CDS21: Mansilla de Las Mulas to León

Today was another day spent walking mostly next to the road. We have had and will have a lot of that lately. It’s not my favorite. It makes the days feel longer and the views less appealing. Plus it’s been getting REAL hot here.

We got little bits of forrest and dirt roads today, which was nice and provided some cooler air and shade. We walked by a donkey who was in his, I guess cage (pasture? Arena? Fenced area?), Who was wandering around eating grass and walked along with us over to where the gate opens wanting us to open it and let him out. It was so heart breaking not to be able to!

The last bit into León was pretty rough. It was dirt and rocks, downhill, and SO HOT. SO HOT. It was definitely the least favorable part of the day. My shin was just on fire, it was awful. Debbie’s toes were killing her, no good.

We got to the albergue and I just slept. Slept, slept, slept. Which I don’t normally do. I think between this cold/cough, my shin, and the heat, I was just worn out. But my nap didn’t help because I definitely woke up grumpy. We went to get food and it wasn’t enough. I was not fun to be around. I wanted a wrap or brace for my shin, but no pharmacy was open because the whole weekend was a celebration of Saint John and the entire city just shuts down, I was so frustrated. To top it off, I went to use my credit card to pull out cash but needed a pin I didnt have and had to call the bank and pay again for travel time, blah blah blah. Just not my day. In hindsight it doesn’t sound so bad, but it felt unbelievably frustrating.

But, at the end of this, I ran into Aaron again! Arkansas Aaron, not the other Aaron. His group had decided to take a rest day and were sort of staying in the same albergue. We talked for a while, about this blog, him saying atta girl, had a few laughs. Afterwards I went to shower, took and ibproufin, got cash, and suddenly the day didn’t seem so awful.

Jens was in town too! He also had a bandage in his first aide kit that I could use to help my shin. He said he was at the park, about a 10 minute walk, and I messaged him on wifi saying I was leaving. Well, as I get close to the park, I see it. I see all the people, the food trucks, the vendors and I think “oh no”. I was assuming it was just a standard empty park with maybe a few people..NOPE. Turns out there were loads of people at this park. I began to circle and wanner this park looking for Jens, admiring the cuteness of it all, until I found him and four others sitting at the base of the fountain. I say down and he handed me a beer, asking if I saw his message. I was confused and unsure of what he meant. Turns out he messaged me to tell me they were sitting at the base of the fountain but when he realized there was no time stamp because I didn’t view it in time before I left, he went and borrowed chalk from a vendor and at the base of the gate wrote in big letters on the ground “D. LOVE @ THE FOUNTAIN” with an arrow. I ran back to look and sure enough there it was! So cool! But I walked right over it, haha! I drank the beer and just laid on the grass and finally relaxed. I was able to just appreciate and enjoy where I was. I listened to the children running and playing, the conversations next to me, the fountain, the DJ,b and the overall hustle and bustle and just enjoyed it. I eventually was hungry and went over to one of the food trucks and picked the Peruvian one which was FREAKING DELICIOUS. It was a potato, quinoa, chicken and veggies with a spicy mayo of sorts and sooooooo yummy. After a while, I headed back and crawled into bed.