May 20--Baths, and The Power of Touch (or lack thereof)
Our last day of hiking for the weekend. YAY! I was sad to leave San Juan de Ortega, it’s just a cute town with a safe and happy vibe. The food was great there, our hotel was nice – it had a dining area where we could play games and hang out - we literally had the whole hotel to ourselves because we booked every room. It was just a really nice place BUT Burgos awaited, so at 8 a.m. we headed out for our 16 mile hike.
If I’m being honest, the walk was NOT great – although the first seven miles or so were very nice farm land. We went to the top of a mountain with all of the these white-ish grey rocks that were arranged in circles and designs, but the walk after that quickly turned to walking on or right by the highway and through the city. It’s interesting that because the Camino is literally ANCIENT, it doesn’t have an EXACT route that has been tracked through history. A lot of people through the centuries would take detours to see religious sites, or walk an extra day or two to see a town, being the pilgrimage that it is. For some reason though, the way that they have marked as the Camino into Burgos is LITERALLY the grossest, ugliest, scariest way we could go! We walked on the paved highway for probably three miles, and then the last three miles was coming through the industrial districts and outskirts of Burgos which aren’t the nicest places. Here are some pictures from walking into the town:
Thankfully, our hotel is in the nice, pedestrian part of Burgos, and it is actually a great city once you get into it! Even though I LOVE being around people, I’m actually more of an introverted person. My mom calls me a closeted extrovert, because I really like being around the people I feel comfortable with, but I also really enjoy my alone time. On a weekend at home, I can spend 3-4 hours outside on the deck in the evening reading. I just love existing in quiet contemplation while the world moves around me sometimes. Yesterday on the Camino to San Juan de Ortega, I kept within visual range of someone in our group at all times, but I spent a good few hours walking pretty isolated and alone, feeling peaceful and rejuvenated.
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| The view from my room! |
This is all to preface my statement that one of the reasons I like getting to the hotels relatively early in the lineup of people arriving is so that I can go explore the town on my own. As long as I arrive before 1 p.m., things are still open before siesta, BUT most of the members of the study abroad haven’t arrived, so I don’t have to worry about missing our on group activities and meals and adventuring. I’ve started going out by myself for a bit since Los Arcos. I discovered that most of the tourism offices close around 2 and don’t reopen, so they are my first stop once I’ve checked into the hotel. I really enjoy my time alone during those small 30 minute-1 hour windows. I get to walk at my own pace, take my own path, look for places that have sellos without feeling guilty about holding up a group. Sometimes when we travel together, we are just REALLY American – we are loud, speaking English and wearing funny clothes. Although with my clothes I still don’t fit in, people just see me as a peregrino, not an American, and I am able to walk pretty peacefully and without stares through the streets. I get to talk to people in Spanish, I get to stop at stores I find interesting; it is just a very intimate way for ME personally to connect with the city once I get done for the day.
It was super fun especially in Burgos because they have two different tourism offices with two different sellos. PLUS they have this event called "La Noche Blanca" that is going on right now, so there were a LOT of people in the streets with little events and concerts going on in a very festive atmosphere. I felt very safe because so many people were out, and it made it easier to stroll the streets and not feel like I was standing out.
We don’t have dinner provided for the next three nights, so a bunch of people decided tonight we should all get all-you-can-eat Domino's (yes, the American pizza company). I wasn’t in the mood for pizza, but I was feeling FOMO, so I decided to go, and it actually ended up being QUITE tasty – and the-all-you-can-eat pizza and drinks was only six euros which was a STEAL! And we got to choose thick or thin crust, the sauces and two toppings for every pizza. It was just a great price, but I definitely didn’t feel the healthiest afterward
The rest of the night was going to events that were part of La Noche Blanca. There was an exhibit along the river that was by National Geographic and had all the photographs, so we passed by that. At one point an accordian choir was playing, so we got to listen to some of their performance which was SUPER fun! Probably the biggest highlight of the night was this pop choir concert in the old cloister of a cathedral that had been turned into a Museum. I really enjoyed the concert – they had pieces from Frozen, Shrek, A Star is Born, Walking Dead, Cup Head, Game of Thrones etc. It was pretty limited seating capacity though, so it was VERY interesting to me that the majority of the crowd that ended up getting seats for the concert were old Spanish people – like… I know all of these pop culture references and I've heard most of these pieces, but I SERIOUSLY doubt those old Spanish people have seen Shrek, or the Walking Dead…
I soon after returned to our hotel room, and decided it was high time for a BATH! I haven’t had a bath in SO LONG, but my joints have been hurting a ton, specifically my knees, and I knew soaking them in the bath would help a bit, and my roommate was still out on the town, so I took a nice long soak and MAN did that feel good. Baths are for any age, for real, so go take a bath right NOW if you want. I promise, you will feel SO MUCH BETTER afterwards!
Also, don’t know if anyone will find this interesting, but here is a journal entry from one of the prompts we had yesterday about how touch can connect us to the past:
Even trying to really focus on how things felt today, touch isn’t a sense I really focus on because I don’t think it is unique. The way I interact with things is usually on a visual or auditory level. I can look at a great piece of art for a WHILE and find new things in it that I enjoy. When I am listening to something, I can get LOST in the sound, in the movement, in the feelings. But with touch, usually it only augments what I am seeing. Like today, I went into the church at the end of the hike, and I felt it was pretty cold, and I touched the stone walls and sure enough, they were pretty cold! Maybe it is because when I touch something, unless it is a really enjoyable sensation, I don’t like to keep touching it. A soft blanket, a comfy bed, those things I enjoy touching, but most of the Camino has been pretty rough.
Maybe that’s what I have to say today. The Camino, though a great experience, is pretty rough. It’s hard on my feet and knees, the plants I touch are usually course and gruff, my clothes are the same every day, most things are either either too cold or too hot. Am I really glad I’m here? Absolutely! A little bit of discomfort is well worth the experiences we are having and seeing, but every day I am so glad to sit on a soft bed, and I miss touching other people. I miss hugging and kissing my fiancé when I see him or sitting next to my family on the couch. Every time someone hits me playfully, or touches me on the arm, I realize how little physical human contact we have had since we’ve been here. In terms of touch, that is the touch I miss.
Touch is all about the moment for me, although I can touch a church wall and know it was there hundreds of years ago, I don’t think that is how I connect to a location. If someone sang in that church, if someone painted in that church, that is how I connect more to the past. Touching something just adds to the experience, but it by itself does not create an experience for me.
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