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LIVE from the Camino Live from Camino Frances

Time of past OR future Camino
2006 to date: Over 21 Caminos. See signature line
Tonight I am in Lorca.
For more specific info, please check my blog.

Both alburgues in Ciraqui are CLOSED for the season.

Ciao and Buen Camino!
 
The one from Galicia (the round) and the one from Castilla & Leon. Individually numbered and made by the same people that make the ones you see on your walk.
Transport luggage-passengers.
From airports to SJPP
Luggage from SJPP to Roncevalles
Last night was spent in Los Arcos. It is a nice, clean alburgue with a kitchen. There is a great bar nearby with dinner and in the morning, if you walk BACK toward the church and bar (closed) and continue on and to the right, you will find an open bar and a panaderia in the morning with good eats and coffee.

Tonight we are at Casa Mari in Torres del Rio. Both alburgues here are open. Casa Mari is lovely! There are rooms with 2, 4, 6 beds. The doble is Euro 30 per night. The other beds are 7 euro. There is a great kitchen, a television, internet, and tienda close by.

I understand we may have rain tomorrow. Oh joy! :D
 
Last night I stayed at Casa Mari´s.
Nice clean alburgue.
Kitchen for cooking.
Television.
Internet 1 euro per 20 minutes.
This morning I found one chincha on the floor. I suspect it was hiding in the closet where you store mochillas. Lesson... keep mochillas OUT of the closets!

Tonight I stay in Logrono.

This is a nice, big alburgue. Plenty of beds. Nice kitchen.
NO INTERNET. It is down for the season.

BUT... find the public library where it is free.

Weather is chilly, spotty rain.
That´s all folks!
 
The focus is on reducing the risk of failure through being well prepared. 2nd ed.
Last night I stayed in Ventosa in the beautiful new alburgue Saturnino.
8 Euros
8 beds to a room
Kitchen
Laundry, washer, dryer
Sitting room with woodstove
and a CUTE little store, where you can buy small amounts of anything you might need.

The store was such a sweet surprise. She has things like single or double servings of rice, instead of those huge bags, pasta, canned fish, tomato sauce, wine, water, and a fridge with cheese, yogurt, milk, and other cold things... and small packs of things such as shampoo, soap, toothbrushes and paste, etc.

It´s really brilliant!

After doing my little routine spray of the bed, despite the cleanliness of the place, 5 minutes later a chincha reared its head and marched up the wall. She was horrified, and stripped all the beds and sprayed the place. It just goes to show that it does NOT matter how clean a place is. The poor hostpitaleras clean and spray, then next day a pilgrim brings chinchas right back into the alburgue!

I stayed up at Monjarin this summer, where there was no water for washing anything. The beds were scarily soiled and the mattresses were not on frames, but on the floor of the attic. I was sure I would get chinchas, but not one showed up! So honestly, the only way to know is to spray your bed with mosquito repellant, wait 10 minutes, and watch. If they are there, they will come out. They do not like the spray at all!

Right now it is raining HARD outside. I have just walked from Ventosa to a truckstop about 4 k before Najera. My ALTUS raincoat has been brilliant. My pack and I are dry. My feet, on the other hand, are DRENCHED!

Joe is in Logrono tday at 3:30 so I will walk very short stages today, maybe only to Najera. Then tomorrow I will wait for him in Azofra, where he will catch up with me.

That´s all to report, pilgrims.
Buen Camino!
Annie
 
Well, I stopped at Najera, but did not stay because the hospitalero insisted that I leave my new Pacer Poles ($135) in a barrel out near a side door that is kept open. I made them very short and put them INSIDE my mochilla, and he still insisted they stay out in the barrel... so... I just could not do it. There have been incidents of theft recently, and the hospitalera at the last alburgue said poles were stolen there.

Sooooo.... the sun came out and I made the short 5.8 k walk to Azofra.

The Parochial is closed.

The Municipal and a private are open.
I am staying in the Municipal.
There ARE chinchas here... gawd, I´m weary of these beasties!

I borrowed insect spray and sprayed the hell out of my room.... I am now waiting for the fog to clear so I can unpack, because there is no place else to go. I have to save my night in the private for tomorrow, when I meet up with Joe, who is in Logrono this afternoon.

The track into Azofra is beautiful and paved. It was a lovely walk, and an easy one.
I love this little town and have fond memories of a wild fiesta here in 1996.

Well, that´s all folks...

annie
 
by Anniesantiago on 17 Jan 2009, 14:56
Mr. Falcon,

You are 100% correct.
We are surrounded by more toxic chemicals than we can control.
When we have a choice, why not choose wisely?

I would like to be kind to you.
However, I find it presumptuous that you think you know my body better than I.
You do not.
I've been diagnosed by a Specialist who pinned down the chemicals causing reaction. Perfume and scented products rank #1.

If you are allergic to peanuts, you might ask pilgrims not to serve you food with peanuts.
I'm asking fellow pilgims not to wear chemicals that cause me and other pilgrims high levels of distress.

We all walk the Way for different reasons.
I walk to seek healing, both physical and spiritual.
The exercise pumps cleansing blood through my organs,flushing out chemicals lodged there so hopefully, one day, I can have a more normal life.

The solitude gives me time to reflect on what is and is not important to me.
The Camino teaches me what I NEED to be happy, rather than what I've been brainwashed to WANT.
How much do I want to engage in consumerism and destruction?
How much do I want to engage in healing others and being helpful?

I carry the prayers of others to their resting place in Santiago.
I also carry my own prayers.
One of them is to be able to enlighten others about the dangerous use of chemicals.

I do not ask for a lot from other pilgrims.
Only clean air to breathe while I sleep, free of intentionally applied chemicals.

People cannot help it if they snore.
That is something I need to train myself not to hear.
But people CAN choose not to wear perfume.

If you cannot divorce yourself from your perfume on the Camino, I'd simply ask you "Why?"

Do you want to cause peace, health, and happiness?
Or do you want to cause pain, distress, and sickness?

It's that simple.
What happened to the organic Anniesantiago?? :D
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
She has had a very difficult time on the Camino, choosing between headache and bedbug bites.

This said, this walk on the Camino will most likely be her last, since the bedbugs are a problem, it seems, in nearly every alburgue along the way and the only way to control them is with chemicals.

She spent a very uncomfortable night last night on a wooden bench in the hall.

How obnoxiously kind of you to ask, Falcon. :roll:

Please note the letter you posted was in regards to PERFUME and COLOGNE... but thanks. I am SURE you had my best interests in mind and did not do it to purposefully embarrass me... no... not you, Falcon... never! :lol:
 
To learn and to change is to grow! I am not big on chemicals inside or outside my body, but you are right, sometimes they are the lesser of the two evils offered as options, and we have to choose. The world so rarely operates in black or white that constant accommodation becomes the norm, and imposing rigid ideology becomes difficult. Eating my own words is my constant diet.

For something completely different after the various Caminos, contemplate Shikoku, Japan. I don't think Japan has much of a problem with bedbugs; centipedes, yes, but not bedbugs.

http://www.shikokuhenrotrail.com/
 
I would suggest that you don't give up on further caminos-just the awful,crowded,bed-bug ridden frances. I've never had any problems with the VDLP,Mozarabe,Vezelay or Le Puy routes.
 
Get a spanish phone number with Airalo. eSim, so no physical SIM card. Easy to use app to add more funds if needed.
Or you could change seasons..... it seems like they largely die off over winter in the places where they treat for them..... If you walk in spring, you might have mud and cold, but you are far less likely to have bedbugs :)
Margaret
 
Re: Live from Santo Domingo del Calzada

Ok.. Santo Domingo del Calzada is one of the BEST alburgues I have stayed in, hands down!

The last time I passed this way I was cold, wet, exhausted, and spent $$$$$$ on a room at the Parador... I didn´t want to wait until the alburgue opened because I was so chilled.

But THIS time, we arrived after the doors opened, and what a pleasant surprise!

Clean, beautiful, comfortable, nice kitchen, nice staff, and donativo!

We took a tour of the Church... just beautiful.
And then we attended the Pilgrim´s Mass. The priest is very young and dramatically powerful, and we enjoyed this mass VERY much!

Tomorrow, we head for Viloria de la Rioja in hope they are open.

Looks like we may even get sunshine!

Buen Camino!
Annie
 
Anniesantiago said:
She has had a very difficult time on the Camino, choosing between headache and bedbug bites.

This said, this walk on the Camino will most likely be her last, since the bedbugs are a problem, it seems, in nearly every alburgue along the way and the only way to control them is with chemicals.

She spent a very uncomfortable night last night on a wooden bench in the hall.

How obnoxiously kind of you to ask, Falcon. :roll:

Please note the letter you posted was in regards to PERFUME and COLOGNE... but thanks. I am SURE you had my best interests in mind and did not do it to purposefully embarrass me... no... not you, Falcon... never! :lol:

As someone said above, just change from the Frances to another Camino. I like the Frances a lot, but I don't think I will return to it because of all the issues I've read about - bugs, running pilgrims, inconsiderate people, pilgrims seen as "locusts" etc etc. I was lucky enough to miss all that. But I will walk other routes, and did so with a part of the VDP - a very different beast! On some sections, a bedbug would die of loneliness! The other northern routes look interesting too. Or the Portugese route....If I wanted to be on tbe Frances again, I'd take a goretex bivouac sac, and sleep outside, tho' I'd miss the good people you can meet in refugios.

I dont use deodorants etc because they only MASK smells and contribute nothing to hygiene. Some people dont get this, and persist in the fond belief that masking a smell is also cleansing. The French aristos who used perfume heavily did so to hide their unpleasant reek. A bar of soap is quite enough, and will give no problem to others.
 
Down bag (90/10 duvet) of 700 fills with 180 g (6.34 ounces) of filling. Mummy-shaped structure, ideal when you are looking for lightness with great heating performance.

€149,-
Re: Live from Vilorio de Rioja

We spent last night in a LOVELY private alburgue run by Acacio and Orietta in Viloio de Rioja. What a joy this place was!

Unfortunately for those o you on the road right now, this was their last night open for a couple of months. They are taking a seasonal rest.

But if you are planning your Camino for Spring, I highly recommend this wonderful, peaceful place.

Bed is 5 euro.
Dinner and breakfast are donativo. Please be generous. This is one that should STAY open for the benefit of all who pass this Way...
 

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