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.