Friday, May 5th, 2022
Madrid, Spain
Monday, January 16, 2023
Friday, January 13, 2023
Los Arcos to Madrid
Sunday, May 1st, 2022
Los Arcos to Logrono, taxi
Logrono to Madrid, train
My set alarm was not necessary as I awoke very early. I was eager to start the day and travel to Madrid. I exited the pensione to my waited only a minute for my taxi.
I should have confirmed the price of the taxi when I set it up. According to Rome to Rio (a popular app for travel), this ride was supposed to cost 21 - 30 Euros. I was charged 50 Euros to travel between Los Arcos and Logrono, a distance of 18 miles! Needless to say, I was shocked and it was not a good start to the day. I just checked the current price, it's 27 - 35 Euros.
I was very happy to be on a train. I liked being on the go again. The train ride was uneventful. I celebrated by having a cafe con leche and a jamon and queso bocadilla (ham and cheese sandwich). It was a beautiful day to travel.
After disembarking the train, I walked around a bit to see if I could find a bus to my hotel. I failed, so took a taxi there. I should have researched maps of Madrid prior to my train trip. If I had, I would have found the correct bus stop. A few days later I had no problem figuring out the bus routes.
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| On the train to Madrid |
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| Churros and chocolate |
Sunday, January 8, 2023
Los Arcos
Saturday, April 30th, 2022
Los Arcos
I had a very nice last day in Los Arcos. My morning was occupied with grocery shopping. I stopped by a local tienda and bought some bagels and cheese for a few meals. I also bought a floral plant for the owner of the pensione where I have been staying. I wanted to thank her for the two meals she made me. She also did my laundry a few times.
Mila has offered to take me on a sightseeing tour at 5pm. She is very sweet and kind.
We drove to the local villages and churches. I found out that I'm not in the greatest shape for walking around. I walk slowly and am out of breath within a very short distance.
Interesting facts I learned this evening;
1. The surrounding fields are barley not wheat.
2. Yellow flowered fields in my pictures are called colza. I had previously learned they were rapeseed. I think the colza is made into canola oil.
3. The cool looking trees are called platanero and they are of the Arce family of trees.
4. The area around Los Arcos is famous for the white asparagus. We passed many fields where the asparagus was covered.
Fun fact: White asparagus is green asparagus that never sees the light of day. Farmers work in the very early morning before daylight to care for the plants.
5. Mila took me to a town that had a lavadero still in tact. A lavadero is a central washbasin in the town where the women used to go to wash their clothes by hand. Basically an early do it yourself laundromat. Except without any electricity and the only way to clean your clothes was by hand in a GIGANTIC shallow tub.
I packed my backpack tonight for the first time in almost two weeks.
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| Los Arcos plaza |
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| Lavadero |
Los Arcos
Friday, April 29th, 2022
Los Arcos, Spain
It's been a lonely, sick week. I am still troubled by tummy issues. Imodium is helping, but not a lot. Still testing positive for Covid. According to CDC (Center for Disease Control in the USA) rules, I am no longer contagious. Since I can't go back to the United States until fully clear, I have decided to walk the Camino from Sarria to Santiago de Compostela.
Alyssa arranged my train tickets and hotel reservations. I'll be taking a cab to Logrono and then train to Madrid. I'm looking forward to being in the world again. I hope it makes me feel better and get the Camino magic back.
When I was at my lowest, Mila, the pensione owner, offered to make me a chicken and rice meal. I started crying. I felt like a lifeline had been thrown to me in this country where I was completely alone and no one cared.
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| Still testing positive |
Saturday, January 7, 2023
Los Arcos
Friday, April 22nd, 2022
Los Arcos
Pensione Ostadar
Ilaria left this morning. She wasn't feeling that great herself so she had taken a few days off. Before she left this morning, we went to the clinic in town. Ilaria set up a doctor's appointment for me and then showed me where the store and farmacia was. My doctor's appointment is for 2pm.
I really appreciate all the care that Ilaria has shown me. I wish that I was well enough to continue on with her.
My doctor's appointment cost 126 or 136 euros up front paid in the morning before appointment. It was the strangest medical appointment I have ever had. I was shown into a large room and a medical assistant talks to me from the other side of the room. I tell him my symptoms and am diagnosed from afar. He didn't listen to my chest, take blood pressure, or my temperature. I am told to take tylenol and ibuprofen and be on my way. Then, almost as an afterthought, I am given a covid test.
My covid test is positive. Now I am seen by a real doctor. He took my blood pressure and it is very high, something like 180/100. I can't remember the exact numbers. I'm then told only to take the tylenol. By this time, I was very upset and started crying. The doctor tells me that it's not like the covid from a year ago, I can continue walking on my pilgrimage. He doesn't seem to understand that I am barely able to stand upright.
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| Stork nest |
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| Ilaria |
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| My room at Pensione Ostadar |
Los Arcos
Thursday, April 21st
Los Arcos
Pensione Ostadar
I have a temperature of 101.4 degrees. Ilaria, my Italian pilgrim friend from Ireland, called a doctor friend and then gave me something that brought my temperature back down. I think it's normal, but not sure. I was using Ilaria's thermometer.
I took a covid test and it came back negative. My symptoms are getting worse. Now I have pain in my chest. I have completely lost my appetite so haven't been eating. Still spending half my day in the bathroom. The other half in bed sleeping. The only time I have felt this bad is when I had pneumonia.
Sunday, January 1, 2023
Villamayor de Monjardin to Los Arcos 12.4 km
Tuesday, April 19th, 2022
12.4 km
134.9 km
Today was a hard day. There is no other way to describe it. As soon as I woke up, I wasn't feeling up to par..
All along the walk to Los Arcos, I felt worse and worse. I wasn't sure what was wrong, but I didn't have any energy and the miles to walk to Los Arcos seemed insurmountable . This should have been a great walk. I walked a portion of it with a guy from Bordeaux France. He actually started his walk from his front door in Bordeaux! He enjoyed walking with English speakers so he could practice his English. Any other day, I would have been thrilled to walk and talk with him. Today I struggled with my half of keeping up the conversation. After a half hour, I told him I was taking a break, and he should continue on. If there had been a taxi anywhere around on this vast trail, I would have taken it. As it was, I took a break, and trudged on.
The one amazing thing that happened today was I heard a cuckoo bird! Before I started researching the camino, I thought cuckoo birds were only in cuckoo clocks and children's songs. I had no idea they were a real bird. Bucket list item, checked!
By the time I walked into Los Arcos, I had decided to stop and take a rest day. Maybe take tomorrow off as well. I couldn't believe how exhausted I felt. It had started raining during the walk and I felt chilled as well. It was too early to check into a hostel so I sat with a few other pilgrims and drank cafe con leche in a bar across the plaza from the church. By the time the Ostadar Pensione opened, I had severe chills. I was very lucky to have checked into this pensione. I got the last room. It's a very lovely room with a shared bathroom and only 32 euros a night. Who knew I would spend so much time there.
I have a temperature of 100.9 degrees. Also very bad diarrhea.
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