Our Lady of Guadalupe at the cathedral of Astorga
Monday, March 31, 2014
Day 29 - Astorga
Still 264 km to Santiago de Compostela
A friend from Sweden that I met at the pilgrim's forum sent me a very nice note. She said she had some concern because I have not sound as enthusiastic in this blog as I was at the beginning.
I think she is right. The last few days have been hard times. First the last couple of days walking the Castilla-Leon plateau were hard. Specially the day we had really strong cold head winds with hail first and then rain and nowhere to hide. Then the severe attack of vertigo I suffered in Villadangos when I could barely stand and with pretty horrible nausea and with a visit to emergency to seek medical help. Indeed I was discouraged.
Today It is the 3rd day of rest at Astorga and I am feeling better. My wife as usual is a solid rock of strength for me with her unconditional support no matter what. My mood is improving. I am finding that the discouragement at this stage, here, at the end of the plateau is not unusual. Medical visits and forced days of rest are also common for pilgrims.
They say the pilgrims go through three different crisis, the first one is physical, when the body reacts to this unusual excess of exercise. Boy oh boy! Did I have a physical crisis with my extreme exhaustion that needed medical attention and kept me in Pamplona for 3 days.
The second crisis is emotional and here I am living it now. The discouragement that comes after 3 weeks of walking and the monotony of the plateau (and on top of that my vertigo). I think I am past that one.
The third crisis is a spiritual one so I better get ready for that.
It looks like my experiences are not unusual. So tomorrow we start to walk again. We are being prudent planning for only 10 km. If I get tipsy we can always call a taxi and come back to Astorga. God willing we are on the move.
Today by chance we got to the cathedral half way through mass so we had a chance to be there for communion. After mass walking around the cathedral I found a beautiful image of Our Lady of Guadalupe. She is very dear to me. In fact I am very devout of her. I felt that she was telling me just as she did to San Juan Diego: Am I not here, I who am your mother?
So now I feel I have full support from my Mother Mary and with my dear wife by my side I am ready to take on the mountains of Leon and Galicia. Cruz de Ferro here we come.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, mother Mary, help us, stay with us and please pray for us sinners.
Sunday, March 30, 2014
Day 28 - Astorga
264 km to Santiago de Compostela
Whatever the doctor did to me yesterday seems to be working very well. The nausea is gone and I can walk reasonably well though a little tipsy occasionally. Still, we are going to stay in Astorga another day.
The church of San Bartolomé is next door to our hotel. It is the oldest church in Astorga, from the XI century though additions and enhancement were made on the XIV and XVI centuries. The altar is churrigueresque and you can appreciate it in the attached picture ( see other post for today). We attended Sunday mass there and were impressed by the choir and the number of children and teens. Sadly, often we found only older people in Spain's churches.
Later walking in the plaza I approached a pilgrim just to chat and wish a Buen Camino (the standard pilgrim greeting). Well, she happened to be Karen, a lady I befriended months ago in the pilgrim's forum. She asked where we were from and when we answered Canada she said Gil! What a surprise. She Is delightful, we had lunch with her and later on we saw her again. I would not be surprised if we become life long friends.
Later in the afternoon we were in our hotel when we heard drums. We went out to have a look and there was another concert of brass and drum bands from cofradias (religious brotherhoods). There were 6 or 8 bands, a couple with more than 75 members. The bands included men and women, adults, teens and even little kids, all with very elaborate uniforms. They perform this concerts as practice for the Easter parades that precede Good Friday.
It was an interesting and rewarding day in el Camino (even if we are not walking).
San Bartolomeo, apostle of Jesus, friend of Santiago, pray for us.
Saturday, March 29, 2014
Day 27 - Villadangos del Paramo to Astorga
295 km to Santiago de Compostela
I woke up in the middle of the night with the room spinning; vertigo!
I realised that as long as I did not move I was fine. So that was the rest of the night. In the morning I managed my routine and even to go for breakfast.
After that things got worse. I got the nausea that accompanies vertigo. By then we knew that walking would be impossible. We knew that even the hotel was closing at that little village for the weekend so we had to move.
With a lot of trouble we made it to the bus, not a pleasant trip, and to Astorga. We found a nice hotel and I have been seating on a comfortable chair and sleeping most of the time. Every time I move I get dizzy and lying down is impossible. We are going to try to wait it out.
Later, I kept getting sick every time I moved so finally I agreed to go to emergency. As in Pamplona, the doctor and the nurses were very kind. After all kinds of checkups the doctor confirmed severe vertigo. They gave me medications intravenously and by injection and sent me back to the hotel to rest. It looks like we will be camping here for 2 or 3 days.
Our Lady o Guadalupe, Mary, my mother, as usual when I am in trouble I come to you. I accept this illness as part of my Camino, please help me to complete the pilgrimage. Pray for us.
Friday, March 28, 2014
Day 26 - Leon to Villadangos del Páramo
317 km to Santiago de Compostela
Today was an uneventful day, the Camino goes through Leon and then continues by the side of a busy highway. We passed through La Virgen del Camino, Valverde and San Miguel and eventually we arrived to Villadangos del Paramo.
Today we saw more pilgrims go by. A couple of French girls, a Dane, and Spaniard. We were slow. My leg was acting up so I needed a more rests than other days.
We followed our pilgrim routine, find a place to stay. Rest a little while, go for lunch, the usual menu consists of two dishes and dessert, go back to our room, shower, wash clothes have a nap and then go and buy provisions for the next day.
Later we went to mass to the church of Santiago el Mayor, St James the Great, there is a picture of the altar and the retablo. At the centre is the image of Santiago Matamoros, St. James the Moor slayer.
It is said that after the moors invaded Spain in the VIII century, the Spanish christians were loosing battle after battle. In 844 king Ramirez of Castile, the day before a battle against a stronger moor army, dreamed that Santiago promised he would help. The next day was the battle of Clavijo, when the odds where turning in favour of the Moors, Santiago appeared on a white horse with a white standard and charged. The battle then turned in favour of the Christian army and they succesfuly defeated the Moors. That is the origin of the story of Santiago Matamoros.
Santiago, protect us and help us to complete this pilgrimage to your cathedral. Pray for us.
Thursday, March 27, 2014
Day 25 - Mansilla de las Mulas to Leon
335 km to Santiago de Compostela
We decided that we would rather walk in Leon than walk to Leon. Mancilla de las Mulas is just over 17 km from the centre of Leon. We woke up early and took the 7:45 am bus to the city.
The three most notable features of Leon are the cathedral of Santa Maria de la Regla, the Real Colegiata de San Isidoro and el Parador de San Marcos.
We had visited the cathedral last year but we started by participating in mass there. The mass was in a chapel that we accessed through a side door but even in this small sample of the cathedral you can admire the splendour of this church.
The building was started in the XIII century and completed by the XVI century. It is Gothic in style. It is one of the three most important cathedrals in el Camino de Santiago. The other two are the cathedrals of Burgos and of Santiago de Compostela.
After the cathedral we went to check in the Parador de San Marcos. We had decided to treat ourselves to some luxury after all the albergues and hostels where we have stayed.
Once we had a room assured we went to visit San Isidoro. The basilica is from the XI century. The royalty of Leon assisted its development and negotiated bringing the relics of several saints to this basilica. It also became the pantheon of the royalty. Several Leonese kings, queens and nobility are interred there. The museum hoses amazing pieces of religious art.
After lunch we returned to the Parador and did a tour of the building. It stated as a convent - hospital by the side of the Camino de Santiago in the XII century. In the XVI century the hostal is built yo host the Military Order of Santiago. This order had married monks, religious monks and military monks or knights. The religious monks with the assistance of the married monks look after the physical and spiritual needs of pilgrims while the knights protected the pilgrims and fought in the war of the "reconquista" against the moors.
The building includes the Parador (a hotel), a museum and a church. We did a self guided tour of the building which contains a good number of pieces of religious art.
It feels like we are living 1000 years of history. I cannot even imagine what has happened or who has been in the room we are staying.
Santa Maria de la Regla, pray for us.
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