused on us while blurring the nearby leaves on the foreground. It was at this point that I got convinced that Chico really has an eye for good shots.

Photo taken by Chico

The path led to a long wooden bridge with the unmistakable yellow sign on the railing.  Only a fool would get lost to the intended destination, as the yellow marks are conspicuous all throughout. Further on,  the group went again for a quick break. I made some calculation that at the rate we were going we could not do the original plan of spending the first half of the day walking and the rest of the day, exploring the town of the chosen stop. I did not mind the pace because it allowed me to have considerable rest, so convenient actually I felt it was just a leisurely walk. Before the trip I was initially worried that I might be the slowest one, delaying the overall pace of the group but such was not case.

Conspicous signs 

Into the woods

In one of our stops I notice a blue arrow pointing towards the opposite direction. Chico told me that it was a sign leading to a route to Fatima. How cool is that. I made a small reminder to myself to visit Fatima if given the chance to spend some time in Europe again.

Around 12, I was feeling a little bit hungry and I was wondering why the group still has not decided to have lunch. Then I remembered that lunch in this part of the world is at 2 pm.

We had lunch at a restaurant at the foot of a hill. We ordered a sumptuous Octopus meal with chili, a specialty of that region. And boy that Octopus really tasted heavenly, partly because I was extra hungry from walking. (I would later learn from a Spanish friend that the Pulpo in the Galicia region is the best and tastes different from the ones served in the Murcian region.)

Pulpo De Gallego

Ze borrowed my phone for a while because he was expecting a feedback from an internship in one of the leading firms in his city. I was hoping he would make but he told me he didn’t.  Ze is a debater in his school And I presumed he was a good one as I see in the fb feeds that he represents his school in contests)

After lunch

After lunch, the group had to choose whether to pass by a scenic route though 4 kilometers longer or a shorter one but would lead us to an industrial area. Good thing the group decided to choose the shorter route as I was looking forward to just have a good rest in the albergue.

The industrial path reminded of a similar industrial area in Subic, a city in the Philippines. The path looked strangely familiar,  I can't believe I was thousand miles away from home.

The heat was rather scorching but I did not mind.  I initiated a quiz game with Ze that started first with a vocabulary game. Eventually Chico joined us and I gave them logical puzzles. One was concerning weighing eight balls with one defective ball. I was quite pleased that the two brothers had appetite for logic games. It made the walk much more interesting. Time just seemed to fly by easily.

We passed by a highway and had a quick stop in a bakeshop where I took some candid shots of the group. Normally the shops we stopped by have stamps to put on our pilgrim passport to show proof that we have indeed passed by the route.

Candid shots in the bakeshop

We finally reached O Porrino the intended stop for the day but to our dismay, the hostel was closed due to bug infestation. One option would have been to stay at another hostel but it was bit expensive for the group. We took a break around a fountain to decide on the next move.  A few of us went to the supermercado to buy food.

I saw Sarah again and she looked so lovely as she sat there near the fountain. She told us that she would catch a train to the next stop where she will spend the night.

Sarah taking a break at O Porrino

Our group decided to walk on. We met again a Spanish family that we have met earlier in the woods. They were checked in the albergue in Mos. (about 3 km from O Porrino). The albergue was already full but the management allowed us to sleep on mats in the recreation room on top.

While we were waiting for the room to be cleaned, we had our phones charged. Ze and I played a game that seemed like trump. The suits of the cards were weird , different from the ones I am used to-  clubs, clovers hearts and diamonds.

Spanish cards (photo taken from www.delcampe.net)

Playing that card game with Ze just seemed surreal. Maybe because the card suits look different. Maybe because it just seemed so unlikely that I would  meet again my host in Porto. And yet there I was with him. And he was teasing me because he beat me on the second round. I normally am a sore loser but I did not mind because my heart was bursting with joy. It was my first day of Camino with the group. Everything just seemed perfect.

Camino De Santiago Day 1 Part 1

We woke up the next day around 530 am, and much to my surprise, though there is a barely light from the outside, half the people in the room had already packed up and left. While hastily fixing myself in the bathroom I found out that one of my contact lens was missing. Bummer. It meant that I would have to wear glasses the rest of the journey. This I abhor because I don’t like to have my glasses on when posing in front of a camera as they make me look older. I normally bring a spare set of lens for trips like this, so I was quite disappointed that I missed it in my pack.

In the ground floor area, on the way to the kitchen, I was finally introduced by Ze to his mom, aunt and cousin, who had already their backpacks slung on their back. They all couldn’t speak much English so Chico and Ze had to do the translation. Despite the language barrier I felt their hospitality and friendliness and I knew that I was very much welcome to their group.

The two brothers and I had a quick breakfast in the pantry (a few slices of bread, a handful of salami and half a carton of milk). It was not much but I couldn’t complain as these were just items left by other pilgrims. As I would later find out throughout the  Camino, generosity and hospitality are a common thing, like the whole experience transforms the pilgrims into better and transcendental versions of themselves

While munching my breakfast contentedly, I saw a pretty blond girl, with a hauntingly penetrating pair of blue eyes. I guess all blue eyes melt my heart in a certain way. I tried to do a bit of a small talk. I learned that she was from Bremen and doing the Camino alone which really impressed me (although I would later find out the solo female pilgrims are common). I somehow sensed that she wanted to be in a meditative mode (or perhaps I was just being paranoid) so I let her be in her own zone.

Chico also had a conversation with her and I somehow sense that Chico has this charm of letting the guards of the girls down – he reminded me of a friend back in the Philippines who was a natural charmer and I wouldn’t be surprised if Chico is a ladies man.

It was a foggy morning and it was drizzling when we stepped out of the albergue.  The team put on disposable raincoats – similar to the ones handed out in grocery stores. I was pleased to know that Ze’s family brought an extra coat for me.

The path led us back to the wall and I couldn’t resist taking a photo of the group. I found out during that part that Chico also had this interest for taking photographs. He showed me some photos taken from his phone and I was pleased that he had the eye. Great, I thought to myself. We have something to talk about along the way and I could teach him some basic photography rules.

A shot at the wall before the journey

We passed by the bridge that connects Portugal and Spain. I thought that there would be a passport checking station at the border similar to the ones I have seen in the movies- the movie 'Shining Through' came to mind- but to my surprise (more like dismay actually) we went through it just like that as if we just moved from one town to the other.

Ze’s aunt explained that back in the pre-EU days they had to sneak to the other side to buy stuff at cheaper prices.

At the bridge between Portugal and Spain

The first town of Spain from the border is Tuy. Just off the bridge, there lay a distinct sign of the Camino De Santiago and its symbol, a yellow-colored shell with lines that seem to look like rays of light. I was told by Chico that pilgrims or “peregrinos” hardly get lost in the Camino because all one needs to do is look at the direction where the lines are radiating. How quaint, just like a compass.

Camino de Santiago sign in Tuy

We passed by alleyways made of cobblestones typical of European towns and followed the signs. In one part of the town that was sloping I thought of taking a photo of Ze and Chico. We had to take turns taking photos as we did not have a tripod. Fortunately two girls with heavy American accent and backpacks twice their size came by and offered to take our photos. How sweet of them. I was hoping to invite them to join our group but hesitated, since technically I only tagged along with Ze’s family and I don’t want them to feel uncomfortable with a pair of strangers joining us.

At Tuy

As this walk was on a holy week, a lot of churches were open with their traditional preparation for Good Friday, the day the Lord was crucified. The strangest arrangement I have seen was actually in Valença where a big cruficix was laid down slanting on the center of church floor, the pews set aside the walls while another image of Christ was standing on the centre as if watching over its doppelgänger.

A unique set up in Valença

The row of houses along the path slowly thinned out and we went straight to a path that leads to the woods. There was a huge block of rock that depicted Santiago or St. James, the person who started the Camino and our group thought it was an ideal place for a long rest.

A stone sculpture depicting St. James

During this time I took out my precious token, the UP Ikot sign. Only my friends back in the Philippines could truly understand its meaning. It is a signboard used in jeepneys to indicate the route of the vehicle. I posing in different European cities with that sign never fail to amuse my friends back home. For some, it seems that the European city is just one of the stops of the local jeepney. For me it probably means something deeper, like a life journey, going away from home and yet never leaving it. I am not sure if that makes sense.

I asked Chico to pose holding that Ikot Sign. (Ze already had a shot back when I first couchsurfed in Porto) Chico made a funny face.

At that moment seeing the local sign held by a person who comes from a totally different place just seemed extraordinary. It’s hard to imagine that two different worlds could actually coexist. The sign which reminded of my home and Chico who at that instant is the embodiment of Europe just made the shot seemed so unreal and yet it’s there, the scene right there in front of me, reminding me of the two disparate worlds I came from.

Chico with the UP Ikon sign

It seemed that only days ago the Camino de Santiago was but a dream but that very moment it reminded that it was all happening. And that I was there.  And I really felt alive and aware that moment.

(to be continued)