Having walked across Navarre, La Rioja, Burgos, Palencia and Leon, I am now in Galicia, my destination.
Galicia is Spain’s Ireland. Before the reconquista, before the Muslims, before the Visigoths and the Suevi, before the Romans, Galicia was Celtic, and so it remains in many ways. In O’Cebreiero round stone pallozas are thatched with straw.
In Santiago in 2013 Toni and I drank a queimada, a flaming witch’s brew accompanied with a celtic incantation to ward off evil spirits.
In Santiago, bagpipes celebrate civic occasions. The face of Martin Sheen (Galician, nee Estevez) is a map of Ireland.
From Sarria until Rabidiso it has rained every day. So Galicia, like Ireland, is green, very green:
Moss, lichens and ivy cover burly oak trees. Overhead, arching branches make romanesque barrel vaults. The earth is moist underfoot, the air redolent with cow dung. Mountain tops float like islands above the clouds.
The language is Gallego. It is a dialect of Spanish related to Portuguese, but to me it looks like Spanish put through a Buck Rogers decoder ring. The word for plaza, plaza in Spanish, is praza in Gallego. Junta, committee in Spanish, becomes ‘xunta,’ government in Gallego. Church, iglesia in Spanish, comes out ‘igrexa,’ with an’r’ substituted for the ‘l’ and an all-purpose ‘x’ substituted for the ‘si.’
The Camino changes abruptly in Sarria, just over 100 kilometers from Santiago, the minimum to walk for a Compostela. Before, I could walk somtimes for hours without seeing another peregrino. Now, there are always two or three dozen ahead or behind. Before, the others were sharing a great adventure. Now, they are competing for a limited number of albergue spaces.
Tomorrow, after almost six weeks of walking, I will walk with Sam into the great Praza in front of the Cathedral of Santiago. With good fortune, we will reach our destination hours before our scheduled return to our homes and our ‘real’ lives. It is strange to worry about timetables and take-offs after so long moving ‘at the pace of living things.’
My Camino with Toni 
Portuguese to me sounded like Spainish spoken by Donald or Daffy Duck.
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Turns out that a cousin from here is walking the Camino the same time you are. I think she’s a couple of weeks behind you. Glad you mentioned Martin Sheen / Ramón Estévez (my all-time favorite actor since forever: the only #1 favorite I’ve had, or ever will, since first having one around age 13). A few yrs ago, I learned about El Camino & Galicia from the film he made w/his son Emilio, ‘The Way’ (‘El Camino’), their book ‘Along the Way,’ my own research, & a Galician friend of mine there. And now, your wonderful blogs. I recall she told me the ‘x’ sounds like ‘sh’ in English, & can sound like “xs” (“excelente”). I find it interesting that while some of my ancestors are from Spain, though not from Galicia, it wasn’t until you posted the photo of the people w/the bagpipes that I visually sense a large part of the culture of those of my ancestors, including but not limited to a strong sense of propriety & a combination of strong patriarchal structure w/respect for women. (The Irish part of my ancestry is from Ireland itself.) I had a large spiritual experience regarding the Camino, etc, back when I was learning of it (which took me by surprise) & I feel that I should mention this: before Christianity was called ‘Christianity’ it was called ‘The Way.’ I couldn’t imagine then that your journey would echo the story-line in the film in which Sheen’s character carries his son ‘with’ him to his rest. All Love to you & Sam.
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P.S. I looked up ‘palloza’ at images.google dot com. (Your blogs are educational.) My reaction: oh. my. goodness! (Also reminded me of the abode of Bilbo Baggins!) Fascinating.
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Thanks for sharing your camino with us, Chris.
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What a journey, and almost complete. Wonderful descriptions that have kept me with you. Love to you and Sam. R
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Chris – I have travelled many places, but I have never journeyed. Thanks for showing me The Way.
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Chris, I never met you, but I enjoyed many a NYSTEA conference with Toni; she was such a delightful, inspiring person and so much fun to be with, for the few times we actually had time together. I am glad I have followed your journey here. I can feel her presence, her laughter and her wonderful joy of life. Thanks for sustaining it. I hope it has brought you and your daughter some peace.
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You might appreciate knowing that your comment itself brought more peace to someone. It’s partly because when a person thinks & feels some things that she hasn’t been able (for whatever reason) to say, there can be peace if at least they’ve been expressed (by anyone). Also, I recently was especially thinking this in reference to Toni – joie de vivre. I was glad to see you say that (in any language).
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Joie de vivre is one of the French words I do recall from taking the language; I am glad someone else may have found peace with my words. thank you for the note.
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Safe travels back home, Chris. Cannot wait to see you!
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Chris,
Our wishes for safe voyages home for you and Sam.
We look forward to getting together and hearing even more about your journey.
Art and Enid
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