Saturday, May 9, 2015

Vilafranca de Xira to Azambuja May 8

"Keep calm, say three Hail Marys and an Act of Contrition, and keep on keeping on."

 

A pilgrimage is an opportunity to simplify your life, your needs and your wants; a time to indulge in a moving meditation seeking to find clarity and peace, uniting mind, body and heart; a time for spiritual growth. Unfortunately, the only meditation I was indulging in as I walked kilometre after kilometre along the busy highway with a constant fury of trucks whizzing by, was how would anyone transport my body back home for a memorial service and wishing I could remember the Act of Contrition so I could cleanse my soul before being smacked to smithereens.

Our hotel last night was very nice but the large group of Fatima pilgrims pretty well demanded all the attention of the hotel staff. It was impossible to get a place to sit for breakfast and, not wanting to wait for 50 Portuguese ladies to finish their morning coffee and chatter, Dayton and I just put on our packs and started out. This was supposed to almost a semi-rest day with under 20kms to cover; however, the camino markers failed us and we ended up adding over four extra kilometres all before 9:30am. At least the extra mileage was along a country dirt road which was the only part of the day we were not playing dodge 'em on busy highways. Despite the extra kilometres, we found our hotel (a confusing walk back and forth through town adding even more distance to our day) and we are now settled into our little hotel room, showered and ready to seek out some restaurants.

Our hotel concierge speaks not a word of English and, as I have said before I only know three words of Portuguese and, other than thank you, none of them are helpful. I thought that, knowing a bit of Spanish, I would be able to understand a bit of Portuguese but they do not sound the least bit similar. There seems to be a lot of 'ish' and 'ch' sounds so it seems almost Russian or Slavic sounding to me. This complete lack of understanding made me think back two years ago to when Dayton and I were getting off the plane in Arles in France and he said with a touch of dismay, "So now it begins". When I asked him what 'what begins', he said, "Forty-nine days with no one to converse with but you." Now we are in the same boat; no one else to talk to for the next five weeks.......and that's okay.

Dinner was in another mystery experience. Dayton had a wonderful unidentifiable fish, equally mysterious side dish, bread, salad and wine while the servers accommodated me with salad and potatoes. Of course it came with a jug of wine......all for €17.

Tomorrow promises to be a long day, well over 30kms without allowing for missed markers and we could be in trouble. The bottom of Dayton's one foot is a solid blister from a rubbing sock and this is on top of our usual daily aches and pains. Let's hope padding it with mefix tape will help. When walking the Camino Frances de Santiago, you are always walking west so the sun is always on your back. The Camino Portuguese heads north so the sun is always in the east. This means I have a serious sunburn on one arm. However, I am not about to start complaining (yet?) about sunshine or warmth as we were cold, wet and muddied most of our last Camino and would have paid for a sunny day.

 

 

 

 

 

4 comments:

  1. Hi Karen and Dayton, I am just catching up on your camino blog tonight. Sounds like the two of you have just jumped into the deep end of the pool with some long hot days. I hope Dayton's foot heals quickly. I always enjoy your posts and will be following you along. Good luck in the days ahead. Have fun and buen camino.

    John and Robin

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  2. "Mad dogs and Englishmen go out in the midday sun". And apparently crazy pilgrims too. Tomorrow is to be even hotter and another 32+km day. Hikers' rash, blisters, shin splints, tender toes, sore knees and Achilles...bring it on. But our hotels are wonderful as is everyone we meet so it is all good.

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  3. Yes I am with you on the hotels. They can make all the difference. Heal up and head out. Best of luck.

    John and Robin

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  4. I never would've imagined that you'd have to walk along a busy highway as part of this pilgrimage, Karen! Did they really not have any alternative path to send you along? Very strange. Your blog, as always, is must reading!

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