Day 13 San Juan de Ortega - Life of a Pilgrim

Old church at San Juan de Ortega
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What is it like, day to day, this pilgrim life? The days stay pretty much the same, but the people and places do change.

Most of us go to bed early. Each night we are in a different albergue (al-bear´-gay), but most of them are essentially the same – they have a big room, or rooms, full of metal bunk beds. There are shared or separate bathrooms for men and women, depending on size. One really nice albergue had single beds in 2-bed cubicles, which provided a measure of privacy and was nice in the morning. (That was in Azofra.)

What´s It Like?

San Juan de Ortega
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Early, very early, each morning, many of the pilgrims rise at 5:15, when it is still quite dark here. Spain is at the western edge of its time zone, and in fact, some parts of Spain lie more west than the UK, which is in the time zone to the west of Spain´s.  Anyway, you can tell when the early birds get up, because they rustle their plastic bags, and walk back and forth to the bathroom(s). I´ve learned to ignore it, I turnover and tell myself I have at least another hour to sleep.  Later, after they have hit the trail, I begin to rouse, and grab my toothbrush and begin my day.  I refill my water bottles, put on loads of sunscreen, bandage my feet (if necessary), repack my backpack, and start my day´s walk. This readying process takes an hour of so all told. The walk will take anywhere from 4 to 6 hours, though I have put in some longer days, as you may have read.

San Juan de Ortega
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Depending on whether I bought something to eat the day or night before, I sit down and eat something before I go. Usually, I wait until I hit the first town with an open shop or restaurant. There, I get café con leche and a croissant or torta patata, sort of a potato quiche. I walk about 3 or 4 kilometers an hour, depending on how hilly or rocky the terrain is. Every hour or so, I stop, sit, take off my shoes and socks, and cool off my feet. This seems to help avoid hot spots and blisters. Plus, it helps me spot problems before they get bad.

While I walk, I often listen to my I-Pod, I´ll listen either to my "Walking Songs" playlist, with its strange randomness, like "I Walk the Line" coming after "Walk Right In," or to a good book.  I just finished A Thousand Splendid Suns, By Khaled Husseini, author of "The Kite Runner."  Now I am listening to Rory STewart´s account of his walk across Afghanistan, "The Places In Between."  These are great books to read back to back if you haven´t read either.

Eventually, one of these shoe/ foot stops becomes my lunch. I usually try to have a sandwich packed, one I made myself from a “deli” stop, or one I bought at a restaurant on my way out of town. Generally, I plan to reach a certain point by the end of the day. A few times, that hasn´t been possible. I´ve learned that 20 kilometers is pretty much my limit. Those longer days have been bad for me – my longest walk was nearly 30 km. I thought I could do it every day, but WRONG!

When I get to my stopping point, I go to the albergue, register and pay my fee, and get my Pilgrim Passport stamped. Then the registrar usually shows me to the room where I select my bed. She will usually point out the showers and clothes-washing facilities, if any exist.

My first act is to take off my shoes, and rinse off that day´s dust, and put them up; many places have a special shoe rack, to keep the dirt and mud out of the sleeping areas. I put on flipflops, then take my towel and toiletries bag to the showers. I have to unpack my entire backpack to get down to the toiletries, because they are the heaviest item, and belong at the bottom. There´s a science to packing and balancing one´s pack, I have learned.

Once I have showered, I put on my single set of non-hiking clothes, which consists of a blue shirt and print skirt. Depending on the time, I usually explore the neighbourhood looking for internet, or a pharmacy, or a restaurant if I didn´t get lunch. If I find an internet access place, I wait for a machine, then re-accustom myself to the different keyboard and the three ways to shift characters. There are more characters, and some of the letters and symbols are in different places from where they are in the U.S.

Dinner in Spain is served later than in the U.S., and it´s not unusual for a restaurant to offer a “Pilgrim´s Menu” – a set meal at a fixed price - at around 8 (very early by Spanish standards.) Dinner always includes wine in the set price.

After dinner, I usually try to write in my journal for a few minutes, and recharge my I-Pod and camera battery and cell phone, though plugs are always at a premium.

Then it all begins again the next day. Variations on the theme occur when an albergue is full (so far only a couple of times), or there is no internet available (often).

San Juan de Ortega (St. John of the Nettles) was a short though with a lot of climbing, 12 km. walk today.  It´s an old monastery, and the albergue is tired.  The town is comprised of a few houses along with the church and monastery, and a single Restaurant/ Bar.  It not only has no internet, but it has no cell phone service and its single pay phone is analog, though Spain´s phone cards seem to work only in digital phones.  The guide book calls it a chance to contemplate.  Maybe that´s what this is.