Day 1: From Longmont, Colorado (USA) to Porto, Portugal

I honestly didn’t think I would do any real hiking today. I was wrong.

I thought today would be all about air travel and a quick trip to the Cathedral in Porto to pick up my “credential”, and it was… but I did manage to get a couple of miles in.

Met lots of cool people headed to Porto for the Camino at the airport in Newark. Awesome. Then off to get my head wrapped around the idea that yes, I’m here, I’m doing this, I know it’s going to be hard, knowing that isn’t going to make it any easier, but here we go!!!

Made it to the Cathedral where for €2, I bought my credential (the booklet used for collecting stamps (sello) from the places you have visited). It is possible to collect a sello from albergue (hostels), churches, museums, even food trucks. So many places have a stamp.

The credential is more than a souvenir, though. It’s like a Camino Passport and is required for receiving the “Compostela” (certificate of completion) from Santiago.

I met some wonderful folks in the Newark airport and on the plane to Porto. I shared a hired car from the Airport to near the Porto Cathedral with Maria from Texas. After she settled into her albergue, we did a little bit of sight seeing, bought our pilgrim credentials at the Cathedral, took in the views from the Cathedral’s plaza, and walked down to the river and back to drop Marie off at her Albergue.

The part of Porto we saw today is all about cobblestone walkways and red tile roofs. Very beautiful, very brutal on the feetz.

After that, I decided to walk the 2.19 miles to my first Alburgue in Porto and was happy to find out the directions I received from Google Maps actually directing me to walk along the Camino! My first clue was a yellow arrow! Those familiar yellow arrows were subtle, but not impossible to spot.

The weather is overcast and it’s been a light drizzle off and on, and I got pretty chilly as I sat in the courtyard of a small church, snacked on an apple that I picked up at the airport Starbucks, rehydrated, and wait for my Alburgue to open at 2:30.

Initial observations? Dang. My pack is heavy (it’s only 14 pounds, feels like 1400). And I only walked about 2 miles! There are some days where I’ll be walking up to 10 times that! Maybe it has something to do with the fact that I haven’t slept for more than 24 hours.

I think I’ll get some sleep tonight and use a delivery service to ship my bag ahead tomorrow. The hope is that walking without that extra 14 pound pack will help me acclimate to the walk. I may decide to do that the whole way, who knows?!

Porto is a beautiful city. Sections of it near the river had some VERY steep climbs along narrow, rain-slick cobblestone and tile roadways. The traffic is insane, but the city is absolutely beautiful.

I booked a stay at the Albergue de Pelegrinos du Porto for €60. For that I have a nice, private room with a private bathroom (shower/sink/toilet). A 50% deposit was required when I booked the room via email a couple of weeks ago. I paid the balance upon arrival.

My room is up a 3-story flight of stairs. It is spacious and comes with bedding and a towel. There is a communal kitchen, locker storage, an outdoor seating area and a host of friendly volunteers.

After a quick tour of the albergue, I took a shower before napping for a few hours. It’s 7pm and I am debating whether I want to leave my comfy warm bed and go out to get some dinner. My future self will thank me if I do, so ….

Mission accomplished! Got up, got some questions answered, scheduled my bag delivery, secured dinner at a nearby grocery store, returned to the Albergue to share a bottle of wine with fellow pilgrims and volunteers, and yeah… I’m ready for sleep and a new start tomorrow.

So, if you’ve read this far – then you probably know me well enough to know I suffer from pretty serious social anxiety. Don’t we all? But for me, it can be crippling. Isolation is a trauma response. So, I can absolutely crumble, withdraw, and isolate when facing the idea of meeting new people. Sometimes I get paralyzed or terrified about it, actually.

But I did it. I got my sleepy butt out of my warm cocoon, asked at the desk about shipping my bag, went to a grocery store, and brought back a bottle of wine to share with others while I ate my dinner. Yes. I confess I bought some peanut m&ms. No, I haven’t opened them… yet. 🤣🤣🤣

I SO enjoyed the experience meeting the volunteers and pilgrims at this Alburgue. And I got help with shipping my bag, a refresher course in using What’s App to schedule bag pickup… great advice on where to stay next, and the hike to the grocery store with just the necessities in my day pack??!… priceless.

Tomorrow’s plan. Get Up, packed, Stowe the big bag as instructed for shipping, and start what I’m going to call Day 2 of the hike.

I’m VERY excited about tomorrow’s stay in a monastery. (Ha! Just learned to spell monastery!)

Ok. I can do this. I can. Pretty sure, … wait, nope!… I can. I can. I can. I… zzzzzzzzzz…….

Cheers!

V-