Videos of the Camino

Here's a nice one that shows the trail and countryside, even if it is from 2004
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmgK7jSfg44

here's one with black and white photos.
http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xtgz4pAvLi4

Back to Accommodations on the Camino

This is a list of albergues on the camino
http://caminodesantiago.consumer.es/albergues/

The infocamino site offers a lot of information on restaurants and accommodations by stage
http://www.infocamino.com/

For instance, here is the information on the camino in the province of navarra:
http://www.infocamino.com/etapa.php?provincia=mapanavarra.php&etapa=0

The restaurants look a little kitschy.

In any case, Papi and I will have to sit down at our new internet connection at home and go over the infocamino.com site just to see what is available and what to expect.

Here is the tourism site for the Kingdom Of Navarra
http://www.turismo.navarra.es/

Here are some hotels to check out

Ronscesvalles
http://www.casadebeneficiados.com/

http://www.laposadaderoncesvalles.com/preciosposada.htm

Puente la Reina
http://www.bidean.com/

The Chaparros Conquer A New State

So last week Mandy and I decided to finally look into that Spring Break trip and we managed to find a priceline deal that we couldn't resist....on Waikiki beach in Hawaii!

We're not going for too long (five nights), but I think it's enough to really get some good suntanning, snorkeling and just plain relaxing done. But I'm posting here for your help because we really want to explore all of the island and not just the touristy beaches. So far, our list of stuff to do includes....

1. Dole Plantation
2. hiking up to Manoa Falls
3. snorkeling in Hanauma Bay
4. possibly a catamaran whale/dolphin/turtle watching excursion
5. Bishop Museum
6. North Shore to check out the surfing and views
7. hiking Diamond Head for sunrise
8. Pearl Harbor
9. Byodo-In Temple
10. Lyon Arboretum hike

But we'd like any and all suggestions or things you may have heard about Oahu!

Zubiri

Here are some accommodation possibilities for Zubiri, between Roncesvalles and Pamplona

http://www.alberguezaldiko.com/
10 euros per person

http://www.hosteriadezubiri.com/
65 euros for a double

Weather on the Camino

This website has maximum and minimum for the months in centigrade
April:
Pamplona's average maximum is 15.5 or 60 F.
Its average minimum is 4.9 or 41 F.
Its daily temperature is 50 F. That means we should wear long pants maybe.

May:
Pamplona: max 67, min 47, daily 57.
Logrono: max 70, min 49, daily 59.
Burgos is colder: max 63, min 42, daily 53.

Albergues/Refugios and other Lodging

The accommodations sound intimidating.
Here's a list of possibilities from consumer.es.
They offer user opinions which only make it more difficult since there are some very positive and others very negative. All they have to do is mention "piojos"...

Distances on the Camino

Here's a running total of the mileage and the stages.
It's from http://www.xacobeo.es/
You can also get all the consumer.es .pdf files for the Camino Frances in one printout.

1. Roncesvalles - Larrasoaña
Length: 27,3 km
Estimated time: 7 h
Distance to Santiago: 720 km
Difficulty: High
27.3 km /16.96 miles
(Note: many Americans seem to stop in Zubiri instead)

2. Larrasoaña - Pamplona
Length: 15,2 km
Estimated time: 4 h
Distance to Santiago: 704 km
Difficulty: Low
42.5 km /26.41 miles

3. Pamplona - Puente la Reina
Length: 23,5 km
Estimated time: 6 h
Distance to Santiago: 681 km
Difficulty: Medium
66 km / 41.01 miles

4. Puente la Reina / Gares - Estella / Lizarra
Length: 21,8 km
Estimated time: 5 h 30 m
Distance to Santiago: 659 km
Difficulty: Low
87.8 km / 54.56 miles

5. Estella / Lizarra - Los Arcos
Length: 21,3 km
Estimated time: 5 h 15 m
Distance to Santiago: 638 km
Difficulty: Low
109.1 km / 67.79 miles

6. Los Arcos - Logroño
Length: 27,9 km
Estimated time: 7 h
Distance to Santiago: 610 km
Difficulty: Medium
136.9 km / 85.07 miles

7. Logroño - Nájera
Length: 29 km
Estimated time: 7 h 15 m
Distance to Santiago: 581 km
Difficulty: Low
165.9 km / 103.09 miles

8. Nájera - Santo Domingo de la Calzada
Length: 21 km
Estimated time: 5 h 15 m
Distance to Santiago: 560 km
Difficulty: Low
186.9 km / 116.13 miles

9. Santo Domingo de la Calzada - Belorado
Length: 22,4 km
Estimated time: 5 h 30m
Distance to Santiago: 537,5 km
Difficulty: Low
209.3 km / 130.05 miles

10. Belorado - San Juan de Ortega
Length: 24 km
Estimated time: 6 h
Distance to Santiago: 513,5 km
Difficulty: Medium
233.3 km / 144.97 miles

11. San Juan de Ortega - Burgos
Length: 29,3 km
Estimated time: 7 h 30 m
Distance to Santiago: 484 km
Difficulty: Low
262.6 km / 163.17 miles

Vegas in less than 48 hours

I know it's not international, but I figure that we should post about all our ramblings, no matter how mundane. Plus, i doubt most of you have seen my pics from Las Vegas.


It was a very spontaneous trip because we had planned on going to santa barbara for the weekend, but after comparing hotel prices (150 for one night in santa barbara versus 130 for two nights in vegas) we took off on our four hour journey to sin city on the Thursday night before MLK weekend.

However, we did pretty well with the vices. Since mandy doesn't really drink (she turns red and about passes out after one) we spent most of the time walking around, shopping, checking out the sites. It was a much more relaxed time than the last time I went with the guys. We saw the water show at Bellagio (sounds corny, but really quite amazing), checked out the Chinese New Year Display at the Bellagio and even went to the M&M store (well that was mostly because it was hovering around 32 degrees all weekend and inside is better than out).

On Friday we went to a Cirque de Soleil show at New York New York called Zumanity. Unfortunately, I think they are just mass-producing them at this point, trying to cash in as quickly as they can. It was mediocre both in performance and music as well as lacking the sheer awe factor that often accompanies the Cirque de Soleil shows. Skip it and go see Eau when you are in town (I've heard it's amazing).

We also did a timeshare presentation for some gift certificates and blackjack tokens, but that's a whole other story ;-)

if you want to see the rest of the set on flickr, here's the link

No Turning Back!

Today I bought our plane tickets, leaving April 28th and returning late Monday May 14th. Oh my god. I forgot to ask Papi if he had a class on Monday...

I'm beginning to read blogs about the camino again.

One blog from May 24, 2006 talks about being left off at the bus station at 5 am in Pamplona and he said it was FREEZING and that he should have packed long pants!

Here's the website of a couple from San Diego who did the camino in 2003.
http://www.ourcamino.com/links.html.
They have a schedule of their walk and a list of the clothes they took.

More on Roncesvalles

The Official site of Roncesvalles has information on accommodations

Roncesvalles offers the regular refugio, a youth hostel, and two hotels:
La Posada (50 euros - $65 for a double; pilgrims meal is 8 euros, $10.40)

To Get to Roncesvalles
Take a RENFE Train at 9:50 am from Madrid to Pamplona, arriving at 13:20 (1:20 pm).
And then take a bus at 6 pm from Pamplona and arrive in Roncesvalles at 7:10pm. (But isn't that kind of late to arrive at the refugio?) This will give you a chance to see all the towns you are going to walk through for the next two days.

Roncesvalles

I figure that this would be a good place to start. St. Jean Pied de Port might add too much strenuous hiking over the Pyrenees at the very beginning of our trip.
The Wikipedia entry for Roncesvalles says that its Refugio is the first one of any size on the trail and one of the best.

The article in caminodesantiago.me.uk says:
"The albergue at Roncesvalles is one of the largest on the Camino, about 120 beds in the one large room, quite daunting...The need for ear plugs becomes apparent. The noise of 119 sleeping pilgrims is enough to keep anyone awake."
"Roncesvalles is not a town, more a tiny village. There is no shop, two bars and the church. Book your evening meal at one of the bars before the evening service in the church. The bars get very busy so if you don't book you will wait sometime or not get a meal at all. There is nowhere for breakfast here, (when I was last there). However only about one hour away (walking of course) there is a cafe which serves breakfast to pilgrims. It is well marked and on the route. "

The service in the church is worth attending.
Walking from Roncesvalles is easy going and not hard or challenging.

On the other hand, has the Collegiate been turned into rural apartments?
Casa de Beneficiados. It costs 60 Euros for a double.

Back to the Camino

We survived Colombia and Andres Carne de Res and are now thinking again about the Camino de Santiago in April/May. According to this Camino weather page, May is the rainiest month.
http://www.peterrobins.co.uk/camino/weather.html

Trip to Boyaca

Here are some possible destinations in Boyaca

Nobsa: Municipal Government
Some of the attractions they list are:
Viñedo Y Cava Puntalarga
Tejidos En Lana
Fabricación De Campanas
Fabrica de Muebles Coloniales

Terra.com also has this posted as a recommendation:
Tour Fantasia boyacense

And speaking of fantasy, this one is in Bogota in December
www.larutadelafantasia.com.

Camila's Trip to D.F.

Wow! Those pictures of Coyoacan and San Angel were great. Will and Jen, are you sure you don't want to spend Thanksgiving there instead of in Puerto Rico?








We could take a stroll along Avenida Francisco Sosa and look at all the virgenes and pretty doors and door handles, not to mention the knockers.



Look how colorful everything is! Wouldn't Pittsburgh be much more exciting if it had some brightly colored houses and candy stands?

Looks like this is a monologue

Yep, I'm talking to myself again!
I wonder if I will make the camino now that I have this iliotibial band tendonitis.

Blogger is up and running again

OK, everybody! time to get busy posting.
Papi: please log in and post a Puerto Rican photo to the blog.
I have discovered two new books at amazon on the Camino.




A Pilgrim's Guide to the Camino de Santiago
Walking the Camino De Santiago (2nd edition)
Naturally they don't have them in Pittsburgh

Adding Blog Authors

OK, Camila, Juan, and Papi,
You have been added to my blog authors list.
Right now only we can read it. Of course, when it gets to be interesting, I might open it up to the rest of the family and then, who knows?, maybe to the world!

I was also reading a Johnny Jet Post on the Camino de Santiago on Frommers:
http://www.frommers.com/articles/4033.html
No, he didn't do it, just wrote about it and stayed in 5 star hotels.

Beginning at the Beginning

This is the first post in the Xaparro Ramblings, which we hope we can sustain.

Our first ramble will be to Colombia, visiting relatives more than being tourists, eating typical food rather than visiting gourmet hotspots, touring supermarkets and neighborhoods instead of museums and historical monuments.