WHATS THE INTERNET

Rural Spain has yet to accept the internet, I can understand the hill towns and villages as they are mostly inhabited by the older person or the aged community and they live a simple and relaxed life or it seems so anyway. But places like Zafra,Merida and here in Caceres all towns with over 50,000 people and maybe 1 internet site in Merida none at all, even Hostals and Hotels do not have one.(saves you from my ramblings)

Los Santos de Maimona, Villafranca de los Barros, Almendralejo, Torremegia, Merida, El Carrascalego, Aljucen, Crus de San Juan, Alcuescar, Casas de Don Antonio Valdesalor and now Caceres I have passed through these towns as have so many before me armies, pilgrims and travellers their traces are there to be seen but these days by only a few. The Romans have left a lot behind many mileage posts remain as do fences, roads and bridges, there has been a return to preservation of these and not to late either. As I pass through the towns I make the detour and pass the main square although the churches are locked there are always the shell(scallop) and sword of Santiago imbedded on the walls or doors most of these are from the 10th to 12 century, amazingly there are many hospitals some still used as in Merida which treated the pilgrims. In Merida it is run by the church and Pilgrims were either given the last rites or could be forgiven their sins by the priests and when well return to their home thus not needing to go to Santtiago(buggered if I could find a priest) so must keep walking.

I have been 8 days and covered 299 km´s as per my guide, I am averaging 37.4 km´s a day(not bad for an old fellow with small feet) I am ahead of schedule so have taken an extra 8 hours off today and will start walking at 6pm with a short stroll of 23km´s for my next stop. It has been extremely hot and the local folk think I am crazy! at times in the desert it had to be well over 45c, but mostly I try and get between 35 and 45k done by 2pm after that it is very difficult to walk. I now carry between 4 and 6 litres of water(6 kilos in weight) one litre is to keep the towell that I wear over my head and shoulders damp for as long as possible. The walking has been mountainous, through vineyards, farms,national parks(usually desert) during all this I have not talked to or seen another Pilgrim, maybe there is only one person mad enough to try it at this time of the year!
I thank you for all the emails and concern for my health, except for my American, New York born jewish brother that was defamatory to say the least about my stubby feet and fingers, Marc"do I look beautiful today" levine you must look beyond my extremities and search out positives.
While we are philosphying Lucius Annaeus Seneca who lived in Rome from 4BC to 65 AD during the time the path I am taking was built, he was the tutor for Emperor Nero, and he said "its not the length of life that matters but how it is lived"(way before "nike")

In Spain most people still smoke, they communicate verbally non stop engaging in conversations where you can have 4 or 5 people all talking at the same time! even though I cannot communicate we manage and on the whole the people are very friendly and engaging. I have translated a few menus from my pocket book dictionary waiting to be served dinner once being served by the chef in his shorts and nothing else, time is of little importance. As I walk I think of so many things to write but at the end of the day it is all about trying to get my feet ready for the next day, physically I feel great and mentally I am in a very nice place, life is good.

I do not think Rosie will mind, Rosie is the lady I am raising the money for but I received an email from her that she has been back in hospital having operations on her chest, Rosies email was R. Glasson, I did not take it in at first I thought it was from my mate Chuck Glass, initials R. Glass I was wondering why Chuck was having his breasts done!! but then again that would not surprise me.
Next target is Salamanca the half way mark.

My old travelling mate Dennis has been sending me Spanish emails, so I will sign of
Le molesta que de de pecho acqui?(sometimes you have to be careful with spanish)

Ian

Still alive

Hi,
Linda here Ians daughter. I bet your all wondering if dad has fallen off the face of the earth. Well I can tell you all now that he is fine. He is feeling fit as a fiddle his only ailment sore feet. This is all second hand info though he phoned my grandmother this evening.

He has been walking for 5 days and has yet to speak to anyone that speaks English. The heat is a bit of a killer but he is a quarter way through the trip having walked over 300K's. The only problem is that every town he stops in doesn't have a computer.

So stay tuned and he will have a story or 2 to tell you when he can.

regards,

Linda

Hola Amigos,
Manana, yo voy a viajar(oops, english), I have just arrived in Zafra, my first major town about 16000 people an historic town pre dating our lord. But as usual I am to sore to do any sightseeing other than the walk in and the walk out I am staying in the historical centre so thats nice not much good for the wallet though.
I left Seville only 3 days ago but seems an absolute eternity, I will give you a brief rendition 1st day horrendous after leaving Guillena I turned north and straight into a National Park better known as a desert with lots and lots of hills I came out 6 hours later in not to fine a state, physical exhaustion and serious doubts at what I was doing here it only reached about 45c but it was very debillatating. That night I thought this is silly but thought I had to give it ago, so decided to do the next town 33 km´s away and make a decision, this day was harder than the first, I ran out of water and with only 2 km´s to go but a 500 metre hill(steep) and a 1.5k stroll into the village, well it took me 1 hour.20 mins to get up it, I had to pull on every reserve I have ever had, I stumbled down the hill, did not look at the fine view as my guide suggested!
As usual everything was in lockdown to keep the heat out(high 40c´s) but I hit the first bar door I saw and in an act of bravado collapsed, I then remember a lot of talking water being offered and a senorita flapping her dress over me(I never noticed wether she had underclothes on) I new I was in a little bit of trouble and asked for a doctor(30k´s away) but it seems every town has an ambulance, yep sirens and all, after the ambulance man ask every one in the bar what was wrong with me (or that is how it seemed) he came back with a saline drip, 4 hours later and 4 litres of water I was in the bar having a beer, working out my next move.
I decided to give it one more go al be it only 12k´s but asked the bar owner to send my day pack with what I decided was to heavy about 5 kilo´s, now I could carry more water and food.

Next morning I was a little shaky but warmed up and did 41k´s I was a tad tired but not on deaths door, had a great feed a few beers, did my shopping for today and away I went, I peeled of 48k´s and feel a million dollars sore feet but that goes with what I am doing but otherwise I am on my 3rd beer and looking forward to manana only 35 k´s.

The towns that I stayed at are all from roman origins and the locals still live that way although they have modern services and quite a few are totally run on solar hundreds of panels right next to each village. A lot of the churches and town squares are beautiful kept but I have to yet work out where they get the money as the bars for coffee are full at 7 am and then again at night no one seems to work.
Lauguage is a ever source of amusement for me and who ever I am communicating with, beer for instance is cerveza(the-ves-a) (thank you) mucho gracias(moo-cha-gra-thayas) the reason you say it with a lisp is because some pompous king a few hundred years ago had a lisp and so the court and then the people pronounced it so, in other words it is not spoken that way in south america.
So there you have it I have nearly died, been chased by a pig, come to understand that spain has hills, many hills it also has extreme heat and in some strange way I enjoy the challenge each day brings and by the way I ground out 156 km´s only 844 to go.

Adios
Ian

Seville to Santiago Day 1

What a day!!! I walked about 25k´s but only 18k´s was the Camino I was lost about 5 times, I met my first Camino walker he was spanish and totally confused to, I left him in my wake , he was mumbling, hands in the air shaking his head I never saw him again. I am hoping the Amigo´s that I see tomorrow morning have the information I require!!
The "Caminino Via Del Plata" (vdp) I passed my first roman ruins of the trip and they were impressive (Italica"), founded in AD206 there is a grande amphitheatre.
The cdp was originally a roman road and towns along it were started of with pensioned of soldiers from the v and x Legions over 2000 years ago.
But the vdp as a pilgrim route began much later in in the 12th century after the fall of Toledo in 1085ad, Spain was still under Muslim rule then but a degree of tolerance was allowed for christians to do the walk, this was also when the "Order of the knights of Santiago, founded in Caceres in 1170 whose purpose it was to protect the pilgrims.
This route is used very sparingly by pilgrims because of the lack of facilities and extreme temperatures so this just adds to my management skills walking the 30 plus k´s a day should be okay it will be how I manage things around it. Communication is difficult but after day 1 I can say Hola(hello) how good will I be at the end. The pilgrim I met this morning is doing it in 10 day periods it will take him 4 years if he finds his way this year.
I have a new follower Jeanette welcome all the way from the united states!!!
Don´t forget if I do not enlarge on things such as the Roman ruins or the v and x legions if you just google or wiki it you might find things most interesting I hope my grandchildren are!!!!

Adidos

Ian

Arrival Seville

Hola,
Ireland, the colour of green, rain, sunshine and freezing cold all in one day, the quiet and sedate way of life in the south west, the hustle and bustle of never ending days of Dublin, that was a few hours ago.
Now Spain, the colour of brown, sunshine all day and half the night, it is 8.30pm and just coming down to 38c, the pace of life well the streets are empty it is the weekend and holidays so it seems the population head for the coast. But still Seville has pockets of vibrancy people seem more energetic, athletic and confident or it could be just me as when I was here a few years ago that was how I felt when leaving the country.
I have hit my first hurdle, I cannot obtain my "Pilgrims Passport" until monday morning thus delaying my start, but as the town is quiet and I have visited the sites before I am going to walk 23km´s to a town then catch the bus back and stay in my hotel, this will negate any time lost.
I hope all my supporters and there are not many of you (spread the word) are feeling as well as I am.
Flying over Spain this morning, certainly made me realise what a task I have ahead of me, still the anticipation of the journey far outweighs those negative forces.
Adios

Ian

The Via de la Plata. De Compostela Seville to the Camino Mozarab

The Via de la Plata. De Compostela Seville to the Camino Mozarab
This is a good link to what I am doing

ian