Camino de Santiago - A Bit of Background

Background

Earlier this fall (Sept. 21 to Oct. 29, 2013), I walked the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route from Saint. Jean Pied de Port in France to Santiago de Compostela in northwestern Spain. The route is 790 km in length and essentially goes across all of northern Spain except for about the 100 km between Santiago de Compostela and the coast near Finisterre.

What is the Camino?

(Note: most of this section was written before I started walking the Camino.)

One of the many long distance pilgrimage routes in Europe is The Way of St. James or, as it  commonly known, the Camino de Santiago or the Camino. It is also referred to as the Camino Frances.

About three years ago, a hollywood movie called "The Way" was released and gained a notable level of popularity while also significantly increasing interest in the Camino on the part of Canadians and Americans. Martin Sheen is the lead character in the movie and the movie is directed by his son Emilio Estevez. In brief, the movie is about Tom's (played by Sheen) pilgrimage on the Camino after learning that his son had died from an accident on the Camino. Estevez also is his son in the movie in the role of Daniel. He is not prominently featured in the movie except for a few timely and mystical appearances, but his death is the force behind Tom (Sheen) walking the Camino.

The movie has seemingly provided an impetus for many people to take this pilgrimage. However, interest in the Camino has been around for centuries and The Way of St. James was one of the most important Christian pilgrimage routes during medieval times. A generally accepted legend says that the remains of St. James were carried by boat from Jerusalem and buried on the site that is now Santiago de Compostela.

In the past 30-40 years or so, the Camino has attracted increasingly large numbers of modern-day pilgrims and has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

There are several pilgrimage routes that conclude in Santiago de Compostela and some of these link to the Camino at different places in Spain. People who walk the way, typically referred to as pilgrims, travel for weeks and sometimes months before arriving in Santiago de Compostela. Most pilgrims stay at albergues (sometimes called refugios) available in many towns and cities on the Camino route. They provide dormitory style lodging with the number of beds varying from place to place. Staying at albergues generally costs between 7 and 10 € per night, but can be less. (More in a later post.)

A credential is required to stay in most albergues, especially those operated by a municipality, monastery or church. Privately operated albergues do not always require a credential. A credential is a document acquired from an accredited organization typically in one's home country, e.g. the Canadian Company of Pilgrims issues credentials to Canadians for a small fees. A credential usually is a small passport style booklet or folded brochure that has places for stamps from albergues, churches and restaurants/bars at places on the Camino. The credential and its stamps provide evidence in order to given a Compostela or certification of completion upon arrival in Santiago de Compostela. The pilgrim passport and stamps are checked to ensure that a person has walked at least 100 km or cycled at least 200 km. 

How did my Camino walk come about? 

I became aware of the Camino at least five years ago from an interview on CBC Radio and immediately was interested. About a year or so later, after having done a bit of research on what would be involved, I decided that I wanted to walk the Camino. The Way movie further stimulated my interest and about two years ago I started identifying specific details of what would be involved - distances, features of the route, lodging options, clothing and equipment requirements, etc. By early 2012, I had decided that I'd like to walk the Camino in fall 2013. By late winter/early spring of 2013, two friends decided to join me on the Camino.

The next steps were simply a matter of putting the details together - deciding on specific dates, booking flights and researching various aspects of what would be involved.

Argentina - August 2013

Why Argentina?
I've had an interest in traveling to Argentina for a number of years, but for some reason it ranked lower on the list of places I wanted to visit. After having visited Bolivia in June 2012 with a Habitat for Humanity team, I decided that it would be great to visit more South American countries.

If you follow this blog, you know that volunteering as a team leader with Habitat for Humanity is an important priority for me. It has provided many opportunities to travel to very interesting places and experience aspects of the culture and life rarely available to the average tourist in many countries including Argentina.

When it comes to Argentina, I have been intrigued for some time about this relatively large country that takes up a notable portion of South America. Among the things that have attracted me to Argentina are the city of Buenos Aires, Tango, its reputation for excellent beef, large farms/ranches and Patagonia. It is widely accepted that Argentina has the best beef in the world. I was able to see or experience all of these things, except getting to Patagonia. Maybe another trip!

Getting There
I arrived in Buenos Aires on August 8 and departed on August 24; not a long time, but a very good time. The travel to/from Argentina was easy and efficient, which is a notable contrast with other international flight experiences. The flight from Toronto to Buenos Aires had a stop in Chile for about 90 minutes and the route into and out of Santiago provided the highlight of the travel - the spectacular snow-capped Andes. Mountains are always one of my favourite parts of any landscape and it would be very difficult to surpass the view of the Andes.

After leaving the Andes behind, the scenery soon changes to flat, open areas for as far as the eye can see. There are huge tracts of farm land, which obviously is central to its significant livestock production.

Arriving in Buenos Aires, I immediately noticed that the city is modern in most respects compared to many centres where Habitat works around the world. Traveling from the airport into the centre of the city is much the same as it is in any North American city, except for the numerous toll stations in Argentina. 

Buenos Aires
For my first trip to Argentina, I didn't know quite what to expect. It is a modern city in most respects and, while some of the infrastructure is a bit dated, it has all the urban amenities we are used to at home such as Starbucks! There are modern highways and streets complemented by great architecture influenced by the French. In fact, there is a diversity of European influences in the city.

 

We stayed at the Portal del Sur Hostel (http://www.portaldelsurba.com.ar/en/index.html), which recives a top rating by Lonely Planet. It is in a great location for exploring important areas by foot (about one block from the intersection of two major streets - Avenue 9 de Julio and Avenue de Mayo).

One of the key attractions within 15 minute walk from the hostel is the Plaza de Mayo, which is "ground zero" for the city's most spirited protests over the years. In the centre of the plaza is a small monument to mark the first anniversary of the city's independence from Spain. Even today, major protests are a regular occurrence in the plaza, sometimes starting there and other times starting elsewhere and then moving to the plaza. One of the long-standing protests - the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo takes place on Thursday afternoons to honour the "mothers of the disappeared." The "disappeared" were children who went missing under various dictatorships.

On a guided tour, we visited the Plaza de Mayo and places such as San Telmo, Boca and Recoleta. In San Telmo, we strolled along a city street filled with vendors who show up every Sunday to sell their crafts and wares. This was a lot of fun and gave us a flavour for what could be described as the informal market place. Our next stop was Le Boca, a blue collar area settled by Spanish and Italian immigrants and that influence can be seen in the buildings and shops. In this part of the city, we encountered Tango street performers who were available at a cost to dance with interested parties and teach them a few Tango steps. One of the features of La Boca are many building covered with corrugated metal siding that have been painted in bright colours. The large football (soccer) stadium in Boca is one of the colourful buildings. 
 

Our tour concluded with a visit to the Recoleta Cemetery where the walkways are lined with impressive statues and sarcophagi. Many notable people are in the graves including Eva Peron, various presidents of Argentina and other high profile rich and famous people.

One of the cultural highlights of the trip occurred in the evening after our city tour when we went to Esquina Homer de Manzi for dinner and a professional Tango performance. The show consisted of several dancers, a few singers and a small band of instrumentalists. Along with the city tour, we had a great introduction to Buenos Aires. http://www.esquinahomeromanzi.com.ar/en/ 


Santa Fe and the Habitat for Humanity Project
The next morning, we left the hostel at 8:00 am with our luggage in hand for a bus ride to the Habitat Argentina national office for an orientation session and an opportunity to meet all the folks who work in that office.

The orientation provided us with an overview of Habitat Argentina, its programs, information about our project and a few cultural things such as learning the ritual of drinking the mate (the national drink) and the Argentine kiss. We also learned that about 10,000,000 Argentines (1/4 of the population) live in poverty housing, that there are 87,000 homeless people in greater Buenos Aires and 100,000 properties remain uninhabited.

After the orientation session. we shared a lunch of homemade empanadas (yummy) with staff and then headed to the bus station for the journey to Santa Fe.

The trip to Santa Fe is about six hours long and, while a bus trip of this length is not especially appealing to me, it was a notably more luxurious than what most of have experienced at home. The seats were spacious and comfortable, and we were even served a light meal. We had reserved seats on the upper level and were able to relax comfortably. After leaving Buenos Aires, the scenery is pretty much the same for the entire trip - flat farm land as far as the eye can see. There was much evidence of large scale farming - herds of cattle, large commercial size farm machinery, grain elevators and more. Another thing that stood out from time to time were small settlements where people were obviously living in substantial poverty.

We were met at the bus station in Santa Fe by the local Habitat staff person and walked the short distance to the hotel. After quickly checking into our rooms, we went out for what was the first of several good meals in Santa Fe. There were several options for dinner and most restaurants were within walking distance of the hotel. The breakfast meal in Argentina is light, which was an adjustment for some folks. However, we had substantial and excellent meals at lunch and ate well at dinner meals. The lunch meals were home made by a supplier Habitat uses locally and they were are best meals in Santa Fe.

In brief, our project involved expanding a small existing house to significant increase the living area of an existing house, install a septic tank and do some painting. Projects like this are part of the Habitat Argentina "seed house/progressive build" program. The tasks were varied and there was lots to keep all 14 of us busy. While I won't go into all the details, among the most physically demanding task was digging a 3+ metre deep hole about 2.0 metres across to stack four cement sections to create a cylinder shaped septic tank. There was plenty of other digging, working with cement, installing corrugated metal roofing, etc.  Another bedroom was added as part of the extension and the foundation was put in place for an extension that would allow the kitchen to be moved and significantly increase the living area of the house.

In addition to working on the house, we spent two days scraping/repairing walls and ceilings and painting at a neighbourhood community centre used as a nursery school/kindergarten. Habitat Argentina is strongly committed to community development and incorporates this into the work of Global Village teams.

The house we worked on is where a family of five live - Cristian (father), Veronica (mother) and three girls (Azul - 9; Sol - 6: Pia - about 18 mos.). Currently, all five share the same bedroom, so the extra bedroom is greatly needed. A big highlight of the build was having the family around every day. They warmly welcomed us and made us feel at home even though we completely disrupted and made a mess of their home every day.

Other local people were regulars at the site, including the mason and people who were members of previous Habitat families. I think Habitat Argentina is doing a great job in helping build community and we saw much evidence of this.

The neighbourhood is an area that was greatly affected by a major flood in 2003 and much of the area was under about two metres of water. There was a two-month evacuation from the area. Work was done to make the area less prone to flooding that enabled people to return. While there is some economic variation across the neighbourhood, it really is an area of poverty, often extreme.

On our final work day in Santa Fe, we had a farewell BBQ lunch with the family and their neighbourhood friends. Each of us was given a certificate of appreciation by a family members or one of their friends. The spirit of appreciation for our efforts is symbolic of what one experiences on a Habitat trip such as this and contributes to building the "global village."

 After the farewell event, we returned to the hotel to relax for a while, collect our luggage and walk to the bus station for the six-hour journey back to Buenos Aires.

I departed Santa Fe with a feeling of having accomplished something important, especially making new friends.



R&R
After arriving back in Buenos Aires in the late evening of August 21, we were able to sleep a bit later the next morning which was greatly appreciated. After breakfast, we had a short evaluation meet with the Habitat National Director and one of her staff. Then, it was off to spend the best part of the day at an "estancia" (rural estate or ranch). Estancias are mostly located in the grasslands or "pampas" of South America and there are many in rural Argentina. Historically, they have been used for livestock (cattle or sheep) and are closely tied to Argentina's reputation for high-quality grass-fed beef. Workers on estancias are called gauchos. In recent decades, ranching and farming has become more intensive and commercialized, which means that most estancias are now used for tourism purposes such as guest ranches and destinations for day trips.

The estancia we visited was located about 75 km from Buenos Aires and covered an area of 1,300 hectares. In addition to a wagon ride, a demonstration of gaucho skills, browsing through an on-site chapel and historic museum, and relaxing in the sunshine, we were served an Argentina BBQ lunch and entertained with a cultural show. The show consisted of music, singing, Tango and other dancing. The meal could be described as "more than enough." There were several salads, breads, barbequed meats (sausages, chicken, beef) and desserts complemented by some very fine Argentina red white. 

The second day of our R&R consisted of a trip to an area of greater Buenos Aires called Tigre (tiger), which is located in the delta of the Parana River. After a leisurely bus ride to Tigre with a couple of stops along the way, we took a very interesting boat tour in the delta waterways. Of special interest were the homes built on small islands or patches of land surrounded by water. The only access is by boat, so living in these dwellings would be a challenge even if staying there only part time. Many homes along the waterways are large mansions and others are simple cottages. Marinas and rowing clubs in the area leave the impression that this is an area for the more wealthy Argentines and tourists.

Final Thoughts
I arrived home from Argentina three weeks ago and since then have reflected many times on how blessed I am to have traveled there and be able to make a contribution to the efforts of Habitat there. Among the things that most impacted me was the warm way in which we were welcomed by the Habitat Argentina people, the partner family and their friends. I was also touched by the incredible sense of joy and fun of these people despite their challenging economic situation. There is much we in more wealthy countries can learn from them when it comes to community and family life.

 

London Calling - April 2013

Beyond Heathrow Airport

Despite having flown in and out of Heathrow on several occasions, I had never gone outside the terminals until this past spring. On my way home from Northern Ireland, London called so I decided it was time to check out a few of the iconic sights. A big motivation for doing so on this trip was having a friend living there whom I had gotten to know when at Corrymeela in 2011 and could hang out with for a bit of time.

After a short flight from Belfast city airport to Heathrow on March 31, I took the express train to Paddington station, where I had booked a hotel for two nights. The train was fast and comfortable.

The hotel was in a great location for the Underground, restaurants and other services. The room was comfortable, but very small. Their breakfast was outrageously expensive, but there were many good options in the area that were about one-third the price.

With a time set to meet with my friend to start exploring, I headed out for breakfast and then to the Underground. I quickly learned that it was going to be complicated to get to the specific destination because parts of the Underground were closed for maintenance. It was Easter Monday! At this point, I had not sorted out all the lines and transfer points, but boarded a train that would take me a few stops away. Then, it was a reasonably short cab ride.

Over about a day and a half we set out to see many of the sights one things of when London comes to mind - Westminster Abbey, Big Ben, houses of parliament, London Bridge, Trafalgar Square, St. Paul's Cathedral, the Tate Modern Gallery and, of course, the River Thames. We paid admission to see Westminster Abbey and St. Paul's, but it was simply walking past and looking at the other times.

While the weather was quite cool, it was sunny and we spent lots of time sitting outdoors engaged in great conversation.

The rest of this post is comprised of photos, which I am sure speak for themselves.

Westminster Abbey 

Westminster Abbey

Big Ben

The London Eye

Parliament

Underground

London Bridge

London City Hall

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square

Trafalgar Square

Canada House

St. Paul's Cathedral

In front of St. Paul's

Glendalough

One of my goals for my time in Northern Ireland/Ireland this year was to visit Glendalough. As with a number of other things here, Glendalough was highly recommended by a number of friends as a "must visit" destination.

Located in the Wicklow hills south of Dublin, Glendalough is translated from Gaelic as the "glen of two lakes." It is best known for its medieval monastic settlement founded in the 6th century by St. Kevin, a descendent of one of the ruling families of the Irish province of Leinster. As a boy, Kevin studied under three holy men and went to Glendalough during this time. He later returned with a small group of monks to found a monastery. His fame spread as a holy man and many followers were attracted to Glendalough. Kevin died in 618, but Glendalough continued to flourish for another six centuries. For various reasons, the importance of the site culturally and ecclesiastically declined. The settlement was destroyed by English forces in 1398 that left it as a ruin, but it has continued as an important spiritual site to the present time.

The existing remains of the monastic site portray only part of its history at its peak that included workshops, guest houses, farm buildings, an infirmary, areas for manuscript writing and copying, and dwellings for monks. 

I spent several hours there just wondering around the ruins and walking in the areas around the lakes. Here are a few photos.

More Dublin

When in Dublin, I had the opportunity to see a number of things, but there are two things (other than the Book of Kells) that stand out as highlights.

Kilmainham Gaol
The Kilmainham Gaol played an important role in Irish history as a place where many leaders and activists from Irish rebellions were held, with several being executed in the prison. Built in 1796, it replaced the "old" gaol and in its early days public hangings took place at the front of the gaol. From about 1820 onward, a limited number of hangings took place at Kilmainham and, when these occurred, it was in a small cell set up specifically for hangings.

After being decommissioned as a prison in 1924, Kilmainham gradually started to deteriorate until the late 1950's when a group of former prisoners and guards worked to restore it. Eventually, it was taken over by the Irish government and now houses a museum on the history of Irish nationalism.

The guided tour through Kilmainham is well done and one quickly learns about the terrible conditions in which prisoners were held. There was no segregation in the cells, so men, women and children would be incarcerated together. Five people were held in each cell with the only source for heat and light being a small candle, which meant they were kept in damp, cold and dark conditions most of the time. Illness was widespread and many died as a result. When looking into the cells, one can only imagine the cramped and inhumane conditions under which five prisoners were held in a space of about 28 sq. metres.

While Kilmainham held people involved with various aspects of Irish rebellions, people were also imprisoned for petty theft such as vegetables from a garden. According to the guide, the youngest prisoner ever was supposed a five-year child. The gaol was also a holding facility for many prisoners who were shipped to Australia.

As one goes through Kilmainham, you can see name tags over cells of some people who are well known for their involvement with some type of "rebellious" activity, e.g. Eamon de Valera and Michael O'Hanrahan. Amid the horrific conditions in Kilmainham, however, money still carried privileges with it. While incarcerated at Kilmainham, Charles S. Parnell (political, landlord and land reformer) had a great deal more space and significantly more comfortable conditions simply because of his financial influence.

 

Guinness Storehouse
While I am not fan of the dark drink, a visit to the Guinness Storehouse is a must when in Dublin. Guinness is more than a popular drink - it is part of Irish culture.

Within a minute or so of entering the "Storehouse," one is exposed to all-things Guinness from the history of the company, how its brew is made, its advertising and marketing historically, photos of distinguished guests such as a couple of US presidents, learn how to pour your own Guinness from a tap, a well stocked gift shop and more. The experience culminates on the 7th floor of the building, which houses the Gravity Bar and a 360 degree view of the city. At the Gravity Bar, you can redeem your coupon for a free Guinness (actually it is not free because the price of admission is about 15 Euros).

The founder of brewery was Arthur Guinness - an entrepreneur, visionary and philanthropist. After receiving an inheritance, Guinness invested his money and operated a brewery outside of Dublin. In 1759, he moved into the city and set up his business. He took a 9,000 year lease on the 4-acre property at St. James Gate. With the 9,000 year lease, I think Arthur Guinness was either a true visionary or had a great sense of humour; or, maybe both.