Post Camino Thoughts

 

Porto

We have been back in the USA for a few days now.  Plenty of time to reflect on the journey and buy t-shirts to commemorate!  Would I do it again?  Probably not, but I would consider other walking vacations that allowed time to really visit the cities and villages we were walking through.  The problem with the Camino was that the distances between hotels each day meant we were walking for 6 to 7 hours a day. That meant that we got to our next location so late and so tired that we did not have time to actually see anything.  For a spiritual person hoping for enlightenment that would have been enough, I think or I guess.  But it wasn't enough for me even though we did see the places in between in ways we could not have done otherwise.  I know I saw the mud up close and personal.  Anyway, these are my "take-aways."

👉Although we were walking through fields, next to rivers and the ocean,  and through forests we never saw one squirrel, one deer, one dolphin, or one anything.  That seems strange.

👉People who live on the Camino trail, at least in Portugal and Spain, seem very content with literally thousands of strangers walking past their homes.  Many greet you with Bom Camino in Portugal or Buen Camino in Spain and seem happy to point you in the correct direction if you get confused.

👉No one sells Camino flags (not even Amazon).  I mean a large flag like the one I dreamed of displaying out my window when I returned to quietly brag to all the neighbors about my adventure.  This is a lost opportunity, in my opinion.

👉Portuguese may look a bit like Spanish but it sounds like an Eastern Bloc language.  I'm sure I could never learn to speak it.

👉The US could learn a few things from these Europeans.  For one, laundromats in both countries include detergent and rinse products in the price.  Both are already loaded into the machines so the user does nothing.  For those who are travelling this is great!  I think for anyone who had to lug big bottles of each to do their laundry it would also be great.

👉Taxes are included in the prices!  Yes, if you buy a glass of wine for 2.5 Euros that IS ALL YOU PAY!  No tax and no tip either unless you want to tip.  So a 2.5 Euro wine is just 2.5 Euros!

👉I'm pretty sure that when I was working I would not have liked the siesta time nor the eating time in these countries.  Why would I want to go to work, then come home, then go BACK to work?  How would I feel eating dinner after 8:00 pm or even later?  Not for me.

👉There seemed to be no excuses for not recycling.  We saw village women pulling handcarts filled with cardboard to the village recycling dumpster.

👉American Airlines (really all airlines) could learn a few things from Iberia.  I'd already indicated that Iberia switched us to an alternate flight when it was clear we would not make connections in Madrid.  They did this WITHOUT OUR ASKING and WITHOUT US EVEN KNOWING!  Two nice Iberia employees stood with our new boarding passes in Madrid.  What a shock.

👉Iberia gives out ICE CREAM bars, good ones, too, about two hours after dinner.  

👉Ice!  In former years one would need to beg for ice in Europe.  NOW, in Spain and Portugal they bring huge ice cubes like the specialty ones we have in the States and they have bagged ice, just as gigantic, in the markets.  LOVED the ice!

👉Sparkling water.  In Italy, France and Germany one can order large bottles of sparkling water.  For some reason the Portuguese and Spaniards must not fancy the sparkling version very much.  Ordering a bottle of agua con gas would yield only a small bottle sort of like the old Coke bottles.  I found that strange.

👉Bus stations in these countries are more like airports in ours.  They are not sleazy looking Greyhound terminals.  Very modern, very clean and very utilized.

👉Suzanne said I should update this blog to include the fact that we did not see a television, listen to a book or watch a downloaded video for 15 days.  She also did not want to look at the news on her phone, but I could not go that far.  No idea what impact all of this had on us, but that’s what it was.

So adios to the Bom Camino.  Perhaps Hadrian's Wall is in our futures.