Day 1: All the paths lead to the ocean

Dear traveler,

I wake up a bit confused...where am I? This room doesn't resemble with any place that I know. But my memory quickly returns when I see my parents backpacks, with their inside spread all over the place.

Are we unpacking?

"No, Marmot, we are reorganizing." So serious at this time of day. 

"Now, spirits up, it's the first day on the trail!"

It would've been better if she told me we're going to a pasteleria. I would've moved faster. 

We leave for breakfast, to a place which looks a bit strange, where some cucumbers are staring at me from a lightless fridge and they look as they've been suffering from loneliness for some time. We quickly have a bite of the only decent things that we find and we return to our backpacks. 

Dad notices that he brought his water bladder but forgot the hose, a thing that's pressing Mamarmot's buttons as she is the big expert in organizing stuff. I'm just very amused while I'm stashing up in my backpack the few things I'm going to carry in this trip. Ah, it's so good to be a child!

This thought vanishes when Mamarmot points towards a pile of things from the corner of the bed and tells me that those are for me to carry. I got ahead of myself...

We finally manage to hit the road. It's clear that we're not used to this anymore as it's already past 9 and we usually left at the crack of dawn. We quickly get to a stroll area, with wide alleys and water on the left side. Mamarmot tells me that we are close to the ocean. I'd like to tell her she is wrong as this water is quite...a lot and big fat seagulls are making an indescribable ruckus. But I wouldn't want to mess with her at this time of day, especially when it comes to spatial orientation.

There are a lot of runners here and some of them are wishing us „Bom Caminho!”, which is the portuguese version of "Good journey!" as I'll be finding out later.

I keep on wondering where the ocean is as I know we should always see it to the left, and the fact that we did not reach it yet makes me think that it's going to be a very long day. I was hoping I'll start with something more like a warm-up.

We reach a nearby park and we enter as apparently a local market takes place here. Soaps, paintings, knitted objects and wooden decorations. A booth that displays very colorful glass thingies keeps me in one place for a moment, until Mamarmot calls me from a corner of the park. 

Reaching her, my eyes lighten when I see some Japanese symbols on the booth next to where she is standing. Did I ever tell you how much I love Japan? We'll have time for this story. Now back to Portuguese lands, apparently there is someone else passionate about Japan, that's creating jewelry out of origami, of all shapes, sizes and colors. Mamarmot tells me that I can choose something and my eye is caught by a tiny bottle, with a blue paper crane inside. It couldn't have been something more perfect than this. The lady tells me "Arigato" and we continue walking our way. Strange feeling. I'm not even sure which country I am in anymore!

As we leave the park, we see a huge opening in front of us. Things are a bit grey, but seeing Mamarmot's enthusiasm pointing towards something red, I notice a lighthouse. Aaa...we've reached the ocean!

-"This lighthouse marks the beginning of our journey!"

Wait, what? We've walked like more than an hour up to this point! How can this be right?

-"Actually, the beginning of the trail is at the Porto Cathedral, but this is our first meeting with the Atlantic. It's only forward from here, with the ocean on the left. Not a chance of getting lost."

We enjoy the chilly ocean air and the show the waves are making when they crash into the shore. Everything is huge, much more than you can cover with your sight, and then you realize that you're really so tiny in this universe. So tiny as my paper crane in the bottle pendant I'm wearing right now.

The sand has an orangey shade and it's not as soft as I expected. Yes, I don't miss the opportunity to go barefoot and try out the water. 

I see the first wooden bridges that will be part of our trail as Mamarmot was telling me sometime ago. These are built over the rocks and they take you near the water, letting you observe all the living creatures, shells and algae that grow amongst them.

The bridges cross over the sand, over all sorts and colors of plants, from which I can recognize some. And if I don't recognize them, we find all sorts of informative panels about plants, birds and other creatures that call this place a home.

Mamarmot tells me that we've already walked around 18 kilometers and it would be a good time to stop by and eat something. I can't believe that we already walked that far! Either I was too caught into the views, or I became stronger. But when it comes to food, I'd totally eat something. 

In the first resort the bridges take us to, we stop by a small cafeteria where we freeze a bit until we get our food. Yes, I got to freeze in August! But nevermind, I'll be filling my belly now and it will pass, can't wait to eat a ... blue burger? Yes, you got that right. It's as blue as the crane from my tiny bottle. Let's see how the blue color tastes like as I have not tried it before. Hmmm, nothing special, but it's so good. It's always a first time for something.

We continue our walk and I quickly start to take off all my layers. I look forward and the grey that took over the sky all morning, has now made room for a light blue, as the burger I just ate and my bottled crane. At least for half of the sky. It's so beautiful!

The way becomes a bit wilder as we walk and the plants took hold of the sand, rocks and apparently of the bridges too. The bridge disappears in front of us. Either the thousands of ferns around swallowed it or it's just under maintenance. I'll go with the first option. We follow the trail on rocks and sand and I already have the feeling that I am climbing a mountain. Maybe because of the ferns. I mean really, did anyone ever saw ferns on the shore before? 

The trail takes us to a small gulf where some other people are relaxing on the sand at the light of the...mist. We stop for a short break too as I want to cool off my feet a little bit. Ah, it feels so good. 

We then find the bridge again and after a few gulfs and two resorts we reach the place where we planned to sleep today. It's really nice here and, although we're not close to the shore, you can hear the waves crashing into the rocks. I choose my bed, and obviously, it will be the top bunk bed. I was so looking forward to get here!

Back outside, we explore the small village for a little while. It's even smaller than it seems, with just a few houses and a place where we find something to eat and we warm up in the evening light of the sun. And not only us, as a cat is circling around and takes a seat at our table.

As soon as the sun setts, the chill outside takes us back to the albergue. We're several people here in this room but it's really quiet. If I focus a little bit, I can still hear the ocean. Or maybe it's just a sound I've been listening to all day long and it's echoing in my mind.

I did not bring along any plush toy this time, as I knew I'll have to carry it. But I do have the small paper crane with me and I'm thinking about Japan but also about Portugal. In Japan I reached the Pacific and here, the Atlantic and that's how a thought and a small paper crane just bounded two oceans between them. I also remember that in my first journey on the other Camino, I forgot its name right now, a Japanese pilgrim gave me two paper cranes, a mother and a baby. And that's how I bounded two oceans once more. The world is so small and apparently...all paths lead to the ocean.