Finally there!!!

That´s right! We have arrived in Santiago...finally! After 25 days of walking, 375 miles, 35 loaves of bread, 45 cups of cafe con leche, 65 cervezas, countless crazy people...it was worth it all! We spent the last two nights on the camino sitting with people, drinking wine and simply enjoying life. It was great cause the hikes were shorter than normal, 13 and 12 miles. So we had lots of time in the afternoon to hang out and relax. Then yesterday we hiked the 12.8 miles into the city. We weren´t expecting to have to go through the city to get to the cathedral. From what we´d heard, you come up over a hill and BAM!, there´s the cathedral. However, we came into the old town, down through a gate with bagpipes playing and suddenly we were in the plaza in front of the most magnificent cathedral we had seen thus far. It was a very powerful experience to arrive there, see your friends from along the way just staring up at this massive cathedral. Just as we got into the plaza, the bell started tolling for the noon pilgrim´s mass. It was absolutely perfect. Such a weird feeling to be done with something so huge, but a wonderful feeling as well. The next hour or two after that was spent getting our official compostela, in which Michael is ¨michaelem¨, I am ¨catherineum¨and julia is ¨julium¨. So official. Then came the business of finding a hotel. After several false starts, we happened upon Hostal Mapoula. We have our own room with our OWN BATHROOM!!! Life can´t get much better! We napped in the afternoon and then went out to explore the city. We found a great table outside, ordered sangria (we are in Spain, after all) and watched a tractor parade, of all things! We later found out it was some sort of demonstration. Then we found a restaurant and got a relatively expensive fish dinner (Michael got lamb). But it was our much deserved reward for completing our trek. As the evening cooled off, we drank wine, watched part of a music festival in the plaza outside our hotel and chatted with friends. It was a very nice night, but not nice enough to keep us out past 1130, when all three of us passed out. Slept til 9 this morning, felt great! Today we hit up the pilgrims mass. The inside of the cathedral is pretty amazing, but also crowded and somewhat distracting. I think all of us were a little disappointed for the relative lack of respect and spirituality in the building. Tour groups were walking through during the mass, taking pictures and whatnot. So we are spending our afternoon relatively low-key, mostly cause it is ridiculously hot out there.

It is strange knowing we have no more walking/hiking left. After getting into such a groove and having such a goal-oriented plan, we are struggling a little with the fact that we are done. Almost like a post-partum depression...what do we do now? Let us tell you...

Tomorrow night we board a train at 1035 which takes us overnight to Madrid, where one of our new Camino friends, Pablo, is going to pick us up, take us for coffee and breakfast and then drop us off at the airport, where we catch our flight to Rome. We have 4 hours in Rome, then we catch another overnight train to Brindisi where, 5 hours later, we hop a ferry that will take us to the Greek Island of Corfu. And there we will find our relaxtion place for the next week. After that, who knows...

Thank you all very much for your thoughts and prayers during the Camino. It has truly been an amazing, trying, thrilling, tiring, uplifting experience and thoughts of all of you were what kept us on track most of the time. We hope you are all well, you are in our prayers! We will still be posting throughout the rest of our trip if you are so inclined to peek in. Thanks again, and much love!

Buen Camino!
Michael and Catie

No Snoring = Heaven

We all agree that while on the Camino, we have realized many things we take for granted back home. Let us make a list for you...
1) snore-free sleeping
2) toilet seats (that´s right...it´s only rim about 1/3 of the time)
3) soap and paper towels in the bathrooms...we´d be happy with only soap
4) salt and pepper
5) being able to talk to anyone we want without having to act something out
6) cheeseburgers

Now, let us expand on the flipside of that...
1) bread and jam makes a perfect breakfast
2) happiness can come in the form of shade and a chair
3) wine should always only cost 2 euros for the bottle
4) torta de santiago makes everything better and will be making an appearance in the USA
5) the place you stay doesn´t matter, its the people you are staying with that make your day

Today was a fabulous day, precluded by a fabulous sleep due to lack of snoring!!! We made an excellent pasta dinner last night and celebrated Michael´s passing of the Med/Surg Exam!!! Yay!!! Then we hit the road today, expecting an 18 miler. Today was the first day we walked through eucalyptus forests and that was quite a treat. If I closed my eyes and breathed deep, it ALMOST felt like I was in the steam room at the Women´s Club. Almost. We had planned on going on to the town of Arzua, but ended up stopping 3K short of that at a fabulous government run albergue. We were a little nervous about it, cause it is built in the 1600´s and used to be a hospital for pilgrims, but it is awesome! And the facilities are much cleaner than the last government run one we were at. Plus, it is creekside and they have built a little area where we can sit and soak our feet in the freezing cold stream! Excellent.

We only have 2 more days of walking!!! It is getting surreal and we can´t believe that our final destination is so close! By car, we could be there in 25 minutes...it will take us a 13 mile and 12 mile day. Life is good, we are still enjoying the many people we continue to meet. As we type, Julia is out on the patio enjoying a drink with her German man we mentioned earlier. She is actually being admired by men from several countries...I´m going to start a bidding war to pay for our flight to Greece.

Anyway, much love from Spain! Thanks for the thoughts and prayers!

Buen Camino

3 more days...yes, we´re counting...

You´ll never guess where we´re staying...the palace of R.E.I. That´s right. Actually, its a town called Palas de Rei (paul-us d ray), but we like to think of it as a palace of outdoor shopping. Today has been a great day...we actually started off rather slow, none of us were in the mood to be walking...weird! After listening to a couple songs on the ipod (got some looks by other pilgrims...oh well, we´re american) and a coffee break with torta de santiago, our pace quickened and we made it to our destination in record time. 16 miles in about 6 hours. Pretty awesome. We just realized we haven´t mentioned torta de santiago yet. It is our new favorite treat and is a staple of this county (Galacia) along with octopus. The torta is basically an almond tort cake and is fabulous for breakfast, lunch or dessert. Or all of the above. Our plan is to purchase an entire tort in Santiago and chow down.

So last night we got to a small port town called Portomarin and stayed in the Xunta, which is the government run albergue. There were tons of people there, super crowded and apparently they don´t wash the sheets, cause they make you put a little plastic cover over the sheets and pillow...we were all so grossed out. But it was only 3 euros. Tonight, however, we decided to treat ourselves to a private albergue for 9 euros. It is wonderful and since it is Sunday and the feast of Corpus Christi, there is absolutely nothing open and nothing to do but read, journal, chat with other pilgrims and nap. That´s what we´ve been doing.

So an update on the competition with Team Spain-dex. Julia witnessed them knock over a display of nail polish in a Farmacia, so minus 4 for them. We beat them into Portomarin by 3 hours, so that´s plus 3 for us. We think the running total is probably about 123 for Team America, negative 58 for team Spain-dex. Yeah, we´re dominating.

Other than that, life is pretty great. We are 3 days out of Santiago, 67 kilometers away. We couldn´t be more excited! We can smell the incense from the cathedral now! Kidding. But we´re pumped to get there. Oh, Lady Gaga just came on in the bar. So surreal. Kinda nice. The last 3 days are 16, 13 and 12 miles, respectively. We are so ready to be done, but we´re going to miss our little travelling community here. So many times during the day we find ourselves asking each other "is this really happening?" Especially when you have people next to you in mass speaking Korean, have a beer in the evening with 2 germans and sleep next to ladies from france. And everyone has the same mission and goal. It is so nice. You run into people on the road everyday and it seems they find you right when you need a little encouragement or support. The last 2 days however, have been crowded with all new pilgrims and they are slightly annoying. They are all bright-eyed and bushy tailed and have their packs shipped ahead. Drives us nuts!

Okay, miss you all! Talk to you soon! Good to hear from you Dad! Thanks!

Buen Camino!

The Sun´ll Come Out...TODAY!!!

So, since our last blog, the sun has returned with a vengence! The last 3 days of walking have been great, sweat and all! The day after we last wrote, we began a real climb into the mountains. The scenery is a perfect combination of Glacier, Vancouver Island and Columbia Gorge. It is fabulous! That evening, we stayed at an albergue on top of a mountain, which was run by a German Association of the Camino. It was our favorite night yet! They were warm and friendly and we had a wonderful time. Our favorite part was that they are currently adding onto the albergue, so the new addition has no doors or windows. They gave us beds inside, but we asked to move out there, where beds and chairs had been set up. A bunch of younger pilgrims stayed out there...we could feel the breeze blowing, hear the rain! The best part was that we got to shower out there too and we could hear the cowbells from the field next door while we were doing so. The cows then walked almost through our albergue later! That evening, the priest who usually comes up to perform a mass was unable to make it, so our hosts organized a prayer service. It was one of the most amazing experiences of our trip so far. The prayers were said in german mostly, but then everyone went around an said an intention in their own language. Then we all said the Our Father while circled around the alter...it was spoken in 5 different languages all at once: german, english, french, korean and polish. Amazing! And we got a good night´s sleep also. We also got a great recipe from some of the german pilgrims, so get ready Allen...sausage salad is coming your way! we´ll let you ponder that one!

The next day we continued our climb into the mountains. It was spectacular! The mist was very thick, and created ¨floating islands¨from the mountain tops. We had a cafe con leche and almond tort at the top in a town called OCebreiro. It was a spectacular day with great views the entire time. However, Team America has encountered their rivals. there is a group of about 9 Spainards that started in Astorga who are maybe college age. They all look like they just rolled out of bed and thought ¨hey, we should do the camino today¨. The best part is that they seem to think full spandex outfits are fashionable and appropriate, especially the guys. Therefore, we have coined them Team Spain-dex. And somehow, they manage to beat us about 50% of the time. We do not know how this is happening, but we´re keeping score. A little Camino Competition. They get negative points for the spandex, by the way.

Today we toured through more countryside with awesome views and picturesque landscapes. Pretty breathtaking. We came upon a town about 1/2 way that had one of the oldest monasteries in Spain...we think it was built in the 1500´s, but we´re still not that great at reading spanish. We decided to take the tour, which was given by a 4 foot tall monk who only spoke spanish and seemed to think we understood him. Smile and nod. It was pretty amazing though! And the cafe across the street had awesome coffee...so we had two.

As the day wore on, we got hotter and hotter (not just temperature wise), so we decided to stop at a little cafe and get a cerveza. The french people sitting there recommended the ziber, which is the equivalent of hard cider. It was the most refreshing and fabulous drink EVER!!! Got us through to Sarria where we are staying the night. This is the town just over the 100 km mark. To get an official compostela, you have to walk 100 km, so at this point lots of people will be joining the camino and flooding us out. we´re expecting larger crowds, but as long as they don´t drink all the cafe con leche, we´ll allow them on the camino!

Some other interesting happenings¨
1. Julia getting her blisters speared and cleaned by a Spanish pharmacist...scary
2. Almost getting run over by a herd of cows
3. The awesome chorus of snoring at our last albergue
4. Catie trying to buy a coffee grinder from a store, only to be informed it was an antique and it was not for sale. They should mark those things.
5. Julia going on a date with a German man last night...kidding, but kinda serious.


All in all, we´re doing great and looking forward to the last 5 days. We´re off to get a cerveza and then make some dinner. Hope you are all well!

Buen Camino

Julia´s blog if you want more stories: whereintheworldisjulia.blogspot.com

Team America Strikes Again...

Hey there everyone! We have had limited internet access over the past couple of days, but nonetheless are having a great time! The common theme over the past three days has been wet. And wetter. The rain in Spain does NOT stay mainly in the plain, by the way. The scenery has changed from the flat, high desert (the meseta) to the mountains again, and has made these three montana kids very happy. We walk through oak forests and wildflowers. And rain. Today we completed 19 miles and it was killer. We are still meeting great people and eating not so great food. Last night Julia and I got the idea to make some delicious soup. We all ended up forcing it down as it was energy. We were not too happy about it as a girl sat down next to us with a grilled fish and a tortilla de patata. We still had a great time. We have now dubbed ourselves Team America and continue to do things that make us look ridiculous. Want some examples? 1) Julia demonstrating in a crowded area that it is impossible to lick your elbow. 2) Sleeping in WAY overtime and being the last out of the albergue this morning. 3) Julia accumulating 13 blisters. 4) the soup incident. We have decided that the next time we are asked ¨Why are you doing the Camino?¨we are going to respond ¨To lose weight.¨ We figure that will make a good impression.

Today we got to walk around a castle. In the rain. It was pretty great. Last night our albergue was pretty rustic, but fabulous! Tonight we were the last 3 allowed into our albergue...lucky! We still cannot figure out how people continuously beat us to the destinations, but we´re thinking the sleeping in and constant bathroom/picture breaks have something to do with it. And we´re slow. And its raining. The weather is supposed to break tomorrow, but that could just be some juicy pilgrim gossip. We´re not sure. Today we are very tired. We find that our time walking is spent talking a lot about foods we miss, things we can´t wait to do and the enormous packs that everyone else seems to be carrying. We only have 8 days left of hiking, and are hoping that Julia´s feet will make it. Michael´s ankles are not bothering him anymore thanks to the Superfeet delivery by our third. Life is pretty darn good.

Anyway, hope you are all well. Sorry this is a rather lame blog...we are pretty tired/slightly cranky. Nothing a bad bed and tylenol pm can´t fix though! Thanks for the comments!

Buen Camino

The TRIFECTA!!!

That´s right folks...the trifecta is complete! Two evenings ago, our third member arrived safe and sound via train from Madrid. We were so happy that everything went off without a hitch in terms of us all connecting. Following her arrival, we walked to the cathedral, had a nice dinner and enjoyed the crowds in the Plaza Mayor. Then it was early to bed for our weary traveler because we had to rise early the next morning. And, at 530, we awoke, hit snooze, awoke again at 545 and headed out on the second half of our journey. Getting out of Leon took us quite awhile...we stopped in Virgen del Camino for our traditional cafe con leche and were even able to talk Julia into getting one...first coffee she has ever ordered! And in Spanish nonetheless! The walk yesterday flew by. It was only about 14 miles and our new member brought a breath of fresh air to our walking time. There was an optional route, which we decided to take the one that kept us more in nature. We arrived in Mazarife around noon (so early...tell that to the Korean!) and settled into a great albergue. The afternoon was spent sleeping and eating...and having our laundry done in a machine for us...SO EXCITING!!! We decided to partake in the pelegrino dinner, which wasn´t until 700, so to kill time we decided to walk down to the local bar and have a cerveza. We invited Tony, a new friend who was starting his first day along with Julia, to join us. Tony is from Sidney, will turn 75 on the day he arrives in Santiago, and is a priest. He was able to fill us in on the history behind Saint James, including new and exciting findings! He was pretty interesting to talk to and we enjoyed our time with him. Our dinner last night was phenomenal! We´ve realized we haven´t dedicated nearly enough time to the food over here, so lets get a little more into that...

Last night we had a salad with carrots, beets, corn and tomatoes (oil and vinegar dressing) for the first course. The main course was paella, which is a traditional Spanish dish. It consists of either rice or a very tiny pasta and then a bunch of spices and either veggies, fish or meat. It is fabulous and very filling as well. Last night´s was the best we have had so far. Each meal comes with a baskets of bread, a bottle of wine and a bottle of water. Dessert consisted of apple chunks with cinnamon on them. To quote Julia ¨The one thing America has going for them is their desserts¨. We kept waiting for the cheesecake, but it never came. Other foods that we have enjoyed are the tortata, which is basically thick tortillas made with chunks of potatoes. Then they throw cheese, ham or something of the like in between two slices. It is a wonderful breakfast food. The pastries have been our (especially Michaels!) favorite. They are the perfect amount of sweetness and go great with our morning coffee. For most of our meals, we buy a fresh loaf of beautiful bread, add meat (usually cured ham or chorizo) and some cheese. Very simple and oh so good! The beer of choice here is San Miguel and it is the Spanish equivalent of Bud, but much better. The wine is fabulous and without nitrates, so hangovers are rare (though we wouldn´t know, cause 1 1/2 glasses makes us loopy...all this walking has made us lightweights!)

Today was a huge day and Julia hung in like a trooper! We walked almost 19 miles to Astorga, which is a quaint smaller city on a hill. We had to walk 14 km to ¨earn¨our morning coffee. It was well worth it though. The town we stopped in was having a medieval festival and we had to pull Michael away from the armored helmets and swords. We got poured on again today, though this time was much less intense. Upon arriving in Astorga, we found our albergue to be fabulous! It is an old building (300 years) and has a fireplace, kitchen, is made of stone and deep woods...beautiful! May be our favorite place yet! We are looking forward to exploring the city. From our walk in we think it may be the chocolate capital of spain...definitely worth partaking! Life´s tough.

Anyway, hope you are all well! Thanks for the message Dianne! We talk about all of you (good things!) while walking and are excited to see you!

Buen Camino!

WOW...you guys walk real slow...

Hola! Right now we are sitting in a ciber-cafe in Leon...so chic. We made it here and got a hotel without a hitch. So nice to have our own space and be able to take a long shower and sleep without 10 men snoring. Yesterday we split from our group in Burgos to take the bus here. It was a much more difficult split than we had anticipated. After 5 or 6 days with these people, they became a mini-family on the Camino and it was tough knowing we most likely would not see them again. One pilgrim in particular was a little more easy to leave. This kid was probably 22 and from Korea. We shared a room with him a couple nights ago and he would randomly call out in his sleep and/or fart loudly. He is quite feminine as well. When we arrived in Burgos at 130, we ran into him. He proceeded to tell us ¨Wow, you guys walk real slow¨in his feminine voice with a wave of the hand. He had been there since 1130. The only reason this is so funny is that he walks with his right boot on and his left foot in a slide-on sandal because his foot is so blistered it will not fit in his shoe. To be mocked by this guy was the ultimate insult. Funny how stuff like that can actually make your day. We are still laughing to ourselves about it. However, we left on a very happy note and we are excited to continue on our journey. The buses here are extremely nice. Throughout the ride though, we caught glimpses of pilgrims out walking and we actually wished we were out there. But we are content with being in Leon. This city is great, the cathedral is nowhere near as impressive as Burgos, but the gelato could hold its own! We broke our tradition of eating spanish food and had Kurdistan food last night. Was a great little treat! We spent most of the evening sitting on the Plaza Mayor, watching all the spanish people. We can´t quite figure them out, but we know we kinda want to be them. Nothing opens here until 9 am and then closes again around 1 for siesta. Then it opens at 4 and closes at 8 or 9. There are always so many people out walking around that we´re pretty sure they don´t actually work. But what a life. The pace is so slow and casual...a nice break from the pànic of the states. Our favorites are the old people, who get dressed up every evening to sit and gossip in the Plaza Mayor, or walk dozens of laps. We have been hard pressed to find many obese or overweight people here though. Everyone walks everywhere and they seem to be a very healthy people. However, we would say about 3 out of 4 people smoke here. We are becoming very used to cafe con leche in the morning with smoke swirling around us! This break has been wonderful for our bodies! Catie´s achilles are almost back down to normal size and Michael´s ankles are much less painful. Tonight our duo becomes a trio!!! Julia arrives at 7 and we are planning on walking to the train station to meet up with her, grabbing some dinner and then calling it a night, as we will be back on the Camino at 6 am tomorrow. We have 14 more days of hiking left and the terrain is supposed to become much more moutainous and beautiful. We are excited for this and our new companion. Please keep us all in your prayers as the days get longer from here on out. We miss you all!

Buen Camino!
Catie and Michael

So quite a lot has happened over the past few days...many unique and powerful experiences. We are currently in Burgos, Spain and just finished a dinner with about 7 other pilgrims on the Plaza Mayor. A fabulous evening in Spain with children running around, old people sitting on benches and chatting, and a nice breeze cooling everything off. The road here has been anything but cool. Over the last 3 days we have walked about 50 miles and it has been in blisteringly hot weather...literally. Catie´s feet have so many blisters it is ridiculous! Michael´s ankles are doing better, but still bothering him. One of our favorite places so far has been our albergue in the town of Beldorado, which is run by the Swiss Association of the Camino. The albergue itself is an old theatre, so the kitchen is the stage, the dining room the audience and the bedrooms the balcony. The two women, our hospitaleros, were extremely kind, and basically force-fed us coffee while we all chatted. Last night we stayed in an old monastery in San Juan de Ortega. This town was TINY, no internet access and very little going on. The tradition there is to give the pilgrims garlic soup, so at 730 on the nose we were each given a bowl of garlic broth with chunks of bread in it. Quite tasty actually. We went to our third mass in Spanish...still have no idea what they are saying, but the people here have such conviction that it is worth going. The chaos at communion is still a bit much for us, but other than that it is a great experience. Today we entered back into city life. Burgos is much larger than we expected, and we had to walk through the dirty, busy side to get to where we are staying. Our albergue is one block away from the Cathedral, which we toured this afternoon. It is amazing! Absolutely mindblowing. However, looking out the windows and seeing people drinking cervezas on the sidewalk encouraged us to breeze through parts of it and go get a beer ourselves. Tonight we are very excited, because we have 2 days of non-walking ahead of us. Our bodies and minds need the break. Tomorrow we board a bus for the trip to Leon, where we will spend a day and a half awaiting the third member of our entourage...JULIA!!! We are excited to have a break and get a chance to explore another spanish city. From Leon, we will have 13-14 more days of walking before we reach our final destination. We are trying not to think about that right now. Other than that, everything is just great. We are sad to be leaving this group we have been traveling with for the past 5 or so days, as we have become quite close to them. Each person here has such a great story and adds so much to everyone else´s trip. Last night, for instance, one of a pair of men we have been walking with hobbled into the albergue and his feet were bright red with blood. We are still not sure how they got that bad, but his friend whom he has been walking with spent the evening taking care of him. Quite the sight to look over and see a 50-something man wiping down his friend´s feet with such care. There are two women who remind us of our moms...we told them that and they proceeded to tell us all about their kids. Now when they see us they yell ¨montana!¨ It is quite the crew, half the time we can´t even understand each other, but you don´t really need to. We are going to call it a night, but we miss you all very much and hope things are going well. Much love.

Buen Camino!

Personalities of Pilgrims...

As we´ve been hiking along, we´ve met many new and interesting people. And while we hate to stereotype, we´ve realized that there are several types of pilgrims, and it is becoming more and more easy to categorize them. Let us enlighten you...

1) Agro-pilgrim...the agro pilgrim is typically seen with a cigarette hanging from the lip while sporting an ever-popular euromullet. This pilgrim is way to joyous on the trail, or they are deep in thought, contemplating all of life´s mysteries.

2) Chic pilgrim...this pilgrim is wearing designer sunglasses, never actually sweats, and manages to look elegant after walking 18 miles. Catie feels she falls into this category.

3) Pseudo-pilgrim...our first experience with these came a few days ago. The pseudopilgrim has gear 3 times nicer than ours, trekking poles and packs. They unload off of their air-conditioned bus, whip out their poles, walk 50 feet to the nearest church, share candies to offset the low blood glucose this activity caused, then turn around and get back on their bus. We´re pretty sure they actually took pictures of us.

4) The real pilgrim...these are rare, but a sight to behold. These are the old men and women who walk with a smile on their face and a warm greeting. They are serene and radiate contentment. One in particular frequently breaks into song with no impetus. We love him.

5) The veteran pilgrim...these are commonly seen in herds and can be known by their sinuous, tanned legs. They are performing their 5th or 6th pilgrimmage and seem to know the ins and outs of it all.

6) The extreme pilgrim...they seem to be bred in Holland, we think they may actually have some sort of extra chromosome that allows them to walk for 65 days straight. They can be seen sucking down Gu packets and waving as they breeze past us. Michael thinks he is one of these.

7) The paraphenalia pilgrim...these people have hats, bracelets, pins, walking poles, shirts...you name it, they wear it. And all of them have the Camino symbol on them.


Those are our deep thoughts for the day. Today was warm and 18 miles, but we did it and felt very strong. Thank you for the prayers, we needed them today! We are in Najera Spain and about to make a spaghetti dinner. Tomorrow is lighter, but supposed to be just as hot...about 90 degrees. Hope all is well! Thanks for the comments. Hi uncle Greg and Patty!!!

Catie and Michael

Reasons to Celebrate

Today we concluded our hiking in the city of Logrono, which we are guessing is about the size of Spokane. It was a fabulous day, we think our best yet. We slept very well last night, with one exception. A gun going off several times behind our albergue woke us at about 1030...we later found out it was actually fireworks because Barcelona had won the big soccer game of the day. These crazy spanairds... We woke early and stopped in the town of Vianna, where we had 2 cafes con leches each (indulgence...except they are only about 6 ounces each) and a sandwich with egg, ham and cheese. And a croissant. Perfect. We have made some good friends with this new group we have caught up to and enjoyed our morning break with them. This was where we were telling one of our friends about the Brazilian people we know and how we don´t understand a word of the spanish they speak. She then informed us that this is because they speak Portugese...we are so ignorant!

Today we made a very big decision. In order to meet up with Julia and be able to finish the Camino, we have to be in Leon by next wednesday...in order to do this WALKING, we would have had to do about 5-7 miles above and beyond what we are already doing. On top of this we are really sore and tired and this was stressing us beyond belief. We were not enjoying our days and we spent the evenings trying to pump ourselves up to walk the next day. So today, in order to enjoy our ¨vacation¨, we decided to hop a bus in Burgos and take that to Leon. This will cut out about 100 miles of the journey, however we realized that the only thing preventing us from doing that in the first place was our pride. Once we let go of this and realized our bodies could not maintain what our minds wanted, we are at peace with this decision. Additionally, the terrain we are skipping is the most boring, flat and featureless of the entire Camino. A lot of people skip this part apparently. We feel this will take away from the experience a little, however we will still feel that we have completed the Camino. Tonight we are staying in an excellent albergue in which all the young people stay on the third floor, which is basically the attic. It is very cozy and we know some of the other people staying there, so that is nice. We just got back from wandering the city and we instantly fell in love with it. Our spirits are much higher today now that our big decision is made.

Tomorrow is an 18 mile day for us, so your prayers would be much appreciated! We are trying to find some insoles for Michael, as we think this would help with some of his ankle pain. We miss and love you all! Thanks for the comments, it is so nice hearing from you!

Michael and Catie

Ever Humbling...

Today has been quite the day. We slept surprisingly well under the church...was only woken by the bell tolling a few times throughout the night. We took it slow getting ready and were served a nice breakfast by the kind french people running the albergue. The hiking today was much more flat, some parts of it just downright boring. Michael´s ankles are really giving him a lot of trouble, and I have enough blisters to last me a lifetime. Today was a humbling day...we find that we can´t keep up with some of the older people doing this pilgrimmage and many times, though our minds say ¨keep going!¨, our bodies won´t let us. We are slightly discouraged today, but have stopped after 12 miles...isn´t it weird that we consider 12 MILES of hiking a short day and are unhappy with the distance? We are staying at a very nice albergue in our own room, so we are sure to get a good sleep. I hope the afternoon and evening off will give our bodies a chance to rebuild a bit for the days ahead. Our thoughts today spent a lot of time at home with all of you, we are missing the comforts of home, friends and family. Tomorrow we will try to get a little further, but we will see what is in store. Hope all is well, miss you very much. Please keep us in your prayers...

Buen Camino

Spain smells good

Update on the smells in Spain...
1) there is some sort of flowery smell in the air all the time that is just fabulous, we can´t figure it out
2) walking into the panderias (bread stores) in the morning just as the baker pulls a fresh loaf out of the oven is heaven
3) a pile of 20 pairs of hiking boots having been worn all day long...yum...
4) cafe in all the little places we stop

Last night was great...we ended up getting our own room at the albergue, so we could spread out and didn´t have to deal with the snoring...we slept like babies. Today was our longest day of hiking (about 18 miles) and we are feeling it! But getting stronger every day. Tonight we had an interesting experience...no room at the inn! Both of the albergues in the town were full. Fortunately, the nice french lady running one of them offered us a tent, blow-up mattresses and a spot in front of the old church. If this isn´t an adventure, I don´t know what is. All the pilgrims in town have heard of us and as we were just sitting with some at dinner, they exclaimed ¨oh, you are the tent ones!¨, in spanish though, so we couldn´t understand them. Of course. Hope all is well. More tomorrow if there´s internet! Love you!

Buen Camino.

What a difference a day makes...

Last time we wrote, our spirits were rather low. Its amazing how much of an effect the people around you can have on your mood. Our hosts that evening were rather rude and the room was small and stuffy, so we were pretty distressed and quite frankly, questioning this whole thing. Yesterday, however, the tables turned. We got a quick start and it was a beautiful hike in the early morning rain and mist. And mud. Lots of mud. We arrived in Arres, which apparently is one of the suburbs of Pamplona and stopped at ¨Cafeteria Paradise¨for a cafe con leche and a sandwich with chorizo, egg and cheese. Everyone was there, muddy and the mood was light. The day was looking up. As we traversed through the city of Pamplona, we were a little nervous around all the people. It has a reputation of mucho pickpocketing. However, we joined up with a group of 4 from Holland (they are on their 55th day of hiking!) and enjoyed the city sights. Our favorite occurence was when we were searching for a place to eat and an old man stopped us...¨hey pelegrino! the camino is that way!¨He was so worried that we were on the wrong track. We explained we were hungry, so he walked with us to a nice cafe where we got a great meal. The people here are so kind. We stayed the night in a town called Cizur Menor at a fabulous albergue...totally opposite fro mthe night before. Our hosts greeted us with enthusiasm, let us choose our beds, offered us food and informed us that they would make us cafe at 6am...music to a pilgrim´s ears! We had all afternoon to rest our weary bodies...5 blisters and a bunch of sore legs between us. After much confusion over dinner (it was sunday and almost everywhere was closed, but no one seemed to know what was going on, including the locals), we ended up eating with two ladies from Korea and had a great time. The night was great and this morning we got a VERY early wake up (pilgrims are not the most quiet beings...) and hiked. They followed through with the promise of coffee and away we went! We were planning on covering some extra ground today, however Mother Nature had different plans. We were caught in a torrential downpour...lightning, thunder and all. Our drenched clothes and boots kept us from going any further and we are now at a private albergue on a hill wringing our bodies out. Tomorrow we plan on covering some MAJOR ground...this is a competition after all! Please keep us in your prayers...we (or Catie) finds that this trip is a roller coaster of emotion and is very challenging, both mentally and physically. It is tough to not question our decision to do this at times, while at other times we don´t think life could get any better. We miss you all and would love to be sharing this experience with you! Buen Camino!!!!

Michael and Catie

¨The cows seem happier here¨

Today brought quite the change of pace from yesterday´s mountain adventure. We were woken by half the lights coming on and a CD of monks singing being played throughout the hall...all this at 556am. Crazy pilgrims! However, the morning was cool and misty, so our walk was fantastic...cafe con leche and croissants for breakfast. The walk was much more level and we would come to a small village every hour and a half or so. So beautiful out here! At the first optional stopping point for an overnight stay, we sat with 4 Brazilians and enjoyed a cold beer (San Miguel) and sausage...just what we needed at the time, as we were hot, sweaty and the bottoms of our feet were on fire. Michael has cultivated a beautiful blister under his big toe, while I have one under each of my little toes. One of the Brazilian ladies gave me a silver necklace with the patron saint of Brazil on it. So touching...or was she just trying to lighten her load a little? just joking. The last 3 miles today were definitely the most mentally challenging as they were relatively boring, very hot, and the end was no where in sight. However, we made it the full 17 miles and just barely got into our albergue (hostel). It is smelly and will get warm tonight...quite the difference from last night´s beautiful albergue. Michael´s big observation today is that all the animals we see along the Camino seem so content, while the animals in America just seem dumb. It is so true. Yes, those are the deep thoughts coming from the two of us on this introspective journey. We are doing well, feeling much more sore today, ready to sleep. Our dinner is going to be bread with salami, cheese and maybe tomato...jealous? We miss you all and hope everything is well. Tomorrow we walk through Pamplona and continue on to the next village. Not sure we´re ready for the city scenery after this beautiful countryside. Buen Camino!

Catie and Michael

¨This isn´t so bad...

Yes, that was michael´s quote this morning as he was drinking a bowl of instant coffee. we are learning quite a few things here, and the main one is when you are offered something, you take it! Tonight we are staying in roncesvalles, which is a little monastery on the spanish side of the pyrennes. This morning, we began our day being woken up by one of our 5 roommates, and we still cannot figure out what language he is speaking. The day started with quite a climb. I think Katie Smith put it best...¨its like 6 miles of the powerline, then 4 of the 1906 trail¨, then a whole lot of downhill. So many excellent sites, so many wonderful people! One man from South Africa is walking the entire Camino in bare feet. He says we must liberate our feet, they are in prison! We agreed to disagree! The wild animals here consist of cows, sheep and horses (tiny ones), all with bells on their necks. The sounds are amazing, as are the smells. Tonight we had dinner consisting of some sort of soup...not sure what, trout (or treat, as our french friends called it) with fries and yogurt for dessert. We just got out of a spanish mass in which we all received the pilgrim´s blessing. Pretty sure the priests were staring Catie down cause she was wearing shorts! Tonight we are sleeping in a room with 120 other pilgrims. The snoring will break us before the hiking does! We are having a fabulous time and wish we could share it with all of you...maybe not the instant coffee part. Tomorrow we hike 17 miles, but it will be much less steep than today. We are aching, but it feels so good. Love you all, and ¨Bueno Camino!¨

Michael and Catie