I don’t think we fully understand the importance of the United States in the world. Yes, we here it talked about on the news, but until you travel with hundreds of people from countries from all around the world and talk to them for hours at a time, you can’t truly comprehend the influence of the US in all aspects of human life on this planet. Let’s examine just a few.
As I walked down the trail with Rosella, a 52 year old woman from Italy we talked about politics and languages. She was constantly working on her English, trying to get better. I said I had trouble picking what language to study. She said, “Your lucky, you already speak and know the most universal language on the planet, English.” Yes, Great Britain speaks English, but the US influence in the world makes English the universal language.
Tonight in the albergue, a German man was playing the guitar. About 10-15 people were hanging around with him in the kitchen. Did he play some old German ballad? Some Spanish guitar work? No. Woody Guthrie’s “This Land is Your Land”. And 15 voices, accented in German, Spanish, Italian, Finish, and more sang together. Their second song? John Denver’s “Country Road”. Their third song? “The House of the Rising Son” about New Orleans. This all occurred in La Faba Spain, a small village up in the mountains in a gorgeous albergue run by German volunteers. What reach the United States culture has.
Every time we meet someone new who is not American (this happens about 20 times a day) we apologize for our insane president and actions our country have taken under his “leadership”. Everyone of them knows who he is, what he has done and much about the political system of the US, right down to the electoral college. Think for a minute. What form of government does Denmark have? Who is their leader? Germany? France? Netherlands? The US is such a major player.
How about technology? Every time we swap emails addresses with someone, guess who their email provider is . . . gmail. Every computer runs Windows software. Apple phones are everywhere. It is fun to hear someone with a pronounced Dutch accent say, “You can google that.” Half the tractors we saw are the familiar John Deere green and yellow.
The point is, the world looks to the US. They are waiting for us to provide leadership and set a tone and standard for behavior, policy and ethics. They don’t want us to run their countries, far from it, but they expect the US to set a high standard, not retire behind our borders with an “us first” attitude.
The hike from Trabadejo to La Faba was short, only 8 miles. Knowing this, we slept in a bit, getting up at 6:05am. We were on our way by 6:45am, walking roads for the first 6 of 8 miles, sometimes on the highway with no shoulders, but only for short distances. We passed through some small villages, nearly empty, and stopped for a pastry and some hot tea at a bakery in La Portela de Valcarce. Did I mention it was freezing cold this morning? About 39º. The hot tea was just the thing, and the 20 minutes in the bakery let the day warm a bit.
We were in no hurry. We talked to many people, not feeling the urge to move quickly. In Las Herrerias we enjoyed the pasture in town, the cafe and the people seated outside.
This adventure is Sally in her element. She introduces herself to nearly everyone that passes when we hike, that is seated near us at a cafe, that sleeps in the albergue near us. She treats each with respect and a genuine interest and thanks them for their time upon parting. Together we work to try to remember all the names, Rosella, Roberta, John, David, Dana, John, Valerie, Denise, Raluca, Fermin, Regina, Jan, David, Barry, Jim, Sara, Hanalee, Aaron, Karen, Tanya, Kelly, Jan, Mike, Alba, Maxi, Gonzalo, Nerea, Raul, D’Anne, Anna Marie, Isabel, Ren, Brian, Sandy, Sophie, Maggie, Nancy, Andre, Horjei (Horga), Andrew, Thorston, Lorenzo, Gaia, Verena, Juergen and. . . . These are the names of the people we have met over the past 220 miles on the trail, at least the ones I can remember off the top of my head. I am sure there are 50 more I can’t recall. Some names are repeated because we have met more than one person with that name. And some of the people have names so foreign to us we can’t remember them, let alone spell them.
From Herrerias we climbed steeply for a couple miles to the town of La Faba nestled on a level spot on a ridge. This is our favorite town to date. Small farms nestled on the level portion of the ridge, buildings tightly clustered together as if they gather strength from each other to cling to the hillside. Out toward the end of the ridge is the church with the most beautiful albergue we have stayed in to date. Run by German volunteers, it is spotlessly clean, well designed and organized and located in an idyllic location.
Sally went to lunch with Valerie shortly after we arrived and I went around behind the church, found an outside stone table and wrote for an hour. The albergue opened at 2:00. Sally and Val returned at 1:50 and I came out of seclusion to sign in and get our beds. We got the best beds in the house, far from the door and tucked behind a wall, almost as if we had a private room.
We spent the rest of the afternoon in the kitchen seated at a table planning the rest of our trip. This included mapping out our daily mileages to reach Santiago in 8 days and making reservations at albergues along the way. This is not something we like doing. We enjoy being more spontaneous so we can shift plans quickly as we meet someone or an event comes to light that we want to attend. But, we have learned that the last 100 miles of the “way” gets very crowded. Tour groups bring in 100s of tourists to walk the last 100 miles and in particular the last 60. This puts a strain on beds in the towns. It is possible to walk into a town and not find a bed, necessitating one to walk to the next town to find lodgings. To avoid this, we are making reservations.
We cooked dinner in the wonderful kitchen, went for a walk through the small village and talked with folks. I spent an hour finishing Wednesday’s blog entry while seated in a lounge chair on the front porch of the cathedral. Sally communicated with friends on Facebook. Afterwards Sally joined the guitar group singing American songs and I prepared for bed. One more great day. Many more to come.
The trail was in the middle of the highway at times, but luckily not for too far a distance. We had to dodge a semi.
The freeway is so far above the towns and trail we didn’t notice it.
Beautiful places all along the way
Anna Marie from Denmark
Herriera- another quaint and cute little Spanish town.
Main Street in La Faba
The Albergue and church in La Faba
The kitchen in La Faba albergue
Another view of the kitchen
Downtown La Faba
Albergue on the left. Church on the right.
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