1995 Eivissa (Ibiza): Walking the camino viejo

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Gran Canaria

 

1995

3 Months

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A Jewel

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1995 Eivissa (Ibiza): Fish Monger

A Roar

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Bye E, Hello GC

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Where

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1995 Gran Canaria: Potpourri

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Heading Home

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With Dad

Back at Home

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1995 Eivissa (Ibiza): Walking the camino viejo

Sunday 24 Sept 1995

On Sundays things for the most part grind to a halt. Most indigenious people, who are overwhelmingly Roman Catholic, go to church and celebrate the Lord's Day with their families. Expatriates, I've learned, hunker down at home for the day, doing chores around the house. Today I didn't want to be involved in the stress of home life. I decide to go on a "walkabout".

Valley panorama

Because my hiking boots are still at ECO, I grab my Teva sandals and fanny-pack and bid my hosts a good day. I have no real destination in mind, so I head out on the low road, the one that leads me deeper into the valley in which Danel and Shraddha's house sits (shown in the thumbnail above; the full-size image is 454 kb). A quarter-hour later I abruptly change my mind, and back-track to take the high road, which will take me to the camino viejo, the old adandoned stone and dirt path to Sant Joan.

Pampas on path

Trashed Citroen

It's a beautiful, tranquil path, lined in many places by pampas grass (thumbnail at left) and protected by overhanging pine trees. I pass by fields of almond trees and maize, past the occasional rusted hulk of a once-useful automobile (right), and, to my heart-pounding surprize, a dog kennel (below).

Barking dogs

Tunnel to town

I coast into town an hour after I've left the house. The old path ends up by going under an overpass through a tunnel (at left) and leading to the church.

The crowd at Fernandito's is completely different from the weekend crowd. A dozen Spanish men are inside, including Peé, the parish priest, who sits sucking on a cigar and downing coffee while relaxing with his flock after services. Their voices range from Peé's calm tone to one of the parishioner's deep growl. On the counter of the bar Peé has left a well-worn hymnal. On top of the book is the key to the old church, a huge key at least 10 centimeters long, with teeth that bespeak a time when locksmithing was a rare gift, the skills of a secretive guild.

Parked on the street outside Fernandito's is something that looks like a blend of a fire truck and something out of a Mad Max film. A placque on it's door says sefobasa (Serveis Forestals de Balears) - Fernandito explains that it's a cross-country fire-fighting vehicle, here because its crew wants to attend Mass.

Two middle-aged Dutch tourists who are staying in town stop by Fernandito's for breakfast, although what with the change from daylight savings time and sleeping in on Sunday, they each order a Paletilla de Cordero from the lunch menu. A huge mass of meat arrives on each of their plates, along with a gigantic quantity of pommes frite and a beer or three. While working on this feast the man zips open a small briefcase to choose from a selection of pipes and tabaccos.

It takes me forty-five minutes to walk from Fernandito's to the turnoff to Benirràs, and that again to reach the playa (beach). Along the way I spy a tree along the road with two small ripe apples within reach. The walk is dry and dusty, but I pass evidence of yesterday's rains. One of the orchards past which I walk is filled with singing birds. Not one of the regulars is at the beach, not even Siggy, who this morning said he'd be here. The water is clear; the jellyfish that terrorized swimmers one day last week, and sent several children fleeing from the surf after being stung, have completely dissapeared.

Oops!

On the return walk from Benirràs I have the good fortune to spot some grape vines planted atop a fence. A few ripe bunches are within reach of someone on foot. I pick some and eat while I walk. Just before reaching the last turn before town, across the strect from the gas station, I stop to smell the roses a gardener has tended by by the side of his home.

My walk from Sant Joan to Benniràs and back has taken three hours, making it a total of four hours walking today.

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