Back to Spain (phew)

The good news is that I'm out of the land of Super Bock. The bad news is that my stomach still isn't working properly and I have no appetite for Galician awesome food nor even Estrella Galicia.

Portugal is a nice place and the people are very nice. Still, Sandie nailed it when she told me it's like a third world country. The ferry from Caminho, Portugal got stuck on a sandbar for 45 minutes about 20 yards from the dock. Silvia was about 40 minutes behind me and when she arrived at the dock she started waving at the boat.  The ticket price is 1€  When the captain saw her he threw the boat into reverse, returned to the dock and let her on. I thought he was going back to take some of the cars off in order to lighten the load. Nope. Just being a nice guy!

It was a long day. Lots of sun but super windy with some big hills. 38km including getting lost a couple of times. I've really got to try & eat something.

Super Bock

Portugal is a fine country. I have a couple of minor criticisms, however. Remember Silvia from Via de la Plata?  She also shifted over to the Portugues route and weve both had bad stomachs since then. The kind of bad stomach that also gives you a headache and the chills but not bad enough to make you throw up.

There's only one beer in Portugal. "Super Bock". I'll say it's horrible but I might just hate the stupid name and logo so much that I can't give it a fair chance. Either way it's a horrible beer experience. I thought that IT was behind my gastric discomfort so I gave up beer beginning yesterday.

Last night I was sleeping under several blankets but was cold and shivering. Figuring I might be dehydrated from the sunny day, I got up and drank a couple of glasses of delicious Portugues tap water. Dehydration didn't seem to be the problem. I shivered more and my pulse was racing. A little while ago I googled Portuguese tap water and guess what?  Nope. Don't drink it. Live and learn I guess.

Tomorrow's stage ends up in a town called Caminho. From there we take a ferry across the Rio Minho to A Guarda Spain. I think most people will take the early boat on Sunday. I plan on being on the last boat out tomorrow night so I can enjoy some nice frosty Estrella Galicias (Feli's favorite beer!) and delicious, clean Spanish tap water!

Brits

I've had three separate experiences with foreigners this trip that have kind of choked me up. Two Germans and a Portugues didn't just tell me how much they admire and appreciate Anerica, but did so in the most articulate and sincere way. The first time was a couple of weeks ago when a German guy named Merlin told me how much he appreciates the U.S. doing the civilized world's dirty work and being taking so much shit from other countries who we defend with our military, etc. Another German guy, Klaus, a 70 year old German got kind of emotional when he thanked the U.S. (via me) for rebuilding Germany and not holding its citizens responsible for the crimes of the nazis. I told him I'd pass those thanks along to my elders who were way closer to the action than me. The Portugues guy, Pedro echoed Merlin's sentiments. He focused on the American service people who die in strange lands and for strangers - but almost always for the right reasons.

I'm staying at a decent hotel tonight and while sitting in the lobby I started talking to an older Englishman who was traveling with a group of other old Englishpeople, most of whom were sitting nearby drinking some sort of nightcap. Pimms or something. One old hen says to me 'So, what doo you think of your mister Trump!?'  I joked about how ungracious it was of her to 'go there' without introducing herself but replied seriously that he probably ensured that Hillary would be the next president. They were aghast at the thought. It turns out that this group is a bunch of retired conservative businesspeople.

Another woman then asked me if I could even believe what Obama said about the Brexit when he was in the UK last week. "He (Obama) shall be solely responsible when I cast my vote to leave the European community", she sniffed.

I was kind of proud of my response which was a good natured 'he just said that the U.S. supports a strong UK as part of Europe, because if you're not, Most US European headquarters will move to the continent or IRELAND (boom!) and Scotland exit will exit the UK to join Europe.  That's all he meant. The US really doesn't care one way or the other.'

Of course I don't really know what the hell Im talking about but they all kind of shut up about trashing the US.

Portugal: A Good Call!

I'm glad I moved over to the Camino Portugues. First of all, Porto is a spectacular city. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance but it kind of reminds me of San Francisco, only a thousand years older. 

Today's route wasn't particularly nice. It was all on roads. The end point is really nice though. A town called Vila do Conde. It reminds me of places like Castro Urdiales only way cheaper. I have more to say but I'm really tired. 

Porto Is Spectacular

It really is. I'll try & fill in details later.

Calling An Audible

As is obvious from the title of this post, I am leaving the Via de la Plata and taking the train to Porto to do the Camino Portugues. Actually, the way caminos work, Via de la Plata is pretty much over in Zamora anyway and a new one called the Sanabres (or something like that) begins.

I've never been to Portugal and I'm expecting this route to be completely different from VdlP - terrain, food, people etc. not that there's anything wrong with the food, terrain and people here but like I said, I've never been to Portugal.

The thing about going from Zamora to Porto is that it's a pain in the ass. I'm taking a 4.5 hour train to Vigo in 45 minutes, staying overnight there and taking another train for an hour and a half tomorrow am at 9.

I love making these last minute changes. Last year I changed plans in Pau to do the northern route and never regretted it. I'm sure I'll miss some good times that I'd have if I stayed this course but right now I'm excited about starting something fresh.

To Finish My Salamanca Story ...

It didn't rain at all today so I have a new complaint. My boots are falling apart. Every time I puts them on I can hear the insides ripping apart. I'm getting brand new blisters and have to look for a place to buy new ones.

It doesn't help that yesterday and today were the two longest so far (38km+ yesterday and 39km+ today). It's been very flat which is a foot killer in itself.

Leaving Salamanca was a letdown.  Not only was our night with Feli so good but our little walking group has broken up. Luckily I had one of those 'this can't be a coincidence' Camino moments on Feli night. Most of the people I had gotten to know we're busy making plans to leave early the next morning and we're staying near Plaza Mayor so we planned on meeting at a bar in Plaza Mayor at 9. Feli lives and works about two km from there and we she had suggested we meet in her neighborhood at 8:45 so our group plans didn't sync up for a last-night evening of dining and drinking. I didn't know what Feli wanted to do so rather than try to get my gang coordinated in a strange distant neighborhood we figured we'd try to just grab a nightcap by Plaza Mayor at the end of the night.

So I met Feli at the entrance to El Corte Ingles and we went to some random bar for a beer. Trip Advisor lists 468 restaurants in Salamanca so there must be close to a thousand bars in that city and we were a couple of kilometers from the comfort zone of Plaza Mayor. Feli and I were sitting at a ttable with me facing the door and out of nowhere Silvia and Nicholas appear, with Nicholas looking kind of upset and Silvia trying to calm him down.  They had no idea this was even the neighborhood I was going to be in but went there because they couldn't find an Internet cafe for Nicholas to confirm his flight home, print his boarding pass etc. Every local person they asked pointed them further and further into the newer part of town. I really couldn't believe my eyes. Some higher power delivered them to our random bar!  So Silvia called Charlie, who was waiting in Plaza Mayor and a half hour later we were all together in Feli's neighborhood. She took us around for a classic tapas-hopping tour of some of the most outstanding local eats. FAR better than we could ever have come up with on our own. It was really one of those magical events that seems to happen fairly regularly on Caminos.



Silvia, Feli and Nicolas on the left.  All of us on the right (at the far right is Feli's boyfriend Julian.  A very nice guy!

Long Day

Today was a long 9 hour walk through two rainstorms to a down called Cubo del Vino. I think that means 'wine box'.

Last night reminded me of why Feli is such an exceptional person. She showed me and my gang a truly great time in a neighborhood we had no chance of discovering on our own. I'll have more to say about Salamanca later but am too tired to go into it now.

I think I'm well beyond the halfway point. Tomorrow is 30km to Zamora which is supposed to be a very nice place. Talk to you from there.

Off Day In Salamanca

It rained a little yesterday when there was a 5% chance of rain.  I'm taking a day off today in Salamanca and theres a 90% chance of rain so I'm expecting to get wet.  The brighter side is that I've gotten my laundry done, and won't be wearing my hiking boots so they and my feet will have a good 40 hour break from each other.

I still haven't cracked the problem of (easily) adding photos to this blog so I'll spend some time now doing it the hard way.  In rough chronological order I hope.

Halfway

Salamanca is 20km away and marks the halfway point of Via de la Plata. I've been traveling in a group of four for the past two weeks or so. Silvia from Italy, Patrick the Frenchman, Nicolas from Holland and me. Some of them are going home from Salamanca and supposedly a lot of people start there as well, especially this time of year.

The route really has filled its promise of being full of ancient Roman ruins. There are 2000 year old cylindrical stone mile markers lining the dirt road that were on for much of the time. Not every mile anymore, but each time I pass one it sends my imagination way back in time.

The weather has been comically bad. It has rained enough to soak my boots for eight of the last ten days and it's gotten to the point that we don't even talk about it anymore. I'm afraid that the soaking / drying cycle has taken its toll on my boots because they're failing in the exact same places as my old ones did in Galicia a couple of years ago. Today we had to cross a river twice that was so overflown that we had to take off boots and socks, roll up our pants and cross barefoot in thigh deep water. It's rained so much that it seems like it will take weeks for the ground to dry out.

It's been interesting to see the difference in local people as I head north. Andalucians were pretty nasty and most of the pueblos were pretty crappy. It was mostly vineyards and olive groves. In Extremadura the people are much nicer as are the villages. Terrain changed from crops to livestock and now that we've passed into Castille & Leon it remains that way. Cows and pigs all day long.

Inevitabilities

This week has been full of pondering life's two inevitabilities. It's time to move forward but in terms of blogging the Via de la Plata seems to be a hard place to write from. Long days, too much socialness and bad wifi.

This seems like a very raw form of Camino in that the days are very long and more importantly, the local population is not geared towards Camino people. They are themselves and that is fascinating. The differences between villages each have their own tone and rhythm. The pueblos are so different from one another.

I'm in the middle of an interesting impromptu 'party' at an albergue in a town called Calzada de Bejar. Very interesting cast of characters. More later.

Good night.

Carl

I guess none of us should be shocked when someone dies in their 80s but that doesn't make the loss any less real.  Buzz and Dee were the first grown-ups I knew.  Michael, Kelly and Patsy were my first  friends. And Carl was my father's best friend for over 50 years so yes, he is already missed.

A couple of years ago at Lyle's 80th birthday party, Robbie had just found out first-hand how hard it was to become an actuary and Carl said to me "The kid looks at your Dad and me and figures 'how hard can THAT be!'".  He had such a dry quick wit.

Yup. I Feel Like Crap Today

But not because of the usual 'Good day -> Bad day' phenomenon. Remember how I said that walking home from the bar last night was going to make yesterday my highest step count?  Well that didn't happen. I got back to my room and triumphantly opened the step count app only to see a daily total of 550 steps. Yes, it was after 1am. A couple of us had another beer at the Casa Rural (which was excellent) and I didn't go to bed till after 2.

I made the 24km to Caceres in about 6 hours after stopping for a leisurely lunch at the halfway point. Caceres is the capital of Extremadura and is beautiful. The old city is all pretty much 13th & 14th century and very well preserved.

Anyway, Silvia just sent out the time for dinner Whatsapp message so I'll head down for a bite. I've got the latest episode of Better Call Saul all teed up so I have a good reason not to repeat my bad behavior of last night!

A Long One

By the time I walk back to my room from the Las Vegas bar (from where I blog) today will be my longest on the trip in terms of steps. I ran into Sylvia the Italian 'social nucleus' and walked with her for the first 20km until the town of Alcuescar. We stopped for lunch there and ran into most of the characters from the bar in Aljucen yesterday. They all stayed in Aljucen and I continued on another 16km to Aldea del Cano - home of the Las Vegas bar. The first 20km was a gradual rise of about 1000 feet. The rest of it was a gradual decline but it poured with rain right after lunch and my boots were waterlogged. Most of the day was on a pleasant dirt track in a national (or maybe regional?) park so that was nice.

The Casa Rural I'm staying at doesn't seem to have wifi, otherwise I'd post more pictures of cows and olive trees.

Since I felt pretty good today I'm expecting to feel like crap tomorrow. I think it's 22km to a fairly significant town called Caceres. It's supposed to be an interesting place so I'm not opposed to spending an extra day there if I find a good place to stay.

The Compromise.

So I didn't have to walk 35 and 38km days in a row.  I woke up in Merida this morning knowing I only had about 20km to walk today and went back to sleep. I figured  I was good til 11 before I really had to get going but checked the weather just in case. Sure enough the hour by hour forecast said it was going to pour at 3pm so up I got and off I went.

On the way out of Merida I passed an old aqueduct ( like there are new aqueducts). And then a lake with an old Roman dam. So it was interesting.

I had reserved a room at a casino rural in a town called Aljucen and got here at around 2:55. The local bar was packed. Most of them ended up being caminoers but I didn't realize it until the social nucleus of this entire route, an Italian woman named Sylvia, motioned for me to join them. Sure enough, five minutes later it was pouring outside.

It turns out that I've run into a lot of these people already and aside from Sylvia, I'm one of the the younger people here.

After checking into my room I'm back at the bar now. It's crowded.

Good Day Off

Did my laundry and my taxes in the am and saw all of the sites this afternoon.  Merida really is an interesting little city.  The scale and setting of the amphitheater (like the Roman Coliseum only smaller) makes it feel more real than the Roman one.  It has nice signs in excellent English that explain where the gladiators entered, who and what they fought, etc.

Adjacent to it is the actual 'theatrical' theater.  It's so close, and the complex is so well preserved that it gives you the feel for how well thought out the civic entertainment was back in the days of Augustus.  AUGUSTUS!  The first Emperor right after Julius Caesar.

That's the amphitheater wall just past the theater.  About a half mile away is the 'circus'.  We're not talking about Ringling Brothers here.  It's the 'circo', or circuit where chariots raced.  It's almost a half km long and the access you have to it really gives you context of how big and important chariot races were.  I was able to walk all the way around the grassy area and that really puts it in perspective.

 Merida really is a mini-Rome.  Most of these ruins were only excavated in the past couple hundred years.  Everyone knew they were there because it was so well documented.  The signage even tells you things like 'this portion isn't original.  It was rebuilt in 435'.  The 'all access' pass cost 15e and was easily the best money I've spent here.

Have you ever read the book 'I Claudius'?  It's what first got me interested in ancient Rome and is one of those books that really impacted me.  So readable and interesting.

So after my big day of laundry, taxes and sightseeing I checked my pedometer and had walked 19,890 steps.  I had already taken my pants off but figured I should walk up and down the hallway with my phone to bring that number to a round 20k.  As I asked myself 'what could go wrong?' I remembered that the fantastic young woman named Barbara at the front desk had a bank of security monitors in front of her.  I was wearing a t-shirt and my boxers when I said 'uh-oh' and looked up to see this.  Hi Barbara!

Merida

It's like a mini Rome.  Watching the Mets right now.  Will post more later.  The next 2 days are 34km and 38km - don't know what to do about that.  I felt crappy on the shortest day of the entire walk today so I'm in a bad mood.

Oranges

Im not surprised that I've been eating the most consistently great oranges. I am surprised that a couple of these were oranges I picked up off the ground (under orange trees of course). They're like big sweet tangerines and now that I think about it maybe they are!

The app on my phone says that I walked 37km today which I don't think is true. The step counter seems as accurate as any and it counted just under 47,000. Either way it was flat as a pancake and I feel pretty good.

The most of the recent towns have been surprisingly lively given their size. It's all vineyards and olive groves around here. Some fields have both olives and vines interspersed. I never knew Extremadura was such a wine country. A good 20-30% of the vineyards are freshly planted. I don't know if that's a normal crop rotation thing or not. Maybe Extremaduran wine is becoming more popular.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow. Merida is only four hours from here (Torremejia) and is the biggest city since Sevilla (or is it Seville?). The remains of a Roman theater are sulpposedly some of the best preserved ruins anywhere outside of Rome itself. Take a look https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%A9rida,_Spain.

The Via de la Plata marketing department claims that this entire route follows a Roman road from south to north. As are most people born on August 22 (according to 'The Secret Language of Birthdays - (hey Lauren, why is that!? ), I'm really into ancient Roman history. Back 12 or 15 years ago I was able to buy old Roman era coins that had been stashed in ancient coffee cans and then dug up by European farmers 2000 years later. I have a couple hundred of them. If they weren't in my storage unit on Long Island I was going to bring a few of them and leave them on the side of the dirt roads. It would make someone's day to find one of those, right?

Blisters Part Two

Dave you're lucky that he Google blogging system doesn't work properly on the google chrome browser in terms of letting you include pictures from your phone in the blog. Otherwise I'd show you all the picture that defines why those blisters needed stabbing.

I think it worked. Feet were way more comfortable today. It much else to say except that walking south to north is giving me a bad sunburn on the back of my legs but not much on the front. Fascinating huh?

I should be in Merida on Friday and hope to get good wifi to watch the Mets home opener at a civilized 7:30pm Merida time.

Let's Talk Blisters

First a little blister trivia. Did you know that blister fluid is blood plasma?

I normally don't bother draining blisters but this time I declared war and popped five of them. I guess I'm getting soft in my old age but they were affecting how I walked so yeah, I stabbed them. They'll fill up again quickly but at least the plasma will have a place to escape to when I walk on them. Today was fine, except for the blisters of course. Very muddy from yesterday's rain and the guidebook warned that there were two spots that are hard to cross after it rains. I managed the first one stepping from rock to rock but the second was more serious. The book says to backtrack a couple hundred meters and go to the main road but I decided to take off my boots & socks, throw them over and walk barefoot. It was a little over ankle deep and it felt amazing.

So I'm in Zafra now, which is a nice town. It actually might be a city since it has a bull ring. Anyway, since I'm once again blessed with good wifi I'm going to download last nights 'Better Call Saul', get some dinner and them come home and watch the Mets.

Rained All Day

since I had great wifi in Monesterio last night I set my alarm for 2:30am and watched the Mets lose to KC. Cespedes isn't great under pressure. Hopefully he'll 'get us there' this year but he's not going to bring us home. Neither is David Wright. He can't throw. Why was Conforto dh anyway?

So anyway, I could hear it pouring when I woke up at 9 so I meandered around and finally left at around 11. This first breakfast place was about 300 yards up the street and by the time I got there I was pretty well soaked. The bar guy gave me a plastic bag to put my phone and laptop in thank goodness. That could have been a disaster. Still, during breakfast I tried to look up the bus schedule to  Fuente de Cantos but couldn't make heads or tails of it so checked out where the tourist office was. It was all the way back down the hill, past where I stayed so I succumbed to the ultimate mental laziness and decided to just go ahead and walk the 22km to where I am now.

The five hours were split pretty evenly between 'just raining' and pouring with rain. It was between 50 & 55 degrees and pretty uncomfortable most of the time. I've been here for almost four hours and finally My feet are almost back to room temperature. My boots must have weighed 3 times normal but the coldness of the water really seems to be good for my feet.

The path today went through several huge ranches where you have to open the gate and then close it behind you. Between the gates animals run pretty much free range. With the rain coming down at its hardest I was keeping my head down to keep it out of my eyes and had a major surprise. I came within a foot of colliding with a bull that was grazing. He was pretty chill and scampered out of the way. I've seen thousands of cows on these walls but very few bulls - even behind barbed wire so this guy kind of freaked me out. After I passed him I figured I'd better walk backward away from him since the rain cover for my backpack is bright red.

Anyway, I'm here now and about to grab some dinner. Hopefully my boots will dry overnight. I've been stuffing them with newspaper and I think it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow which is nice.

MonesterIo Is a Nice Place

The Swiss aren't so bad really. Two guys passed me about 2/3rds through my walk today. Didn't say much except to tell me that a crazy 77 year old Japanese guy would also be passing me soon - carrying two backpacks weighing 15k (35lbs?). Sure enough a couple of minutes later I hear someone behind me making noises like 'Hyii! Yaoo!  Shianoug!' Then he passed me and took a bad step. 'Shit!'

Anyway, I ran into the Swiss guys at dinner - actually one is French and they're actually very nice. The Swiss guy whose name sounds like 'Johnnie' is 75 and walked twice as far as me today. Not sure how old the French guy (Daniel) is but probably mid to late 60s. He also walked twice as far as me. 

So I've crossed from Andalucia to Extremadura and apparently it's pig country. I encountered some free range pigs who looked as happy as clams. Extremadura feels a good kind of different from Andalucia. It feels more Spanish. Of course I'm only one town in, so we'll see. It's still pretty damn cheap. My deluxe room with excellent wifi, an adjustable radiator (for drying clothes I washed in the sink) and a to go lunch for tomorrow came to 25euros. 

The place I stayed last night in Real de la Jara was the worst. The guy who ran it was very nice but the neighborhood reminded me of the laundry where Walt cooked meth in Breaking Bad. People were  SMOKING CIGARETTES in the bar for Gods sake and those damn smoking drinking whippersnappers were hollering and making a rukus till 4 am. I felt like yelling for them to get off my  damn lawn. 

Anyway I'm going to take a nap and try to wake up to watch the Mets at 2:30. I hate to say it but I have a bad feeling about them this year. Harvey is such a whining crybaby.  

Pictures of a Cow, Pig, and the Top of a Pretty Big Hill

Remember Rock Dog?

I'm really mad at Google.  They no longer support their blogger app on iphone so phew, I brought my laptop.  Tell me this rock doesn't look like a dog?

Where Are the Roman Ruins?

The closest I've come to Roman ruins is the frozen pizza they tried to get me to eat at the Fawlty Budapest Hotel.

 I'm staying in a hostel above a bar in Real de la Jara trying to take a nap with a bunch of screaming people below. It was a nice walk that seemed longer than the 16km it was. I did get lost a couple of times and according to my step tracker I climbed the equivalent of 80 floors.

It got cloudy this afternoon and I think it will stay that was for the next couple of days, which is nice. I've gone through a lot of sunscreen so far and am still pretty burned.

El Classico (Real Madrid vs Barcelona) tonight. I'm guessing this place is going to stay loud!

Best Camino ever!

Not only is there a 7 foot tall German woman walking Via de la Plata in a skirt, I saw a rock that was probably carved to look like a dog by a prehistoric sculptor. Once I get some wifi I'll send you a picture of the dog. It's just lying by the side of the road with millions of other rocks and if it was smaller I would have grabbed it.

After 16km walking on a road (not too busy), the route turned into Parque Natural Sierra Norte (home of afformentioned dog rock) and it was pretty spectacular.  The VdlP had an April fools trick though - after 28.5 km it put a massive hill between me and where I am now.  I'll send a picture of that too. The town I'm in is Almaden de la Plata. Kind of a nice little place.

Anyway, I'm going to get some food. All I've had was some toast and an orange.