Day: June 17, 2018

CDS12: Tosantos to Atapuerca

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Another day pushing a little farther! With the sun at our backs, we headed out. Today looked like it was going to be a warm one, even before the sun was completely up. You just couldn’t see a single cloud. The chill of spring in the mornings and evenings is still here, but so is that summer sun. Every day it creeps in a little more, today being so exception.

Debbie was so excited that I took my purple jacket off so quickly (cause I wear it all the time, cause, cold.) and rolled my sleeves up she HAD to get photo evidence. She said we need to document it because I’m never like this! We stopped for breakfast after the first four kilometers and continued on our way!

We walked up a pretty steep hill filled with giant rocks and dirt. Across the top and back down the other side… Only to enter what looked like a dark tunnel, to come out the other side and go straight back up a hill again! It was intense. Debbie rested at the top and looked so comfy drinking her water before we headed back down, then back up again.

After that, it was pretty flat. We walked by loggers, where all I could think about was how I was witnessing deforestation in real life and how AWESOME the animatronics were on this crane they were using! The slightest movements were so visible and possible with every move it made to relocate the logs. Anyways…lol

We had a beautiful Forrest walk into San Juan where the book suggested we stop. We rested for a while and decided to push on an extra 4 miles to Atapuerca. Which was, as to be expected, fairly flat. We had to come down into the two cities before arriving, but mostly flat. By the time we got to Agés (the city before Atapuerca) we were on pavement and walked on that the rest of the way into the town.

The albergue we wanted to stay at only had 36 beds so we wanted to get there quick! And we did. We registered, paid, and walked into a room with none other than Emma and Kieran (her dad). In there with us was a new person to us, Jen. Jen is from Canada and found Emma and Kieran out on the trail so it was a good group of people once again! We went down to the restaurant to have a break and a snack. We sat with Emma, Mike (someone we have met before from Connecticut/Florida) and two new people to me, Frances and Lisa (Ireland). Lisa was planning to do the whole Camino and invited Frances, who is her neighbor, to join for a week. We all gave him a hard time about skipping the hardest parts of the Camino, all in good fun. It was a nice chat and break to kill time until the market opened up again.. Because siesta. We went to the market and I got paella and olives. But was still SO hungry. So Debbie and I went back to the restaurant to share a small pizza, which was yummy. Back there we sat with Mike and Kieran. They talked, exchanging hip replacement stories and discussions of their white hair.

I walked back to grab my water from the albergue and check the market for something similar to icy hot. My shin has been on fire the last two days and SO uncomfortable. But, no luck. I went back to the albergue to sit outside and write. While out there, Jens (pronounced like yen-ce) comes out asking if anyone needs Wifi. I didn’t know who he was at the time but come to learn (after connecting to his hotspot) his name and that he’s from Berlin. This guy is seriously the happiest guy you’ll ever meet. I sat outside, talking with Emma, her Dad and a few other people for a while before heading back to the restaurant- I wanted to watch the first Spain vs. Portugal match. I went with Kieran and the place was packed with locals and pilgrims, it was a pretty sweet spot to be, watching the game. I had my first beer here since being in Spain and watched up to the 70th minute. I was falling asleep and THOUGHT I knew how the game was going to end. OF COURSE everything happened after I left during the last 10 freaking minutes. Kieran and Jen came back and Kirean was eager to tell me what happened. Gah! I missed it. But it was a good night!

Day mileage: 16.2
Total mileage: 177.5
Personal mileage: 17.8

CDS11: Santo Domingo to Tosantos

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Everyone was up so freaking early this morning and I don’t know why! We had like 16 beds in our room and I woke up at 5:58am and only like four people were left in the room! It was crazy. Everyone was up so I got up and eventually we headed out.

Eventually, we came across Arthur. Arthur is friends with New York and his coworker. We all walked and talked for a while but eventually just Arthur and I were walking together. Talking about white water rafting, politics, his family history. His parents were immigrants into New York and he grew up in the projects, watching them work sun up to sun down to provide. It was a pretty remarkable story and to see how proud he is of his family was beautiful. He has a twin brother who’s a missionary abroad. Arthur and I walked a while, slowly, while Debbie was ahead. Eventually we caught up to her at the first stop where she and I stopped at this cute cafe for some breakfast. After that, we walked on. More beautiful sights, beautiful bridges.

The book for today had us stopping in Belorado, after 14 miles of trekking. Emma suggested to push forward to Tosantos, to push forward a little the next day, ultimately to make the walk into Burgos (the major city) a shorter one in just two days. We decided we would figure it out as it goes and by the time we got to Belorado we decided to push ahead the extra 2.5 miles to Tosantos. Which was a great idea because as small of a town as Tosantos is, the Albergue we stayed in was just to die for. It was so stinking cute! We first walked into town and went to the first place listed as a place to stay when the guy told us that everyone just sleeps on the floor on mattresses and we were like NOPE. Not doing that. So we went to a place called Arancones which was so nice! It was small, had maybe 20 beds, if that? We got there and found Emma and her Dad staying there too! Later, Valentina, Rachel, Rupert (guy from Texas), and Silvano came in. We had seen them a lot and were excited they were with us! We showered, had our clothes washed, and sat down to eat the most delicious food ever. A woman runs the albergue with her husband and they are both fabulous cooks! We were drooling once again over our food. Debbie had cream of zucchini while I had garlic soup, followed by Debbie’s stuffed eggplant and I had chicken with a delicious salad. Still, with tuna. I picked it off. Again.

The sun was out today- more than it has been the last couple of days. Everyone was outside enjoying it- but it was dang hot! I was trying to fix my tan lines. Debbie went in to fix her feet. I sat with Rachel, Valentina, Silvano, and Emma for a while. Emma eventually went in to eat with her dad and the rest of us sat there to chat. I was going to go into bed but Rachel and I began talking about hiking and Tanzania and Malawi and I asked her if she knew where Mushroom Farm was (the most magical place in Malawi!) and she had been there! It was SO wonderful to talk to someone else who had enjoyed this little slice of heaven in Malawi. I told her about the worst hike of my life (shout out Bec, Mitch and Meg!) and we just shared great times and the deliciousness of the food! So instead of going to bed, I sat with the three of them while they had dinner and we continued to talk. All about expressions, language, ASL, and how upset Silvano was that Valentina and Rachel were splitting one Pilgrim menu and he was paying more and getting less food (they got extra for half the price) which was funny. Silvano is Italian and when he wants to say “what are you talking about!?” Or “what are you saying!?” As in a manner of what the person is saying is absurd, he translates it to English as “What are you speaking!?” and no one corrected him, but after tonight, Valentina called him out. It was in a very kind way, she was appreciating how he says it. And now, he continues to say it often. We just had a blast together, laughing.

Day mileage: 17
Total mileage: 161.3
Personal mileage: 17.61