Camino De Santiago Day 3

On the third day I decided to stay behind and walk separately from Ze’s group.  There were two reasons. First I wanted to have a little bit of spirituality in my Camino so I could have a silent conversation with God. And being alone would help that. 

The second one is that I wanted to focus my attention on revealing the punch line of my April Fool’s day joke to my MBA classmates.

The walk alone was rather refreshing. I had the time to pray the rosary. I passed by an old church and took a UP Ikot photo.

Church in Pontevedra

Further on I crossed a magnificent bridge . I had a sudden realization of the present. It reminded me of the quote by Heraclitus.

 'No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it's not the same river and he's not the same man.'

I pondered upon this quote as I was crossing the bridge relishing every moment of it.  There is a slight possibility that some day I will cross the river again but the circumstances will be different and it will be a different version of myself. It reminded me of man’s mortality and somehow it made me sad.

Bridge in Pontevedra

Along the path I saw a coffee shop (smack in the woods which made it somehow out of place) and I paused to prepare the message I intend to reveal to my MBA classmates regarding my prank.

I turned my phone off so that I would have remaining battery for the big reveal. I realized that the view was much nicer than the past two days. Bummer.  I was taking photos of the surroundings but I was not with the group. I suddenly missed them.

Walk in the woods

I overtook a group of pilgrims. I took a shot of group and learned than one of them was from Murcia. They would have gladly welcomed me in their group but I was determined to spend the morning walk alone.

A group of pilgrims

Further on I saw a lady accompanied by two grandsons. They were giving a fruit each to the pilgrim. I guess she wanted to show her support to the pilgrims in this way. I asked if I could have a photo with them. Maybe because of the gesture of the photo shoot or maybe because it was a rare opportunity for her to find an Asian doing the walk much less a Filipino.  Whatever it was, she gave me three fruits, that’s two more than the usual number they give to a pilgrim. I was quite pleased and felt special.

Posing with the lady who was giving fruits to the pilgrims

I decided to have lunch a few kilometers before Caldas del Reis. I was expecting that Ze’s group would at least be there or at least have gone ahead because I have not caught up with them along the path.

In the bar I asked a couple who came from Portugal if they saw them. Much to my surprise they said they have been in the bar a while but Ze’s group have not passed the area yet and they were quite sure of it

I was a bit puzzled because I did not encounter them along the way.

I went to inside the bar to order sandwich. When I got back the couple told me that Ze’s group just arrived and went to the lawn area of the bar. I went out just in time to see Ze. I was so glad to see him that I gave him a big hug. It seemed like we have been separated for ages when it was only half a day that I got separated from the group. Perhaps there is something extraordinary about the ordinary.  But this mini reunion with Ze and the group was one of the things I recall fondly about this walk.

Reunited with the group at lunch

On the way to Caldas Del Reis the sun was really scorching but despite this the group was quite enthusiastic whenever I ask them to pose.

It is day 3 and the journey is coming to a close in 2 days time. Maybe this impending reality is slowly getting through everybody so they want to at least capture every moment of the journey.

Caldas Del Rey the intended stop for the day was well known for its flowing water that there were lots of stations in the place where pilgrims could soak their tired feet. I saw Sarah again while admiring the view of the river. Chico shouted at her and her friend. Since our group was relatively slow the albergue was already full when we arrived.

Fortunately due to the charms of Chico we found an apartment that accepts pilgrims. He was lucky that the lady he asked for a recommendation happened to know the owner of an available apartment. It was quite a steal. For only 6 euros per head we got the entire apartment to ourselves. There was also a kitchen and a washing machine (we had our clothes washed and dried). For that night we cooked dinner. Chico prepared an awesome meal of pork and mushrooms. The way he cooked the rice was also superb, I asked for tips from him.

A great dinner cooked by Chico

Later that evening we had some photoshoots. And then we played some music. I recall that Ze, Cacha and I were dancing on the ledge of the house while the upbeat music is being played.  We danced as if we had our own club and we were oblivious to the people down below. We just wanted to have fun. I can’t recall the reason why Chico was not with us. I think he probably gave his mom a massage.

The flat has big living room

Anyway the dance was quite fun and if not for the biting cold and the trek  that awaits the following day we would have continued on until the wee hours of the morning.

That was another quite memorable moment for me of the walk.

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.