The Curve Ball

So I realise it´s been a while since the last entry. Straight up, there has been a change of plan. Instead of following the northern coastal route, as originally planned, we took 6 days to make our way down south to the interior, main route. There were a number of factors that lead us to the conclusion, including costs, cheating/dishonesty, difficulty/lack of flexibility, and time constraints, but all in all, it´s been a pretty good decision.

By the way, if you have ever tried or needed to do any sort of non-technical writing, ie. what I do every week, you will know that sometime there is just a certain sense of writers block and sometime the throughts just don´t flow as easily as you would like. For me, today is one of those, but as I usually do, I´ll try to do my best to be entertaining. This week´s cultural topic, though broad, is:

Sometimes you do stupid things and Stupid things happen to you

Okay, I´ll admit it´s a stretch, but I couldn´t think of only adjective to describe what has happened over the past little stretch. It´s so broad a topic that i don´t really know how to start properly, so here goes.

In Spain, it is illegal to walk on the freeway. As in most countries it´s unsafe, maybe even dangerous and everybody knows that. What we didn´t know is that you can actually get a ticket for it. So write that down, kids, you should not, especially on a Sunday morning, walk on the freeway: it will cost you €63. Esta una souvenir de España, they said, as if to make it sound like they were doing us a favour. It is, in fact, SO dangerous, that they would not even let us into their van, but rather let us keep walking on the road until the next exit, where ironically, we would have gotten off anyway. I´ve never had a police escort before, though, so I guess we had to give that one a try.

Walking into the night. We have heard many people talk about wanting to do it since we got to this new camino. They want to see the stars, or they want to enjoy the silence, or they want to stay out of the heat, or whatever. This is a stupid idea, especially if you are walking on the shoulder of a two lane highway south of Orduña that doesn´t actually have a highway and you have already walked nearly 40km that day and by the time you actually get to your town that has a campsite, there is no campsite and you end up just camping virtually in someone´s backyard, so you get up so early that the sun isn´t even up, but you want to make sure you don´t get caught and you haven´t showered in two days because the night before that you also camped illegally (though we call it wild/free to make it sound less unethical) and when you get up all you can think about is going back to bed, though even in the real world this is often a thought that many people have each and everyday. The point is, though the stars are unbelievable, the view is not worth the huge pain in the ass.

Walking more than 50km in a day. This is silly. First off, if you walk 50km, that´s going to take you even an hour in a car, so that´s impressive, but it´s also stupid. We´ve done it now a couple of times and you just end up basically losing the next day anyway, so the average works itself out. But that´s the point of average. Average temperatures in the prairies in Spain, where we are right now are between 30-35C. To avoid some of the heat, pilgrims are awake by 6am, and if you walk in the afternoon you will get overheated. If you are overheated AND dehydrated and you walk 35km, the last 17 of which is a straight stretch with no shade, no water and no landmarks to let you know how far you are along the trail, you walk by yourself and are not motivated to get to the end, you will get heat stroke. The next day you will feel like crap, only walk 7km and pretty much waste the entire effort you made just to get to the stupid hostel that had the pool that ended up being too cold to be refreshingly cool. Hypothetically, of course. Heat stroke is bad and no one wants it.

Walking blind. Now, obviously we have eyes that work and we can see, but we don´t even have a guide to the 800km walking trail we´re on. Guide books vary in detail, in accuracy, in overall effectiveness and have varying degrees of helpfulness. We are following a little slip of paper that shows the distance between the town we´re in and the town coming up, leading all the way up to Santiago. That´s pretty stupid I guess, but the name of the game is follow the arrows. Even without a book you will eventually make it to where you really have to go.

But, of course, as I like to do in most posts, I´ll turn this one around for you. If you don´t do stupid things, you won´t learn anything. Stupid things happen because you don´t plan. But that´s the beauty of the camino. Everybody takes it at their own pace, whether to go on one day or to take a rest. Today we´re taking a rest in Leon, a charming little city with a huge cathedral and huger party last night, but that´s fine. That´s our camino, as they say. Point is, stupid things are what make trips interesting and if you have no stories, what´s the point of ever even leaving your house?

Hasta Manana, Suckers!

¨If you don´t practice, I won´t know - but God will.¨
- Mr Uzick

Alright, get this. We are currently in the commercial centre of the Basque country, a large city over almost 400 000 people, Bilbao, and there are no McDonalds. Lame? Yeah, I´d say. Listen, when you walk 160km in a week you really only expect two things when you get into a city: a place to sleep and a McDonalds. This place only has one of those things...greatly disappointing. This week´s cultural topic is:

CHEATING

Okay, so everyone has taken an exam at some point in their life and peaked over to the person in front of them, or beside them and made sure their answer is the right one. Everyone has compared answers on assignments before they hand them in. And, maybe even some academics have forgotten to source some part of their doctoral thesis....but that´s the kind of cheating that doesn´t really hurt anybody.

Along el camino de la costa, the northern trail that we´ve been following there have been a couple of groups that have all done the exact same days and have all ended up in the same places on the same nights. What this means is that when there are not enough spots for all of the people who are starting and finishing at the same point, some people end up getting screwed...and not the good kind.

If you care at all, you´re probably asking yourself, well wait, Kai, if everyone is walking, how can people be cheating? If you get up too late or walk too slowly, don´t you deserve to be left out when you get in to your town really late? The answer is normally simple: Yes.

But for the sake of a longer post, let me explain.

Doing a pilgrimage, like I mentioned last week is supposed to a spiritual experience, where (whether you´re religious or not) you are able to better yourself in some way by doing it. Personally, I´m in it for the fitness, photography and for the sake and the experience of a challenge. So, if it´s going to be really really easy, what´s even the point. Now, like I mentioned before, christians, mainly catholics, flock to the burial of St James to be enlightened, and as far as I´m concerned, if there´s no challenge for them, they don´t really deserve the enlightenment. Maybe they´ll get it, maybe they won´t. All I know is that just like any other time in life, cheaters might win in the short term, but when they cheat, no one wins.

For nearly the past week we have been walking and mostly all day been hanging out with a couple of older Germans (aged 51 and 62) who have followed us up and down hills, through muddy paths, through gagged rose-thorned bush fields and who have held their ground very very well. And even though I school them in climbing hills, they are very strong walkers.

So count that, two Germans, Dale and me. That´s 4. The other two groups who were competing for our spots: the ones we call the 6-pack (actually a group of 7 from Zaragoza) and the Choir (who were initially three groups of 2, 4 from Barcelona, 2 from Madrid and came together to a loud combo who talk into the night and wake up way too early) All told, that´s (count it) 17 people vying for what is often 10 or 11 cheap or free sleeping spots. Luckily for us, the 6-pack doesn´t really mind staying in a normal algergue (hostel) that will usually cost them around 10euros for the night. The choir, on the other hand, will not, especially if they were there first (!).

So now, how are they cheating if they beat us to the albergue? There are usually three ways to get to the finish point. The main route, which is the one they recommend, because it´s the actual path and therefore the most direct, but can often be very challenging. The cyclists route, which is often flatter, less rough and because of that, slightly less scenic. Then, there´s the road. The 6pack ALWAYS walk on the road, because they also have a car to carry all of their clothes and such. But the nice part about them is they don´t always take our places. The choir, however, USED to walk the proper path, but once they figured out that Dale and I are faster and stronger, they started to walk the roads. This, to me, is cheating and its ridiculous. Not only do they lose out on the true spiritual experience, but they also miss the entire point of walking the northern route of the way of St James.

So all I can do is keep walking with my head high and dignity intact and to get away from the road-walking cheaters, we´re headed south the normal Camino Frances. Hasta luego, jerks. Cheaters never win and I´ll have better pictures. Hopefully they have a McDonalds in the next place.

Free Transport...the legal kind

"Sommos piligrimos"

So as much as I would like to think that I always just play the cards as they lie and improvize my entire life, truth be told, I´m probably a pretty organised (though some people maybe call my type of organisation "unorganisation") person. Every night when I get home (though my definition of home at the moment is slightly unclear)I get out my things and put them exactly in the place so that I´ll know where they are when I get up in the morning and have to get ready. On June 6, Dale and I set out on what will easily be the longest backpacking hiking trip I will have ever taken. This week´s cultural topic (which is a topic that will probably be elaborated on in further posts) is:

WALKING

So this is going to be hard to explain hypothetically, but I´ll do my best. The walk we are taking is what is known as the Way of St James/Jean/Jacques/Camino Santiago/Camino del Norte... and is essentially a pilgrimage to the alleged burial ground of St James (elder), cousin of Jesus Christ, in Santiago de Compostela.

The walk itself is expected to take anywhere from 35-40some days (plus rest days and ours will be broken up by the Sanfermin festival in Pamplona aka Running of the Bulls). People come from all over Europe and the world to walk the Camino in hopes of being enlightened by or finding miracles of something from the Saint. Faithful catholics and other christians alike flock to the cathedral to find the closest known existing connection to Jesus.

Now, I´m not going to lie and say I´m a big believer, but I´ll tell you that a fourty day hike is one hell of a walk. I´m in it for the fitness.

So, only two days in so far (three if you count our rest day which is today) we started our walk just out of the way in Biarritz, France, and after walking, on a totally improvised 18km route until for hours in the french heat, came to the border town of Hendaye to set up camp. For those who don´t know, also, the French (like most non-english countries in Europe) like to close things down around about 16h30, so that they don´t get too tired for the evening.

Next day, walked into Spain and carried on even further to posh coastal port town of San Sebastian. Too many details to go into, but the guide book we have sucks balls and has no maps. We got lost, yes. But as smart people do, you find your way back to the trail and then hike for about 20 more kilometers until around 23:30, because all towns leading up until that point don´t have anywhere to sleep. Silly, really. ¡Pero Bienvenudo en España! Hope the rest of the trip maintains this level of fun.

Anyway, rest days are sweet, so if you remember nothing else from this post than that, you should be fine. Oh, and also, if you stay organised, however that might be, you won´t have to sleep on the beach and then have the SWAT team kick you off.

Salut, les amis!

"I have 61 wieners between my legs"

Good news, avid readers! There will be a post this week afterall. I found an english keyboard, and you know what that means -- being able to type properly! So usually every once in a while I sit down and write down ideas for what I might want to put in my blog or just rant to my self in a kind of a girly way kind of like a journal or whatever, but for the past week and a bit, something has gotten in the way. But in fact, this is the kind of distraction that you really makes traveling worth while. This week's cultural experience is:

Making Friends

Last time I wrote, I wrote about how crappy the weather was. What this means is that when the weather is crap, people are in bad moods, no one just hangs out around the campsite and pretty much everyone just keeps to themselves and does their own thing. Then, something magical happened, and I suppose it wasn't really magical in the sense of magic tricks or something, it was more just a figure of speach I used to describe the fact that having the weather do a complete 180 was pretty much sweet. So probably by now you can assume that yes, the magic was a change in weather. The only real way to meet people is when you pass them in the toilet area everyday and maybe say hi and then maybe go into town and drink at a bar, but that's expensive and as budget travelers, that's not really how to roll.

But then, nice weather puts all those grim people back into good moods and they all come out of their shells. The timing of our rain stoppage also conveniently coincided with the weekend, where more people come and when my good friend came down for a visit, and so graciously bought us a BBQ. Alright, anecdotes aside, this is the how to do.

Buy ping pong paddles. This is an easy opener for anyone, because no matter how little or much experience someone has at ping pong, they probably love it. And then they get better. That's what happens with practice. Then, they teach their friends and then everyone is better off knowing kind of how to play ping pong. Then Swedish people challenge you to a playoff, but are too drunk too early in the day, so they end up never showing up.

BBQs attract people. You if you have a hot smoking grill, people will join you. That's pretty much it. Obviously, you also have to let them know that they're welcome. So remember how once upon a time I wrote a lame post about BBQs? Well, if you wanted to know what the best kind is for making a cheap little one, then charcoal is the way to go. Artificial fire-assister starter tablets are also good too. (though I still prefer the ease of a good propane grill) A little grill can be pruchased for (let's say hypothetically) 16€ and will bring hours of joy and tons of cooked items. Also, buy a little one, because that way you can pretty much take it anywhere. Steaks are nice, but hot dogs will do...anywhere from 60-110 should feed 5-10 hungry people. BBQs at your neighbours' place are good, but you can also do it on your own campsite. You can also do it on the beach, though not legally.

Buy beer. Maybe a huge case. This is probably one of the best conversation starters there are. 'Hey, I'm Kai. Would you like to come drink beer with us and be friends?' Because even if they don't actually want a beer, they'll at least come over and be friends...unless they're boring. But you don't need boring friends anyway. This works even better if you already have a BBQ going. Beer and hot dogs...mmmm.


Also, being bilingual is also good, but it's not always necessary. Yesterday, we had a nearly fully french day, that was nice. French people are nice. One nice thing is just smiling at people, because when you smile, then they realize that you brush your teeth everyday and people like other clean people. But one really nice thing to do is to make friends with someone who has a car, like we did yesterday. Driving is always a luxury when you're on a walking holiday!

So that's how you do it, folks. To make friends, all you have to do (mostly) is talk to people. Any other suggestions I'd be more than happy to hear, because a single guy on the run could always use more friends!

The Other Side

So if you ever wanted to know what my travel buddy Dale is thinking, check the link on the side. His blog thingy is sponsored by the university he went to, entitled:

Dale, World traveler

May not have a post this week. I'm Lame.

But I DO HAVE tons of ideas!