Camino de Santiago, part III

              So on we walked, and waited for a cool breeze
              And went without shade, and cursed the sun ---
--- So it doesn't quite scan --- But as we progressed, the afternoons were getting quite hot and dw in particular was bothered by the heat and increasingly by sore feet (not blisters particularly, but by some odd inflammation of her least toes) --- (dw: My "little toes". All of my toes are significant and while I have "little toes", I don't have "least toes".)

In any case, we walked on and at Los Arcos we learned a new (to us) art term: "horror vacui", in particular as it applied to the church interior. (literally: fear of empty space. In art, you can't put in too much detail)  Every, and I mean every, square inch of the interior was carved, painted or gilded and usually all three at once. It was amazing. We sat through the mass and at the start all of the lights were turned on: When the lights hit the gilded, giant retablo it was like being assaulted, suddenly the giant (30' X 50') polished wall, adorned with carvings, statues, paintings, pillars, angels, and saints shone with the supposed glory of heaven -- which was the intent of course. It was amazing. After the mass all of the peregrinos attending (about 30) got a special blessing and then got to go backstage into the vestry. -- One of the few times we really regretted not understanding Spanish. -- The priest showed us and explained some paintings of good quality, and then behind giant double doors (6"X15'X10') -- the door locked with a 12 inch forged iron key -- he showed us relics of Mexico, Peru, Ecuador and of the Spanish Reconquista.  dw and I could understand enough to pick up names and dates but unfortunately that was all.  (mea culpa, we should have studied harder)

     Probably because Los Arcos gets few tourists apart from peregrinos, much of the church was open and we were able to enter the choir loft, sit in the ornately carved stalls, and get a close look at the psalters (they were protected with a glass cover). Because everything was so accessible, this church was as interesting as the larger cathedrals in such places as Pamplona or Burgos.

There were more vineyards at the western end of the walk, but in the middle section, wheat and sunflowers seemed to dominate. The sunflowers north of the path would seem to follow us -- it was amusing, and we (along with many others) brushed off part of the flowers to write our initials on the plants.

The wheat fields though were amazing. The wheat was already harvested, but the straw was baled and piled into giant stacks. The stacks were 40 or more feet high, 50 feet wide and a hundred feet long.  Great piles. (later I found the straw would be used for paper or bio-fuel or a few other things) We were puzzled by these stacks (and I wondered if there was a risk of spontaneous combustion, or arson -- we didn't see any signs of either one) It wasn't clear why the straw was piled instead of being left as bales spread around the field, but the heaps were useful to get behind for a quick whizz.

Still in the wine country, we did stop at the Monasterio Irache, just outside of Estella --- site of the famous wine fountain. And indeed, you can fill up whatever you want for free (people do seem to be somewhat restrained -- There wasn't any sign of 5 gallon carboys) Unfortunately we were there too early, the inside keg was nearly empty, and we just got a half-cup to share. Since it was just at dawn and we had another fifteen miles to walk it was a bit early to knock back a couple pints of red wine but it would have been nice to fill up one of our water bottles.
     As an aside, we thought the Spanish red wine (rioja) -- the vin ordinaire of this region --- was consistently very good and amazingly inexpensive.

 (the jackass in the black hat seemed to think he was being helpful)

Increasingly, dw was bothered by the heat and by her feet. For a few days, I stuffed as much of her load into my pack as I could. But it wasn't enough. Then we tried a carrying service (for a few dollars you can have a service pick up your pack, and deliver it to where you plan on stopping at the end of the day -- there are several companies that do it, including the postal service) I continued carrying my pack, but I did put some of my things into dw's pack.  Ultimately, we took a bus from Burgos to Leon, skipping the Meseta -- the hottest part of the walk. We weren't alone: the bus was half full, mostly with peregrinos when we started, and along the way more got on at each stop. By the time we arrived in Leon, the bus was full.
     Since I felt good I considered walking the Meseta section, but in the end that would have been cutting it too close for our departure date, and I wanted to spend some time in Santiago and Madrid which wouldn't have been possible had I walked. As it was, the time we had in those cities was less than we wanted.

Burgos is the end of Roland territory. The modest hill where he fought Ferragut is noted, surrounded by shabby farm stuff, and planted with a pole on top but there are no more carvings of his great unbreakable sword Durandal. Around Belorado poor Roland is put on his horse Veillantif and told to blow his horn Oliphant (loud enough to wake the dead) elsewhere because starting at Burgos El Cid is the hero of the day. 

POEM OF THE DAY: (Amanda McKittrick Ros) -- the author of what some consider the worse poetry ever written ---
ON VISITING WESTMINISTER ABBEY
Holy Moses! Take a look!
Flesh decayed in every nook.
Some rare bits of brain lie here.
Mortal loads of beef and beer.

HISTORICAL DATUM: In 1983 sacrilegious thieves stole Jesus' foreskin relic from the rectory in Calcata, Italy.   The case remains unsolved. 

WORD OF THE DAY: mallemaroking -- boisterous and drunken partying among sailors in extreme Northern waters. I would suggest anyone living in Sweden should be careful around mallemaroking sailors.                     And so it goes. DJA