I am so impressed with Sandy’s ability to finish the Camino. She tells me that a year ago she had difficulty walking up the hill from our office building on Third Avenue to Fifth Avenue. I can relate to that. And yet today look what she has accomplished. Sandy marks 60 years on the planet this year, and what a way to celebrate!
The Camino trail is for the most part a dirt path connecting village after village. A few of the towns she went through were larger with populations of 100,000 or more. But most were small hamlets. Sandy said the contrast between the trail (dirt paths) and the villages was striking. You come to a village and you find yourself walking on paved roads and sidewalks. After you cross through the village the pavement ends abruptly and you are once again on a dirt path trail.
Most of the villages had internet cafes where Sandy was able to email reports of her journey to her friends and family. Judging from her email messages I take it that the first part of the trail was the most difficult for Sandy and her companions. In fact I believe her word for it was “brutal.”
Of course she had trained beforehand with the distances, but the mountainous terrain was so much more difficult than she imagined. One day it took them 12 hours to walk 14 miles because of the ruggedness of the terrain.
And there was no preparing for the unexpected heat wave with afternoon temperatures in the high 90’s. It was impossible to carry enough water, and Sandy suffered a mini sun stroke early on. When they got to a fountain at the top of the mountain they were climbing her sister poured tons of cold water all over Sandy’s body to cool her down. That brought her temperature down so she could go on.
In the first couple of days Sandy questioned if she had what it would take to make this journey. But she kept going. I’m afraid to say I would have quit early on.
The heat eased up some after about 5 or 6 days, and as Sandy grew stronger her mood turned around and she started really enjoying the experience.
When they arrived in a village they would go into the town square where they have fountains for the pilgrims to cool off. They stayed in refugios at night with up to 100 other pilgrims, most of them men. From the descriptions I’ve read a refugio is like a primitive version of a hostel with varying levels of amenities and privacy. Usually they had to use showers and bathrooms shared by many.
One of the challenges of this journey was a language barrier. It was seldom they met anyone who spoke English, even amongst the other pilgrims. Sandy’s sister helped a lot with translation but she was challenged with the Basque dialect spoken in northern Spain.
Sandy described scenery that was nothing short of spectacular - from the natural beauty of the mountains to a beautiful medieval bridge from the 12th century and ancient churches in the villages.
The Spanish were very friendly and helpful to the pilgrims and when they see pilgrims with their pack, they give a very special greeting. Sandy also enjoyed meeting lots of other pilgrims who came from all over the world – countries like Brazil, Spain, France, Australia, Canada, Holland and Germany.
Here is a picture of Sandy with a sweet lady who like a lot of the older women there wished to help them find their way. This lady was rather insistent and didn’t want to leave Sandy and her group, but eventually they had to go. (You can click on the pictures to see them larger.)
Sandy looks so beautiful to me in these pictures (this one and the one in the Part I post). She just radiates health and vitality, don’t you think?
Here is another picture of Sandy along the trail, this time with a walking stick she picked up. She later ditched the stick as it wasn’t really helpful to her.
Sandy reached Santiago at 10:30 in the morning. That was perfect timing as she was able to attend the special pilgrim’s mass held at noon each day at St. James Cathedral. The next day during mass she visited the site of St. James’ burial which is under the vestibule of the cathedral. From her vantage point she could see the parishioners but they could not see her. She said a nun sang beautiful acapella throughout the mass – it was very moving and gave her goosebumps.
Sandy’s journey inspires me on so many levels. I am just so proud of her! This stretches the limits of what I believed to be possible. If Sandy can do this, what can the rest of us accomplish through hard work and determination? I suppose the answer is pretty much anything we set our minds to!
As for the Camino, if you are even slightly inclined to do something like this Sandy says “Do it!” In fact, Sandy is looking for people to walk with her again in three years.
Congratulations to Sandy on this amazing accomplishment, and thank you for sharing your wonderful adventure with us.
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