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2023 Passport Chronicles2023 Passport Chronicles
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2023 Passport Chronicles

August - December 2023
Embarking on an epic five-month adventure across multiple Spanish speaking lands to reset my cultural chakras! I’ll be collecting stamps, walking countless miles and creating lasting memories solo and with beloved travel companions. Read more
  • 69footprints
  • 8countries
  • 151days
  • 653photos
  • 19videos
  • 72.5kkilometers
  • 60.8kkilometers
  • 5.5kkilometers
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  • 1.3kkilometers
  • 959kilometers
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  • 22sea miles
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  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    Day 21

    Camino Day 11: Santo Domingo to Belorado

    August 22, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 33 °C

    Total Distance: 24km
    Step Count: 36.9k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 12

    There was lots of motivation to walk today as our destination would see us stay at a really nice albergue with a pool! This was the only time I agreed to make a booking but even then we made it the same day.

    I started walking around 5:15am (still in the dark) and Jorge caught up eventually (at the first coffee stop as usual). We walked together for a while playing games as we went along but then arrived to a very long stretch by the road with not one ounce of shade and over 30 degrees! Jorge turned into the roadrunner and I popped in my headphones and picked up my pace to get the last kms done as quickly as I could!

    In Belorado, we enjoyed a couple of beers with Daniel and Ana, a lovely couple from Muxía (a coastal town of Spain), waiting for the albergue to open. We spent the rest of the day between the pool, the restaurant and playing street fighter on an arcade machine. Such a relaxing day in the middle of the heatwave!

    Around the pool, I bumped into Meik, a German guy who I’d met a few days earlier at another pool, and we ended chatting for about an hour about Spanish. It was lovely to see how much he cared about learning the language to better connect with the locals throughout his camino.

    It also turned out that Meik lives in a town near Hamburg and I was invited to visit when I’m there in late September.

    In the evening, we went into town for a few more beers and nibbles. It’s incredible how at 8pm is when everyone starts to go out in Spain, even the old people and even in the smallest of villages!    Read more

  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    Day 22

    Camino Day 12: Belorado to Agés

    August 23, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 35 °C

    Total Distance: 26.2km
    Step Count: 33.9k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 13

    The heatwave was still in full swing so I woke up at 5:00am to start walking again. I powered through like 12km, got some breakfast and started walking again with Xenia, a girl from Russia who’d be finishing her camino the next day in Burgos. We had a great chat at the brekkie stop and over the rest of the way to Santo Domingo which was the original destination.

    Jorge and Meik had decided to walk together and caught up half way through leaving only dust behind them (as all tall people do!). The trail was nice and shady in the forest but full of annoying flies so we just powered through without any photo stops.

    We were finally chillin’ at the first bar before finding our beds for the night but the town was very small and all the cool places to stay were already booked out. We had the option of more expensive accommodation but started talking to a Croatian man who ended up convincing us into walking another 4km to the next town which had more albergues.

    We were beat from the heat but tagged along with him and another guy from Denmark, who we’d end up befriending and sharing lots of beers with over the next few days 🍻    Read more

  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    1
    Day 23

    Camino Day 13: Agés to Burgos

    August 24, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 36 °C

    Total Distance: 16km
    Step Count: 33k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 14

    Today was a perfectly fun and jam packed day on the Camino. I started off walking at dawn again, as it was cooler outside than in during this heatwave. Soon into the walk, Jorge had caught up and we stopped to enjoy un “desayuno de campeones” at Bocateria San Miguel in Cardeñuela Riopico: tortilla con morcilla, batido de frutas (como en casa) y café. An absolute feast!

    After brekkie, we kept on walking hoping to find the alternate river route into Burgos and avoid a 6km stretch through an industrial zone (epic fail!). Instead of walking that horrendous stretch, we sat at the first bar we found (next to the bus stop), had a drink and waited for the bus into town. 🫣

    First stop in Burgos was the Cathedral square where we ran into Daniel and Ana and we shared a few beers together before they caught their bus back home. A few people were finishing their walks in Burgos so there were many celebratory beers in order!

    After sorting out our beds for the night, Jorge and I indulged in a Mexican lunch and a few more drinks before paying the Cathedral a proper visit. I didn’t know where to look when I was inside, so much to see. Even my neck hurt a bit from looking up so much! This is by far the most beautiful one I’ve seen so far in my life and a must see when in Burgos!

    Burgos also had a few cool laneways full of bars so we indulged in some wine and pintxos and then walked around town some more. We ended up at a bar next to the municipal albergue where we came across the European crew from the night before plus a lovely 20 year old boy from Austria super keen on learning Spanish who’d become part of my camino family for the next few days.

    It wasn’t a late one as the albergue closed its doors at 10:30. I’d also been convinced to have a rest day in town as there’d be theatre in the square so I’d be seeing everyone again the next evening except for Jorge who would leave around noon to go back home 😔    Read more

  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    Day 24

    Camino Day 14: Rest day in Burgos

    August 25, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 30 °C

    Total Distance: 0km
    Step Count: 5.7k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 15

    The rest day in Burgos was nice and vey relaxing. I had lots of downtime to journal and explore the city a bit more. Burgos is so beautiful, probably the most beautiful big city along the way.

    Rest day also meant sleeping in (woohoo!) which felt so amazing and then spent the rest of the morning with Jorge until we had to go our separate ways.

    I went to a cafe or grab some lunch and ended up meeting Jenny from Australia who would stay in town for a few days to recover from blisters and we chatted about the three phases of the Camino.

    The route we’re following has three distinct regions that are meant to align with the stages of personal growth often experienced along the way: physical conditioning, emotional reflection, and spiritual awareness.

    We had just finished the physical conditioning stage and were about to start the second one. Interestingly enough, I had just finished filling the first side of my pilgrim’s passport and it was time to turn the page and start a new one, a very bittersweet moment.

    Later in the day I went to the square for the theatre only to find out there was nothing happening. This was a bit of a let down but still ended the day on a high sharing a lovely dinner with the European crew tasked with looking after me haha: my new camino family for now.    Read more

  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    12
    Day 25

    Camino Day 15: Burgos to San Bol

    August 26, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Total Distance: 28km
    Step Count: 39.6k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 16

    After a rest day (with no theatre), I started the day with Predi and Jannich. Lukas decided to walk alone so we met him almost at the end of the day.

    The walk out of Burgos was quite lovely and we soon found ourselves in the plains, spotting the first fields of sunflowers still in bloom! 🌻🌻🌻

    The day took us through some beautiful villages, including Rabé de las Calzadas where we noticed the door of a little chapel open and decided to go in. We thought it was empty until we were greeted by Sor Modesta, the sweetest nun with the face and smile of an Angel. She welcomed us and gave us each a medallion and a blessing for our way which we wholeheartedly received. 🥰

    Many sunflower fields later and with a scorching sun, we arrived to Albergue Arroyo de San Bol, a little oasis like 1km off the trail in the middle of nowhere. It was only 5 of us staying there, luckily all familiar faces (and most importantly… no snorers!).

    We got to enjoy a communal dinner with delicious Cuban rice with chicken made by the Cuban hospitaleros who left at 8pm and asked the last one of us to lock the door in the morning! We had the whole place to ourselves and we all agreed it was the best meal to date! I slept till 8:30am, absolute bliss. 😅    Read more

  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    1
    Day 26

    Camino Day 16: SanBol to Itero dela Vega

    August 27, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 20 °C

    Total Distance: 27.8km
    Step Count: 38k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 16

    From Arroyo de San Bol, it was a long and very fun day to our destination as there was so much entertainment along the way!

    We walked like 6km to our breakfast stop in the cute little village of Hontanas and from there, another 5km to the ruins of San Anton. When we got to the ruins, there was a couple volunteers who started to talk to me in Spanish. When I told them I was from Venezuela, they asked if I would dance. They said someone was going to sing so I told them if someone would sing that I’d happily dance but the music was opera! 🙃

    A Russian pilgrim ended up putting on a 20min show in the ruins for donativos and it was so beautiful we stayed until the end and chatted to him for a while. Everyone else in our group had moved on and missed it!

    From there we kept walking to Castrojeriz where we visited a church turned museum that projected a short film about the camino on the ceiling. After a quick bite in town, we started the climb up to Alto de Mostelares, the highest point in the plains offering spectacular views all round.

    We were going to meet up with David and stay at a small chapel 3km from the top that only had 8 beds and no electricity but half way through the climb, he called to let us know that there were only 2 beds left and there was 3 of us 🤷🏻‍♀️

    We had to walk an extra 3km to the following town to a donativo hostel that didn’t have the greatest reviews but ended up being another lovely place with one of the most generous communal dinners! The Camino always provides ✨

    All of the Aussies on the Camino were there that night! But I spent most of the time talking to the French lady sitting in front of me on the dinner table. She couldn’t speak English so with my basic French (and a lil help from google translate at times) we talked and talked. I found out she has cancer and had already undergone like 6 surgeries, with another one coming up soon. She was also advised against doing the Camino but she was determined to show her cancer who’s the boss! She had also started her walk in France so she’d been going way longer than me. We talked about life, and love and so many beautiful things, I hope wherever she is on her journey now, she’s patting herself on the back for not giving up! I will always remember her 🥹    Read more

  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    1
    Day 27

    Camino Day 17: Itero to Fromista

    August 28, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ⛅ 24 °C

    Total Distance: 15.4km
    Step Count: 20.9k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 17

    Today was a very cruisy day (pun intended!). We were on our way to Fromista and I’d heard about a boat that navigates along the Canal de Castilla that was meant to be really nice 🛥️

    So I somehow convinced the fam that we should wait until 1pm for the 20min boat ride along the Canal, equivalent to a 3km stretch of the way. This meant that we could start our day late as we only had to walk around 10km to get to the dock and after that just a short walk into the town we’d stay in.

    In the morning, our group had reunited and we set off to have the longest breakfast on the Camino but the boat ride was so worth it! The sky was perfectly blue with fluffy clouds that reflected on the water. The sun was shining and we were all pretty happy to experience the camino in a slightly different way other than walking, especially when you only have to pay €2.

    I spent the whole boat ride talking with locals about the area and then half an hour later, we were at our Albergue for the day. We got there so early and so full of energy that we decided to cook together a meal and I spent a lovely afternoon sketching 🎨

    I also met Gordon from Australia who draws comics for fun and gave me some handy tips for my sketches 🥰    Read more

  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    Day 28

    Camino Day 18: Fromista to Carrion

    August 29, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☁️ 21 °C

    Total Distance: 20.8km
    Step Count: 31.5k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 17
    Injuries: shin splints

    The walk today wasn’t the nicest until the very end but the place where we were going was. I was in a bit of pain from shin splints and the scenery was very uninspiring until the last couple of kms where there were sunflowers as far as the eye could see! 🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻🌻

    Overall, it was an easy and peaceful walk to Carrion de Los Condes where most of the albergues are under the care of one religious order or another.

    We were going to stay at the Albergue de Santa María where the nuns are known to sing to pilgrims. To our surprise, the nuns were away but luckily that didn’t stop the singing. The volunteer in charge was a very charismatic man who could entertain us all for days! 🎸

    The afternoon had a jam packed agenda with singing at 5pm, a pilgrims’ mass at 7 and then a communal dinner at 8. For the communal dinner, we were asked to bring something to share as they would provide the main meal. For €10 which was the cost of the bed, this was a pretty generous offer 🤍

    We spent the afternoon at a bar with a funny American couple, who we’d seen over the days and we left them at 5 to attend the singing hour.

    The singing was very interesting as everyone took part (which was unexpected) and the volunteers had every single person introduce themselves and share why they were on the Camino. There were laughs and tears and so many different and inspiring stories. This was the day I found out why my (soon to become) little brother on the camino was walking. Gave him the biggest hug ever!

    After the singing had finished and all the stories had been shared, the volunteer in charge came up to me and told me a beautiful story that resonated with my journey. He also asked me to meet them at 7am the next day as they wanted to give me a surprise before I left. Why me out of everyone? Who knows… but the Camino works in mysterious ways like that 🤷🏻‍♀️

    Over dinner we also celebrated Veronica, a gal who started walking from Italy and would be walking her 100th day the next day! Simply amazing!    Read more

  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    Day 29

    Camino Day 19: Carrión to Ledigos

    August 30, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 23 °C

    Total Distance: 23.9km
    Step Count: 35k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 18
    Injuries to date: shin splints

    The morning started off with a beautiful surprise delivered by the volunteers of the Albergue. I received a song, a reading from a verses from a specific part of the gospel and a book from the nuns for my journey 📚

    I was overwhelmed from all the socialising the night before so I walked alone and just listened to music. My shin splints also kicked in yesterday and the music helped to distract from the pain. I also called my fam and we talked for like an hour, it’d been a while 🙃

    Leaving Carrion early in the morning was quite beautiful but the stretch from Carrion to Calzadilla de las Cuezas was 17km all straight with not much along the way except for a food truck.

    By the time we got to Calzadilla, I still had a few more kms in me to make the next day shorter. However, the path from here was by the road so I took a lil detour where I enjoyed some solitude and lots of sunflower fields before arriving to Ledigos where there was an albergue with a pool awaiting!

    I spent the best afternoon here: chillin, journaling and then taking in the super blue moon 🌚    Read more

  • Traveler2023 Passport Chronicles
    Day 30

    Camino Day 20: Ledigos to Sahagún

    August 31, 2023 in Spain ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Total Distance: 17km
    Step Count: 29.7k
    Blisters to date: 2
    Tortillas to date: 18
    Injuries: shin splints

    Today we’d be hitting the half way point of the Camino and it was a short day which my leg was very grateful for, even though the shin splints had started to ease.

    I had such a good sleep and woke up so late that everyone had left so I set off on my own. I enjoyed the best animal encounters meeting Bimba and seeing so many teradillos birds flying around in the morning!

    Half way through, I stopped at this cute lil bar for yet another tortilla and saw Tommaso, a cool Italian guy who I’d gotten to know a lil bit over the previous days, and we ended up having a long chat over coffee. We rarely rush and even less so on short days!

    The walk into Sahagun was alright in comparison to most small cities, despite the long winded path. When I got there, Lukas had sorted out an albergue to stay in but the rest of our camino family had moved on, as it happens.

    In Sahagun, we got our half way certificates, went to a pilgrim’s mass and enjoyed a beautiful communal dinner with some people in the Albergue, including David as we somehow managed to meet up randomly every 3 or 4 days without even trying.

    I also got to place a pin on the map, being the first Venezuelan to stay there 💛💙❤️

    The albergue was run by very conservative
    volunteers with a very strict no mixed dorms rules (unless you get a private room, haha) which ended up backfiring for me. I ended up barely getting any sleep because the lady sharing my bunk had a crazy fit shortly after the lights went out over another lady snoring in our dorm and for the next 2 hours, no one would be able to get any rest until she finally left the room. Ugh! 🥱    Read more

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