Day 34 and 35 Salamanca to Montamarta

Day 34                     Salamanca to Zamora                          17kms walking,  42 km by bus              

Just like in life, one must carefully choose their battles and today we chose to let the heat win. These last few days we have had record setting temperatures of above 40 degrees. It was 41.4 degrees. The last record was 41degrees in 1994. In that kind of heat it is impossible to walk past 10am, and even that is pushing it. Yesterday morning, whilst having breakfast, we met another pilgrim from Romania. He told us how this was his third pilgrimage, how he started in Seville but was now abandoning the trip here in Salamanca. He felt it was too dangerous to continue. He was alone and felt that if he twisted or broke an ankle and wasn’t found, he would die alone in the heat. He recanted how he got lost between Canaveral and Galisteo just like we had and had to cross the river by dragging himself across a log. (we found a small bridge) With his words resonating in my head and visions of buzzards swirling overhead and knowing the next 50kms were on a stretch of road with NO shade, I pleaded with Spencer to let us take the bus to Zamora.

The long, hot road

 

We walked 17kms to the first village of Calzada de Valdunciel and caught a bus to Zamora.

Zamora is the city with the most Romanesque churches in all of Europe. Unfortunately due to the record setting heat temperatures we couldn’t sightsee as much as we wanted to. 

 

Day 35                               Zamora to Montamarta                                             20kms

We left Zamora this morning at 5:30am only to find the streets teeming with party goers from the night before. We walked out of our hostel and were greeted by a stream of teenagers asking what we were doing and where we were going. They were such fun, not at all scary or drunk, just still out enjoying themselves. These past few days have been “Zamora Fiesta Days” The festivities don’t start until midnight and continue until about 6 am. Of course we couldn’t stay up for the events but we watched them set up all the platforms.

We walked for about 4hrs and came to Montamarta.

Entering Montamarta

 We had made a reservation in a Casa Rural for tonight. I told the woman we would be arriving around 11 am. We arrived at the house, knocked,.. phoned, waited ….waited….waited, only to find out from neighbours, the owner had been to the fiestas last night and was sleeping. Suddenly this tiny man rode by on a bicycle and asked what we were up to.

 We told him we needed a place and he took us to his cousin’s house for about ½ the price of the other one. But, you get what you pay for! The place was a little grimy, the sheets a little gritty and who knows how many people have slept on them?? Based on the numbers of hairs, I suspect quite a few. Am I a princess or what?

Here in Montamarta they have a funny tradition. On January 6^th, all the kids that turn 18 years old, dress up as a “Zangarron” and run around the village terrorizing people. It is unique to this village. Interesting! Maybe it is a good way to let kids “sow their wild oats” in a controlled manner?

The Zangarron costume

Day 32 and Day 33 San Pedro de Rosadas to Salamanca

Day 32                                             San Pedro de Rosadas  to   Salamanca                            25kms

I don’t understand people sometimes…Last night we stayed in this costly, little hostel and because it was a little more expensive than your average hostel I expected something a little more. Well…it didn’t even have a toilet seat. I went back to the very unfriendly woman at the bar and asked her if she had a room with a toilet seat. She just looked at me as if I was sooo demanding and mentioned something under her breath about how that would be extra. Can you imagine that happening…??? Anyways.. I got a little angry and told her there was no way I was paying full price for a room without a toilet seat. I won in the end and then it turns out we were the only ones in the hostel. Now I know why. We would have gone elsewhere but the two other albergues in the village were closed. 

The walk to Salamanca this morning was very pleasant. 

The morning air was cool and the walk meandered up and down through wheat fields. Because the terrain is fairly flat, the sun seemed to rise very early, casting long shadows as we walked northwards. 

We also seemed to be able see Salamanca for a long time before reaching it.

Upon entering Salamanca, as per the usual “Roman City”, we walked in on the Roman Bridge, into the ancient city part. Again, it was most beautiful. What a gorgeous city it is!!!!

Day 33                                 Rest Day in Salamanca

DIDGERREEDOO….. Yahoo!!!!!      Rest day !!!  I had no idea how much we needed it until we got it. Fortunately we are staying in a 4 star hotel, for just a few more euros than last night and it even has a toilet seat.

 Salamanca is a university city and one can feel the life and energy abound. It’s full of youth and vibrancy. Salamanca University was founded in 1218 by Alfonso IX and became Spain’s most important university. Internationally its reputation grew rapidly, such that, within 30 years Pope Alexander IV proclaimed it equal to Oxford, Paris and Bologna, the greatest universities of the day.

The old Cathedral

The Plaza Mayor

Some fun Salamanca facts:
The Frog
The facade of University of Salamanca, carved in stone, conceals a small frog… on the skull.








The legend says that all the students who come to Salamanca have to look for the frog. If they find the frog, they will pass their exams and will have good luck. So that’s the legend ‘sold’ to tourists. The alternative story gives the frog on the skull a deeper meaning, i.e. the frog is a symbol of a sexual temptation and the skull a symbol of a failure (or death). Thus, according to the legend, the frog on the skull warned the students to beware of women, to stay away from them because they might make them not pass their exams, make them miserable and even kill them (students used to associate with prostitutes that spread various contagious disease, some of them incurable).

Monday Waters (Lunes de Aguas)
In 16^th century King Felipe II, ordered that all prostitutes residing in Salamanca had to leave the city during the Lent and Holy Week (so students could study and get involved in the Lent). They would go to another side of the river El Tormes. When Holy Week finished, prostitutes would return to the city crossing the river by boats. Students, after such a long time of a sexual abstinence, would go to the river to give a warm welcome to the prostitutes with drinks and hornazo (kind of a pie, very typical of Salamanca).
Until now, Salamancans go to the riverside on Easter Monday with their families to have a picnic, drink, eat hornazo, chat with their friends and enjoy a day (but no longer to await the returning prostitutes).

Day 30 and 31 Banos de Montemayor to San Pedro de Rosadas

Day 30                       Banos de Montemayor     to    FuenteRoble                               33kms

Last night I had the best sleep of the journey so far. We didn’t even have air conditioning, it was just the fresh mountain air and the sound of the creek running outside the window. What was even better was that today’s walk was the antithesis of yesterday’s.

The road out of Banos

 Both Spencer and I felt like we were on the set of “The Sound of Music” and images of the novel Heidi kept running through my head. Everywhere we looked there were green rolling hills, streams, wildflowers, cow bells ringing, and even the air was crisp. In fact our hands were so cold we wished we had gloves.

 

Even the cows looked like they could give chocolate milk

 That didn’t last too long though, as soon as the sun came up it was bloomin’ hot. 

 We passed through this lovely old village called Calzada de Bejar. 

Stopped and chatted to an older gentleman who said that there are about 70 elderly residents and one of the few bits of life left in the village is the fact that the “camino” runs through it.

Today also marks a significant chapter, we are more than half way. We have now walked more than 600 kms.

 For those that are following Max’s career, he came in 5^thin the World Cup today. We were fortunate enough to watch his race live in the little local bar. He has another World Cup next weekend, the last one before the Olympics

Day 31      Fuenteroble      to        San Pedro de Rosadas                                  29kms

Today we walked along the highest part of the Via de la Plata. It is 1140 metres high.  

Pico del Dueno

 Along the way we also met another pilgrim who was doing the camino- backwards. He started in Santiago and was walking home to Seville. At least we are comforted knowing that it will be getting cooler the further north we go. But…. for this guy, I don’t know how he will survive. Seville is known as the “frying  pan of Spain.” It was 39 degrees there today and getting hotter. 

A free pilgrim refuge donated by the Blackfoot First Nations tribe of Brocket, Alberta

Passed a few interesting tidbits along the way. Someone had put out a hipbone and a skull and had written on it ‘Pelegrino total” Now… …does that mean  “an entire pilgrim” or ‘Go pilgrims go?”

                                                                                                                                          

Tonight we are staying in San Pedro de Rosadas. This will be our last village until we walk into Salamanca for another rest day,

                                      

Day 28 and 29 Carcaboso to Banos de Montemayor

Day 28                             Carcaboso to Jarllia                                                      30kms

Today was a gorgeous walk, we passed recently harvested cork trees and Lorax trees. 

All was great, except for the last couple of kilometers on the highway. Unfortunately we needed to walk the highway because we had decided to take a detour to a highway hostel, rather than walk another 11 kilometers to the next village. It was blooming hot!!!! 

We left at 5 am, as usual, and it was already muggy then.

 Usually we get about 3 hours of morning cool before the heat creeps in but NOT today.

But, the reason today was so arduous was because we took a long, interesting break at a place called Caparra, which used to be a thriving Roman city 2000 years ago. The original Via de la Plata Road went right through Caparra and right through this arch indicating the commercial importance of this town. 

The original Roman Road

The original city covered an area of 14 hectares. So far they have only excavated the equivalent of one  city block. It was pretty impressive.

Probably the best thing about today was getting the official announcement that Max is going to the Olympics. We knew he was going but it wasn’t official until today. Here is the press release.

http://pedalmag.com/?p=162754&c

Day 29                             Jarilla to Banos de Montemayor                           22kms

Today’s walk was nothing to write home about, in fact it was pretty horrible. Hey….. it’s Ok if you like walking in the dark on pavement, at times a very narrow shoulder and with huge semi -trucks  zooming by. I was complaining so much that at one point Spencer stopped….. turned ….. and said “Suck it up, baby or take a taxi.” Knowing full well a taxi was not an option, I had to suck it up. But… it reminded me that one must experience bad in order to appreciate what good is, just as one must experience turmoil to know what peace is.

The reward for all the suffering today was that we arrived at a quaint village called Banos de Montemayor. Banos, as the name suggests, is a thermal spa town, set in the mountains.

Of course the Romans founded it. It has natural hot springs that come out of the ground at 40 degrees C.  We actually didn’t partake in the spa because we didn’t bring bathing suits or bathing caps but… I did go and have a facial and a massage, all for 1/4 the price of what it would cost in Canada or Tasmania

What a life!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

We are also staying at a luxury hostel that is even cheaper than Hostel Malaga (the filthy one we had to break out of)  Often places will give pilgrims a special deal for either food or accommodation. 

Day 25, 26 and 27 Caceres to Carcaboso

Day 25      Casar de Caceres     to     Canaveral            39kms

Well, that was some day!  I have never in my life walked 39kms with a full backpack.  

  Today was one of those days in which progress got in the way of beauty. This whole area is being refitted with a new highway. Several times we had to walk around road construction. The one beautiful part of the walk today was the damned lake area called Embalse de Alcantara. Just like Lake Pedder in Tasmania, this whole area has been dammed for hydro purposes. There actually is a whole town under the water and in the distance you can see a square tower sticking up. That is the remains of the submerged church tower.

We finally made it Canaveral after 8 hours of walking  (including a 30 minute lunch break) to discover this quaint little stone village. 

 Most of the houses were crudely made of stone.

Found one house that had been renovated using the more traditional style but sadly most of the people that live in these small villages are elderly.

 Hardly any of these little villages have young families. Most of the people we see parading in the evening are elderly. 

We really notice it the further away we get from the big cities. The only time the villages seem to have some life to them is on the weekends when the kids come home to see the old folks. Sunday night is a nice time to be in the square to watch sons or daughters walking arm in arm with their elderly parents. 

Even the older women do house maintenance

Had a bad experience with our accommodations here. Unfortunately,we had to stay at Hostel Malaga because it was the only place in town , everything else was closed, . The hostel, the rooms and the restaurant were incredibly filthy. There was no way we could eat a meal at this place, so we went down the road, had a delicious meal of octopus salad, stewed chicken and homemade cheesecake. When we returned, the rude owner started yelling at us for not dining at his hostel. We were polite and then told him we were leaving at 5am. He said “No.” We weren’t sure if he meant  OMG… that’s early or NO!  Anyways… come 5 am we try to leave, only to find the nasty owner locked us in the hostel. We could not leave and the bar didn’t open up till 8 am. We noticed that the door to the bar was open, so we pushed on it and suddenly all the alarms and sirens started. After a few minutes of horrendous noise, no one came so we grabbed a pile of keys that were left on the bar counter and after 20 minutes of trying the whole ring of keys, we found the right one to let us out. We escaped as fast as we could with  alarms blaring behind us. We took a different route out of town just in case the owner came seeking revenge.

Day 26                               Canaveral to Galisteo                                         28kms

Today was kinda fun. We FINALLY met a group of 5 older Spanish men walking the camino.

 We caught up them as they tend not to walk as fast as us. They were lots of fun, singing like the 7 dwarfs as they walked. It was good to have company because today’s walk was very, very confusing and we got lost. Apparently there is a very disgruntled farmer who doesn’t like pilgrims tramping through his field so he has changed all the arrows to go through a different village. This new path is several kilometers longer. Well… Spencer and I decided that we would stick to the original route and face the angry farmer if he showed up, and all the Spaniards followed us. I think they let us go first like sacrificial lambs. Well, the farmer never showed up but neither did the guiding yellow arrows. In the end we had to tramp though the farmer’s fields to get to our final destination of Galisteo, no wonder he hates pilgrims!

Galisteo turned out to be a nice surprise. It is a walled village, completely intact and well preserved. 

coming into Galisteo

The gate of  Santa Maria

It dates back to the 12^th century when many of the villages here had “The Knights of Santiago” stationed in them, to help protect pilgrims along the way. I guess nowadays they would be called “The Guardia Civil?”  

on the wall looking into Galisteo

 Had a quiet evening here and we were very well treated by a kind hostel owner.

Day 27                      Galisteo to Carcaboso                       only 11kms

 I still haven’t fully recovered from whatever I had, so we thought we should have a real short day. We walked early to another little village 11kms away, found our lovely pilgrim albergue (with another friendly owner) and then took a bus to sight see the city of Plasencia. This city has a pretty glaring cathedral that started out in the Romanesque style in the 12^th century, then changed to Gothic until the 16^th century which then brought in the Renaissance style. The blend is impressive and gaudy, all at the same time.