After many late supper nights, we were very happy to find a restaurant that had a perigrinos' menu starting at 7:30, rather than at 8:00. We have been finding that the later we eat, the worse our sleep is. We met up with Chris, a police officer in Singapore, and he asked if we would like to share a table.
We had a major thunder and lighting rain storm throughout dinner. Thank heaven it only rains in Spain when we are at our daily destination. You would be quite a lightening rod on the mesa!
His English was excellent and he explained how he was between postings, and that they are given six weeks holiday between each. He had invited his wife to walk the Camino, but she had "graciously" declined. They have two young children, two and six, but that would not have been a problem because they live with his parents (or vice versa).
He then told us about being bitten by bed bugs in an albergue and having to abandon his sleeping bag, and buy a new one (he was in Burgos, the city with no laundromat). He was going to hotel it from that point on. He was walking the Camino to rekindle his faith. He was RC but had drifted away for awhile but now was coming back. We talked about how a lot of people in the world are abandoning religion. He was surprised to hear that and said that people in Singapore are going back. Maybe that would be a good research topic. Are people going back to religion in Singapore? Why? Perhaps it is because China is now becoming more tolerant with regard to religion and no one had been able to practice it previously.
We can't say the supper was the worst we have had, because that is negative, let's say it was the least good! Our hotel restaurant was apparently the best place in town to eat - we should have waited until 8 and eaten there.
We had breakfast with Margie, and she told us that Richard's ankle was swollen, discoloured, and couldn't bear any weight, so he is busing to Leon, hoping to find a good doctor there and that in any event, a few days rest will help. We only wish someone could convince Jack to do the same.
We set out this morning with Margie. The walk out of town was fairly uneventful. We passed over a medieval bridge, that photos can't do justice to.
The trail today diverged in two directions and doesn't converge again for two days. Margie went to Cazadilla de los Hermanillo and we went to El Burgo Ranero. We will be on separate paths all day tomorrow, but will both end up in Mansilla de las Mulas at the end of the day.
It will be a 19km walk tomorrow and on both routes you pass through no towns all day. That will be tough, especially for Lynn who has bladder issues. It's pretty hard to find a private place to relieve yourself on the mesa so when it becomes a crisis situation you just have to squat down wherever you are.
The walk today was mainly on a trail along a highway, but the traffic was so light we might as well have been away from any road. They have obviously tried to improve things as there were kilometres of trail with semi-mature trees on our left offering some welcome shade.
We stopped at a coffee shop in Bercianos del Real Camino which was very modern and clean (quite like the place in Moratinos yesterday). We chatted a while with a couple from Connecticut that we had just met coming into town. He had gone to the Shouldice Hospital in Toronto for a double hernia operation. At the time that was the best place in the world for that surgery! She said to be sure to mention that on our blog. The US isn't always the best place for every type of medical treatment. We were thinking about the couple from Minnesota we talked to yesterday about medicare, and came to the realization that their perception is probably that universal health care, being a sort of socialist, government run thing, must be second rate, with substandard service and long wait times. That is not an accurate view of the Canadian Heath Care system at all.
While there we also met Chris and an Irish couple we had passed along the way this morning. When we passed the Irish couple he said something and Lynn asked if he was German. He said 'no, Irish'. It was quite the thick Irish dialect. Should be interesting next May. He said we walked really fast and asked if anyone ever passed us. I assured him a few people had. They were continuing on today to Mansilla. That would be about 40km in one day, and once they went past El Burgo Raneros, there would be no changing your mind. We did see them again at El Burgo Raneros and they did carry on.
We would have liked to go about 10km more each day on the Mesa than we did and get it over with faster, but it works out you either walk 20km a day through the mesa or 40km a day. Realistically, 40km is at least 10km more than we are capable of in a day. We now have only two more days left and the mesa will be behind us.
We have lost a lot of people on the mesa though. Some just skip it altogether, Linda and Lee biked it, some had to abandon it due to injury. As Margie and we were saying at breakfast today, the goal is to make it to Santiago, so whatever you have to do, you just keep that in mind.
Coming in to El Burgo Ranero we saw the following two inspirational signs.
"On the Way to finding the truth there are only two mistakes you can make: one is quitting before you find it, and the other is not starting."
There really wasn't much to see today. It was a pleasant walk anyway, just more farms and farms.
We did finally manage to identify the mystery crop we have being seeing, sugar beets.
Interestingly, we haven't met these people, but there is a guy from New Zealand walking the Camino in his bare feet, and another who has a donkey for a companion who carries his pack. We did see a photographer who has a two wheeled cart tied to his waist to pull his gear.
We walked into El Burgo Ranero at about 12:30. This is the classic Mexican town from 1,000 movies. The one horse town where you have to provide the horse.
We were concerned, reading Joyce Rupp's book, because today is Sunday, and tomorrow we pass no towns, about supplies for tomorrow, which we carried on our backs for tomorrow. But we did find a tienda in this town which was open and we bought a few more supplies for tomorrow.
Lunch was an adventure. We checked our restaurant and found nothing of interest. We then tried the second and were also unimpressed. So back to number one and some tapas and beer. The chicken wings and fries were greasy but good, the other, identified by the server as "moo" was awful. It was possibly pork belly? Oh well, live and learn. She did ask us how we liked it though, and brought more chicken wings when she saw weren't eating the other thing.
For those who wonder, the first item of business, after checking in, is doing the laundry. And we must say that we are most impressed by the Europeans, providing a pela in every room.
Summary - another day on the mesa down, short but relatively uninteresting.
Distance today - 20km
Distance total - 442.5km
Nice laundry facilities. You are obviously making the most of what you have been given. There was a prayer for you and all pilgrims this morning at Emmanuel. Tomorrow ten of us are on the Habitat build in Orleans.
ReplyDeleteGood to know that even though you walk fast you are taking in a lot of the sights and sharing them with us!