Brock { Abroad }

I wake up to a cloudy day in Oviedo, ready to begin the camino. After printing off some information on the route, the owner of the cybercafe hands me the papers and tells me to get ready for a wet walk. I laugh it off and walk out of the overcast city. Twenty minutes later, I find myself heading onto a freeway towards oncoming traffic and admit defeat. I never have been good with maps. Turning around, I re-enter the city and walk towards someone who can point me in the right direction. I see a nun nearby, and not only does she give me directions, the dear sister walks me to a nearby tourist office informing me that I need to get my pilgrim passport. I’d read about this, but didn’t see a real need to have a piece of paper from a tourism office to validate my experience. I thank the nun and get information and a fairly beautiful phamplet to fill with stamps from cities along the way. On the front, there’s a quote that reads:

El que va a Santiago

y no va al Salvador

visita al criado

y deja al Señor.

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Passing the sight of water crashing along eroding cliffs, night soon began to shroud the mountaintop farms with grazing goats dotting the landscape. Soon, I drift off. Four hours later, I found myself dismounting a very comfortable bus where I was able to stretch out on the empty seat next to me for a make-shift bed. I find the motion of trains, planes, buses, and automobiles very soothing and can actually sleep much better in them than strange beds and sofas in foreign places. I realize just how comforting I find the act of moving to the point of leaving my home for extended periods of time to do so. Upon my exit from the warm shelter of the bus, I am welcomed to the city of Oviedo by rain; reinforcing the idea that this is no welcome home party. After finding a cheap room, I descend into the street and wander as nostalgically as I can through streets of a country that doesn’t seem at all familiar to me anymore. I find the cathedral, quite a beautiful centerpiece to the city, and watch the scene unfold behind water-blotted spectacles. Read the rest of this entry »