"You can’t PLAN a Camino!” Marriett, a South African woman, exclaimed, lying on the floor. She was gaining the will to stand up again and take just a few more steps to the shower, after walking almost 40 km to get to the hostel.
Every pilgrim at that hostel had also hiked the Camino Frances, the same trek I did in 2013. All of us but one Belgian couple were shocked at the struggle to find room at night. Marriett and her friend Shirley had to sleep in a hostel office one night because everything was full. They were still truly horrified about the app and booking system. The Belgian couple was shocked none of us had booked our stay. They had booked their stay every night for the whole trek, which led to Marriett's exclamation.
"I mean, one way to look at it is that this is probably what the original pilgrims had to do. Walk without albuegues and hostels. Just stay where they could," I said to a German woman and the hostelier. We were chatting after dinner.
"That's true," the German woman woman agreed.
"I was so worried about how I'd do with hostels after a 15 month quarantine followed by two years of living alone and working from home. And now I'm like, I MISS HOSTELS!" I told her. Her and the hostelier laughed. It's not happening the way I planned it, but maybe this Camino is helping me break out of my shadows from solitary confinement.
The hostelier was talking about working in hospitality. He also works remotely for an American company, and he was talking about the stark cultural differences between his experience in Europe and working for an American company.
"It's not so easy to fire someone here," he told us. "And working all the time, and no guarantee of health care...it's just, a different quality of life than we're used to in Europe," he said. The German woman nodded.
"And that's why I vacation with y'all," I told him. He laughed.
"This is a tough trip though. Some people show up here in very bad shape, physically."
"The first few days are the hardest," I said. "Don't you think?" I asked the German woman. She just stared at me.
"I mean, the whole thing is hard, but I feel like your body adjusts. The first few days you have blisters and you're so store. You stay sore, but you get used to it. And the skin on your feet hardens so you don't get blisters as much. At least that's my experience."
"On the Camino Frances I didn't get any blisters," she said. My eyes widened (that's a LONG trail with a lot of hills to have ZERO blisters). "But this time, I have one right on my little toe."
"That damn little toe!" I said. "My little toe is why I'm wearing men's sandals right now!" I kicked my leg up in the air. "All of the women's sandals are really strappy and rub my little toe wrong, but these men's sandals are simple and take care of the little guy. Gender may be a social construct*, but my little toe is real and deserves better!" They laughed. The hostelier shook his head while he smiled.
We chatted for a bit, and I went back to my bunk for some reading before bed. The next place I could find to sleep was in Tomar, 40 km away. My plan was to stay an extra day to rest and explore the town after such a long walk.
One of my bunk mates was not a pilgrim, but was staying at the hostel to train her horse nearby. Golegã, about 6 km up the road, is the horse Capitol of portugal, and is very famous. This woman, Katie, also from Germany, was working with a trainer to get her 11 year old mare rideable. The horse had been used only for breeding. The South African women wanted to know all about it, and we all were sad to hear the horse had only been used for breeding.
"It's very common around here," Katie said. "The stallion is everything. The mares are just to bring more stallions."
"You mean there's patriarchy in horses?!" I asked.
Katie laughed and said yes. The South Africans started listing types of stallions that were prized in their country. They asked what horses I knew.
"I only know of Megan thee Stallion," I told them. They were confused.
The next morning at breakfast, the Belgian couple was shocked I was going for 40 km that day.
"You know you'll need a lot of water right?" The man asked.
No shit.
"I have a 3 L bag. I just did 35 km two days ago. I'll be fine."
We chatted and ate. When I got up, I said,
"If you hear of a pilgrim who died between here and Tomar—"
"It was you?" the man asked?
"It was me."
He laughed. "Buen Camino."
And let me tell y'all. That was a long ass walk. But it wasn't so bad.
It is starting to feel more camino-y. I still didn't see many people while on the trail, but the stops are nicer.
I stopped in Golegã looking for a snack, and a cafe worker came out and gave me a lemon tea for free, “for the Camino" she said, and pressed my hand warmly.
As I left the town, a car stopped right next to me. I nervously turned to look at the driver, "BUEN CAMINO!" a woman shouted at me from the car. Little things like this remind me that the spirit of the Camino persists through these technological changes.
By the end of the day, I'd walked 25.2 miles (and I'll have you know, I didn't run out of water). The tops of my feet were bruised, and I had my first blister...yes, on my little toe! (Sympathy pains to you, Germany!) I had to get a private room, and thankfully this one had a very tiny tub! I was very excited to soak my inflamed legs and feet. it helped with the bruising on my feet.
Today, I "rested" while I explored Tomar -- meaning I slept "late" and walked only 17,000 steps in my sandals and without backpack weight.
Tomar is a Templar city, meaning it was the seat of the Order of Knights Templar. This was a famous military order of the Catholic institution, from 1119-1312. They were exempt from taxes so they quickly accrued wealth. They managed many finances for the church which apparently influence modern day finance to this day, but I'm not sure about all of the details there. Some argue they were the first multinational corporation.
They were heavily involved in the Crusades and lost their popularity when they didn't win. They were abruptly ended by the pope in 1312. They rebranded to the Order of Christ, and their wealth was a catalyst in Portugal starting its "age of discovery."
The quick dissolution of such a famous and large organization has been the center of many fantasies. They have been portrayed as villains and heroes in a lot of movies and books.
Gualdim Pais was a Knight who founded the city of Tomar. His statue is still at the center of the city.
I was in the city square early in the morning, and it was just me and a group of four ladies from Singapore. I offered to take their picture, and they took one of me as well. I didn't notice until this evening that they left dear Gualdim out of it. They knew who the star of this show is:
The Knights' castle,Templar castle, still has ruins here.
Beside the castle was the Convento del Cristo, which is now an UNESCO World Heritage site. It was a headquarters for the Templar knights. From what I gathered inside of it, it was also a monastery and housed pilgrims on occasion as well.
While this town definitely has Catholic roots, I was most struck by the synagogue.
As I learned in Lisbon, Jews were forced to flee from the Spanish Inquisition and many settled in Portugal. A synagogue was discovered in Tomar in the early 1900s. It is believed that Jews lived here relatively peacefully.
However, the synagogue was built to blend in with other homes from the outside. It does not stand out in the streets. In fact, I turned off my Google Maps directions because I thought surely a synagogue would stand out, but I almost walked right past it. It was designed this way so as not to draw attention in times of persecution.
This synagogue is only a block from the main square, where a large Catholic Church is. In times of peace, their close proximity symbolized a coexistence between religions. However, again as we know from Lisbon, the Catholic Portuguese king eventually drove the Jews out as well or forced their conversion. This is thought to be the only surviving medieval synagogue in Portugal.
I am always horrified but thankful to learn more about the "other side" in history. Having been raised Catholic, I don't know much about the Inquisition. I only heard of it as a kid because I read every single book in The Royal Diaries and anything like it. The winner writes the history books, and nobody narrates themselves as the villain. It's natural human instinct to want to think of ourselves and people like us as inherently good, but that doesn't make the sins of our ancestors disappear.
It's kind of like when a family member dates your friend, and your family member tells you their side, and your friend tells you the other, and you're like "wow bro, I love you, but that was fucked up. You need to go make that right." That's world history in a nutshell.
Honestly, I have no idea why I'm a psychologist and not a historian. I'm clearly so eloquent.
*Gender as a social construct refers to cultural differences in how we exhibit gender. For instance, in several cultures men wear skirts but in the US they would be harassed for doing so. Don't come at me with politics. I'm a psychologist, not a politician. Leave my little toe in peace!
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