The Kindness of Strangers by Kat

When you're travelling, the kindness of strangers can be an invaluable thing. It takes only one person to turn a difficult travelling day into a great one. Our recent experiences with couchsurfing have raised the bar on stranger-kindness. Here is a little summary of our resent couch surfing experiences.

Segovia

In Segovia we stayed with Beatriz, her partner Javier and their two children, Nico (age 5) and Nora (age 1). This family was so cute and so kind. From the moment they picked us up at the bus station, they welcomed us into their home with gusto. On our first night they took us to an annual week long party in Segovia where we saw our first running of the bulls. It was blind luck that we stumbled into Segovia on that day. On the second evening they took us out to their country home to have paella dinner with a group of relatives and friends (I did a head count at dinner and their were 26 people, which turns out is a very normal occurrence for them.) They taught us how to make paella where we shared stories of growing up in Canada (bear sighting stories were were their favourite.) Getting to know this family really helped us to understand the effects of the economic crisis in Spain (just referred to as "the crisis", possibly the weightiest word in Europe right now.) On our final day together we took a stroll through the royal hunting grounds which were just a few minutes away from Segovia.

The kindest young family in all of Spain. 

This is Nico, he let us sleep in his bedroom for two nights. Nico likes Greek mythology (recently had a themed birthday party) and he hopes to be reincarnated as a whale. 

Sweet little Nora.

Nico played photographer for a bit and snapped this photo of me. 

Paella making lesson.

Yummm. 

Family dinner at the country home.

Madrid

In Madrid with stayed with Devorah, who literally gave me the shirt off her back. It was actually a flowy hippie dress but she did literally give it to me after I told her mine had a massive hole in it. Devorah (and her roommates) were so kind and generally enthusiastic about life that it was hard not to feel energized while hanging out with them. Devorah showed us the major Madrid tourist sights as well as some really interesting squater/art collectives. Devorah and her friends were part of the May 15 protests in Madrid which according to Devorah were a turning point in Madrid, since then there has been more collective community sentiments and movements. Devorah sums it up beautifully when she says "it's just the new way of living." It was great getting to know Devorah and sharing stories and ideas about life with her was the best part of being in Madrid..

Devorah's bathroom mirror says "all of us are stars, shine on". The perfect message to see everyday.

Thanks to Devorah was saw the best sunset in Madrid.

Temple Del Sol, a beautiful squater location with all kinds of interesting things happening (jam making, yoga, arts , activism etc.) They were removed once by apologetic cops and they just moved right back in.

Devorah making a smoothie for us at the Temple Del Sol

Devorah and Elisabeth and their smoothies.

Napoli 

Pete Pete Pete, what can be said about Pete? He is a pierced, inked up punk guy with a heart of gold. We had such a great time staying with Pete! He has amazing stories about his time travelling, living with gypsies in Barcelona, driving around Ireland in a van, the list goes on. He was such a fantastic host. We had a lot in common with him, drank three bottles of wine and a bunch of Jack Daniels. Personally I appreciated how much Pete knew about Native people and loved getting music and book recommendations from him. I speak for both of us when I say we are so greatful to have met Pete (not just because of the delicious feasts he prepared for us.) I'm really hoping our goodbye wasn't for good.

Pete rescued this little friend from the brink of death...literally nearly dead on the street. When I asked Pete about his cat he said "I always wanted a dog but I found a cat....it was destiny." 

One of three delicious meals prepared by Pete...we are so lucky. 

Late night chats with Jack Daniels

San Sebastian by Zack and Kat

Some pictures from San Sebastian. All kinds of insightful politically interesting things can be said about the Basque region but for now just some photos.

plaid on plaid....what a guy. 

Just when I thought tapas was the greatest way in the world to eat...I discovered pinxhos!  

Our neighbours. 

Getting better at "doing nothing" by Zack and Kat

For anyone who doesn't know us well, traditionally we aren't that greatest at "doing nothing." We like being busy, running errands, making big plans for the future etc. Relaxing on a beach for an entire week at an all-inclusive resort feels like a jail to us (that's a bit dramatic but you see what I mean.)

Anyways, we committed a bunch of time to "doing nothing" while we were in Bilbao and it turns out it's not so bad.

Here are some pictures of our "doing nothing" time.

As a side note, the cheap irony of "working on doing nothing" is not lost on us.

The beach in Bilbao...just a 5 minute walk from our camp site. 

Ok so we didn't do absolutely nothing in Bilbao. We went to the Guggenheim (seeing a bit of Canada in Spain...thanks Frank Gehry.) Obviously I adored the giant flower puppy. The creepy pregnant giant spider was not too bad either.

Zack likes photographing puns. 

Santiago 2.0 by Kat

Here are just a few more pictures of the cathedral in Santiago. We are in Madrid now and our new friend Devorah has shared with us some new and exciting information about the Camino. Turns out it's a pilgrimage pre-dating  Catholicism (think ancient pagen celestial path that doesn't end at the cathedral but instead ends at the most Western tip of Europe, where the earth ends and the stars begin.) Pegans have nicknamed the route the Milky Way because it follows the Milky Way to the Atlantic ocean. Compostela after all does mean of "of the stars". Also there seems to be a lot of information about a non-Catholic who was in the area at the time that apostle Saint James allegedly was as well. This non-Catholic was practising medicine and being very successful at it. Imagine how this would have looked to the decision makers in the Catholic church in 44 AD (ish)...pretty threatening. So as the story goes they had this man killed and that's who is actually buried at the Cathedral. Now before you go "pfft damn hippies", think about history and the ways in which the church has re-written history to re-affirm and maintain the power it has over its people. Frankly, I wouldn't put this one past them.

The inside of the cathedral doesn't exactly scream humility. 

Creepy. 

Pilgrims, Pensions, and Pain(s) by Zach

I struggled to come up with a clever title for this blog (you be the judge of whether or not I succeeded) since Blisters and Bliss had already been used for a guide to Vancouver Island's West Coast Trail. However, as I write this I realize that the title might not have done justice to the famed Camino de Santiago. There were certainly blisters (anyone who knows my hiking and treeplanting past will not be surprised to learn that my feet were so mangled under the weight of our oversized packs that I trekked the last three days in my Birkenstocks) and, given the beauty of Galicia and the grand and intricate cathedral that marks the completion of the journey, it would difficult to deny that there were moments approaching bliss. But the moments to remember took on a different form than other treks Kat and I have tackled.

Generally, it is access to the world's wild and untouched places that render the trekker wide-eyed. The third day of a trek in Gros Morne National Park brings you to the top of Newfoundland's highlands where you can see for hundreds of kilometres and quickly realize that you are one hundred percent alone. The West Coast trail offers slightly less-isolated but equally stunning views of the rugged coast of Vancouver Island, and the technical nature of the trail itself challenges every ounce of balance and coordination.

The Camino de Santiago in Northern Spain (or at least the final 110 km stretch from Sarria to Santiago) offers little of the above. There are stunning views to be sure, but rarely is one out of sight of a small town or (I'll get to this later) a cafe-bar catering to pilgrims. Since the full Camino starts in France and extends some 700 kilometres, it is possible that the tourist-oriented aspects of the trek kick into high gear as the end approaches and the number of pilgrims swells (we were not the only ones skipping most of the hard work and absolving our sins in the last 100 kilometres) but a rugged back-country trek this is not. Similarly, the trail is, by hiking standards, not so much a trail, but a road. The path is wide, mostly smooth, and always compact. Never do you worry about getting your feet wet or stuck in the mud. The hills and (many) downhills are invariably gradual and, although long, make the Camino accessible to all manner of would-be Pilgrim.

day one....misty corn fields

forests straight out of a fairy tale

spiritual elightenment sponsored by coca-cola

zack relaxing after day one with our new friend

the view from our camp site on day one

tiny little towns

following the yellow arrows

honour system fruit stands along the way...kat's new favourite thing

ending the day with some galicia sidra

look away shirley....zack's poor feet

sore feet at the final destination

she's a beauty