Ramond and his Camino Santiago de Compostela

18-07-2011 Burgos – Hontanas

Yesterday checked the cathedral of Burgos and got myself a pilgrimstamp for my passport. Huib did support me a lot. He gave me nice tips around all kind of private issues. I had 2 missed calls and 1 SMS text message but didn’t notice them because my phone was in silent mode and I also went to sleep early. Patience and rest is important, here you notice this really well. A spaniard told it in nice words. He said that all people who are travelling eventually also return where they belong.

I started to walk todat at 06.30am. Burgos is a beautifull city. The hostal was 35 euros so 17.50 per person. The lady on the reception was really nice but she didn’t speak English at all. I was glad to be able to speak with her in Spanish.

The pilgrimmenu was 12 euros but fresh and delicious. A russian salad, lomo with peppers and a beer. When I started walking I remembered the first village was around 6 km from Burgos. So breakfast would be after 1.5 hours walking. I passed a bar where some local raw workers were. They all had a strong alcoholic beverage in front of them. It was 06.30/45 am! I took a coffee and a piece of apple pie. It was nice and only 2 euros.

I continued to walk. After a while walking I met 2 guys, 1 from Croatia and 1 from Germany. They wanted to walk 42 km today. Amazing not? There is a hostel from an Italian orden and they do like it’s traditional according Jesus’ way washing pilgrims feet. Because your feet are the most important for pilgrims. Physical I feel really strong now. Mental is going up and down. I walked a long time at one piece. In the meantime I thought about the concept that you cannot change the past and future.

I wanted to call. The first point I thought I was able to call there was no signal at all and the guy from Croatia came sit next to me while drinking some coffee. The coffee was by the way 1.20 euros at that bar. I continued to walk and you guess it.. no signal… I walked a long time and then I was able to call at last.

The last 7-8 km were heavy. Going down was hurting a bit. I noticed I walked faster and faster to be in time arriving. The arrival in Hontanas felt really good. 2 Spanairds told me why when I was walking why I didn’t run with the bulls in San Fermin next year. My first reaction was not really… but it was tempting to say the truth…

Later that evening they were sitting on a terras and I was wearing my Pamplona t-shirt. They called me since then ‘San Fermin’. I also had found Huib again. He had even done a reservation for me at the hostel in Hontanas. They was a good move of him because I was arriving late and sometimes there are no places available anymore. It was a nice welcome in Hontanas. Holandés? asked the owner of the hostel. I answered puzzled yes and asked why and he told me an amigo de holanda had made a reservation for me. I was in the same hostel than Huib! Huib read in his guide that in this village there was a public pool. Really amazing, only for Pilgrims. Walking to the pool was really going slow and with a lot of pain. Walking did hurt my feet and legs a lot. At the moment we arrived in the pool all pain was forgotten. We enjoyed the beautifull situation. The silent and prettiness. The water was ice cold but I knew it was good for my muscles and bloodcirculation. Huib yelled 1 time come on you are a pilgrim and not a sissy. I jumped in the pool without thinking and hesitation. It was really cold. But o so great. I felt my muscles and whole body reacting…

I hit my head on a window and noticed that my pain level really was much higher than normal in the Netherlands. Dinner was good again, it was 10 euros. Pasta with tomato sauce and a steak (filete the Ternero) with fries and flan for dessert. Nice. At the end of the dinner a German from Berlin sat at our table sat down. He was in the army and was a clarinet player for the Blue Army. He was a professional musician. He was very funny. He was started today in Burgos. So it was his first day.

Photo and video gallery :

Posted by Ramond - 30 March 2012 at 00:25

Categories: 18-07-2011 Burgos - Hontanas Tags:

17-07-2011 Villafranca Montes de Oca – Burgos

Today’s goal was getting as near as possible to Burgos. We are now in Burgos! 42 kilometers, approx 26 miles, walked! That’s a lot, that’s a marathon.

We are now in a little Hostal, named Lar. She didn’t speak English at all, her son was the owner and he wasn’t there today. Easy when you can speak Spanish. She liked it a lot I spoke Spanish to her. We got extra discount. I also asked where we best as pilgrims could go to dinner. She gave nice and good tips.

I had walked with the thoughts that you cannot turn back the past and cannot plan of guide the future. Proof came soon.

I sent a message to my dad that I walked those 42 km. He asked me to call him immediately.

Natascha had complications, internal bleedings. I should call around 21.00 for more news, he didn’t know more at the moment. Somewhat later I had Berrie on the phone. She was to the operation room. Bummer too late. Call after 20.00 Berrie said. I did so and spoke with her. Happy to hear her. A lot of stress.

Happy tomorrow is a new day. Huib supported me really well.

P.S. Short notes in my journal because of personal reasons

Photo and video gallery:

Hostal Lar in Burgos

2011-07-17 Arrival in Burgos Camino de Santiago

Posted by Ramond - 29 February 2012 at 07:19

Categories: 17-06-2011 Villafranca Montes de Oca - Burgos Tags:

16-07-2011 Grañon – Villafranca Montes de Oca

I walked almost 258 kilometers (approx 160 miles). I’m almost at 1/3rd of my camino de Santiago. Today I started walking at 5.15am. Funny to start walking so early but I was awake. I thought get up and start walking. It was dark and there were no street lights.. After a while I walked in the wrong direction. I didn’t saw any sign anymore of the Camino de Santiago. It was emotional to lose the way. You are walking and because of the dark and missing the signs you don’t see which direction to walk. You know that you have to walk 30 kilometers (approx 19 miles) today and if you take the wrong direction you add some kilometers extra. After I walked 45 minutes guided from my feeling of direction I found again the path of Camino de Santiago. Gave a nice feeling and emotion. I walked aside the N-120 direction Belorado. That was the good choice. I took the time so I could see how much time I had lost. I walked an average of 3.6 km/h. That’s not that fast. It was ofcourse caused due to searching the way and thinking. It’s not that important but still you feel a little bit sad in such moment. The good news was that it was a nice route. Because I walked wrong I also met again with Jantje. I recorded us for a little bit while walking. Was funny. She is spontaneous. Yesterday I enjoyed the dinner, felt like a little party. We ate with 50+ persons together. Really enjoyed the people. First plate was spaghetti. Delicious. Little cold but the tast was good. You are so hungry that you are happy to eat something. The taste was good. They also provided sangria. To my right sat Huib and next to him a german couple of 20′s from a place near Stuttgart. Left from me sat… you never guess it… The Korean girl which I met earlier. She told me that her name is Angela because her real name is too difficult to remember and pronounce. That’s true because I didn’t remember her Korean name anymore, that difficult to pronounce and remember. Next to her was Aiko Tadatsu, a Japanese student of 21 who studied in Morocco, African economics or something like that. She was really nice, happy and funny. She spoke English very well. Next to her was Hiroto Nakata, a Japanese student which studied Business English in Mannheim (Germany). I said studying Enlish in Germany? Even funnier was the fact he didn’t speak German at all. He told me he only spoke English and ofcourse Japanese. I recorded them both while explaining some Japanese words.

Suddenly Angela spoke to me in bad English :”I thought about you since I saw you in the TGV“. At the moment someone wanted to serve me sangria she took the control and insisted she served me, everytime she did this with a special smile. Huib made a joke about this. He told… she wants to marry you. Koreans are interested in men from the West. Ahhh.. I skip this one. Nice woman but not exactly the reason why I walk the camino de santiago. In such moment you miss the person you love. but back to walking….

Today it went well with walking except the pain I experience in my back. Bummer. Take a good rest. I hope to eat some nice food later on. There is a family here with 4 kids. They travel with 2 donkeys and a big tent. Special to see. The youngest, a girl of 3-4 years old, was walking towards the donkeys and was dangerously close. She was behind the donkeys. Her somewhat older sister pulled her away, just in time. Huib and me were holding our breath. We were too far away to say something but then you see that her sister watched her younger sister well. With those people (parents) who don’t worry about these things doesn’t happen a thing wrong. Gladly enough.

I did the laundry. I put the laundry on the line for drying and make a photo as proof for the people at home. My body has become more flexible. I can touch my feet when I bend over. That was a while ago I was able to do. Apparently you become more flexible because of that walking.

Dinner was 13 euros. I took spaghetti with tomato sauce with cheese as a starter. The main dish was Lomo Adobado. Really good. Huib had asparagus with hamburgers. He had 2 hamburgers and I had 3 pieces of lomo. We shared the meat so we had a mix of meat. Great combo. The food was delicious. The wine was good. You notice that the food had better taste and quality here. 13 euros is a high price for a pilgrimsmenu but it was obvious better quality. At the bar I took 3 beers and Huib took 2 beers and a gin tonic. The barman did a real ritual while making the gin tonic. We had to pay…..5 euros! Later in the evening we saw the barman had forgot 2 beers on the bill. Good news is that we have a little bit more budget for tomorrow. We are going to try to come as near as possible near Burgos. We want to skip Burgos because of the city being too busy and loud we both don’t want that stress at the moment.

Photo and video gallery:

Camino de Santiago... today 05.30 started

lost the way but the arrows shows me the way!

Laundry is done

Blue air

Pretty view

arrived in Belorado

breakfast during camino de santiago is no punishment

jamon and eggs breakfast

nice café con leche

Camino de Santiago plan

Glad I was again on the path of the camino de santiago

I was sure now, I was again on the camino de santiago

05.30 started with walking

Found the path again!

Reunited with Jantje…

Some resting

Enjoying the view (you can also see the tent and donkey)

Wind playing with the fields…

Posted by Ramond - 25 January 2012 at 17:09

Categories: 16-07-2011 Grañon - Villafrance Montes de Oca, Camino de Santiago Tags:

15-07-2011 Najera – Grañon

So… a new day. Slept well in the 2 star hotel. We said (Huib and me) to leave at 07.00am. That’s minimal 1 hour later than normal. Feels like taking a good sleep! We started walking and right away it was hard because it went a little bit hill up. At the moment we passed the difficult point I didn’t had any pain except my pads. We did have enough food with us. We didn’t had to stop a lot of times because we had enough bread with us. Saves a lot of time and money. We took only 3 short breaks. We didn’t visit the Cathedral of St. Domingo. We had to pay for entrance and I didn’t feel into it. You loose money of your budget. Strange that in those little villages they open specially for you the church and here they ask money. The normal price was 3.50 and as pelgrim you pay 2.50. Strange but ok, not feeling into it. Doesn’t feel good. The walking pace was good. The short breaks were doing well to my body. My pads were better after the breaks. It was a nice and relative easy stage. Arriving in Grañon was a wonderful feeling. We were in a hostal named Hostal Peregrinos San Juan Buatista. A world of difference compared to yesterday. We had to get our pilgrim stamp in a bar named Teo. We took one beer. We asked for some food at 4.45pm but they said we could better wait and eat in the hostal at 8.00pm because it was good and free, according donativo principle. I said that we already heard this but that it was a long time before dinner time. She told me that at 5.00pm a bakery and supermarket will be open. We went to the little terras they had and enjoyed our beer. After some minutes I went inside to check if I could charge my iPhone. She told me there were 2 outlets. The first one I saw was behind a corner. I doubted to let my iPhone there. Then the barlady told me to put my iPhone on that table and she would watch it for me. I was minimum 15 minutes outside while the bar was busy with pilgrims. I enjoyed my beer and I didn’t worry. That’s something I wouldn’t do here… strange huh.

Shortly after 5.00pm we went walking to the bakery. The name of the bakery is ‘Jesus’. While walking inside you had to pass another door before you came in the bakery. When entering this room we were welcomed by a smell you cannot describe. Immediately your brains understood you are in a true fresh bakery. What a nice smell. We took some croissants and I asked what kind of delicious pastry was there. I asked in Spanish if it was made with apples because I recognized it. She said it was indeed with apple. Huib asked me what I asked her. I told him it was with apple. Yes, we would like have some of those. The lady of the bakery asked while cutting the piece if it was big enough, completely un-Dutch (Dutch are famous for their stingy-ish), we said both at the same time “Nee, groter” which is Dutch for “No, bigger”. She found that really amusing. She told us that most people wanted less. She said Germans used the word ‘kleiner’ (smaller) and that’s why she knew the difference between klein and groot (small and big). We thought it was a little piece so we asked for a bigger one. It was delicious. I was really fresh made. The true fresh bake bakery. You don’t find those here anymore so fresh and friendly. Everything was only 3.66. We went back to the albergue. When arriving we noticed they opened another room because it was so busy. This one was on the ground floor. We went upstairs and took our things and moved to downstairs. This is easier when leaving in the early morning. You disturb less people and you don’t have to walk stone stairs in the dark with your backpack.

Something funny about the hotel. When we left this morning I asked to Huib if he had everything. He said yes. I told him not to forget his mobile which was laying on the bed! We left. When we were outside the hotel and were walking of the steps he said…. MY camino walkingstick! Funny and really important. For me the hotel was also the first day since my camino de santiago started I slept under blankets.

Photo and video gallery :

We left at 7.00am…

7.02am walking bridge

Hotel where we slept

Me with famous grapes of Rioja wines…

Nice view

Arrival in Grañon

Bit luxury level difference with hotel or at home

Place for put your boots

Diner donativo principle

Posted by Ramond - 4 January 2012 at 10:28

Categories: 15-07-2011 Najera - Grañon, Camino de Santiago Tags:

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar, Happy New Year, Feliz Año Nuevo

Happy new year
Feliz año nuevo
Gelukkig nieuwjaar

Posted by Ramond - 31 December 2011 at 07:55

Categories: Site news Tags:

Fijne kerstdagen – Happy Christmas – Feliz Navidad

Happy Christmas
Feliz Navidad
Fijne kerstdagen
Frohe Weihnachten

I wish everyone a nice christmas !

BUEN CAMINO

Posted by Ramond - 24 December 2011 at 09:11

Categories: Camino de Santiago Tags:

14-07-2011 Logrono – Najera

Today started walking at 06.00. I slept really good. Logroño to Najera (approx 33 km). We started to walk and… we met again the Korean woman but I can’t remember her name because it’s such a difficult one to pronounce. There is no normal conversation possible with her because she doesn’t speak English at all, only some words, because I can’t make decent sentences from the words she tries to speak in English. Today I spoke by phone with Patricia. She asked me if I experienced spiritual or religion things during the camino. I answered her that I will tell her this in person whenever I will meet her, whenever that will be. It is too personal to write it down here and also I thought it was inappropiate to share this by phone with her.

I have to write down a thankyou note for Huib. I wanted to do some things different but he gave me an insight which was more comfortable. A way of dealing with the situation which was better for both of us. Less stress for me and her.

Walking 33 km asks a lot of your body. I was happy that my little pains in my knee were almost disappeared. I was laying down in bed now and it felt really good. My feet looked really weird when I took off my shoes. I asked Huib if he could check if I had blisters or starting blisters. He said I hadn’t and my feet were just swollen. Get them into icecold water and the normal shape will come again, he said. I put my feet in cold water and initially it hurts but then after a few seconds the pain changed into a comfortable feeling which gave a relaxing feeling for my feet. When I dried my feet I was amazed to see my feet looked again normal. A nice feeling.

Today is a kind of relaxing day. Tomorrow we going to sleep until 07.00am.

When we arrived in Najera we didn’t see an albergue. The Basque ladies indeed warned us for this. Apparently closed because of bedbugs… After walking a while we saw a hotel. Budgethotel was on the sign. We said to eachother that we earned the bonus to take a hotel for walking 33 km. When we entered the hotel I thought we were inside a 4 star hotel. The truth was it had 2 stars. It looked beautiful and clean. In such moments you realize how fast you get used to luxurious lifestyle and also how fast I can let it go. It’s a relative. But it was nice to be in a good hotel again. Really enjoying the feeling.

We went to a Eroski supermarket and bought a lot of food and drinks : Gazpacho, Alioli, 4 french baguette, 100 grams ham, piece of cheese, 2 x 6 energry bars, tomatoes, big olives, a big empanada, 6 x sausage roll and all this for € 20,56.

I’m going to sleep because I’m too tired to continue to write. Ok,1 thing. Today listened music. Was nice… goodnight… buenas noches…

Video and photo gallery:

06.00am walking with Huib… exchanging Maastrichts and Amsterdams dialect

View during walking…

Eating the empadana, updating my journal… in hotel Najera

Huib emailing… me not yet… I managed the temptation well… LOL

Posted by Ramond - 29 November 2011 at 21:45

Categories: 14-07-2011 Logrono - Najera, Camino de Santiago Tags:

13-07-2011 Los Arcos – Logroño

Today I was told it’s a heavy stage of approx. 28 km. We were awake early, 5.25am. Huib looked outside and said it wasn’t raining. I went the garden to pickup our laundry. When I arrived in the garden I noticed it was really dark outside. I felt drops falling on me… it was raining but you couldn’t see this due to the darkness. Luckily we put the laundry under a little roof to be able to dry well. The laundry was not completely dry, felt a little damped.

We took apparently a long time taking the breakfast as we start walking at 6.45am. An hour and 15 minutes to get up and being ready to walk is too much time… normally takes me 15 minutes.

The streets looked wet from the rain but the raining stopped. Good. I looked to the cloud and it didn’t look pretty. Huib asked if we could stop by a doctor to check his knee. He said that his knee felt strange and he noticed a weird crunching sound in it. We walked together and I thought his pace was still fast considering he had injury.

After a while walking together we were sitting on a nice little park bench. He showed me some private pictures and I did the same to him. We talked about some private topics.

Then the difficult parts of the stage came. It was going smoothly. It felt you become more and more trained. After walking approx. 18 km we took a little break at a fresh water source. I had to fillup my water and Huib just wanted to rest a bit.

A french couple which we saw several times before but were difficult to communicate with because only the woman spoke really bad English. But she tried. Her husband offered to look to the knee of Huib. He pulled and pushed Huib really hard on his knee. I asked Huib if it’s hurted and he said it didn’t, actually felt better. Huib noticed pain on 1 spot. The french man said nothing is wrong he only need to rest and not forcing the knee. Huib felt the knee was better since the man did help him. We started to walk again.

The next street we saw a bar. We walking ahead the bar and saw it looked closed. A beautiful Spanish woman from 35-40 walked towards us. I asked in Spanish if the bar is going to open. She said yes, please go inside. Her purse was still on the counter. It was even still dark inside. Huib asked if I could ask her if she had something to eat for us I asked her politely if she had a sandwich or so for us. She answered kindly she can make a tortilla for us. If you have a little bit time please wait here so I can close my car and then I make the tortilla for you both. It was a really, typical Spanish, beautiful woman. She was beautiful, friendly and professional. Exactly what I feel important qualities of a woman. Knowing what you are doing and doing it good. Then they are the most beautiful. Pfff… muy guapa. The tortilla Española was really delicious. We had to pay 12,20 so it was 6,10 per person. After eating the tortilla and drinking Fanta Orange we started again walking. We also bought some chips. I had chosen Doritos and Huib 3D Buggles. When we continued to walk Huib was much faster than me but I was able to keep his pace.

Arrival albergue Logroño. No first something else.

When we arrived in Viana I saw a nice church. Huib said he didn’t enter a church. I said I do. I wanted during my camino to go inside every church were it was possible to go inside and take a moment for all people I love and care about. Huib changed his mind and wanted to go inside but there was a sign you cannot go inside the church with short pants. Huib told me that I should go inside and do what I wanted and that he will wait outside. I was gratefull to him for this. I was in the church for reflect. Pilgrims like to keep on walking so I found it nice that Huib waited for me.

When we arrived at Logroño we had to pass a bridge. This bridge had locks in a lot of places. Some locks had messages. Looks strange but also nice.

Back to the arrival albergue Logroño…

At first the albergue was not really friendly when the owner welcomed us with a negative tone. A young lady was working there and said with a demanding voice she needed my ID. I gave my ID and she told me she couldn’t accept this as an ID. I said yes but in The Netherlands it is. I looked for a moment and I saw that I didn’t gave my ID to her but my drivers license. I said immediately sorry and admitted it was my mistake and gave her my ID. I said… I’m tired… She smiled and the atmosphere was now nice and positive. Then it went well. The owner still looked annoyed at us. Not really friendly to say welcome to pilgrims who are tired because of walking.

I looked around and I saw the most pretty girl I ever saw in my life. Wow… she asked us to follow her. I didn’t look if Huib was following me because I was enchanted by her. She walked in front in me and how tired I was… all my energy was used to see how beautiful she was and which nice femine curves she had. Nice long dark hair. I enjoyed her curves. After walking a while I noticed I forgot Huib. He came walking somewhat later. I said sorry but I was distracted. Later I went to shower, clean up a bit and lay in bed to listen to music. I choose shuffle and then came a song which I know will always remember this girl. The song was Blue Jean from David Bowie… and indeed she had a nice blue jean which showed her curves wel… Blue Jean… I will always remember Logroño….

David Bowies song : Blue Jean (iTunes Store)

At our bunk bed was a group of young women and I said proudly ‘Hola Españolas’ which means ‘Hello Spanish girls’ in Spanish. They looked and me and gave me a ‘look’ which could possibly kill me. We are not Spanish… We are Basque. We don’t say ‘Hola’ but ‘Kaixo’. I said sorry but I cannot speak Basque only Spanish, English, German, Dutch and a dialect. They found that interesting…. the dialect. They asked me to say something in dialect. They said it was sounding like a ‘strong’ language. Flirting was a quality of these girls. I kept speaking in Spanish but they kept answering me in English. Then I quit speaking Spanish and continued in English so Huib was also able to understand the conversation. He asked me how I was able to make fast and smoothly connection with women. I said that I think these women feel I’m calm and in love of another woman, women feel this. They are not afraid I try something with them. I said to him with a smile : “Maybe better they think this…”.

We continued with our typical pilgrim rituals. Showering and looking where to go to eat. At a certain moment was Huib looking out of the windows and sees the Danish couple walking. Huib went downstairs to speak with them. I continued to do my things. When Huib came back after a while he told me Sarah was injured so much on her knee she wasn’t able to walk the camino anymore. They went by bus from the one place to the next one. They are experienced walkers and in their begin twenties. And they got injured. They were also started from Saint Jean Pied de Port on the same day and albergue like us. It was special to here some news about them. I was wondering where they were. The others also thought they were far ahead of us. Always keep caution… an injury can happen in a second.

Huib said also that we are going to eat this evening together. They were already one day here and knew good restaurants. I said it was a good idea.

Just 5 minutes later the Spanish, sorry Basque, girls asked if I joined them for dinner… Arrrrghhhh.. I said of course no because I already promised with the other… And.. I wanted to stay on my path… test or not… my focus was to see during the camino if I loved someone or not… and what I wanted in life and what not….

I walked with Huib heading to the centre. I had a lot of pain in my knee. I was worrying about this pain. It was not the regular pain. We arrived quickly at Sarah and her boyfriend. She was injured but she still walked really fast. A shame they had to take the bus.

We asked if they know a nice restaurant. They yelled both at the same time “There is a Burger King here!”. I said… I don’t know… I need energy to fill up my body reserves and I think that will not work with Burger King. Huib also shared this. We needed good decent good… the sins were nearby… we went to Burger King because when during the camino will you have again a chance to eat a hamburger at Burger King? I have to admit is was delicious.

The hard plastic seats were not good for my legs and muscles. Walking back to the albergue was exhausting me. I went to take a nice sleep.

Photo gallery:

Pilgrim stamp Logrõno

Ramond in Logroño during the Camino.

Burger King in Logroño

Posted by Ramond - 20 November 2011 at 01:00

Categories: 13-07-2011 Los Arcos - Logroño, Camino de Santiago Tags:

12-07-2011 Estella – Los Arcos

This morning started at 6.15 to walk. The start was as usual again hard but eventually we arrived 13.00 in Los Arcos. That was a trip of 22 km. It went smoothly but only the last part the little pain came. I got a warm greeting from Jantje.. even Huib noticed. Was nice… getting attention of a nice 18 year old woman.

We are now in Alberque La Fuente Casa de Austria. This alberque was maintained by 2 young ladies from Austria. The atmosphere was really nice. We arrived their with 3. Huib, Solene and I. We took 1 room for us three. With 3 people you sleep more calm than with dozens in 1 big room. The room was 35 euro and breakfast was 3 euro. We gave 15 euros a person. The nice part of this alberque was that they have WiFi which was good for me because later I was able to call free via VoIP to my dad and mom to see how Natascha is doing after her operation.

After the arrival we noticed how much luck we had. It started to rain a lot. We were glad we already were inside.

It was also the first time for me I could sleep in the bunk-bed on the bottom section. Which was a nice and welcome surprise because I experienced some pains.

We all three wanted to eat in the center. Huib had to go to a bank to retrieve some money from the ATM. They told us the ATM was not that far away but if you stopped walking every additional 100 meter is really hurting. Your body is screaming please don’t walk anymore. If you walk a little bit you feel the pain fade away.

Everyone put money together so we can use the washing-machine. I said I will arrange washing the clothes of us all. When I arrived downstairs I had immediately help from the blonde Austrian young lady. Really helpful and friendly. A really modern washing-machine which showed how many minutes it took before ending the program. Then come back and put the laundry in a basket and put it outside to dry. Because of the raining now and than we decide to put the wet laundry under a little roof in case it started this night to rain.

We went together diner outside… and after we came back we took some time for ourself. Solene experienced a bad moment. In such moment you share special feelings with eachother. The support you have from each other is impossible to write down in words. Beautiful and completely without pressure.

I took the time to call my dad to ask what is happening with Natascha. I was already able to speak with her! It was a nice but also emotional surprise. But nice.. she was just awake from the anaesthesia and she heard a parrot and she asked me if I could do her a favor. If I could send a photo of the parrot to her and send this via mobile now. I sent her a video…

We went to sleep early. It was nice and calm sleeping without so much other people.

Photo and video gallery:

Ramond in the garden of Alberque La Fuente Casa de Austria

Little parrot… was quiet when recording…

Posted by Ramond - 7 November 2011 at 22:25

Categories: 12-07-2011 Estella - Los Arcos, Camino de Santiago Tags:

11-07-2011 Cirauqui – Estella

A new day, new chances. At the camino every new day means again walking. Today I’m going to walk around 27 kilometers.

I want to start about things which I didn’t mention before. First the 2nd day.

I was walking with Marcelo and Cess towards a drink vending machine. No, they already were there. Anyway. I walked towards them. I wanted something sweet and a coffee. I had noticed from a distance this was a Nescafé branded vending machine. I didn’t had enough coins. A pity I thought. I wanted to have a coffee badly. I choose a croissant with chocolate because I still had enough water but nothing to eat. Just when I wanted to start to eat my croissant Cess said the machine was giving back money. It appeared to be all my money I paid for the croissant, 1.30 euros to be exact. What a luck. Now I had the coins for getting me that highly wanted coffee. Funny isn’t it? Back to today…

I woke up really late today, around 7.30. I thought this was caused by the conversations on the phone and messages of yesterday. Because of this I went sleeping late. The breakfast was 3.50 euros and delicious. Fresh orange juice, a nice coffee and 2 toasted slices of bread with nice marmalade.

In Puente la Reina I went inside a church were they were doing a service while I came. Beautiful to witness this. There was a group of handicap people walking. They all had a blue t-shirt with the logo of International SOS. I asked a woman in Spanish if she could please explain me this. She told me that International SOS, an insurance company, paid all expenses so the volunteers and handicapped persons could complete a 4 day long camino trip. I was thinking that it looked hard for those people. The roads on the camino are not really wheelchair friendly. Especially when you are going upwards a hill. I have to admit that I was a bit jealous when we went downwards the hill and some of the group were overtaking me with a fast speed. But again… you immediately start thinking… Be happy to be healthy. Every advantage has his disadvantage. It was beautiful to see they had a lot of fun. Beautiful to experience those different feelings and emotions and also to see it in perspective.

The first part walking was hard, I think I had not enough rest yesterday. After walking a while it was going better and better. I met a couple. Gerda and Gerard from Zwolle. It was nice to speak with them a while. We arrived at a village names Cirauqui, were is supposed to be an old Roman way. It was indeed looking beautiful and old. It’s difficult to imagine that more than 1.000 years ago also pilgrims were walking on this road towards Santiago de Compostela.

After walking a while I started to speak with a nice girl from Bremen. She was at the camino with a studentfriend, Santos was his name. She told me that her name was Jantje and she was 18 years. A real Dutch name she said. Indeed it was. I found her a nice and attractive woman and I estimated her 25. She is going to study after the camino. She was cheerful, attractive and a bit young. We had some nice conversations while walking. Very personal. She was especially interested in my Spanish history which came emotionallly more and more to the front. I decided to keep it friendly and not loose the focus of my camino. I certainly learnt from this experience.

Just a bit before I arrived in Estella a Swiss couple warned me for sunburning my neck. I checked it and it was indeed burning a lot. I went to the shadow and put some protection lotion on me. They also offered me to help me but I said I could manage it by myself. They also asked me if I had fallen before. I said no. Later on I understood their question. My cap which I used for protecting me against the sun had become dirty and they ofcourse thought I had fallen because of the dirt on my cap. Nice to notice people asking how you are. You feel clearly that you can walk the camino alone without being alone. If you compare this to the girl in China of 2 years old which was killed in an accident while mor than 15 people who walked and saw her did…. nothing… a big difference.

When I arrived in Estella I saw a lot of ETA slogans written on the road. I made a photo of 1 : “You are not in Spain”. Strange sensation. From the nature to the politic center of Spain. While walking the camino you are not exactly thinking about politics. In this way you are forced to be aware of the real world.

The albergue cost 8 euros. 5 for sleeping,2 for the breakfast and 1 for the blankets. I had to go to the 2nd floor. I had chosen a nice spot which afterwards was being taken. So.. changing again… What happens… next to my new bed there is an outlet! Yeah now I can charge my iPhone. Especially because I want to keep the phone standby tomorrow for Natascha. I had eaten in the bar “Alday” in Estella. I just had to walk over a bridge and there was this bar located. I had to pay 10 euros for nice macaroni, meat with fries and a nice flan.

I wanted to calculate how many kilometers I had walked till now. After calculated I estimated I had done around 104 kilometers in 5 days. Sounded not much but on the other hand it’s 20+ km per day. I had the idea I walked more.

I got a nice SMS textmessage from a Spanish girlfriend. She asked me to pray for her everyday, she needed this. While she before the camino told me she didn’t believe anymore. Specially for her the video Losing my religion R.E.M. and here the lyrics of the song Losing my religion R.E.M..

I enjoyed a Fanta Orange on a terras… € 2.30 !!! That’s a lot if you compare the prices of the albergues and some vending machines which charge you € 1.20. Anyway I was enjoying the terras and the sun. I took the time for calling with Natascha. I took a beer for enjoying a bit extra…. 3.30 euros!!! Ok, not exactly camino prices but it tasted well.

Gerda and Gerard asked if they can join me. We spoke about the nice things here. They asked me about a nice restaurant. I had indeed already eaten and speaking Spanish was helpful at finding nice restaurants. I had found 2 nice restaurants where I saw Spanish customers eating. I eat with one myself. Nice diner and well priced. I was able to charge my phone and the TV showed the news. Before and after the diner I did some writing my diary.

I went back to the albergue. Time to check the laundry! I met Cess. She asked me if I was joining with them for the diner. I said no because I already had eaten. After I checked the laundry and put my diary back I was thinking I could join them even if it was for just a drink. When I went outside I saw Cess on the end of the street. The complete group (Cess, Marcelo, Solenne, Huib and Marcelo) start waving to me. When I came near Cess told me : “Changed your mind?”. Yes, drinking one is possible, isn’t it. They asked me where I had eaten and I told them the bar “Alday”. Was not bad. We started walking towards Alday while I told them the menu. Huib told me he had a bad knee injury. Really bad news. While the women and Marcelo when to a pharmacy when Huib and me to Alday to take a table. We talked about his injury, the camino and our lives. Huib told us later that he had spent 96 euros the last 2 days because of his knee. That was a shock compared to the normal camino budget. The ladies were also telling they had exceeded their budget a lot. I was thinking I had to become careful as well.

According the guide of Huib we had walked 117 kilometers till now. The other lists did measure only from sealevel while his book was counting the actual walked distance in kilometers. This meant if we still keep this pace we had to walk another 27 days. So I was ahead of schedule. Especially if you think experienced pilgrims told me that the last days your pace is becoming better and you can walk more kilometers than when you started. We shall see. I was now thinking I was walking a lot of kilometers a day. The pace is nice. It’s nice to walk alone and later on the day see familiar faces. Everyone experience different things and emotions which you share without shaming with your fellow pilgrims. This is a nice gesture of the camino.

It’s 21.30 or something. I’m going to read a bit and then sleeping. My phone is charging. Tomorrow an exciting day. Natascha is getting her operation at 14.00.

I had made an error in my calculation. 123.8 kilometers, that’s 24.76 km per day. 661 km / 24.76 km = 26.69 days. Still around 27 days. Matches Huib his list. So it’s around 25 km per day. I didn’t believe this is possible when I started the camino.

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