2016-04-12 Tuesday
Kyoto / Takahara
We are in Kyoto to meet a tour group for a 7-day hike on the Kumano Kodo Ancient Trail, a trail that links several ancient Shinto shrines in the Kii peninsula on Japan's main island. Shinto is the native Japanese religion. Worshipers revere nature gods and the religion still underlies all aspects of Japanese culture and society., Kumano Kodo is a "sister" trail of the Camino de Santiago. If you get a pilgrims “passport” and stamp it at the shrines along the way you get an certification of accomplishment. This, together with a “Compostela” allows you to get a special dual-pilgrimage certificate.
Last night we met our group for introductions and dinner. There are ten of us and one Japanese guide.We are seven Australians, one American and two Brazilians. There’s only one couple, the rest are singletons. Several are married, but partners didn’t come., There are only three women. Our ages vary from mid-20s to mid--70s. We went for dinner in private dining room at a traditional Kyoto restaurant known for it’s multi-course traditional Kyoto cuisine. We introduced ourselves and got to know each other over the many courses of delicious and exquisitely arranged morsels.
Kyoto was just the meeting place. First thing this morning after breakfast in the hotel we took the train to go to Takahara, in the Kii Peninsula to start our hike. Our bags were dispatched to a hotel to be retrieved on Day 3., We must carry everything we need for the next 3 hiking days in our backpack, on our backs. We spent three comfortable hours on the train and forty minutes on the bus to get to the trailhead.Before heading out on the trail we stopped at a covered rest area/convenience store for a bento box lunch.
After lunch we started our hike, stopping to take pictures at the Torii Gate marking the trailhead:
The trail turned out quite steep, today we are hiking only two hours, but it was quite strenuous.
Trail marker:
Walking through the woods:
Shinto Shrine on one of the mountain peaks:
Rice paddy on a mountain terrace:
After some huffing and puffing we reached today’s destination, the Organic Hotel Kiri-no-sato. It is very small, just 10 rooms, but each room overlooks a valley with beautiful mountains on the other side. It has an onsen, so we immediately we hit the baths to soothe our sore legs.
View of the valley and mountains:
Sunset:
After onsen Delio and I went to the bar for pre dinner drinks . We found the innkeeper behind the bar. A very friendly guy, we quickly discovered he spoke flawless British accented English and an excellent Spanish. From then on he insisted on addressing Delio and me in Spanish only! He went to school in London and spent several years in Spain.
While we drank and chatted, the innkeeper fired up an outdoor wood pizza oven and said that although our dinner would be family style Japanese dinner, he would serve pizza as one of the courses as he was very proud of his pizza making abilities. Helping to serve the food was a 22-yr old French woman, spending 3 months in Japan working on organic farms and food establishments for room and board. She was part of a government-sponsored program to foster organic farming in Japan and to introduce Japanese culture to young men and women. This inn serves locally grown organic food.
Our other trail-mates started to trickle in, and Jean, the innkeeper’s chosen name, learned that tomorrow will be our companion Melissa's 50th birthday. He opened a bottle of a local fizzy plum wine, that he claims you can only drink in a few places this area and in a Michelin 2-star restaurant in Tokyo, because the production is tinyl and artisanal. It was delicious.
The dinner was fantastic, a simple presentation but very tasty. The high marks were a toro sashimi (tuna belly) so buttery that it melted in my mouth and a dish prepared on the table in an iron pot over fire In it were layers of cabbage and thin slices of marbled beef on top ina broth almost covered the cabbage. An iron lid covered the pot tightly and there was a small hole in its top. We were told that when vapor started to come out of the hole the food was ready and should be eaten immediately, dipping the food in a mixture of vinegar and soy sauce provided in a little pot. The cabbage was cooked "al dente" with the edges slightly burned and caramelized where it touched the hot iron pot. The beef on was cooked just right, no pink, but not overdone either, it melted in your mouth.
The pizza was excellent, Jean is justified in his pride of his pizza making skills. Dessert was raspberry sorbet. After dinner everybody retreated to their rooms, but Delio and I stayed in the bar-restaurant area for after dinner drinks, as it was not yet even 9 PM. I peered into the kitchen and saw the cook, an old Japanese woman, back hunched with the weight of years and hard work and asked Jean if she would be willing to have a picture taken with me I wanted a memento of this delicious dinner, she agreed.
Jean offered us a very nice aged apple brandy and we exchanged life stories while sipping the delicious Calvados. We spent quite some time chatting with the innkeeper sipping the luscious liquor from Normandy. That’s how we learned that Jean had a passion for acoustic guitar playing, especially Flamenco music. He developed this passion and skills when he lived in Spain. He offered to play, we said off course! That’s when the magic began!
He went to the office and picked up his acoustic guitar and started playing flamenco songs one after the other. He is an excellent guitar player. The French helper, Orione, is finishing her 2-week work stint at the inn today and tomorrow she is going away. So Jean invited her to rest a bit from cleaning the dining room before starting to wash the dishes and join us for some wine. The Calvados was by now a fond memory. She is also fluent in English and Spanish and said she knows German as well, has a German boyfriend, is from the North of France and is studying business in college.
Jean continued playing Flamenco on the guitar. Delio asked Orione if she knew how to sing, and she said she would sing a few folk songs Jean did not know any of the songs she sung acapella, and proceeded to perform several French and Spanish folk songs with a beautiful and clear voice. She finished her performance with an amazing rendition of Stand by Me. After that nothing more could be said or done, it was a fantastic cap to a great evening. We went to our room to sleep in our traditional Japanese rooms, on futons spread over tatami floors.
This was truly a Travel Magic Moment. When you travel to new places and are open to the unexpected, you sometimes find surprising things or encounter interesting people. These are truly that memorable, unforgettable moments. So who knew that deep in the mountain range of the Kii peninsula, we would find a Japanese innkeeper fluent in English and with an excellent command of the Spanish language? That he is an excellent flamenco guitar player? That after dinner we would spend wonderful moments listening to him playing flamenco songs while sipping an excellent Calvados? Who knew we would be joined by an young French college student finishing her 2-weeks stint helping in this organic inn in exchange for room and board, who is also fluent in Spanish and English? And that she has a beautiful clear singing voice and would sing folk songs in French and Spanish? Travel is finding the unexpected.