On the way to Caceres

The way to Valdesalor yesterday was beautiful. All along the way large rodedendrums shrubs, filled with buds...they will bloom in 3 weeks. Only a few were flowering. White large flowers. The ground is very green, and as before providing pasture for horses, sheep and cows.

This is spring, today, the greenest part of the year. In a few months it will be dry land, redish earth and very little vegetation. This part of Spain recieves very little rain and water is precious.

The last 5 km to the albergue were long, I was tired, no shade only a few trees in the distance. I could see the village for at least 10 km but it took a long time before I could take off my shoes and feeling the coolness of the tile floor, in the albergue.

Last night there was 11 peregrinos, very clean and comfortable albergue. Only five of us will continue to Casar. The rest are staying in Caceres.

This morning I left early, as in 13 km there is Caceres and I want to visit it.

Caceres was founded by the Romans in the first century BC. With the decline of the Roman Empire, the Visigoths, in the 5 century, invaded it and took over the city. Later the Muslims came and built a stone wall surrounding the city, but this did not prevent the Christians from coming and taking over. 

Walking the narrow streets of Caceres, takes me far away in time, where life must have been very difficult. The old city has many historical buildings and palaces from the middle ages. The cathedral has both Romenesque and Gothic features, built between the XIII and XVI centuries.

After walking the streets of Caceres, I got a bit lost while trying to find my way back into the Camino, to walk another 14 km to Casar.

I arrived at the albergue in the hottest part of the day.!

Alquescar

Walking....sometimes after walking is easy to write, others not as easy. 

Arriving at the albergue is always a great feeling and relief. Most of my days now are between 24-27 km

The length of the day, it is marked by the town distances. Most of the time there is nothing in between towns and you just walk. Always the last few km's are hard. Some how...many villages are on top of hills and it is that hill, the one that is the hardest. Also it is generally around 2 pm, a very hot, part of the day.

The first thing I do when I get to the albergue is to take of my shoes. My feet are doing incredibly well, no blisters or redness, except one nail that is black and it will fall off. Not sure what happened there, but it was in the first two days.

The showers have been nice and hot, then I wash my walking clothes, hang them to dry, secured by safety pins....and soon close my eyes and rest my body.

Piligrims arrive at the albergue at all different times. Most of us walk by ourselves and meet at the albergue at the end of the day and it is then that we share our day or talk about the following day. Some piligrims walk longer distances, others take rest days...and you may not see them again. Manytimes we buy food, cook it in the albergue and share the meal together. In the Via de la Plata (VDLP) there have been between 6- 12 piligrims per day walking.

Walking and living the Camino it is an incredible experience, but not an easy experience. There are moments that as I walk, my body is tired. I am thirsty or looking for shelter from the sun or the rain. Some of you may wonder, but why are you doing this? If it is not easy?

Life is not easy, and just because is hard, does not mean that we don't love it.

I love life, everyday. It is exciting and I am so grateful for every moment of my life. The difficult moments and the beautiful easy moments. It is through the difficulties, that I learned the most about life and about my self.

The satisfaction of completing the walking day is a great feeling. I guess like running, hiking or any other adventure a bit extreme.

I say extreme, because even myself, I thought of walking 1000 km a bit extreme, crazy.

I love the feeling of adventure, unknown walking through history and time. Also for me walking is a spiritual practice.

Yesterday in Alcuescar, five of us piligrims stayed in a religious albergue. A monastery. Next to it, they have a home for ean that have no body to care for them. Men with physical and mental disabilities and limitations. Men that are homeless. They shelter them, care for them, provide medical and nursing care and they told us that most of them, stay there, until they die. It is all done through donations and volunteers.

In the evening we shared a meal. The doors and lights closed at 9 pm.

Merida

Wow !! an early morning gift! A beautiful way to start my day. The orange and red glow of the sunrise, iluminating in vivrant colours the Aqueduct, 1 km past Merida.

It was not planned or anticipated. This morning I left my Merida bed, the earliest of any of my walking days. Taking me to the Aqueduct at the beautiful sunrise. The aqueduct is 800 m long, 25 m high, 37 arches...and to think that it was built by the romans in the first century BC amazing !!! Trully beautiful. 

My afternoon in Merida yesterday was perfect and relaxing. Merida was founded by the Romans and named "Ermita Agusta" together with Tarragona in Cataluña were very important cities in the Roman Empire.

The entrance to Merida is through the roman bridge which I thoughtvit was 600 m long, but now I read that it is 790 m long and the longest roman bridge in existance.

The Alcazaba, is a fortification built by the Muslims, later when they conquered this part of Spain.

The Roman theater dating from 15 BC is incredibly well preserved. Nearby the amphiteather, where I can imagine the gladiators combating and entretaining the public. I read that this amphiteather could hold 16,000 expectators. The Roman circus, which was used for the horse and carriages raising and could hold, I read, 30,000 spectators. Wow !!! And the Roman museum with stone figures, mosaics and the remains of the Roman home life.

Truly an afternoon filled with history, as I walk the narrow streets of this beautiful small city filled with stories of time.

The 20 km. walk from Merida to Aljucen, very nice, rolling fields with grasses, grazing sheep, horses, cows.

I passed the large reservoir that fed the aqueduct in the Roman times and continues to be a water source in this very dry region of Spain. I have been walking from Merida with two nice piligrims from Germany and Ireland, they continue walking as we arrived at 12 noon and their bodies and strength can walk another 20 km. I am happy to stay in this quiet peaceful village of painted white houses with deep blue accents.

Slowly, one a at time, four other woman, one from Germany, Holland, France and USA arrive. Each one of us walking the Camino alone and will share the evening meal in this very nice familly home. Aljucen is very small, has a chuch, grocery store, pharmacy and a café in the center of town.

Peregrino

Very cold wind, slight rain making the walking so different from a few days ago in the extreme heat. Tomorrow the temperatures are supposed to to go up to sunny +20 

This albergue in "Calzadilla de lis Barros" has heating and tonight there are three of us staying here.

Once you have been a Peregrino, the feeling stays in your heart for ever, and the desire to walk again, always awaiting for the right moment to start.

Most of us walking Via de la Plata, have walked other Caminos. Understanding, as this route is challenging, solitary, long and has extreme weather, with very few villages in between, the walking stages.

The wind continues, and my face feels wind burnt. I do not wish to go outside, as I am so cozy here, but I need to buy some food for tomorrow as tomorrow during the 27 km, there are no villages in between. Just very old olive trees, shapped by the extreme weather with beautifly cultivated vinyards in between.

The soil has changed from dark loam to reddish clay. Water is sparse. I passed two stone wells, very deep with an anciant watering stone basin, beside.

As I walk, step by step, seeing in the distance, the places that I will cross, walk by, and then leave behind, it takes me to all the special family and friends that have been part of my life and now, are no longer phisically here.

 I am walking in my heart, part of this Camino for Them.

Walking to Zafra - March 13

The wind has not stopped. I am wearing all the warm clothes that I have in layers. An incredible change of temperature drop of more than 15 ° Definately makes the walking so much eassier ! 

My pack weighs about 9 kg and it only feels heavy when I lift it. When it is on my back it quickly becomes part of myself and my walking movement. Great advertising for "Deuter ACT Light". Arrived in Zafra at 1pm, stopped along the way two times for only a few minutes.  The walking was effortless and covered 25 km in 5 hours.

Zafra is my destination, a beautiful small city with history all around. The albergue is a 200 year old three story house that has been beautifly renovated by the association of the amigos of the Camini of Extremadura. The entrance  floors have flower motif tiles, the windows are tall with fine glass. It makes me think of the Catalan Art Nouveaux houses that have been part of my every day life, when I am in Barcelona.

Antonio, the hospitalero (the volunteer that takes care of the albergue) is a very kind man. Soon after we arrive he greets and offer us delicious organic wine, water and jamon tapas. He is an artist, paints, and many of his drawings and paintings hanging on the walls.

As I write in my journal, wrapped in my green sleeping bag, classical music is playing making this monent precious, peaceful and trully enjoyable

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Fuente de Cantos : Extremadura

As the name says for this region of Spain, "Extremadura" meaning "extreme and harsh".

This is exactly well described. This morning leaving the albergue was 5 °c and by 1pm 30°

The wind has been blowing all day from the west and I was wearing all my warm clothes including toque and mits. While walking it was comfortable, but when stopping very chilly !

The landscape has also changed. Oak and olive trees are getting very dispersed and more and more shrubs cover the ground transforming it into fields, rolling hills and very few trees.

Pigs and sheep are grazing, many spring babies running to their mothers, as I walk by.

There is no towns in between this 21km strech and I enjoy, in the far distance, seeing the white painted village, that will become my home tonight.

The albergue in Fuente de Cantos is an old convent, transformed as an albergue for the piligrins, it has a nice feeling of history and peacefullness and very clean.

After washing my socks and having a warm shower, I wrap myself in my sleeping bag, close my eyes, listening to the wind howling

 
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From Almaden to Real de la Jara

The walk from Almaden de la Plata to Real de la Jara is beautiful. We continue in the park of "Sierra Norte" mostly oak trees, beautifly cultivated providing grazing for horses, donkeys and cows and bulls with big pointy horns. I read that this part of the park is privatly owned by two families.

Real de la Jara was conquered by the muslims in the XIII century and had an impresive castle on the hill, built by the Christians to protect themselfs, now a bit in ruins.

This is the last town in Andalucia and soon I will cross into Extremadura. Real de la Jara is small, all painted white with very well kept simple homes. Flower pots hang from their balconies, that will be in bloom in the months to come. Tiles decorate the windows and doors sourroundings. The people very nice living a simple life. There is not much work in this part of Spain, except when collecting the olives and they are very happy to see the pilgrims appreciate their land and contribute to their economy.

It is very hot 30°c and + during the day and this makes the walking tiring especially as every day I have encountered long steep hills at some point. There is nothing between towns, with no option to make the day shorter. This is one of the reasons why not so many pilgrims walk the Via de la Plata (VDLP). Only 3-4% of the total piligrims, that walk in Spain.

We are following the roman path to Merida, an important city during the roman empire. The name VDLP came from the arab name"Balata"meaning the "stone walking way". When the Christians conquered the Muslims they confused the word "Balata" with Plata and it became VDLP

From Real de la Jara, I walked today to Monesterio. Sheep and pigs are grazing the fields and feeding on the acorn and grasses. It is here that they make the jamon iberico as well as other great sausages and cheeses. As I make my way to the albergue, the aroma of delicious cured meats and chesses capture my appetite and I go into the shop and by some delicious dry meat. Some of this Jamon is 3, 4, 5 years old or older. The older the more cured; dryed and more expensive. 

After the pig is butchered, the front and back legs are cured with salt and pepper to be preserved and dried in this very dry cool climate ideal for curing. Delicious !!

The albergue pastoral has 18 beds divided in three rooms. Fruit and chocolate on the kitchen table for the piligrims to replenish their strength. It is 2 pm, my walking day ends here and I enjoy the coolness inside the albergue. I bought some fresh eggs from a lady next door and together with other piligrims we will make an omelet together with a salad.

Thinking of you, the snow and the rookies, and loving the Camino.