We left Astorga, once again passing through beautiful buildings and cathedrals. Including another one of Antoni Gaudí’s. For those of you that don’t know (because I didn’t) Gaudí is a famous Spanish architect known for his unique designs. His work was from the late 1800s to the early 1900s. There were only 7 (I think) buildings built during is actual lifetime, all in Spain. Most of them are in Barcelona, but the camino has us go past two of these buildings. We saw the first in León (and didn’t realize it), the second here in Astorga (and didn’t realize it). But, I took photos without realizing it because they were so dang pretty! So even though I learned of it later, I still can look back and understand more of what I was looking at.

Today was another beautiful day. As we begin to head out of the meseta, we get back into cooler weather and away from streets, which is welcomed. It was still a warm day, but we passed through some beautiful spots.

We have seen a lot of animals along the way and one of them that we have seen TONS of roaming free but clearly loved, are cats. They’re so stinking cute! And there’s been so many of them!

We pressed on, passing more buildings, stopping at weird cowboy bars (they tried to get Debbie to have whiskey or tequila at like 10am) and dirt, but made it to our albergue.

We actually arrived early and waited an hour outside for them to open. It was just the sweetest place. Another magical albergue. It’s run by an English company and donation only. There were three volunteers working, one from the U.S., one from Ireland, and one from Australia and they were just the kindest people! They really want to be sure you feel like you’re at home and comfortable. They had bunk beds, a quiet room, and a beautiful garden. They we’re genuinely there for whatever you needed, or didn’t need! At 4:30 they had afternoon tea, which was wonderful. Everyone sat around, drinking tea, having biscuits and just chatting. It was just wonderful. Debbie and I went to dinner up the road, WATCHED GERMANY GET ELMINATED FROM THE WORLD CUP, and went back to relax and sleep.

Day mileage: 13
Total mileage: 330
Personal mileage: 13.59

We headed out this morning and it did not take too long for me to realize that it was way to hot for my sweater, which meant it was gonna be a warm day. Those, I think, are the worst mornings. When you already can tell it’s going to be a hot day based on how warm it is in the morning.

We are currently walking through The Meseta. It’s the most terrible part of the Camino that is the entire path between Burgos and Astorga. It’s the flatlands. The hotlands. The time-and-distance-doesn’t-make-sense lands. The meseta takes occupies over 81,000 square miles of Spain’s central area. It’s why it’s been so ugly and hot. This is the part of the Camino many people skip over, take a bus, or rent a bike through. It’s hot. All I could think about is HOW DO PEOPLE DO THIS IN JULY AND AUGUST!?

We will be out of it in a few days time. But for now, we melt.

We crossed over an ancient Roman bridge, saw baby cows, and walked through miles of hot desert heat with no shade! It was swell.

Near the top was the cutest freaking oasis of a place run by the kindest human. Hammocks. Beautiful rocks. So much food! Crackers, drinks, fruit, endless! All for donation. It was the only spot for about 6 miles and it was so needed.

After lots of watermelon and cooling off, we pushed on to Astorga. Down a hill, past another statue, and across the most obnoxious civilian bridge ever! Literally, this bright green bridge has you zig zag up ramps to the top to walk straight across OVER TRAIN TRACKS to zig zag back down. Not a single person on this bridge was thrilled. We get enough incline and decline, haha! I looked at the bridge before we started and looked at Debbie and said “They couldn’t have designed a more efficient bridge? Can’t just walk across or have a plain standard bridge for this?” Which was followed by my favorite part- at the end or the bridge there was sharpie written on a post that said “Peace, love, + happiness to all… Except the designer of this bridge! p.s. my feet hurt”

Hahaha! I felt so validated. This whole bridge was just so extra.

We finally hike up one last cobblestone hill to the albgergue (to find another statue) and check in. The woman checking us in was from Georgia and very sweet. She gave Debbie and I bracelets. I’m not sure why, no one else checking in got them, but it was very sweet.

We rested and showered and were going out for dinner, pharmacy, and supermarket. On our way down who do we run into, no one other than Jens! Earlier in the day, I heard someone singing in the stairwell “I don’t care, I love it!” And it sounded like Jens. I was sitting on my bed, too lazy to climb down and I yelled his name to no reply. Figured I got the voice wrong. NOPE! Turns out it was Jens, he just didn’t hear me call his name. We say hi and bye and go check our the plaza. We hop around restaurants, see what they have to eat, go to the pharmacy so I can buy my own tape for my shin and restock Band-Aids. We swoop around to hit the supermarket because we were near it (still hunting for food) and it turns out to be the biggest supermarket we have seen on the Camino so far! I got so excited, I decided to make dinner! I bought all the stuff for a salad and grabbed some salami. We went back and I was so excited to make my salad. Spinach, tomato, olives, garbanzo beans (thought of you Mom!), cucumber, carrots, bell pepper, and cheese. With some vinaigrette. Sooooooo good! I had that, salami, and some wine I bought for €1.80. The salad was way too big for me to eat it all, so I pawned it off to anyone I could find. Jens had some and sat with me to eat a while. Aaron and two others in his group ended up finishing it off! Aaron’s dinner of spring rolls didn’t turn out too well (we had no oven) so it worked out well. We all sat, ate, chatted with each other and new people and then I headed up to pack my bag and sleep.

It started to rain tonight! The rain is back! Debbie and I were talking asking for cool weather and rain and voila! It came. Looking promising for cooler weather from here on out.

Day mileage: 15.5
Total mileage: 317
Personal mileage: 17.22

This morning out of León was beautiful. There’s something about walking through big cities with empty streets that just seem beautiful (when you know they’re not abandoned… Creepy).

We passed by cathedrals and buildings with just the most amazing architecture. If I do the Camino again, I think I would like to explore the history of each town more, especially the bigger ones and understand what I am looking at more.

I braided my hair differently today and loved it. I feel like you all needed to know that. It really wasn’t anything special, but I felt good! Haha! It’s the small luxuries that make you feel good out here on the Camino. A bathroom with soap, showers you don’t have to hold down to run, a place to dry your wet hands, wool blankets on beds, ANDNICELYBRAIDEDHAIR.

We walked past a lot of houses built under? Into? the ground, which we haven’t seen much of until today. We walked and walked and walked and it was again SO HOT. Who knew I would miss the rain so much 😭😭.

We pushed a little farther ahead just to balance out tomorrow again and stopped at the cutest albergue! It had a pool! And hammocks. And baby chickens. And ice cream! Well, most places have ice cream, but after a hot day it was very much needed! We hung around, relaxed, showered and had yummy pizza for dinner in these cure little pizza boards that I didn’t take a picture of because I was too busy stuffing my face.

Day mileage: 14.5
Total mileage: 301.5
Personal mileage: 15.2

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.

Day mileage: 12.6
Total mileage: 287
Personal mileage: 15.58

The magic of yesterday carried over into this morning. We took group pictures as the sun rose and enjoyed hugs just a little longer than usual before we left.

Today was a pretty standard day. We walked a bit, stopped to have breakfast and a yummy chocolate covered pastry (or maybe that was breakfast…) with Marco, Maggie, and Cyrille. This road has had a lot of cute Pilgrim statues along the way and this morning Debbie wanted a photo with one!

We pretty much just walked along the road today. Wasn’t very pretty and I didn’t take many photos.

We got to the albergue, picked our room (after moving rooms for better WiFi) and ended up having an entire 8 person room to ourselves! No one else ever came in, so that was cool! We went to have dinner down the street, ran to the market, came back and sat with the usual group eating ice cream until we went to bed.

The town though was partying all night. We could hear music until 5am! It was crazy. But I did notice this awesome map the albergue has, showing just how far we have come!

Day mileage: 16.5
Total mileage: 274.4
Personal mileage: 17.5

Every day on the Camino is different, obviously. But there are just some days that are more special than others. Some days that hold more magic, more feeling. Today was one of those days, I think for both of us. These are the days I enjoy writing the most about, for myself. Because even if it doesn’t get conveyed quite as eloquently as it felt, I’ll know and remember what I felt.

Today we did what we have been doing for the last 19 days on the Camino, got ready, said bye to Jens and headed out. We had a bit of a ways to the first cafe, which we anticipated for. We arrived, ordered breakfast. I for once, picked a croissant that looked delicious, but for me, was not. As we were enjoying our coffee in this cafe, only us, the bartender, and a local, another Pilgrim walks in. He sets his bag down, exchanges some words in Spanish with the bar tender ordering his food, and walks over to a piano that I did not even know was in the room and immediately begins to play. And he played beautifully. Clearly this man was accomplished and it was so incredibly sweet and beautiful to listen to so early in the morning. He played his one song which was more classical, ate, and played another with a more modern sound. It was all just beautiful. The few people sitting outside came in to listen as well. As much as this man had an audience, no part of me felt he was playing for that reason. The vibe of him, the room, the music- it wasn’t for him. He wasn’t looking for any attention, I felt. He just wanted to share what beauty he knows with those around. He seemed just so…humble. Debbie and I both enjoyed it quite a bit.

We left, just as I had gotten an important message from Jeff and ended up turning around and going back so I could call. All is well, and it was so good we were able to talk. It caused us to spend more time in this town than we normally would, but it was okay. It was all part of the magic of the day.

The next town we got to had a square that was yarn bombed. It was so stinking cute to see this everywhere!

Debbie and I walked and talked A LOT today. More than we normally do. Not that we ever actively choose not to, we just tend to feel the best in the morning, have great conversation then, by the end of our day and the last leg of our walk, we don’t say much or one of us is farther ahead than the other. Debbie would tell you that it’s always me ahead, I’m sure- and it’s just not true! More and more she is ahead and I’m chasing behind. But that’s okay, we do well in our pattern and it is organic in it’s unraveling, every day. Today though, was different. We walked together, talked a lot more.

I think a lot of it had to do with it was a pretty flat day, there was a solid steady cool breeze throughout the day, and there were regular breaks we were able to take with plenty of time to relax. It was just, nice. Everything about today’s walk.

At one point, we realized the entire path in front of us had a man, his dog, and his sheep walking towards us. By sheep, I mean SHEEP. Like, lots of them. Taking up the entire path, it was actually quite cool to see. But of course, my inexperienced self, I look at Debbie and am like “What do we do? Do we just walk through them? Can you do that? Just walk through sheep?” She tells me she’s never had any aggressive sheep attack her and the man herding them didn’t look too concerned, so we did. And it was fun! Well, I was excited because my southern California self has never encountered so many sheep being herded on a street before with the opportunity to just walk on through them. I took photos.

We reached Bercianos, decided to push to the farther albergue at the end of the town (which all looked quite abandoned) because it was donation only. We arrived there only to find Marco, Cyrille, and Marguerite! Plus a group of people we spent the night with last night which was quite plesent. I quote honestly was not sure we were going to see Marco, Cyrille, and Marguerite again but was thrilled that we did. We eventually made our booking and picked a room together. There were others, just as kind and fun, in there as well. We all talked a while, sitting on our beds, enjoying hummus and carrots. Marco had never heard of hummus and Rochelle, the woman who had it, offered him some. He took one bite and said “mmm! I don’t like this.” And continued to just eat his carrot. It was funny in the moment. Marco, Cyrille, Marguerite and I went to a Cafe to have a snack and watch the match which was quite lovely. Frank Sinatra played and everyone was singing along, enjoying the moment. We finished up and started to head back and definitely got lost. Well, as lost as you can get in a small town. But nonetheless, it took us a cool minute to find our way back.

Cyrille folded this paper into this t-shirt.

Once back, we all kind of rested and did what we wanted. I ran to the supermarket to get snacks for the next day and rested a while. There was a community dinner at 7 that I was planning to eat at. Marco, Maggie, and Cyrille were good humans and offered to help cook. I found them peeling potatoes and chopping veggies. Debbie had gone out to eat, cause she was hungry earlier and 7 is late. Dinner here is often at 7, which is SO late. I don’t know how everyone does it. But tonight I decided to wait up to eat with everyone and I’m so happy I did! The women in the albergue even ran up and dragged Debbie down, it was sweet. Everyone staying there enjoyed the meal of pastsa, veggies and potatoes, some had salad, water, and of course wine! Yogurt for dessert. It was really plesent, everyone around the tables eating together and talking. We had so much fun. After, everyone helped clean in some capacity. It really was sweet and created a sense of community.

Sitting outside, I was watching Marco and Stuart play cards, talking with Stuart’s wife Audrey who is a speech therapist in Saint Louis. It turns out that Bercianos is known for it’s sunsets. At least, that’s what everyone told us. Debbie wanted to sleep but Mikayla was insistent upon her staying up to watch the sunset. They came tell us to join them at the arch around the corner. We finished our talk, heard another Pilgrim singing (a song he wrote for a Camino movie he is working on). Mikayla and Debbie must have had a really sweet talk, because the two of them just seem so connected on a deeper level. And quickly. It was nice to see. 5 minutes before the time, we all headed over and watched from a picnic table. It was so incredibly nice. It was getting chilly so everyone sat close, watched, laughed, chatted, hugged. It was kind and sweet. One of those movie moments in real life where time just kind of slows down for a minute and you get to enjoy where you are in the exact moment you are in it. I don’t have an English word to truly grasp how it felt.

Day mileage: 14.2
Total mileage: 257.9
Personal mileage: 16.2

We anticipated today to be extremely hot so we decided we would leave early. We we’re out the door by 5:45 with a bit of rain and warm air. There was a sun roof above my bed in Carrión so when it began to rain in the middle of the night, it actually woke me up. We were out in time to see a beautiful sunrise!

But also, mosquitoes. I had my jackets on for the rain and had to stop to take them off because it was too hot. BIG mistake. These freaking mosquitoes were unbelievable! There were SO MANY. I felt personally attacked. They were just non stop. So I put my jackets back on, this time with the hood up and marched unhappily along the trail, cursing every mosquito.

As we walked, we saw another one of these signs that we have begun seeing that someone hand painted. I think I posted a photo of one yesterday, alas, today is another one. They often have inspirational quotes on them. Eventually the sun rose and we were on our path, away from the devilish blood suckers who invaded my skin. I have 16 bug bites now! SIXTEEN! Including one on my chin (???????) And they itch. And if you know me or have ever followed my blog before you know how well my skin reacts to them. So that’s AWESOME. Four of them are in a row, in a straight line, just on my side/back all not even a centimeter apart.

Today had a lot of long stretches with not many places to stop and rest or eat. We got to the first little Oasis of a cafe and sat down. We bought seriously overpriced coffee (hey-good economics though) and sat down. In eventually walked Maggie and Cyrille, eventually Silvano and Rachel, eventually Nicholas and Daniel, and lastly, Jens! Jens had caught up to us the day before and stayed in a different albergue. It was great to see him again.

We walked the rest of the day together which was quite enjoyable. By the end I was ready to be alone, but it was okay because Jens has such a cheery disposition. Seriously, I don’t know anyone who just so genuinely happy about where they’re at in life. Jens always says in his German accent “This is great! So great. I love it!” And it just is so heartfelt, every time. He’s great energy to be around. We talked about TV shows, he shared about his recent heartache and how it was the best thing to ever happen to him, sports, and I was learning some phrases in German. Which is hard.

We got to the albergue, got a room and laid down. We laid down early to avoid the heat but dang- it was still so hot. But! We officially passed the halfway mark today!!!! Yahoo! Except, I (and I think Debbie too) was under the impression that there would be a sign or a big…something? Anything? To indicate it was halfway. We saw tons of rocks on the ground saying it was halfway, but I still thought there would be an official one. Happy I took a photo of a stone.

We got to our place, laid down and tried to cool off and relax. The room was warm though, but overall a nice place. We didn’t stray terribly far after that. We had our clothes laundered and ended up having dinner with Peter, Aaron (a different one), and Jens. Peter is an older gentleman who started the Camino in March. Yep. March. He walked out of his front door in Germany and has been walking since. He shared some incredible stories about what has happened to him along the way. We looked at all of his credentials and stamps, it was impressive. Aaron is from England and has had a rough time recently with life, which was sad. Things resulting in him no longer being with his wife after 9 years and the Camino was what he felt he had to do. Very spiritual guy. After dinner, we grabbed some snacks from the shop on site and climbed in for the evening.

Day mileage: 17
Total mileage: 243.7
Personal mileage: 17.58

We left Fórmista and headed out, it was cooler a bit yesterday walking to Fórmista. There was a lot of wind which added a chill that I didn’t appreciate as much.

But we walked about 10 kilometers and stopped at the first albergue for some breakfast. WELL. This albergue has to be the best one we have seen on the Camino so far. It was so cool! I wish 1) I had taken more photos 2) We had stayed there the night before. Everyone could see it for miles because it has a giant teepee you can sleep in. Today’s walk was boring- it was a straight shot for 12 miles only 10 feet from the road. So, the giant teepee wasn’t hard to miss. But they had little huts you could sleep in, heaps of grass, geese roaming, donkeys roaming, hammocks, slackline(!!!), Juggling balls, hula hoops- literally anything fun you can think of, it was there. It was SO cool. We ate here with Marguerite and Cyrille, eventually Silvano found us as well. We spent some time here, eating, fixing feet, and I played on the slackline.

After that, we just kept walking straight. I didn’t really take that many pictures because 1) it was boring looking 2) I didn’t charge my phone the night before and it was sitting with my portable charger in my pack, rather than my pocket.

It was SO FREAKING HOT. So for that, today was rough. We took breaks as we could in the shade, fixing feet some more and just cooling off.

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There was quite a big chunk of the walk where lots of people including Silvano, Debbie, and Cyrille, ran out of water. It was boiling. But we made it! We walked by a beautiful church on our way in. Doors were opened as cold air poured out. It was a welcomed relief.

We got to the albergue and got our bunk beds. They were filling up fast. We were in a place run by nuns. While sitting there, relaxing, I got a message from Jens telling me he was pushing ahead to Carrión and to ask if we could get him a bed. I tried, but they wouldn’t let me. I’ll give you one guess as to who walked in and got the last bed. THE FRIAR. Alberto. And where was he tonight? The top bunk next to mine. Three nights in a row we have Alberto the Friar and his Mary statue next to us. Debbie could have died! She was napping and opened her eyes only to see him RIGHT next to her and the he asked if he could put Mary on the table between the two beds. I also saw him when he walked in and asked if I could take a photo of him, he happily obliged.

Also, Rachel is here! It was great! Loads of our people were all in the same space. Debbie and I walked the town to get food (paella) and go to the supermarket and pharmacy.

OH! SIDENOTE** It was brought to my attention yesterday by my mother that this entire time I’ve been spelling pharmacy farmacy, without realizing it. When I type these blogs and picture the day over again, I walk through what we did, when we went and what it looks like. Well here, a pharmacy spelled farmacia. So I just accidentally have been combining the two languages for the last pffft…18 DAYS!? COME ON PEOPLE! One time (maybe even two) is a typo. SEVERAL is just plain error! But, whoops. My bad.

Back to the pharmacy- I’ve been on the hunt for tiger balm for my shins and I FINALLY found some here! I am so excited. I also got my first two baby blisters because of my sandals. I’ve been wearing them the last couple of days because the heat. I popped them, drained them, and cleaned them with something Debbie got at the pharmacy. We grabbed some ice cream and headed back. I went out and watched Silvano and Marco play chess on their makeshift chess board. I sort of got trapped outside because in the main walk way there’s a foyer space where there was a group choir/sing along. Which sounded beautiful but I did not want to walk through to go back upstairs. So outside I sat. Eventually it ended and everyone joined us. Marguerite, Cyrille, Rachel, Debbie- Daniel and Nicholas two guys we have been seeing but haven’t talked to all sat around the table in groups chit chatting. It was quite nice. We were all out there pretty much until we went to bed!

Day mileage: 12
Total mileage: 226.7
Personal mileage: 13.51

Today was not my day. I woke up and was fine for about 10 minutes when I got an email on my phone saying my credit card statement was ready. I knew it was going to be popping up soon, so being a responsible adult I decided to log in real quick and pay before we headed out. Well, in doing that I realized that there had been charges on my account that I did not make while I’ve been gone. I immediately start getting worked up because I don’t understand how the bank did not catch it. I submitted travel dates. I feel like they should have caught the charges happening online all over the United States. $1,500. Somebody started two days after we began the Camino using my card to buy $1,500 worth of food and clothing. I was so mad! I had to call the bank and it caused us to leave late, which I felt bad about. Also insanely frustrated because I had to cancel my card (which is in my possession) and get a new one shipped to me. At home. In the United States. Where I’m not for another 20 some odd days. So that was really cool. Great start to my day. I did not like people today.

BUT! It turns out I was right and the path I took a photo of yesterday from the castle WAS the path we took this morning! So I took a photo the opposite direction back towards the castle. Look and see the teeny castle at the top!

I pretty much just listened to my audiobook the entire day, which helped. We ran into Silvano, Marguerite and Cyrille between breaks. The views were still beautiful. Saw a crazy stork nest on top of the church too.

t was hot again today. Really hot. There were a lot of gaps with not a lot of places to stop which is always hard when you have to pee. We got just outside of Frómista which had this awesome sign telling us only 424 kilometers more to Santiago! Only, ha!

After that, we checked into our albergue. Marguerite and Cyrille were in our room! And guess who is in the bed next to us again? Well, literally next to Debbie? The preist! He’s back. Debbie wanted to find out if he was an actual preist or just a brother and began to ask him. We knew he was from Brazil and spoke Portuguese but could get by with Spanish. And once again because technology can be totally awesome we used the voice version of Google translate which was just awesome. Debbie (mostly) or I would speak into the phone in English and it would read it aloud in Spanish. We would hand him the phone and he would speak in Spanish and it would speak in English. It was pretty awesome. Glitchy at times, but awesome.

Turns out he’s a Franciscan Friar! Which is essentially a preist. He can give mass. Debbie asked all sorts of questions, starting with “can I hold the statue?” 😂 And he said yes. And I held it too. It was SO heavy. His entire pack and the statue together weigh about 37 pounds! He told us how he has been a friar for eight years. Debbie asked about the chains. He wears chains with a lock like a bracelet on each wrist. Google translate came back with “I am a slave to the Virgin Mary.” Which sounded really intense. They will be on his wrists forever, even in death. It was intense. He works with young children in Brazil and was fabulous when it came to communicating with us. He was really open and the best part was that any time he responded to us he would speak into the phone, but look directly act whoever he was answering. It was cool. He handed us a prayer, in Italian, and then got out some oil and I guess blessed us. Said words in Portuguese and made the sign of the cross on our heads. No idea what he said, but hey, couldn’t have been too bad. I did double check with the internet that he didn’t think I was going to die. Talking to my Mom, oil is often used in the Catholic faith rarley. Rarely in that you get it when you get anointed at confirmation and then… Anointing of the sick? Like, you’re about to die type deal. Turns out Google says Franciscan Friars also use oil in honor of Saint Anthony which wards off attacks of evil spirits, gives strength to withstand temptations against purity, heals the body and brings peace. Sooo… that happened.

After that, I went downstairs to find Marguerite, Cyrille, Marco, and Seng-jun (from Korea!) Sitting outside drinking. I joined them and later we we’re joined by Silvano and a new person, Emmett, and two other girls Yula and Yula (who are best friends at home, two weeks apart in birth, and not related at all). We sat around having wine, talking, and playing games, learning phrases or words in other languages. It was quite beautiful to see. You had a lot of languages flying around at once with all of the mini conversations happening. It was a mix of Italian, French, Korean, Spanish, English, and German. This entirely helped turn my not so good day around. We eventually cleaned up and headed to bed.

Day mileage: 11.9
Total mileage: 214.7
Personal mileage: 15.93

We got up, left our adorable albergue and headed out! It was back to lots of green today which was nice. It was overall, just another day of walking. We had to walk pretty far to get to the first town to be able to stop for breakfast. It was a cute cafe and low and behold, who catches up to us? Silvano. He passed us at breakfast with two friends and we passed them when they stopped. Debbie was laughing at our breakfast choices this morning because I got a banana and coffee and she got yummier treats!

The walk was mostly flat and went directly through these cool ruins. Before the ruins, I was COMPLETELY anxious because the path was narrow through a beautiful countryside and all I could hear were all the BEES. It was stressing me out, being able to hear all of them buzz, that I had to put my headphones in and listen to my audiobook to drown it out! Eventually Silvano’s group caught up to me (Debbie said to head on) and Silvano walked the last couple of kilometers with me coming chatting which was nice. Once we got to the outskirts of Castrojeriz, I found a bench to wait for Debbie.

We decided to go to the municipal albergue at the end of town for a shorter walk the next day. In doing that, we has to walk around a giant castle on a hill. I saw the road to the Castillo and decided I was going to do it later! We made it to the albergue, got settled, rested. My shin or shins (depending on the moment) were still on fire. I put some oil I bought at the farmacia in Burgos, filled up my water from a fountain in the square and headed out to the road I saw led to the castle.

Honestly, it took me about 3/4 of the walk up to finally calm down and stop panicking. I was walking up a hillside trail, alone, past abandoned houses and buildings, in a tiny town, in a foreign country, where I don’t really speak the language. That’s like the beginning of every news headline of women who end up dead abroad. Doing something alone in a foreign place. I’ve also seen that horror movie! I know how it ends. So, that was fun. I worked really hard to not let my own external fears get in the way of me being able to do what I want and be able to enjoy it, by myself. After 3/4 of the way, almost turning back, steering clear of a person walking down, and a group of nice cycalists passing me, I was sure I wasn’t going to die. At least, not be murdered. The heat and incline up to the castle might kill me, but not people!

I made it to the top and what a sight to see! It was absolutely GORGEOUS. I went all the way to the castle, where the bikers were exploring and took tons of photos.

AND! Because technology is sometimes freaking AWESOME I was able to use the camera feature of Google translate (even offline cause I had Spanish downloaded) to hover over and READ all of the signs explaining the history of the castle! It wasnt flawless, but absolutely well enough that I could understand what I was looking at, where I was standing, and what happened. So that was rad! So for example here is the same paragraph in both Spanish and the Google translate.

Castle was mostly empty, except for the bikers who ultimately left. So I had the place to myself! Full of steep narrow staircases and beautiful views of the whole valley. I took a photo of what I think our path for tomorrow is, from the top of the castle, but I’m not sure if it’s right.

When I got back, Debbie said to me that I would never guess who was sleeping next to us and I didn’t know who. IT’S THE PRIEST! Everyone has been talking about the priest on this journey and I have been wanting to see him! He’s in the bed next to us and has this giant statue of Mary he is carrying around. Intense!

We went out to eat, had some paella and sat in the sun. My shins have been terrible lately. Just shooting pain up the front of them, but on the outside muscle. No good. And after the walk to the castle today, I was done. They hurt so bad. Debbie was going to look for the pharmacy, but Silvano’s instructions were vague and her feet hurt too much to wander around. However, two lovely ladies from Quebec offered to go for her and alas, we have made two new friends. Cousins, Marguerite and Cyrille. They were the two young ladies walking with Silvano into town. We talked to them for a while and they are just wonderful!

Day mileage: 11.9
Total mileage: 214.7
Personal mileage: 15.93