Where are the Americans?

The camino is a wandering multinational, polyglot parade. Well, not parrade, beacuse most of us are mostly straggling all day. Sometimes in knots, but as the day goes on more and more on our own, and an hour or two may pass between sighthings. In the towns each evening, teh pilgrims re-coalesce and gravitate toward the same places for dinner...I´çve met folks from, among other palces, Hungary, Brazil, Germany, Australia, Scotland, England, Holland, Denmark (lots), Italy, Canada (lots!), Argentina, France <(lots=), Belgium, and, of course, Spain and Portugal. but I´ve yet to meet another single American (US person, that is). What is it with us?

I´m an idiot

Last night, after arriving in Los Arcos, which was a dreadful day for everyone, I ended up making friends with a Spanish family who were on a one week trek together. At one point, the daughter (probably in her 20s) was giving her mother a massage. A Canadian guy came by and said, ¨How about if I give you a massage after you´ve finished massaging her?¨ The spanish woman turns to me (she doesn´t really understand English) and wants to know what he said. I say he is just a typical guy, he only wants the chance to touch a woman (I said `tocar´a woman---some help pls from those of you who know Spanish? I think you can tocar a person or tocar a piano? Anyway, she seemed to understand exactly what I meant)....So here´s the idiot part: she then says to me---how about if I give you a massage after >I´´ve finished with my mohter. You must have had a tiring day¨.....And I respond: thanks, but I think I must decline. I have to go to buy groceries for the trek tomorrow........What a gentleman!....What a loser!

Day 6...Some short posts to follow...

Day 6 was Los Arcos to Logrono...:Not nearly as bad as yesterday. 18 miles, but I started early and avoided the afternoon sun. I´m going to make two or three short posts following this one....

Day 5, first taste of reality

I went from Ciraqui to Los Arcos today, a distance of about 21 or 22 miles I guess. The distance wasn´t the worst part of it, just that the last half dozen or more miles are out in exposed sun. I was totally wiped out and almost out of water by the time I straggled into town, but like me, the other pilgrims appear to be walking wounded at this stop...in fact, at every stop one always sees walking wounded tending to blisters, sore muscles, etc. People start out with you one day, then have disappeared a couple of days later, either slowing down or bowing out completely. Later in the trek comes the meseta, flat and long, which many of the trekkers hate more than the hills, and now I can see why after walking through the sun today!.... But I´m here, still no blisters, tired but happy, and will attend a mass at the church tonight with special pilgrim blessing.
The towns have a "12th century meets 21st century" feel to them. This route had its "heyday" in the 12th and 12th century, so it´s filled with old Romanesque and Gothic little churches and chapels every few miles. But Spain´´s glory days passed, and there isn´t much to show for much of hte time in between---I´m kidding, but not totally. Then, there is lots of new construction from the last decade or so, as Spain has become very prosperous on the back of its European union membership." So it makes for odd juxtapostioiins in some of these towns...

Day 2, slept with a pretty lady last night

I figured that would get your attention. it´s sort of true. There were 120 pilgrims staying in the massive pilgtrim dormitory in Roncesvalles last night (it´s an old barn). They have bunk beds arranged cheek by jowl---probably not the best image, but one abuts another. I drew a top bunk (they are all single beds), and Jule´s top bunk was pressed flush against mine. So, we probably had less space between us than one would have in a double bed. (All went well. Neitehr of us snored).

Last night I attended the pilgrim mass in Roncesvalles. They call all the pilgrims up front at the end of the mass (dozens attended the mass), and then the priest reads a blessing for a safe journey in four languages. After that, they turn all the lights down in the chruch except for one that shines on a statue of the Virgin Mary, and the congregation sings the old Latin hymn, Salve Regina, to ask fro protection for the pilgrims.

I´m half way through second day walk, and will write another post when able....

Day 4 uphill and down in the wine country

Day 4. I just arrived at Ciraqui, from Cize Menor. I guess it was about a 16 mile trek, but I¨ll have to calculate more closely and report in a future blog. I realize that the elevations listed for each city turn out to be quite misleading. This stretch, point to point, was a minor rise in elevation from where I left, but with a couple of big up and downhills in between. It kills you to give up ground after climbing a hill!
Anyway, I¨m happy. We´ve now entered the wine country. Some of the vines are so ripe that big bunches of grapes fall to the ground to rot before anyone gets around to picking them. Most towns, including this one, have ¨pilgrim menus¨for dinner, which might offer a salad, entree, dessert, and WINE for about $13. All in all, quite a good meal...and quite a good deal. Since this is a wine growing area, they simply stick a bottle on the table and you help yourself---I guess there is plenty to go around.
This evening I´ll attend mass in the 12th century church here. One of the odd features of the camino is that you seldom end up able to attend mass in a church or even visit! The churches are often closed all day, and the small towns that I often overnight in may not even have an evening mass, or even a functioning church. well, tonight is a chance to be grateful...

Day 3...Bulls and no bananas

Day 3, from Larrasoana to Cizur Menor, passing through pamplona, was easier than day one (St jean to Roncesvalles), all uphill, much in rain!....and day 2, Roncesvalles to Larrasoana, all downhill---no, not actually, climbing and then down, and so on, much of the downhill on dirt and loose rock. Yesterday was a much easier day. Passed through Pamplona, where one sees how truly insane are those clowns who run in front of the bulls---the streets are narrower than they look ion television, and no place to duck into.....Upon leaving Pamplona, a very large city, I stopped into a market to buy a banana for an afternoon snack...Sorry! It was just about 2pm, store closing for the afternoon siesta, and no interest to sell even one banana before shuttering the windows. Well, it´s a beautiful custom that people still take tim ein the afternoon to relax and be with their families, but it´s a hassle when you´çre a pilgrim who happens to be passing through town at the lunch break....
Pamplona is also the site of a famous battle injury that St. Ignatius (then a hip young skirt chasing soldier) sustained, which led to his eventual conversion during recovery. One of the major streets in Pamplona is, accordingly, Calle San Ignacio, St. Ignatius´ Street. And, in fact, there is on the street a bar called St. Ignatius Bar, which has a banner with a cute blond cartoon woman, in very short skirt, looking back over her shoulder and winking (I suppose to lure passersby inside). Probably isn´t exactly the image San Ignacio would want to be rememberd for.
Spent the night last night at a hostel which is adjacent to a small 12th century church, no longer in use, but maintained by the knights of malta. So, one can sit peacefully inside it to recover after a long day of walking in the sun.
I´m writing this during a break on day 4 in Puente de la Reina (more on that wheen I get time to post again...for now I have another half dozen miles to my destination for the night)....

Photo from Climb Up Pyrenees

Here is a photo from day one, my climb up the Pyrenees. It was taken at Valcarlos, a tiny Spanish town, the first one after crossing the French border. The story of the photo is incredible: one of the gentlemen who drove me to my start point, Inigo Eccheveste, was the next day driving across the Pyrenees with his family. He met me on the road---he driving one way as I was walking the other. He took this photo. The odds of us meeting were, to say the least, longshot!

Streetwalkers!

No, not that kind of streetwalker! Most of the camino is ´"off road" along trails, some semi-paved, others stony. But from time to time the camino goes onto paved streets, often when approaching and going through towns. Most of the other pilgrims seem to complain about those stretches, saying they far prefer the unpaved, rough, natural paths. Me? Boy from the streets that I am, I realize that I don´t at all mind, and in fact kind of like, the feeling of moving along steady pavement. Maybe it makes me feel at home, street kid that I was (and still am at heart!). Queens, New York, rules!

18 miles uphill and mostly in rain!

I´m in the monastery of Roncesvalles now, which has existed for almost 1000 years. They have a mass for pilgrims every night during which they bless every pilgrim...This has been a tradition for hundreds of years....Getting here is a bit of a task!...The walk from st. Jean Pied de Port was about 18 miles, almost all uphill...one kilometer after another of switchback type climbing, but always with a gentle grade. It rained for almost the first full two hours, but then became moodily cloudy with occasional showers blowing through....I came all the way on the road. There is an alternative, a lot of which is over more desolate trail, and the most macho pilgrims do it that way. But on my first day, in fog and rain, I chose to wimp out....After mass tonight, the Cafe Sabina offers pilgrim menu with wine for 8 Euros---how can you beat that?

No blisters so far. All is well and I´m happy.

PS For history lovers--this is the site of the battle in Song of Roland, where Roland is slain by Muslim raiders. There was a battle here in which Roland was slain, BUT by Spanish (Basque) raiders, not by muslims---Roland is one of the first great propaganda epics (we might say today) of Christian spain´s reconquest of the muslim kingdoms....

Coincidences on eve of climbing Pyrenees...

This afternoon I leave Loyola Spain by car to go to St. Jean Pied de Port, on the French side of the Pyrenees. Tomorrow monring I walk up the Pyrenees. It´s pouring rain right now. This is not exactly how I planned things in my mind! >Let´s hope for better weather tomorrow.
I just attended mass in what was the bedroom---and now is a chapel--in Ignatius Loyola´s caslte where he recuperated after a battle injury and had his conversion. From this place, he went on a long pilgrimage--all the way to the >Holy Land, traveling the land part by foot and donkey in the 16th century! Incredible. So, I thought it would be fitting for me to ask his metaphorical blessing as I set out on my own pilgrimage (in fact, in Ignatius´s autobiography, he refers to himself as ¨the pilgrim"
I´m being driven to St. Jean today courtesy of two Spaniards who live close to here and who expressed interest in meeting me after reading my book. It should be about a two hour drive, and it was most kind of them to offer. Their names are "javier¨" and ¨"inigo," or, in English: Xavier and Ignatius. Many of you know that Ignatius (Loyola) and (Francis) Xavier are the two most famous co-founders of the Jesuits, so it´s a weird and striking coincidence that they should be chauffering me to my start point today!
So, all in all, propitious signs despite bad weather.....
By the way, if you want to leave a comment at this blog site, I understand that it will be much easier if you log in as anonymous (and leave your name and city in the first line of your message)--if you try to register, it becomes more of a hassle, I gather.

Greetings from Loyola, Spain

I´ve arrived safely in Loyola, Spain and will be here--pre-pilgrimage--at a conference this week. This is Saint Ignatius Loyola´s birthplace (he´s the founder of the Jesuits), and his family home--a beautiful but modest castle--still stands. It´s about three stories, dates from late medieval times. It´s now a museum, though there is also a large church and conference center as part of the complex. This part of Spain, in the Basque country, is quite beautiful. Lush and moutainous, and Loyola´s family castle is in a valley amidst this landscape.
But somethings is odd in this beautiful setting! Completely surrounding Loyola´s castle is an ugly, concrete building in the style that a Soviet architect of the 1950s would love (so imagine Loyola´s castle with an ugly rectangular donut surrounding it). You can´t see the castle from the surrounding area, and you can´t see the landscape from inside the castle--just the stone walls of the ugly donut. Well, I´m sure it seemed like a good idea at the time.
Loyola´s room is preserved, and it´s important and famous in Jesuit history because his conversion experience happened here (more to follow on this, perhaps!)

Welcome to the Pilgrimage Blog!

Thank you for visiting. I'm leaving this afternoon (Aug 19) for Ignatius Loyola's birthplace in Spain's Basque country. I'll be speaking at a conference there in honor of the 450th anniversary of his death....On Aug 25th I'll travel from Loyola to St. Jean Pied de Port, at the base of the Pyrenees on the French side; on Aug 26 I'll start walking to Santiago de Compostela.
From today forward, I'll try to post almost daily (depending on whether I find internet cafes en route AND depending on whether foot blisters or a particularly long walk put me in too foul a mood to post)....Your comments are welcome throughout! Please help us spread the word about this site and the Pilgrimage for Our Children's Future....Thanks again and welcome! Chris Lowney