Editor’s note: Rick McKay, Joe Masonick, and Jack Karolewski, have been travel companions for more than 50 years to a variety of sites with many goals. This week’s adventure is the 26th in the series, a 14-day hike in 2005 across northern Spain’s intriguing Camino de Santiago, known as the Way of Santiago, for a religious retreat and pilgrimage. Visiting various villages on the journey requires continual hiking and climbing. Previously the trio’s exploits were focused on an 11-week trans-Asia trip in 1977. This week continues Day 11 on the journey through Spain’s, Portomarin to Palas de Rei, Monday, Sept. 26, 2005, continues last week’s narrative with a focus on the path becoming increasingly crowded with pilgrims.
The previous part is at thevoice.us/interesting-pilgrims-along-the-way-spice-to-the-trip-in-spain
By Rick McKay
I started thinking about how unique this path really is. One feels extraordinarily safe. Everyone is basically going in the same direction with the same destination in mind. Every town and village awaits in anticipation the approach of the perigrinos, with beds and food at the ready. In the mornings cafes facilitate the early risers by opening their doors before sunrise to bleary-eyed pilgrims seeking a cup of Joe before embarking on the day’s adventure. As each day progresses, smaller villages along the route offer refreshment and food for those who are hungry, or in need of a little respite.
In addition, once you become a familiar face, those on the path start asking after you. People know who has the particularly sore feet or aching legs and joints or other ailments, and they offer what assistance they can. It is unlike any other trek one can imagine.
As we were walking, Christina asked if I knew of Joseph from Ireland. I told her I had met him, but we hadn’t talked. She said she had walked with him several days prior, and she related a little of his tale. Apparently some 13 days ago, he collapsed on the trail. Of course, other pilgrims stopped to assist, but the situation was much more serious than blisters or sore muscles. Suddenly an ambulance approached as if out of nowhere, administered first aid, and took him to a nearby hospital. Apparently, they informally patrol the Camino in ready for just such situations. By sheer coincidence, and for Joseph’s sake, they were in the right place at the right time. As it turns out, he was suffering from a bleeding ulcer and may have died if unattended! After three-to-four days in hospital care, he was back on the Camino, falling once again into the informal group of loose-knit travelers who happened to be passing along.(Later he was full of praise for the medical care he received.)
A little later Christina and I passed him, slowly shuffling down the trail, carrying all his gear in a big round rucksack belted over his shoulders with two leather straps. We asked how he was doing. He smiled and said “well,” wishing us a “Buen Camino” (the traditional greeting from one pilgrimage to another). As he stopped to rest, we wished him “Buen Camino” in return and passed him by.
Finally, we caught up with Jack, who was sitting by the side of the path, airing out his feet. I sat down across from him, but Christina continued on, thanking me for the morning chat.
Jack and I at lunch at Cafe Marluza in a most idyllic country setting, rolling hills all about, a giant shade tree, below which a group of eight Aussies took their ease, and off to one side, where the mowed area met a field of tall grass, a bleached out wooden wagon stood before a stand of yellow and pink wildflowers. “The perfect moment,” Jack called it, “in the perfect spot.”
We arrived in Palas de Rei at about 4:30 p.m.. Surprisingly, all the albergues were filled, so we got a room with three beds in a pension next door for 11 Euros each, 14 miles closer to Santiago!
Continued at thevoice.us/camino-jewelry-play-recorder