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