Canberra Friends of the Camino De Santiago meet @

Transcription

El Primero Café Con Leche Del Dia
NEXT CAMINO GATHERING:
Ramblings with Jose Vega
Saturday 15 March at 3.00 pm for 3.30 pm
@ The Spanish Australian Club of
Canberra
Welcome to the Canberra
Friends of the Camino March
2014 Newsletter.
WHAT IS THE CAMINO GATHERING?
The Camino Gathering is a regular meeting for those
that are interested in the 1,000 year old Spanish
pilgrims walk through Spain called the Camino De
Santiago. Over 100,000 people from all over the
world walk some part of the Camino every year.
There are many Camino routes in Spain but they all
end up in the Galician capital city of Santiago De
Compostela (Saint James of the Field of Stars). The
Camino can range from 100km walk to over 1,500km
and can be done walking, cycling or on horseback.
All are welcome to come along and enjoy good
company, Spanish wines and beers and riveting
conversation!
Check out the Friends’ website for updates:
www.canberracamino.webs.com
PROGRAM




Pre-meet social and drinks
Talk: A Winter’s Walk—Wal Wolzak
Tech Corner: Backpacks
General Q&A on the Camino.
canberracamino@gmail.com
The last gathering was once
again held at the Spanish
Australian Club of Canberra. A
big thank you to Alex Tewes
who gave an enlighten talk on his Camino
experience. Alex is a professional photographer
and this showed in his many photos that he
presented during his talk. Without volunteers like
Alex and others that are willing to talk about their
experience this Friends group would be very much
diminished. This next gathering we have a veteran
of the Camino Frances who has walk the Camino
now three times with the last one being in winter.
The talks in the pipeline are (in no particular order):
Paul Mullins—Setting the Tempo along the
Camino
Jose Vega—A Cultural Tour of the Camino
Mozarabe
Juan Rodriguez—A Gourmet’s Tour of the Camino
Frances
As always I am looking at volunteer speakers for
our gatherings as well as articles for this newsletter.
So please contact me, on
canberracamino@gmail.com if you are able to
assist with either a talk or an article or two.
About the talk: Wal Wolzak walked the Camino
Frances during the winter months of November and
December 2013, arriving at Santiago on Christmas
Eve. In his presentation he will talk about the unique
experience of walking the almost deserted Camino
Buen Camino
when most accommodation and shops are closed and
the weather is unpredictable and demanding.
Canberra Friends of the Camino De Santiago meet @
Spanish Australian Club of Canberra ACT Inc
5 Narupai Place, Narrabundah, ACT, 2604 ph: (02) 62956506
The Gastronomy of El Camino
desires and in the process have lost an important
part of our identity. And I am not talking only about
Juan Rodriguez
us Europeans, with our weird food. In a previous
Rick Stein, the famous English chef, once said that incarnation many aeons ago I was part of an Anglo“to understand a country, first one must eat it”. Now, Saxon household who prided in their weekend
family roast. A pumped leg of lamb or a big lump of
whilst I agree with him, I wouldn’t go as far as
corned beef and the three veggies! The offspring of
practicing it. In that particular instance he was
that family today are more likely to gather at the
talking about India. And, really, there is only so
nearest Mac for their weekend meal.
much curry one can eat!
Fortunately this is not the case in the north of Spain,
well at least not yet any way. If you are one of the
myriad pilgrims who have walked the Camino de
Santiago and have partaken of its culinary variety I
am sure you’ll agree with me. Take the Spanish
part of the Camino Frances for example. It extends
over more than 700 km and traverses five regions, if
we start from Pamplona, and crosses at least six
mayor cities. The gastronomical diversity of that
small stretch of Spain is incredibly interesting.
Juan helping the Spanish economy with a few dishes of food!
But it is true, the axiom or cliché, depending on how
you look at it, does express the simple idea that
food is a very important, indeed some would say
central, part of a society’s values and heritage and
that eating its food is a good way of getting to know
a country.
Food is not just fuel for the body, not only does it
keep us alive, it helps to bring people together it
agglutinate us, to use a quasi culinary term. Think
of the family meal, the company meal, the wedding
banquet, the village culinary feast, the biggest
paella, the longest sausage and so on and on.
Although I have been to Santiago de Compostela
twice I have only managed to walk the last four
kilometres of the Camino, from my Hotel at San
Food, what we eat and how we eat it say a lot about Lázaro to the Cathedral in the Plaza do Obradoiro.
us. Unfortunately this is not so obvious in Australia And, believe me; even in such a short stretch I was
able to get a fairly good insight into the culinary
where, despite our so called multicultural society,
delights of the Camino. I walked the distance with a
our main street establishments lack culinary
diversity. Travel through any small to medium sized friend and we managed to stop at several bars for
town and even small cities and what you are likely to drinks and tapas and three “pulperias” to sample the
famous “pulpo a la gallega”. It lived to its reputation.
see more than anything else are hamburger,
In fact I was so impressed by the quality and variety
chicken and pizza outlets.
of the eating places that I decided then that I had to
come back to Santiago but next time it would be
We have allowed the big multinational food chains
totally unencumbered by official business. And so I
to take control of our taste buds and gastronomic
2—Canberra Friends of the Camino De Santiago
did. The following year I visited Santiago with my
wife and stayed at the Parador de Santiago for a
week.
again you guessed it, Don Quijote! It was a
wonderful evening, at least until the third bottle,
which is as far as I can remember.
Since then, the prospects of really “doing the
Camino” have lingered large over my life, to the
point where I cannot make any plan for a trip without
feeling guilty that I have not yet “done it”. Some
time ago I finally came to terms with my fate and
decided that I would do the Camino but it would be a
Gastronomic Camino. I would sample as many
different local dishes and drink as I could and keep
a picture diary of the experience. I just need to talk
my son into coming with me to make sure that,
drunk or sober; I end up in bed every night and get
up the next morning ready for the next stretch of the
Camino. He has almost surrendered to my constant
nagging.
Spanish Jamon Serrano and Iberico—that’s what a call a Deli!
Again I avoided walking in a straight line along the
Camino for any appreciable distance preferring
instead to zigzag my way through the streets of
Santiago visiting all the bars, restaurants and
assorted other places I was able to before
succumbing to the local drop.
One indelible memory I still keep of that week in
Santiago was our dinner in the Restaurante Don
Quijote in the
Rúa das Galeras.
The owner Sr
Manuel Garcia
had been a
migrant to
Australia in the
60s and had
opened a
restaurant in
Sydney called,
yes you guessed
it, Don Quijote.
He told us he left
Australia in the
70s to return to
his beloved
Santiago where
he then opened a
restaurant which
he called, yes
So, we my son’s help, I have been revisiting a few of
my favourite Spanish regional dishes and drinks at
home. My son, by the way, is a terrific cook who
loves eating what he cooks and also likes to try new
dishes. The problem we find is that despite our
culinary skills some dishes just cannot be replicated
here unless one has the “real” ingredients. Take, for
example, Fabada Asturiana, where do I get real
morcilla and chorizo?
I really have to
get cracking and
packing and start
booking my flight!
Sing the Camino
Jessie Vintila, a passionate and talented gospel
choir director from Byron Bay, Australia, and fellow
singer/tour manager Emma Royle, are inviting
pilgrims to join them on a wonderful and unique new
Camino experience, Sing the Camino. Jessie
walked the Camino in October 2013, along with
Emma, and felt the only thing missing was the
gospel choir singing she usually spends much of her
life immersed in. Like the Camino, a capella gospel
music from the African American tradition has
Christian roots, but singing gospel attracts people
from diverse secular and spiritual backgrounds,
simply because the music is so undeniably uplifting.
Like many pilgrims' experiences of walking the
Camino, remarkable bonds are formed between
people sharing this joyous and heartfelt singing.
Sing the Camino is a 12 day walk, running for the
first time from May 1-12, 2014 (bookings closed),
and is now taking bookings for a second trip, from
August 30-September 10 2014, and expressions of
interest for May 2015. Places are limited and an
Early Bird Discount is available at the moment.
Every day you will walk, at your own individual pace,
an average of 21km, and every evening enjoy an
incredible and energising singing session. You will
also be treated to some local Spanish musical
experiences. Director Jessie Vintila specialises in
teaching fantastic, simple songs, suited to both
skilled singers and people with little or no singing
experience. The focus is on fun, expression, and
some improvising and vocal jamming.
Jessie says: "From my experience of gospel singing
workshops, within half an hour of starting you will be
amazed at the gorgeous, four part harmony music
you're creating together. In groups, people are much
better singers than most individuals give themselves
credit for. Over the 10 nights of singing, we'll sing up
a storm of some of the most funky, uplifting, joyous
music you have ever heard."
Jessie teaches over 60 people every week in Raise
the Roof Community Gospel Choirs, in 3 locations
around Northern New South Wales. To read more
about Sing the Camino, see video footage and hear
Jessie in action with workshops around Australia, go
to http://www.singthecamino.com.
Jessie Vintila - Musical Director Sing the Camino
http://www.singthecamino.com
https://www.facebook.com/singthecamino
Phone: (61)417 277 211
A Book of the Camino (from the Web)
Pilgrimage to the End of the World
The Road to Santiago de Compostela
My Camino … and some heretical
lessons!
Conrad Rudolph is a professor of medieval art and
chair of the art history department at the University
of California, Riverside. This is his fourth book
Alex Tewes at the water and red wine fountain.
I walked the Camino Frances during October and
November 2013. It was not a spur of the moment
decision so I had lots of time to research and plan.
The online Pilgrims forum (caminodesantiago.me)
was an invaluable resource. Nevertheless, actually
walking the Camino taught me a number of
somewhat heretical lessons that I think are worth
sharing.
Heretical Lesson No. 1: Think about what day
of the week you want to start
Getting to St Jean Pied de Port to start the
pilgrimage is not straightforward and generally will
require a complex mixture of “planes, trains and
automobiles”. For those of us leaving overseas and
price conscious, this generally means finding the
most efficient and cheapest combination. There are
particular ‘optimum’ combinations that means that
Traveling two and a half months and one thousand people from particular countries tend to get to St
Jean on specific days. For example, the day I left
miles along the ancient route through southern
France and northern Spain, Conrad Rudolph made (Saturday) is “Canada and Germany Day”. By the
way, for those solitary types Sunday is the least
the passage to the holy site of Santiago de
Compostela, one of the most important modern-day popular starting day.
pilgrimage destinations for Westerners. In this
Heretical Lesson No. 2: Stop at Orisson!
chronicle of his travels to this captivating place,
Rudolph melds the ancient and the contemporary,
I wasn’t expecting to stop overnight at Orisson, but
the spiritual and the physical, in a book that is at
am glad I did. I got there at about lunchtime and
once travel guide, literary work, historical study, and
over the afternoon more and more “over-50s” made
memoir.
the same decision as I, so that the albergue was full
by 3pm. I found the friendships I developed that
evening were some of the most lasting of my whole
Camino experience.
finding out just how many of your fellow pilgrims are
undertaking the walk as the means to deal with
sometimes very serious personal issues. As the
days pass and Santiago looms closer, many of them
The added bonus was that starting the following day get increasingly stressed because the hoped-for
from Orisson meant that we got to the Cross of
revelation has not arrived. And it won’t.
Thiebault early enough to enjoy a hot coffee and
As the French philosopher and author Marcel Proust
other refreshments from the mobile shop that sets
put it “We don’t receive wisdom; we must discover it
up there during the pilgrim season.
for ourselves after a journey that no one can take for
us or spare us”.
Heretical Lesson No. 3: Get a better Map!
Heretical Lesson No. 6: Post-Camino is just as
I used the Brierley slim-volume guide during my
important as pre-Camino and on-Camino
Camino. Essentially it is the same as the standard,
but with less waffle. Alas, the maps are just as bad The military has long understood the need to
as in the standard one. Among those walking with
provide soldiers coming back from war a place to
me, it became clear that the maps are “for
decompress and reflect about their experiences
illustrative purposes only”. There were many
before returning to their families and ordinary lives.
occasions when I would look at the map trying to
While walking the Camino is not in the same order
figure out where exactly I was or how steep the
of experience as going to war, there is much to be
track ahead was likely to be. Uniformly, the guide
said for spending a few days reflecting on the
let me down.
experiences that the Camino has brought us. The
I would recommend using a guidebook that has
place I chose to do this was the Little Fox House in
proper topographical maps. There are a few of
Carrantoña, near Muxia.
these listed in Amazon.com, such as “A Village to
The Little Fox House is run by an English author
Village Guide to Hiking the Camino de Santiago,
and former pilgrim, Tracy Saunders. It is a
Camino Francés: St. Jean - Santiago – Finisterre”
“donativo” place and can host only about five
by Anna Dintaman and David Landis.
pilgrims at a time, so bookings are essential. I
ended up spending four days there which really
helped me put the whole experience of my
Heretical Lesson No. 4: Think about where
pilgrimage into context. I would highly recommend
you are going (and why)
doing something similar at the end of your Camino.
It is quite simple to follow the yellow arrows all the
way to Compostela, but sometimes they take you
places that make no sense. One notorious one is a
steep hill just past Castrojeriz. The way up is steep
(12% grade) and the way down is even steeper
(18% grade), the top is just 200meters long and
there is nothing up there worth the trip. Once you
walk down the hill, you are faced with four
kilometres of thick cloying mud. There are good
quality roads that bypass the hill and that join up
with the Camino track a few kilometres further on. In
those immortal words “Do yourself a favour!”
It really is a question of whether you are in the driver
seat during your pilgrimage, or merely a passenger.
I found the Camino experience to be one of those
life high-points that come to us rarely. It is also
addictive, so much so that I am already planning my
next Camino, possibly in early Spring of 2015. In
the meantime, the photographs of my walk are
available at Wyvernsridge.smugmug.com
Buen Camino!
Alex Tewes
Over the next few pages a selection of Alex’s
photography from his Camino.
Heretical Lesson No. 5: There is no magic
answer-laden bolt of lightning
One of most poignant elements of the Camino is
The Winter Pilgrim on the Camino
Wal Wolzak
Everyone asked why I would want to walk a
pilgrimage in winter when the weather was terrible,
wet and cold and accommodation closed. It all
started during a conversation with Doug Fitzgerald
when we discussed how special it would be to arrive
at Santiago on Christmas Eve and then attend the
Christmas Mass on Christmas Day. You don’t have
to be a Catholic to recognize this as a special time
of year when families and friends join to praise the
birth of a savior, something our world is in dire need
of today. My decision was easy, I don’t have any
immediate family who depend on me, whereas
Doug does and his travel was not approved. So I
set off on 19 November with plans firmly in place but
could not foresee Qantas cancelling the flight from
Sydney due to mechanical failures, with the end
result that I never made it to the Pyrenees and
taking three days to arrive in Pamplona having
travelled through Dubai, London and Madrid with
two overnight stops.
What did I miss in the Pyrenees on 22 November?
Three pilgrims walked the Route Napoleon and the
remaining handful went via Valcarlos. The high
route on the day had cyclonic wind conditions, knee
deep snow and temperatures down to between
minus 10 and 15 degrees centigrade, on upright
signposts ice flags formed half a meter square and
walking poles were used to clear the ice of signage
to make it readable. The crossing from St Jean Pied
de Port to Roncesvalles took 17 hours.
The route through Valcarlos was also heavy going
and a few pilgrims overnighted in Valcarlos before
going on to Roncesvalles.
I joined the Camino from Hotel Eslava in Pamplona,
walking the first ten days with German Martin and
the remainder of the way with Kristi and Lilli from
Slovenia and Jennifer from Germany. I can be
justifyably proud to say that we were the only four
pilgrims to officially arrive in Santaigo on Christmas
Eve, having our arrival announced during both the
Pilgrims Mass that day and again during the
Christmas Mass the next day, which was a surprise
as were compared to the pilgrims arriving at Jesus’
cradle.
Our days were cold and wet, often with heavy rain
and threatening skies, or strong biting and
unrelenting wind. The albergue were mostly closed
so our choices were limited and any bed was better
than none. In Estella municipal albergue the room
temperature was 3C so the hospitalera provided
four small blower heaters to share between 5
pilgrims. No showers that day.
Then came the mud as were crisscrossed the many
farming roads and agricultural plots. The mud,
deep, clinging and tenacious hung on and we
pushed on, what else to do. At times there were
vineyards and when the sun broke through the
clouds the vines displayed wonderful colours of
deep red and purple. And then there were always
the stones to content with. Due to prolonged heavy
periods of rain many steep tracks were endless
broken stones and boulders and played havoc with
the feet. Had it not been for the walking poles there
were at least a dozen occasions when I could have
incurred serious ankle or leg injury. Often the steep
tracks of rough stone were covered with mud and
running water on top of which there was a thick
layer of oak leaves to hide the dangers below.
And then out of nowhere there would be a bright
clear, extraordinary day with the bluest of blue skies.
Mind you when the skies were blue the
temperatures were generally close to freezing.
On 5 December we all bought a small St Nicholas
gift for each other and on Christmas day we
gathered in my hotel room where Christmas gifts
On the way into San Juan de Ortega, purported to
be the coldest place on the Camino, we ran into light were exchanged.
snow again but after that we were always two days
Two days later Krisit alone walked on in the cyclone
ahead of the snow.
to Finistere and Muxia, taking 7 days for the 4 day
journey. She walked on paths covered in running
water, had to climb over fallen trees, content with
On leaving Carrion we walked into a magic winter
live power lines which were down across her path,
wonderland with minus 8 degree temperatures
to arrive at albergue’ which had their doors closed.
which didn’t rise much during the day. Until well
Her final disappointment was to find the little church
after midday the country side was clothed in white
at Muxia gutted by fire from a lightning strike.
heavy frost with occasional glimpses of ice blue
And now we are all home again but want to be back
clear sky. Icicles covered every blade of grass,
on the Camino!! Why because it was so special and
twig, plant, tree and rock. This was the most
we were a family. Next year we are all meeting in
astoundingly beautiful day on the entire Camino.
San Sebastian to walk the Del Norte together.
Wal
The next challenge we faced was the ascend to
O’Cebreiro, a day of non-stop rain which was later
replaced by rain, mist and mud and lashings of
sloppy wet manure. This was also a long almost
40km day which took it out of even the fittest
amongst us. The albergue Xunta provided plenty of
The embarrassing blank spot that I
warm space and an opportunity to dry out and wash
have nothing to fill with...
clothing. Our evening meal of thick Galician soup
and pan was consumed with gusto.
At Monte Gozo the cathedral of Santiago was
insight. The day had been another long wet slog
and we four were the only residents in the village
able to accommodate 400 pilgrims. It was now the
day before Christmas Eve and as all shops were
closed the hospitalero drove Kristi, Lili and me into
Santiago to buy some food for dinner and breakfast.
In the meantime Jennifer stripped down naked, put
on her poncho and then walked with all her clothes
to the laundry so everything was clean for her arrival
the next day. That evening as we stood outside in
deep contemplation what tomorrow would bring we
were engulfed in a cyclone which lasted for another
four days and was the precursor to the lightning
which struck the ancient church at Muxia a few days
later.
Tuesday 24 December we four arrived in cyclonic
conditions at the Pilgrims office in Santiago and
made our final walk as the Camino family to the
cathedral.
Thank you to the Spanish Australian Club of Canberra
ACT Inc. who continues to support this Friends group
through the provision of free use of Club rooms and
electronic equipment for our monthly meetings.
Jose Vega for the Canberra Friends of the Camino
De Santiago.
FACEBOOK:
The Canberra Friends of the Camino De Santiago is on
Facebook. To join us on Facebook:
1 Go to ‘Like Pages’ in your Facebook account.
2 Search for ‘Canberra Friends of the Camino’
3 Once on the ‘Canberra Friends of the Camino’ page
click on Like Page.
You will then receive our regular post in your Facebook account.
Contributions on topics related to the Camino are always welcomed any time to this newsletter. We will
place your article or letter in the next available newsletter. Please send text in Word, RTF or plain text along
with photos to:
canberracamino@gmail.com.
The route through Valcarlos was also heavy going and a few pilgrims overnighted in
Valcarlos before going on to Roncesvalles.
I joined the Camino from Hotel Eslava in Pamplona
Then came the mud as were
crisscrossed the many farming
roads and agricultural plots.
The mud, deep, clinging and tenacious hung on and we pushed
on, what else to do.
And then out
of nowhere
there would
be a bright
clear,
extraordinary
day with the
bluest of blue
skies. Mind
you when the
skies were
blue the temperatures
were
generally
close to
freezing
On the way into
San Juan de Ortega, purported
to be the coldest
place on the
Camino, we ran
into light snow
again but after
that we were
always two days
ahead of the
snow
On leaving Carrion we walked into a magic winter wonderland with minus 8 degree
temperatures which didn’t rise much during the day.
The next challenge we faced
was the ascend
to O’Cebreiro, a
day of non-stop
rain which was
later replaced
by rain, mist
and mud and
lashings of
sloppy wet
manure.
Tuesday 24 December we four
(next page) arrived in cyclonic
conditions at the Pilgrims office in
Santiago and made our final walk
as the Camino family to the
cathedral
On 5 December we all bought a small St
Nicholas gift for each other and on Christmas day we gathered in my hotel room
where Christmas gifts were exchanged

Canberra Friends of the Camino De Santiago meet @

Transcription

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