The Camino Cafe
The Camino Cafe
107 - Camino News Update 2/21/24 Fátima, Santiago, Sanabres, Mozarabe and more!
Coming to you from Fátima, Santiago, Sanabres, Mozarabe, and more! Updates from Leigh Brennan, Johnnie Walker, Rocco Rossi, and Lindsay Teychenne.
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Hello Pilgrims, it's the Kamino News Update and it is February 21st 2024. Tricia and I have been walking. We are on day five of a six day walk to Fatima, and let me tell you it's been an eventful walk. We started in Coimbra, and Coimbra to me seemed like a smaller porto. It was beautiful. Every by accident happened upon a wonderful little cafe bar that had live potto, and it was sensational. And that was how we started out. The night before our walk, and ever since, we've been having magical Kamino moments over and over again.
Speaker 1:This time of year things are very quiet, there aren't many pilgrims walking at all. We are walking the Carmeleta route. This route sometimes it crosses with the Kamino Portuguese from Lisboa, but this time of year it's not crowded at all and in fact we only ran across a couple of pilgrims. And so, first of all, the very first pilgrims we saw, this was, I think, on day two, we ran into three girls from Korea, and here they are my name is Ji Young Kim, my name is Lee Seol-hee Son, my name is Bin Na Yoon Literally, because we hadn't seen any other pilgrims, and we were only, I think, number three and four when it came to the number of pilgrims they had seen since Lisbon and we're talking, they had already walked about 200 kilometers.
Speaker 1:When they saw us from a distance, their arms swill up in the sky. We did the same thing and I swear we almost ran to one another. Well, I mean as fast as you can run with heavy packs From sighting number four and five. That was a brother and sister from Germany, and they were again. I mean, it was like we were greeting long lost friends. They were extremely experienced pilgrims, having walked several different Kamino routes. As well as Matthias, he had actually walked, I think, to Everest, kilimanjaro. In fact, his sister, maria, has walked numerous Kamino routes and has been hospitalario in Batanzo. Next week we'll have another report, and now let's get a report from Johnny Walker.
Speaker 2:Thanks, lee. Hello everybody. As you can see, this is the view from the Alameda Park, the great park of of Santiago, and if you walk around there you will see the most stunning views of the cathedral and this huge eucalyptus tree. There are many eucalyptus trees in Galicia. This is one of the most enormous ones and you know, santiago is full of legends and stories and superstitions and they say that couples who have their picture taken with the cathedral in the background from this eucalyptus tree will have a long and happy relationship. Well, I don't know if that's true, but it might be. It might be worth trying. It's sunny today, as you can see well at the moment, but it's very changeable. In fact, sometimes I think I'm in Scotland when it's sunny one minute and raining the next, and, as you can see from this week's weather forecast, the weather is very mixed in Santiago and generally in Galicia. So pilgrims, pack for all weathers. That takes me back to my, my very first pilgrim, which I started off in the second of January, the dead of winter, but within days I had to buy sunscreen to protect the bald, the bald's peat. So pack for all weathers, pilgrims. Talking about pilgrims, let's just review the pilgrim numbers briefly, in the last week, nearly a thousand nine hundred and seventy three compost ellas have been issued here, bringing the total since the first of January to four thousand and seventy three Now, the figure indicating the increase in numbers from last year. But last year people were concerned about the amount of pilgrims and perhaps the lack of beds and facilities and so forth. Well, already this year the statistics show there's an 18 percent increase and that's a number that we'll be looking at very closely in the days to come.
Speaker 2:Now Carnival's over, because we're now one week, almost one week, into into the period of Lent and, as we said last week, people in Galicia celebrate big time during Carnival, before Lent. And Carnival, as we, as we said, means the elimination of meat. Well, they don't eliminate meat, and in the Hotel San Fransisco, as a celebration of the traditional fair, the Cotido Gallego, where every part of the pig is eaten, they're continuing this in the most beautiful dining room, the monumental Commodore, and they're continuing that until the 3rd of March. So, if you're in Santiago and you fancy a taste of carnaval, even though it's lent, get a log to the Hotel San Fransisco. Now, what's been in my post bag in the last week? Well, people. Some people have been sending me emails saying John, what's happening with the Botafu Maira? It's not flying at the moment and neither it is Some weeks ago, and what the Cathedral says, there was an incident with the Botafu Maira and they've taken it down for maintenance. And we know from what people have said that they're looking at the entire mechanism because they want to make sure it's safe.
Speaker 2:The Botafu Maira is a huge thing. It weighs 62 kilograms. It takes eight men to pull the rope, to swing the thing. Eight Tira Baleiros they're called. Now. Have there been accidents? Well, yes, it has become detached three times in history. The last accident where absolutely no one was injured it just dropped to the ground was in 1937.
Speaker 2:But how does the Botafu Maira work and what are they doing to it? Well, it works in a very simple principle. As you know, with a child's swing the child's or maybe an adult's swing you're sitting on the swing and somebody gives you a push to set you off and then you build up the momentum by swinging back and forward, and that's exactly how it works. High above the altar there's a frame which holds a pulley. Let's look closely at the pulley and does the men pull the rope that has the same action as the child going back and forward on the ropes of the swing, and it gets faster and faster and higher and higher. How long will it be out of action? Well, we don't know, and the cathedral have not confirmed anything. I suspect the experts are looking at this and redesigning the mechanism or redesigning the frame which holds the Botafu Maira up. And well, we'll know.
Speaker 2:Lent lasts for six weeks and concludes on Holy Thursday, monday, thursday, the 28th of March, one of the most auspicious feasts in the Catholic Church's calendar, and usually the Botafu Maira would be used there. It's the institution of communion, it's when the Eucharist started in the tradition, and then again, the most solemn feast in the Catholic Church's calendar is Easter, and the Easter video is on Saturday, march the 30th. So we look forward to the Botafu Maira being back, either before then or certainly by then. But as soon as we hear anything we'll let you know.
Speaker 1:And that's all the news for this week's bye-bye, and now let's get an update from Rocco Rossi. As you recall, he is on the Via della Plata.
Speaker 3:Ali, you know wise person once said that life isn't about the number of breaths you take, but about the number of times your breath is taken away, and this is surely one of those times. I'm on the stage from Mogodinia to Laza on the Camino San Abrez, and started really foggy morning, which turned out to be an incredible feature. We're up here about a thousand meters and we'll spend most of the day there, and the peaks coming out of the the fog look like islands on this fluffy ocean, and the sunrise has been nothing short of spectacular. The beauty just keeps on coming. I'm feeling incredibly blessed and who wouldn't be when Camino won in all?
Speaker 1:And next up, let's hear from Lindsay Taitsene. He started a new trail this week. Let's hear how it's going.
Speaker 4:Hi there, lindsay, in the south of Spain, walking the Mozabre Camino, and I'm just having such a wonderful time. It's stunning scenery. The village architecture is like nothing I've ever seen in Spain before. Every day something new. There were orange orchards, olive groves, and now I'm walking through almond trees in full blossom Just amazing.
Speaker 4:And I suppose the best thing is that this Camino is really well signposted. There's no chance of getting lost Well, very little chance of getting lost and it's well supported by the Association. So the albergues don't have hospital arrows. So when I arrive at an albergue I send a text to the Association and they come back with the code for the key safe. So I hop in, sign myself in, get my stamp and in the morning I take my own rubbish out, I feed the Donativo box and I leave the place clean for other pilgrims. It's a great system.
Speaker 4:Probably one thing that really delighted me. As amazingly different as this landscape is, it was somehow familiar until I found out that the, that classic movie, the Good, the Bad and the Ugly with Clint Eastwood was filmed here, and so everything made sense. What I thought was Mexico is now Spain and I couldn't be more delighted with this route and I strongly recommend, if you've done a few Camino routes, to give this one a try. It's easy enough walking, but there's some days with hills that make it interesting and challenging. Anyway, until next time, buen Camino.
Speaker 1:And that's a wrap from Portugal and Spain. The whole team will be back next week and we can't wait to see you.