Vitorino in Hontanas

[peregrina2000]

I am rereading Walking with Sam in order to decide whether I think someone will like it for a holiday present. But I came across this passage, and it brought back a lot of memories from my first Camino. This was in 2000, when there was one Albergue in Hontanas and no restaurant or bar except for Vitorino’s place.

I only wish that the author had provided a little more description of the place itself, which was dark, dirty, and filled with bottles and moldy cheese. But the description of the wine drinking is exactly as I remember it. I believe this guy was also reported to have a lot of inappropriate contacts with women, but my friend and I escaped that.

Does anyone else have any memories of this guy?

 

[J Willhaus]

I have seen a movie with him in it. Might be Flip Floppin on the Camino?

 

[J Willhaus]

Watch Wayfaring - A Jaunt along the Camino de Santiago | Prime Video

After taking on wilderness-oriented trails in the U.S. (the Appalachian and Pacific Crest) and making films about his adventures, Scott Herriott decided to go International. So he spent a couple of months walking and interviewing folks along the Camino de Santiago in Spain and France in the...

www.amazon.com

We watched it a few years ago

 

[OzAnnie]

I am rereading Walking with Sam in order to decide whether I think someone will like it for a holiday present.

I don’t have any memory of ‘Vitorino in Hontanas’ , but your post prompted me to look up the book you’ve mentioned. I got a laugh reading from the last few sections of your screen shot.
The book is new to me but I think it looks like a good holiday read.

 

[SYates]

I remember Vitorino, he was quite the character and yes, he could be 'a bit' too friendly to peregrinas!
BC

 

[Takahiwai]

Once seen, never forgotten! I well remember the hospitalero in Burgos, Jesús, at the lovely old El Parral refugio, specifically warning me that on no account should I stay there. He managed to convey the reason why with some eloquent use of body language.

A few years later, I was walking the Burgos - Leon stretch with a fellow teacher, and as we were approaching Hontanas I told her what I knew of Victorino - local rumour had it that he cruised the paths between Hornillos and Castrojeriz in his coche-cama (a small van with a mattress in the back) looking for lone female walkers. We decided to drop in - safety in numbers - and the place was heaving with young pilgrims. Victorino was soon inspired to perform his famous party piece with a porrón full of red wine, while the pilgrims boisterously egged him on. The place was absolutely filthy, but it certainly had atmosphere. We drank our beers (straight from the bottle, after seeing the filthy rag with which Victorino was drying the glasses) and swiftly moved on.

I'm glad I had the experience, because, like Madame Debril (the fierce gatekeeper of SJPdP) and Jesús Jato, manically throwing together Ave Fenix in Villafranca del Bierzo, Victorino was one of those larger-than-life characters on the camino at a time when accommodation options were far more limited than they are now, especially in winter.

 

[NualaOC]

We met him in a private albergue in Hontanas a few years ago.He was introduced as a Camino legend and the first provider of hospitality in that town. The owners then asked him to demonstrate/perform his wine drinking thing.
To be honest, it felt a little odd and uncomfortable (to me).

 

[Anhalter]

In HaPe Kerkelings book about the camino there is a not very favourable story about him and his albergue. From what i heard, that might be well over exaggerated...
Never seen the man myself, but i remember one youtube video of (very likely) him doing the trick with the wine bottle. But can't remember which it was...

So many original/legendary characters on the Camino... just unfortunately there won't be many to replace them.

 

[wisepilgrim]

I met him 2003, when Hontanas was a dramatically different place. The entrance to town was a junk yard, and Vitorino sat on the steps of his bar/garage. It was from the steps that he performed his grotesque wine pour exactly as described. He invited a few of us in for food, though why we took him up on the offer is a question that keeps me up at night.

I had a bocadillo that was less than yesterday's bread and thickly sliced jamón. A combination of hunger/poverty, scorching heat outside, and curiosity caused me to gnaw my way though the whole thing before extricating myself from the situation.

It has stuck with me.

 

[Colokid]

I read the book after my Camino this year. Cant say I wouldnt appreciate it very much as a gift. It failed to convey a soulful journey. The entitled characters, borish and snarky attitude of the author and his son. Indeed, over-the-top discriptions of rural hardscrabble towns and native/locals are not jsut inaccurate, but to me offensive and quite disgusting contrast to the graciousness and support that I experienced.

 

[peregrina2000]

I read the book after my Camino this year. Cant say I wouldnt appreciate it very much as a gift. It failed to convey a soulful journey. The entitled characters, borish and snarky attitude of the author and his son. Indeed, over-the-top discriptions of rural hardscrabble towns and native/locals are not jsut inaccurate, but to me offensive and quite disgusting contrast to the graciousness and support that I experienced.

Thanks for that comment, I agree with a lot of what you say. I don’t read camino books but I’m considering this one for a friend with a particular issue that this book addresses, having nothing to do with the camino. I just wanted to re-read it to see if I thought it would be helpful or painful for her. But the piece about Vitorino is spot on, and I thought others might have similar memories to mine.

 

[C clearly]

I am rereading Walking with Sam in order to decide whether I think someone will like it for a holiday present.

I listened to the book as an audiobook and would recommend it. Yes, there were some awkwardly honest parts that the author was probably not proud of, but I found it to be thoughtful and relatable. It was especially effective as an audiobook since the author and his son narrated the story.

 

[Richard Ray]

I am rereading Walking with Sam in order to decide whether I think someone will like it for a holiday present. But I came across this passage, and it brought back a lot of memories from my first Camino. This was in 2000, when there was one Albergue in Hontanas and no restaurant or bar except for Vitorino’s place.

I only wish that the author had provided a little more description of the place itself, which was dark, dirty, and filled with bottles and moldy cheese. But the description of the wine drinking is exactly as I remember it. I believe this guy was also reported to have a lot of inappropriate contacts with women, but my friend and I escaped that.

Does anyone else have any memories of this guy?

View attachment 181986

Pg 104-105 of my book, "The Shape of My Heart" has my story of encountering this very interesting Camino character in 2016. (https://www.google.com/books/editio...e+of+My+Heart+Richard+Ray&printsec=frontcover)

 

[peregrina2000]

I listened to the book as an audiobook and would recommend it.

Your recommendation was what led me to read it a few years ago. I agree with some of @Colokid’s criticism, but I think the criticism goes more to who the people are (a rich actor and his privileged son) and the inevitability that that was going to make their camino very different from “the norm,” whatever that might be. What I remembered and just wanted to check up on before giving it to a friend was the opening up into the father-son relationship in a very honest, self-aware and sort of humble way.

 

[Dani7]

I listened to the book with McCarthy narrating and his son reading his parts in the book (dialogue). Made for an interesting listen. Kept my attention. And yes, the opening up of the father-son relationship kept me listening. I enjoyed it.

 

[jwcurry]

Hello all,

There are pictures of Vitorino performing his wine drinking bit in 2003 (according to the calendar behind the bar) available at: https://elcaminodesantiagodesdeasturias.blogspot.com/2016/01/victorino.html

-JC in Salem, Oregon

 

[peregrina2000]

Hello all,

There are pictures of Vitorino performing his wine drinking bit in 2003 (according to the calendar behind the bar) available at: https://elcaminodesantiagodesdeasturias.blogspot.com/2016/01/victorino.html

-JC in Salem, Oregon

That’s fantastic, thank you so much! It was really as creepy as I remembered it.

 

[Dani7]

That’s fantastic, thank you so much! It was really as creepy as I remembered it.

I’m thankful I did not see this in person. Creepy!