Day 14 El Camino - Sarria to Portomarin

After an excellent night of sleep on the "tren hotel", we arrived to Sarria Spain at 8:30 am. We followed other backpackers to the Albuerge de la Magdalena where we received our "Peregrino" credentials. Just before embarking on the trail we stopped at a local bar to get breakfast. We ended up talking to our waiter Paul, who is from England but decided to move to Spain after going on The Camino. He talked about how he felt he had been living his life for others, but now was seeking another way. He got busy and we didn't get a chance to speak more and were on our way along El Camino De Santiago!

The path is a combination of small dirt roads, paved paths, and some actual trails through the woods. Yellow arrows painted on trees, posts and walls show the way.

Within the first mile we caught up to an older gentleman named Luis. We spent the next few hours walking with him and learning about his life. In his late 60's, he explained that he had never had a cell phone until El Camino. His son calls him on it throughout the day, but he doesn't know how to make calls on it. During a snack break he showed me that he does actually have teeth...and pulled out some dentures from his fanny pack. He was  super animated and fun to hear all his Spanish expressions. I made a short video of him to remember him by!

David and I have been trying to only speak Spanish to each other while in Spain, but especially while on El Camino. He is doing great!

We ate lunch with another father and son duo from Italy....the 29 year old son was trying to "find direction" for his life. He was a funny guy that was really friendly with everyone.

The last few hours of the 14 miles we walked (with 30lb. backpacks and changing 1,000 feet in elevation) mostly alone, overtaking a few small groups of people. Everyone always chats a bit when passing someone...minimally saying "buen camino".

We arrived to Portomarin around 5pm. Several albuergues were already full, so we checked into a "pension", where we have a private room. Our feet are very sore, but no blisters!  I soaked in the tub for almost an hour...SO tired.

Dave and I are having some good talks throughout this entire trip. El Camino is giving us a chance to process some of those even more. He's a good guy and a fine young man.

Fun little end of day: watched two Spanish teams play in the European Champions final!

Hasta mañana!!

Day 13 Night train from Barcelona

Quick little adventure last night: we are trying to use all public transportation options on this trip except taxis, so we caught a public bus from Barcelona airport to our hosts apartment. Minor problem-bus driver didn't recognize street address and host was not answering phone...so, fortunately, I had created a pin on Google maps where the apartment was and with the GPS on, were able to follow the moving blue dot on the phone and guess where to get off. We were just a block away! YAY for offline maps and GPS!!

After a wonderful night of sleep with our Ukrainian host and her 3 kids, we spent the day on rented bikes exploring Pratt de Llobregat, a small community just south of Barcelona. We were able to drive along the periphery of the Barcelona international airport and discovered a really cool place to sit and watch airplanes land.

We caught a train in to Barcelona where I killed a few hours in an internet cafe while David played guitar at a park nearby. We spotted a large group of young people, some with guitars and all singing praise and worship songs in Spanish so we joined in!

I have to pause now to say a big thank you to my brother Paul, who recommended we take an overnight train.
We will post a movie we took at some point, but we are on it now...and OH MY this is definitely my favorite way to travel! The countryside flying by, take a stroll down to cafe car and order a sandwich to then eat in the dining room car...all at 120 mph. Go back then to your private room, complete with bathroom and shower, and watch a movie, play guitar or read a book. THIS IS COOL. We have two bunks so will hit the sack in a bit.  We left at 8pm and will arrive at our destination around 830am.

Close to 22:00 now, so...going to hit the sack. Grateful for another awesome day with Dave!

Day 12 Onward to Spain!

Our last day in Italy was very laid-back. We were to catch our train at 3 PM, so we decided to hang around the Beach area drinking Italian coffee and David playing guitar. It was very relaxing. The train ride to Genoa was uneventful and took only about an hour and a half. From there we caught a bus to the Genoa airport and are now awaiting our flight to Barcelona.

Given that there is not a lot of activity today, I thought I would take this opportunity to comment on some of the interesting things we have noticed as travelers in foreign countries.

1. People appreciate when you try and speak their language...they don't appreciate it when you just start talking English to them as if they are supposed to know it.

2. Unfortunately, there is some negative bias towards Americans. We have had several people ask us if we were Americans, almost with a smirk, and when I say I am from Spain their expression changes and they smile broadly.

3. The pace is life is slower...when you get seated at a restaurant, it is not uncommon to be there till closing.

4. Tourists are, in general, loud and obnoxious.

5. Smiling is universal!

Dave and I did that top of our head... So don't read into it too much.

Well, the plane is about to board to Barcelona so I will sign off for today. Looking forward to more adventures tomorrow. God bless.

Day 11 Hiking in Cinque Terre

We have spent so much time on this blog sharing details of what we did on the trip, that I often forget to let you know that we have had some really long and good conversations about life. For David, it is a time of transition, of choosing/discerning what he pursues with all of his heart. For me, it is a time of introspection. For both of us, it is a great time to clear our minds and open our hearts and learn more about each other.

Today was especially good for those conversations as we hiked over 8 miles of very steep terrain, going from Monterosso to Vernazza, and from there to Corniglia.

During the first hike we asked directions from two female hikers. Courtney and Paige were their names, from Oregon. Courtney had just graduated college like David and was celebrating with her sister Paige who was living in Poland this past year as an English teacher.

We spent the next five hours discussing everything from college to choosing a career, to God, to family dynamics and living abroad. Good stuff!

We then caught a train to two other towns and officially completed visiting all five towns that form this national Park called Cinque Terre.

Day can be summed up with great views, good food, cool conversations, new friends and stronger legs!

Day 10 Monterosso to Levanto

We woke up pretty late and had a typical breakfast of pan com tomate made from ingredients we got at the grocery store. We decided to head out for a trail we were told was a good hike, between the city we were in, Monterosso, and Levanto. The hike ended up taking about 2 1/2 hours , but the whole thing was very pretty. We didn't think it was going to be as steep as it was though, but we were prepared from Pilatus :).

One thing that we realized on this trip is that bread and cheese is a very common food here , and we had had it for almost every meal. This made our stomachs feel pretty weird, so once we got to the Levanto we decided we wanted to try to find some healthier food. We ended up finding a restaurant that serves salad , and it turned out to be very good. It had tuna and olives and tomatoes.

We headed back to Monterosso on a train, and walked around for a little while longer. Then we went back to the apartment and relaxed in the outdoor patio under a grape vine. We read and played guitar for a while, just enjoying the weather and the beautiful buildings. Finally we decided to go out again, and we walked down to the ocean and relax some more. It's hard not to relax here. The smell of the ocean must do something to your brain.

We decided one healthy meal was enough for the day, and were in the mood for some pizza. So we went to a place that Diego recommended and had some really good, and relatively cheap, pizza, as well as a calzone.

We finally came back to the apartment and relaxed a little more, and went to bed around 10:30. The hike must've really taken it out of us because we were both ready to sleep!