A late start today. I got up, got organised and left before eight as required. I farewelled the German women I have shared a room with. The young one has just had two days off walking on doctor´s orders as she hurt her knee. The older two are following Gitte´s dream and the best friend is just along for support but is loving it. The friend is heading to Australia next European spring and we discuss places they want to see and how they could work out an itinerary that gives them both what they want.
I went to a cafe for breakfast and writing up yesterday´s blog. I ended up chatting to Kate and Raz, who are both English but living in Barcelona. Kate is a chiropracty student. Apparently there is a new chiropracty college in Barcelona which is founded by fundraising from other chiropractors, including in Australia. It appears that Australian chiropracty is among the cutting edge practitioners as it focusses on health and is holistic. Who knew? Kate has walked from St Jean but Raz has joined her for only the last three days. He´s hooked though and plans to come back to continue. Raz apparently can tell the weight of things and says my pack is about 12 kg. I point out that it already has water and food in it, so perhaps it´s not as bad as it seems? They pack sit for me while I go shopping for various things I have run out of which is lovely and makes life so much easier. Kate writes down the pertinent phrases for buying non-allergenic soap as well which I am happy to now own. I realise during our conversation that I´ve left my sticks behind. As Kate and Raz head off to the station I go get my sticks and then buy new stoppers for them which are like nothing I have ever seen and fabulous. Imagine a boot on backwards at the end of the stick to work out what they look like. They give great grip and really boost you forward.
By the time I head off on Camino it is already 12.30 ish and I wonder just how far I will get. I enjoy walking on my own but it is pretty hot. My blisters don´t seem to bother me. I stop at the first village to have a cup of tea but really to give my feet a rest. I watch the shop owner clearly working hard to communicate with another Spanish speaker. I´m puzzled and then reminded how speaking the same language simply does not guarantee communication. I think I will have to remember this experience at work. Then the shopkeeper must have seen the expression on my face as she said ´Catalini¨. Ah - that explains it! On hearing that I am from Australia the shop owner sits down to tell me about her brother and his wife who went to Australia for 6 months caravanning and blogged all the way. She so wants to do that too. I tell her it is absolutely worth it and we discuss plane fares. She tells me that I am to come back with my true love. I laugh but she insists it´s an appointment that I have to keep.
I head off again along a dirt track into a landscape of low rolling hills. You can see the hills but don´t notice the incline or descent while walking. I can see in the distance the mountains to be crossed. The Cross of Iron is up there and that is a significant milestone in the journey - more about that tomorrow.
On the way I ponder a complaint from a man who did the Camino seven years ago and is doing it again. He says that the Camino is too commercialised now. I think that is pretty funny as almost all the historical relicts are a result of the money that the pilgrims brought to medieval Spain. In fact the Camino is just recovering, especially after Franco, to come back to what it once was. I get very annoyed by elitism and that is how this comment feels to me. Is it only the ´right sort´ who should decide what a good Camino is? Does it belong to pilgrims and not to the people who´s land we cross? There is some snobbery amongst pilgrims about who started where and when and who are the better pilgrims - pretty silly. Only the pilgrim knows whether it was a ´good´ Camino and even then, many say it takes arriving home and some months to really work out what you got from it. Why shouldn´t the locals profit? How does that make it less sacred or holy or right? People who don´t want working bathrooms, comfortable beds or touristy items really aren´t required to use them surely. I bet he isn´t refusing to walk across the bridges built in the middle ages with taxes drawn from the people who were making a profit then!
Anyway after I finished my mental rant I arrived in Santa Catalina de Somoza (Santa Catalina to you and I) and it looked so nice I decided to stay. And so I get to type this up.
Buen Camino
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