And if you need some tips to do your own camino then you can read Via de la Plata FAQs or if you want to read a bit more about my experience you can check the 1000 Km walking meditation to Santiago de Compostela blog post
Day 01: 14-05-2010 (22.7 km) Sevilla - Guillena
Day 02: 15-05-2010 (17.5 km) Guillena - Castilblanco de los Arroyos
Day 03: 16-05-2010 (29.3 km) Castilblanco de los Arroyos - Almadén de la Plata
Day 04: 17-05-2010 (14.5 km) Almadén de la Plata - El Real de la Jara
Day 05: 18-05-2010 (20.0 km) El Real de la Jara - Monesterio
Day 06: 19-05-2010 (21.6 km) Monesterio - Fuente de Cantos
Day 07: 20-05-2010 (00.0 km) A day off in Fuente de Cantos
Day 08: 21-05-2010 (20.3 km) Fuente de Cantos - Puebla de Sancho Pérez
Day 09: 22-05-2010 (23.2 km) Puebla de Sancho Pérez - Villafranca de los Barros
Day 10: 23-05-2010 (31.7 km) Villafranca de los Barros - Torremejía
Day 11: 24-05-2010 (15.6 km) Torremejía - Mérida
Day 12: 25-05-2010 (36.0 km) Mérida - Alcuescar
Day 13: 26-05-2010 (37.3 km) Alcuescar - Cáceres
Day 14: 27-05-2010 (10.2 km) Cáceres - Casar de Cáceres
Day 15: 28-05-2010 (21.7 km) Casar de Cáceres - Embalse de Alcántara
Day 16: 29-05-2010 (19.3 km) Embalse de Alcántara - Grimaldo
Day 17: 30-05-2010 (30.4 km) Grimaldo - Carcaboso
Day 18: 31-05-2010 (25.0 km) Carcaboso - Hostal Asturias
Day 19: 01-06-2010 (22.8 km) Hostal Asturias - Baños de Montemayor
Day 20: 02-06-2010 (32.9 km) Baños de Montemayor - Fuenterroble de Salvatierra
Day 21: 03-06-2010 (28.0 km) Fuenterroble de Salvatierra - San Pedro de Rosados
Day 22: 04-06-2010 (23.4 km) San Pedro de Rosados - Salamanca
Day 23: 05-06-2010 (15.1 km) Salamanca - Calzada de Valdunciel
Day 24: 06-06-2010 (19.9 km) Calzada de Valdunciel - El Cubo de la Tierra del Vino
Day 25: 07-06-2010 (31.6 km) El Cubo de la Tierra del Vino - Zamora
Day 26: 08-06-2010 (31.0 km) Zamora - Fontanillas de Castro
Day 27: 09-06-2010 (28.4 km) Fontanillas de Castro - Faramontanos de Tábara
Day 28: 19-06-2010 (29.6 km) Faramontanos de Tábara - Santa Croya de Tera
Day 29: 11-06-2010 (27.5 km) Santa Croya de Tera - Rionegro del Puente
Day 30: 12-06-2010 (40.5 km) Rionegro del Puente - Puebla de Sanabria
Day 31: 13-06-2010 (28.5 km) Puebla de Sanabria - Lubián
Day 32: 14-06-2010 (25.0 km) Lubián - A Gudiña
Day 33: 15-06-2010 (34.5 km) A Gudiña - Laza
Day 34: 16-06-2010 (32.7 km) Laza - Xunqueira de Ambía
Day 35: 17-06-2010 (22.2 km) Xunqueira de Ambía - Ourense
Day 36: 18-06-2010 (30.8 km) Ourense - Oseira's monastery
Day 37: 19-06-2010 (28.6 km) Oseira's monastery - A Laxe
Day 38: 20-06-2010 (33.3 km) Laxe - Outeiro
Day 39: 21-06-2010 (16.3 km) Outeiro - Santiago
Day 03: 16-05-2010 (29.3 km) Castilblanco de los Arroyos - Almadén de la Plata
The lake
After walking for about 16.5 km on hard asphalt I reached the second half of the camino. This was a lot nicer, walking through the Natural Park Los Berrocales. A few meters after passing by the "Casa Forestal la Morilla" I spotted a lake a bit away from the camino. I decided to take a break in the lake. It was a nice spot away from the camino so I practice some asanas and sat in meditation. A few minutes later I heard some noises and guess what I saw when I open my eyes.... I noticed a group of deers running on the opposite side of the lake. They came closer to the water and started to playfully take a bath. Beautiful! Two hours later I continue with the walk
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Day 06: 19-05-2010 (21.6 km) Monesterio - Fuente de Cantos
A perfect dinner
Already 6 days on the camino and I had made a few good pilgrim friends. Vera (Germany), Thorsten (Germany), Janine (US) and Peter (Holland). I was the last one to arrive at Fuente de Cantos so they had already bought a few things for dinner. The albergue was beautiful and we had a kitchen at our disposition. "Marco, do you want to join us for dinner?", "Of course!". Hmmm it was a delicious salad and pasta. At least I was able to help with the dishes ;-) The next day we split. I had to take a break cause I got a tendonitis on my right foot and it was swollen. I will not see them again for a long time.
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| View from albergue in Fuente de Cantos |
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Day 09: 22-05-2010 (23.2 km) Puebla de Sancho Pérez - Villafranca de los Barros
My worst day, the tick attack.
I started the day a bit late (as usual) but I was not feeling too good. I still had that pain on my right foot that had started 3 days earlier, it was bothering me the whole way so I couldn't walk properly. Then one of the tendons of my right knee started to bother me as well and I was having a hard time with pollen allergy, I was sneezing all the way and my eyes were a bit irritated. I felt tired, irritated and exhausted and on top of that I wanted to use the toilette. After a few hours I thought "Well, I can't get rid off the pain and the allergy but at least I can go to the toilette". So I try to find a good spot, but there was none, no place to hide. Finally I said "what the heck, I will use this spot". It was about 30 meters away from the camino but anybody passing by would have easily seeing me. Fortunately nobody passed and in less than a minute I was done and walking back. Then all of a sudden I spotted an insect climbing up my leg. I thought it was a small spider so I try to shake it off once but it stayed right there and continue climbing. I tried a second time and a third time and I couldn't shake it off. Then I realized that it was not a spider but a tick! For a spider it was small but for a tick it was awfully big! I panicked, I looked for a tissue and grab it until it let go and I threw it away. Then I notice four other ticks on my feet, two on the left foot and two on the right foot, some trying to get inside my socks and some just climbing up my leg. Again I use one tissue, an another, an another... finally I got rid off all of them. But as soon as I dropped them on the ground they would walk towards my feet, like little monsters!! So I was walking all around the place to avoid them. I checked myself and luckily I was clean but the only thing that I could think of at that moment was to reach the next city, find a hotel (there was no albergue) and take a long hot shower. So all of a sudden I was full of energy and I was walking faster than before. The only good thing is that the pain in my foot and the pollen allergy disappeared. Finally after 2 more hours of walking I made it to the hotel, what a relieve, but to complete the bad day the next morning when I left the hotel I forgot my towel, a towel that I had bought during my holidays in New York six months earlier specially for this trip. Grrrr!!!!
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Day 11: 24-05-2010 (15.6 km) Torremejía - Mérida
We meet again
Mérida!, what a beautiful city with so many roman ruins. This was my first big city after Sevilla. And the best of all was to meet again my pilgrim friends Thorsten and Janine. Peter and Vera were one day ahead of us. We had a nice dinner with a couple of other pilgrims.
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Day 12: 25-05-2010 (36.0 km) Mérida - Alcuescar
The blessing
The landscape was just astonishing and I was feeling really good physically, very strong, so I thought about doing 50 km but just when I reached the albergue at Alcuescar I realized that I couldn't walk any longer. The sole of my feet were completely sore and I could barely take my socks off so I decided to stay there. A few hours later I realized that Janine and Thorsten also decided to stay in Alcuescar so we enjoyed each others company. The albergue "Casa de Beneficiencia de los Esclavos de Maria y de los Pobres" was pretty ok but what was really special was the mass for the pilgrims. We were invited to the mass and at the end of the mass the priest called the three of us to the altar and he gave us a special blessing for pilgrims and after the mass we had a delicious dinner made by the people working there. After dinner we were cordially invited to make the dishes :-)
The next day we would split once more on the way.
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Day 28: 19-06-2010 (29.6 km) Faramontanos de Tábara - Santa Croya de Tera
Macaronis
Another tough day. I was in a bad mood, it was raining and the sky was full of horrible and scary dark clouds. My shoes didn't dry from the day before so my feet were wet again. My passport and my journal also got wet the day before. I left Faramontanos de Tabara at 7am and stopped at the albergue in Tabara at 10 am, just 7km after cause I couldn't walk anymore. Should I continue? Four hours later and after changing my mind hundreds of times I decided to continue (I had a good friend on the phone that gave me some inspiration and help me to change a bit my mood). My shoes were already dry and luckily some pilgrims had made delicious macaronis the previous night and left some on the fridge with a note. The macaronis gave me the energy that I needed , I was really grateful with those pilgrims :-) When I was leaving the albergue I thought.. "am I ready?", "Yes I am!". I closed the door and put the key of the albergue in the mail box. Then I immediately realized that I had forgotten my walking stick inside! I couldn't go inside anymore... grrrr!! and this was the second stick that I had lost :-/ My bad mood came back but at least my stomach was happy :-)
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Day 30: 12-06-2010 (40.5 km) Rionegro del Puente - Puebla de Sanabria
The wild pig
While I was passing through something that looks like a reserve I heard an animal scream on my right. It was a wild pig with its babies. I thought "wait a minute, that can be a wild pig.. maybe is just another type of pig with hair". I didn't had anything with me to defend myself but I didn't worry too much, I was just trying to grab my camera but because of the excitement I wasn't able to shoot a video just when the wild pig with all the babies cross the path like 10 meters in front of me. But wait, there was still another one left... hmm is this safe? I could here two breedings still on one side and the mother had crossed to the other side, so I was just in the middle! Shit!! No space on my flash card! can't make a video! I put my backpack down looked for my extra flash card but then it was too late. The two wild pigs crossed to the other side. I couldn't see them or hear them anymore. Once I arrived to the next town I was told by the locals "yes, those are wild pigs but don't worry they are extremely dangerous only when they are with their breeding. If you stand between them they will run over you and kill you! There can also be wolves around, don't you have a stick with you?". Why didn't my guide book mention anything about this? I got a bit nervous, I found a new walking stick and for the next hours I just kept thinking how I would defend myself when I meet the next wild pig or wolf! :-P
We meet again for the second time
Finally after walking the 40.5 km I reached one of the most beautiful places ever, Puebla de Sanabria. But before going to the historical center I had to pass by the albergue. I got inside the albergue and in the backyard that was at the end of the hall I saw a familiar face. They were my pilgrim friends! Vera and Thorsten. I hadn't seen Thorsten since 18 days ago and Vera since 24 days ago. It was like meeting some old friends. We hug each other and started to share our experiences of the camino. I also met again Benno, a funny guy from Switzerland that I had met in "El Cubo de la Tierra del Vino" 6 days earlier and Diego, a Spanish guy that I had met in Zamora 5 days earlier. What a great way to end a beautiful long day.
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Day 31: 13-06-2010 (28.5 km) Puebla de Sanabria - Lubián
Read the guide carefully
I was following the path as indicated in the guide. I was supposed to cross a river but I couldn't see any path after the river, just high grass. "Is this ok?" I thought... "Ok, lets do it!". I put on my flip flops and start walking. My feet and the flip flops got stuck in the mud! Not a big deal. I crossed the river and the water was deliciously cold. There were no signs, no arrows, no stones on the other side indicating the path to follow but there was only one direction to go, straight. There was a sort of trail but under water. I kept walking with my flip flops. "Hmm... is this safe? Did all the pilgrims walked through this place? What if there is a snake or something like that?" I kept walking, the water was just until my knees. The water didn't flow anymore, it was stale, there were no more little fishes but little insects. This isn't right.... All of sudden right in front my feet I notice a horrible warm in the bottom. I thought "a leech!" and then I felt something on my left foot. "RUN!!!!!" I immediately turned around and start running back, almost loosing my flip flops in the mud. When I finally reached back the main road I sat down and immediately cleaned my feet with my drinking water. I checked every single spot between my toes and around my feet. I was clean so I try to relax. Then I read the guide a bit further and it said "Maybe the best way is to stick to the high way, the path is not properly signalized and just after 500 meters you'll go back to the national road". Grrrr!
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Day 35: 17-06-2010 (22.2 km) Xunqueira de Ambía - Ourense
The thermal baths
Ourense is a nice place but the best was to visit thermal water baths. Thorsten ask me "would you like to go to the thermal water baths?", "Yeah why not" I replied. It was the best idea ever. We went to the main square at the center of the city and from there we took the touristic train that drove us straight to the thermal baths. It was just a 30 minutes ride and definitively worth it. There are different spots with free thermal water pools but the best is a private place called Termas Outariz which is actually a Spa with a Zen style and for just EUR 4.95 you can use the pools for two hours. For 2 euros more you can get a swimming suit, flip flops and a towel. It was perfect. The only thing that we regretted is that we didn't go earlier, otherwise we would have ask for a feet massage :-)
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Day 36: 18-06-2010 (30.8 km) Ourense - Oseira's monastery
Sleeping in a monastery
Another good idea from Thorsten. Instead of staying in Cea (the next stop according to the guide) Thorsten, Vera, Diego and I decided to walk 8 km more until Oseira's monastery. Is a beautiful monastery and they have a special room that looks like and old church where the pilgrims can stay overnight, but very cold. This was actually the first and only night that I wasn't able to sleep properly because of the cold but the next morning I realized that they did have blankets! We had a tour inside the monastery and we were able to join a special mass with the monks. The mass was nice but difficult not to fall sleep :-P
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Day 39: 21-06-2010 (16.3 km) Outeiro - Santiago
Finally Santiago!!
Only 16.3 km for the last day, very easy after walking 984 km :-) I was totally impressed by The Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela, really beautiful and I was able to hug the apostle like many other visitors. The mass was very special, probably also because this was a holy year, Saint James Year!
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I'm so proud of you! one of this days, we'll sit and talk about the itinerary! 'Cause I'm gonna do it!...
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