En el camino - Week 1 - PAIN PAIN PAIN

Whoever says the camino is the walk in the park and pure pleasure - well thats a big lie! :) Most steps are simply painful, and the other ones are less felt due to the fantastic effect of red wine from the region.

Day 1: when taking a plane to Madrid we felt like the camino is already beginning, fellow travelers like the Iranian university professor in copenhagen, Elijah came up to us and started talking, how he has already done this journey before and how he enjoys to get rid of all the negativity from every day life.... as we discovered later, walking with this backpack was an open invitation for everyone to come talk to us, and this is also what happened.

Day 2: got to Pamplona by train around 12 oclock and started walking to the first destination "Puente la Reina", in the beginning with 3 spanish old man who tried explaining how the San Fermin, the annual run from the bull in Pamplona went. Walking 23km on the first day - puha - by the time we got to the hostel, they were almost full, luckily we got 2 beds in a 20bed room and went to have dinner. Along the route they offer "menu de peregrino" for 10€ - fantastico! 3 plates, 1 bottle of wine and water.
Falling asleep was hard. Snoring orchestra and very stiff muscles.

Day 3: we thought we´d have the whole day to walk, unfortunately it gets so hot already by 10 oclock that all pilgrims get up around 5 to be able to start walking at 6am - oh my friggin god :)
this is a very interesting experience, in the darkness the sleepingbag is rolled together and the backpack is put together hearing occasional oohs, aahs and perdons when packing someone else´s underwear.
Again we walked around 20kms, only this time it was above 40 degrees....

and so it continues...

right now we are in San Domingo, a pretty little town outside of Burgos. Even though we have countless blisters, and blisters growing in blisters, we are having a good time. We are meeting so many people on the way, from a dutch gardener who plants marijuana to a school teacher from the bronx... over to austrian fireman-car-builder and so on. When it gets hot, the sweet smell of grapes evaporates and is all over the air.. the red earth here in Rioja... the beautiful scenery....
as soon as everyone takes off the shoes, we start walking like geese - then you know, it must be a pilgrim... in the afternoon we chill, treat ourselves with lots of muscle heater and foot creme and talk to others while lying in the shade. Many young and old people all together and hardly anyone who does this for religious purposes, rather just to think... after a chapter in life.... or the future... many people have stories like: best friend hung himself or fiance left... and by talking about these things to complete strangers its like an objective therapy of some sort...
as we usually have the same destinations as others who started when we did it has come to be almost like a big school trip, where you meet again at the end of the day....

enough for now :)