Trekking the Camino Days 18-19-20 (Fonfria to Triacastela to Barbadelo to Portomarin)

Just when I thought I was caught up on blog, I checked the syllabus and realized I was 4 days behind again. I also want to acknowledge that May 29 is "World Otter Day" and I think it's a holiday that should receive more recognition and be celebrated accordingly!

Happy belated World Otter Day (source DailyOtter.org)

Folks often ask me if I have any routines or favorite things to do when I travel internationally. I'm finally doing it! I absolutely love posting up at a café to have a snack and people watch while blogging. 

Current situation

Okay, let's back up a few days.

Day 18 / May 30 Fonfria - Triacastela (5.85 miles)

It seems that every study abroad program I go on has one day that contains nightmare fuel. Today is that day. I didn't start actually acknowledging nightmare fuel days until Thailand last year, but if you're curious, this post is still my most popular post of all time...

Today was our last real "short day" in terms of mileage. Jeff and I started our morning walk about shrouded in Galician fog.

Galician Fog

Fog is starting to lift

We gave our students the challenge of walking with someone they hadn't spent much time walking with, and Jeff and I were lucky to get to spend the morning walking with Zennon! I unfortunately did not get any photos of the three of us (D'oh!) but we had a lovely walk and thoughtful conversation. Jeff and I were trying to describe our conversation as "a delight" in Spanish and ended up running into a ton of "not quite that word" mishaps when asking friends and strangers (native Spanish speakers) for the Spanish equivalent. We'd get responses like "emocionante" (exciting) and "sabroso" (tasty). We eventually landed on a word that we thought was good, and now for the life of me I can't remember what it was!

Wish this picture had Zennon!

The first of two lovely morning stops. Note the breakfast cheesecake. Made with local cheese!

For the second portion of the day, Jeff and I walked with another person we hadn't spent much time on the trail with, Deya!

Deya is a true G.

Loved this tree!

We eventually made it to Triacastela and the students settled into their albergue. We've officially hit the stage of the program were our group experienced some storming attributes that we needed to work through, but for the most part, today was fairly smooth. Until about 2AM.

We got a text message from a student alerting us that their room had bed bugs. Like, a lot of them. DAAAAAANG IT.

Parents/administrators, if you're reading this, please know that the faculty--especially Deya--takes a lot of time to research and get recommendations on albergues/hostels/hotels that are well reviewed and have reputations for being clean and safe. This was a new albergue for us, but it did come highly recommended, and according to the albergue owner, this was the first time this has happened. This is unfortunately a reality of these types of experiences. This was a first for Westminster, but we can't rule out all possibilities of it happening again. We will continue to do everything in our power to avoid these types of situations--we got unlucky this time.

Despite calling the emergency line (which I believe was the owner's cell phone) multiple times, we didn't get a response and we didn't have any options to relocate the students at that time of night. A few of the students went down to the lobby to wait it out while others sort of resigned themselves to their situation and went back to bed. Either way, it was crappy and uncomfortable.

Day 19 / May 31  Triacastela to Barbadelo - LOLOLOLOL supposed to be 13m but Jeff, Kimmy, and I took the 18.5 mile hero route

To the students' credit, they had AMAZING attitudes throughout the whole ordeal. First thing in the morning, we got on the horn with the albergue owner to explain the situation. Immediately after that, everyone went into "go-mode." Students sealed their backpacks in plastic garbage bags filled with anti-bedbug spray for a few minutes and then washed ALL of their soft goods (fabric)--clothes, bags, etc. Everyone was very responsive to the tasks that needed to be accomplished. I'm very sorry this happened but I'm very proud of the students for their response to it. We're 2 two nights and two different albergues removed from the nightmare fuel and everyone is bed bug free. I'll say that Jeff, myself, and many of the students didn't get a lot of sleep the previous night. I was probably running on about 90 minutes total.

We waited until all students had completed their de-bedbugging process before hitting the road. Kimmy asked if she could walk with us, which we were delighted to oblige. Although I don't know that she was so thrilled with her decision a few hours later.

It was a BEAUTIFUL hike through forests today. Good thing it was beautiful, because we were on the trail for a long, long, long time.

Lots of beauty along the trail today

So what had happened was...

The route was supposed to be 13 miles. Skip Samos. Deya probably put it in the WhatsApp. Somehow, Jeff and I missed the message. We did NOT skip Samos. Poor Kimmy. I mean, poor all of us. Upside--it was a BEAUTIFUL day of walking. Lots of green canopies and Rivendell-looking forests. There were just...a lot of extra miles of those things. But at least we were running on no sleep!

Samos Cathedral

Yep. Definitely at Samos Cathedral.

Lots of quality time with Kimmy on the trail today!

At least there were baby goats.

One clip, two clip, red clip, blue clip

Celebratory bocadillo and scallops when we eventually made it to the home stretch.

Kimmy, being the absolute champion that she is, did not complain at all. And we really enjoyed the time we got to spend with her. But hot damn, my legs/feet were smoked after today's walk. The other mega downer is that the albergue that we were staying at HAD A FRIGGIN SWIMMING POOL so we missed out on a few extra hours of pool time. But we still got pool time.

This is the most unflattering picture of me of all time LOLOLOLOL but it totally captures my mindset after that walk. I wanted to put my feet in the water! "Maxing and Relaxing"

Yep, wasn't supposed to look like that.

Love me some paella

Sunset view from our albergue

Kimmy was also nice enough to do a write up of the Burgos cathedral! I'm going to put it here and also in the Burgos post:

Cathedral de Santa María de Burgos: 

The Cathedral de Santa María de Burgos is said to be the most beautiful cathedral in world, and after visiting it, I understand why. There’s so much intricate detail that goes into every centimeter of the building, so looking at it as a whole is incredible to take in because it’s all right in front of you at once. The more I looked at the architectural details and the art inside, the more things I found that I didn’t notice at first glance such as sculptures, shapes, and paintings. The diversity of style on the inside is amazing! Each section was made of different material, and had different colors and motifs. For example, some sections were primarily made of stone, while others were made of wood. Or, some had primarily sculptures, while others had primarily paintings. It’s crazy to think about how much of the cathedral (even the highest points) were built by hand, before technical machinery existed. It was amazing to see so much detailed art work and architecture in one place. I’m so grateful that I had the opportunity to visit!

Thanks, Kimmy!

Day 20 / June 1 Barbadelo to Portomarin 11.78 miles (as according to plan!)

Jeff and I have been sort of pulling up the rear the last several walks, so we decided to try and get an early start this AM. This decision afforded us an opportunity to walk with Ellie, Hunter, Zennon, and Alivia!

Guess the shadows

We stopped off at around the 4 mile mark for multiple cups of coffee before getting back on the trail headed toward Portomarin. It was another lovely walk, and we hit a pretty major milestone today--literally! Well, a kilometer stone, but you get the idea. Less than 100K to Santiago!

Ellie, Hunter, Paris, Nicole, and Tia made it to the 100K to go mark!

Jeff and I did too!

We found another bagpiper on the Camino!

We also got to see Thaia and Jack on the trail today!
Fun fact--Jeff got to do the Camino with Jack's dad 12 or 13 years ago.

The walk into Portomarin was fantastic. Nice gradual uphill, some flat and rolling sections, and a (mostly) gradual downhill. After climbing some stairs, Jeff and I checked into our hotel and went to grab a bite to eat by the water as we waited for the rest of the group to arrive.

Crossing the reservoir into Portomarin

View of the reservoir

About half the group opted to take cabs back to Sarria (town we crossed through yesterday) to visit the Hospitaleros Sin Fronteras event (a festival of sorts). I had planned on going but decided to stay back to have a few hours to catch up on sleep and find a cafe with wifi from which to blog. I'm hoping that one of the festival attendees is willing to write up a quick blurb about their experience--most folks came back from the festival with some very cool new Senegalese clothing!

The last big event of the evening was dinner and the UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) Champions League final between Real Madrid and Dortmund. We ate at a fun restaurant called O Mirador owned by the same folks that own the places that we're staying in tonight. I didn't tell Deya until after the game because she's a huge Real fan and I didn't want her to murder me at the restaurant, but I was actually pulling for Dortmund because who doesn't like an underdog? RM won 2-0 (sorry if that was a spoiler) but it was a fun game nonetheless.

Students getting ready to watch the game

There were secret Dortmund fans at this table!

Nightly cheese board

I'll level with you. The seafood in Spain is better than Utah.

I believe we have another 12ish miles tomorrow and I think it features some uphill. I finally broke down and bought a pair of shorts and a hat that doesn't make me look like such a colossal dork, so you may even get to see a new trail costume in the next post!