[Gocamino] Difficult Day

Sat Apr 18 03:59:48 PDT 2009

You get no sympathy from me for your ordeal.  You were foolish not to stay in Jaca until you were certain it was safe to travel and the refugios were open.  Also, why do people persist in traveling at a time of year when the weather is so uncertain? Haven't they read on this LIstserve about people who have gotten lost and perished?

Howard Mendes NYC

-----Original Message-----
From: Glenn Jilek <peregrino_05 at hotmail.com>
To: GoCamino <gocamino at oakapple.net>
Sent: Fri, 17 Apr 2009 9:49 am
Subject: [Gocamino] Difficult Day

From: peregrino_05 at hotmail.com
To: ramirez_amor at hotmail.com; chascingold at aol.com; blicbliketybloch at yahoo.com; 
maritjanse at aol.com; e.vrijer at chello.nl; ebsweetfire at gmail.com; 
glkubala at prodigy.com; elizabethpeulen at hotmail.com; guha2005 at hotmail.com; 
gregory.rawlings at fhwa.dot.gov; jollyczar at gmail.com; cstohs at windstream.net; 
daroczia at hotmail.com; peredamontero at yahoo.com; g.janse at kpnplanet.nl; 
rjilek at aol.com; jose.sepulveda at insightbb.com; szonyikatalin at t-online.hu; 
ushaluna at hotmail.com; mudworks at insightbb.com; betsy.cupp at ky.gov; 
daszenka at yahoo.com; gjohnson1940 at yahoo.com; h.reither at t-online.de; 
palomapedraza at yahoo.com; wesrita at comcast.net; m.carlshields at insightbb.com; 
jessicavillalobos at yahoo.com; brentsweger at yahoo.com; l.spenser at insightbb.com; 
roachie_76 at hotmail.com; katherinewatkins at alumni.pitt.edu; bbarbera at lexmark.com; 
vpopera at aol.com; jimpierce6 at yahoo.com; bbbramlett at aol.com; david.gordon at insightbb.com; 
pieterpannevis at gmx.net; judithamtmann at verizon.com; chawla393 at aol.com; 
rosborne at roadrunner.com
Subject: Difficult Day
Date: Thu, 16 Apr 2009 13:54:45 -0400

I had one hell of a day yesterday!!!!

I arrived in=2
0Jaca by bus from Pamplona and settled in for the night in a very 
nice refugio.  I met two Germans who grew up in Spain.  They came here two weeks 
ago to walk, but found that Somport, the starting place higher up in the 
Pyrenees, was snowed in.  So they started at the nearest village about 6 km 
below.  They returned to Jaca and wanted to do that section to complete the 
Camino Aragon.  That night there was thunder, lightning and pouring rain.  They 
said that probably that meant snow in the upper altitudes, but we all made it to 
the lower village.  There we met a Spaniard and a Frenchman who also wanted to 
go to Somport.  When the bus came to take us up, the driver said that there was 
much snow and the Germans dropped out.  We decided to see for ourselves.  Yes, 
the driver was correct...in fact a blizzard was still going on. The Frenchman 
took a bus back, but the Spaniard, with more grey hair than I and mischievious 
eyes said "Let´s try".  He bought me a cup of coffee, and somehow I saw some 
wisdom in his eyes and decided to trust his judgement.
We left and started walking but there were about 6-8 inches (16cm) of new wet 
snow.  We could not even see the path, so walked the road down.  There were few 
cars to dodge, and it was only a bit tense when the snowplows came by.  I took a 
couple of Photos but not more because of the wind and snow.  It was really 
beautiful when you could raise your head to=2
0look.  It was a very steep decline 
so gravity helped us down.  It took a bit less than 2 hours with some stops to 
talk about the sites and try to photograph them.
The Spaniard, Jose, had left a bicycle at the hotel at the village Canfranc 
Estacion and would continue on by bike.  Canfranc Estacion, he told me, was used 
in the filming of Dr Zhivago, and is a grandiose trainstation of the early 
1900´s.  I continued by myself.  The snow had become just cold rain.  The path 
was a still very steep downhill trek made of rocks of various sizes from pebbles 
to small boulders.  This made it very difficult to keep your balance, especially 
since the rain and runoff from the tops of the mountains turned some stretches 
into little streams of water.  My ankles would be going one way, my knees 
another, and my hips still a different direction to keep balance.  Along with 
this being my first day of walking, I was quickly becoming very tired and 
hurting a bit.  I knew I would not be able to make it back to Jaca, and saw that 
there were accommodations in Villanúa.  This meant only 16 km that day, but they 
were strenuous ones.  Just as I got to the town, the temperature dropped, and a 
strong wind came up.  Then it began to hail...pea sized hail.  To my dismay, I 
found the first Refugio closed...and the second...and to my horror the only 
hostel in town was closed.  I stopped in a bar and asked about a place to stay 
and t
hey told me of some hotels on the main highway.  By this time the hail was 
thickly frozen on my hat causing the brim to droop. I walked on to the highway.  
Then I saw a door open and a repairman was there talking to a lady (Isabel).  I 
went up to them and told them of my situation.  The lady invited me in, perhaps 
the frozen look of desparation spured her compassion.  She and her husband 
(Felix)from Logroño were there on holiday.  They made me hot tea and he phoned 
around to find that even the hotels on the highway were closed.  He explained 
that the last day of ski season was Easter and that was probably the reason that 
everything was closed.  It didn´t explain the refugios being closed...but then 
there were obviously not many "pilgrims" around.  After sitting and warming up 
and getting refreshed.
The weather had cleared up a bit, and Felix called the next village, Castillo de 
Jaca, and secured a room for me.  Any room would have done, but this one had a 
tub...a rare and welcomed feature during my time in Spain.  I soaked for a half 
hour.  What a delight!!!!

All emotions that I experience here on the Camino, are more intense than normal.  
This is especially true when I experience these random acts of kindness like I 
did from Felix and Isabel.  There seem to be a lot of mysteries on the Camino, 
and  one is tuned to interpret them mystically.  I chose to think that the 
hardships of that day set me up=2
0to have the peak experience of the  kindness 
shown to me by these two EX-strangers.  That is what I will take back with me 
from this difficult day.  That is what will  remain in my heart forever.

Glenn

Windows Live™: Life without walls. Check it out.

_________________________________________________________________
Rediscover Hotmail®: Get e-mail storage that grows with you. 
http://windowslive.com/RediscoverHotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_HM_Rediscover_Storage2_042009
_______________________________________________
Gocamino mailing list
Gocamino at oakapple.net
http://mailman.oakapple.net/mailman/listinfo/gocamino