We were woken up around six, by a piped in music, some opera piece that sounded like marching music, and then some new age stuff like the song 'dont give up hope'... it was hilarious... and the most original way I had been woken up on the whole trip... we had our included breakfast... and our host would explain again about the terrible lines awaiting us as we got closer to Santiago ...rows of back packs lined up by two pm at Auberges, belonging to people hoping to get a bed...i get worried for about a minute, but then realize I can only worry about one day ahead of me, if that... not some event that might or might not happen a few weeks from now.. the Camino robs you of excessive 'worry' energy which is an awesome relief for me.. I have learned already lots of things 'not to worry about' on the Camino, and that includes lodging...
....the first few hours I walk alone in the fog, a very fast young woman whips past me with large pack, she surprised me since her speed really was above average... a short while later a young man passes not quite as fast, similar pack... somehow I speculate about them possibly being together.. but perhaps they had a spat? ...stories one fabricates on the flimsiest of evidence..... The first village came fast, which always cheers me up....The morning is cool bordering on cold actually.. I finally put on my hoody, this has happened seldom of late ... I meet up with handsome boy from last night, he speaks of woman problems. Passionate relationships and break ups... one brings him to the brink of break down... it sounds like woman love him too easily and too much and vise-versa... he spoke of a time in his life, when he was still quite young and single for a longer period of time... during that time he did a lot of introspection and spending time alone and in nature... he said it was the most peaceful time of his life...some how he wants to return to such a space, therefore, he is interested in things like meditation and spiritual searches in Asia and India..... we meet up with the other two, for coffee and in San Juan de Ortega.. this other young german guy that I now had met a few times, joins us as well....he was walking with worse leg pain than the last time we met and he was having doubts about being able to complete the Camino.....(so at this point, I will assign everyone the usual initials since I keep running into them and I dont like using names... the hurt leg German guy is S, the long haired lover of women is H, the guy from Frankfurt is F, and the Swiss woman is M, there will be a quiz later!)
The swiss woman M was also limping a bit, something like bad chin splints... H was dealing with blisters... only F, the cocky one, was of course pain free... and busily boasting of his sensible 5 kg bag.. he was however walking slowly to keep the others company.... I joke that I finally found a group I can walk with....the injured and the weak! Still on break M who is actually a nurse offers up ibuprofen to S, he is reluctant to take it because in general he does not want to take pills.. F also offers up his extras... it's like drug dealers! Eventually he takes them reluctantly and tries one... later, he would report that it was much easier to walk again......
On todays walk, I would start seeing again pilgrims that I first met in Puenta la Reina, most of them where Spanish or Italian...in a way I was surprised since I had not seen them in so many days and now I would see so many all at once... everyone seems to have stepped off the main stages or Etapes... I walk with our little German speaking group till a town named Ages...Here F, H and M step off. It is a pretty place to stop with choice of nice places to stay and eat.. at this point though I want to walk a minimum of 25kms a day.. I now had myself on a schedule... in part to make a birthday party back in France by the 20th of August.... S also wanted to continue on... so we grab a sandwich at this one place.. although it seems to take ages to get our order... the man making the sandwich for me seemed to be on his first day...or else his wife usually did it...but it tasted good and in Spain things do take their own time... I talk with S about reasons we are doing this walk... of course we complain about the unreliability of our very human bodies and the difficulties we've had... but also go further... His initial motivation to walk the Camino, was to have cheap holiday with a bit of hiking and being out in nature..but he realizes too that he is on spiritual search. He is not drawn to any formal religion and has not done a lot of research but it sounds like he is beginning to formulate his own philosophy...
I am walking okay but the walking day does feel a bit long.... finally in Cardenuela we try to stop and find the Auberge..it is not clear where, so we go to the open bar and ask... the man behind the bar seems busy with boxes.. but I try to speak with him...this woman starts talking at us...but I have problems understanding her and am not sure she even works there... I think I hear Cervesa, and think she is trying to sell us beer...she keeps repeating the same word in a hiss.... finally I understand her she is saying the word Credential over and over again.. I try to cut in but she does not stop... I look at my friend to see if he is thinking this is as weird as I am..he too looks disturbed... she really does not stop and she is hissing the word over and over... ...i had pulled out my credentials mostly to make her stop hissing at us... she asks in good english finally 'what do you call?' these pointing accusingly at my credentials... I say the word...and then try to ask her about lodging, though I have lost my taste for it... she is not responding to my question.. my friend encourages us to leave.... I grab my credentials say 'loco' and leave.. I hear her cackling a bit as we do.... we are both a bit shaken by this unexpected unfriendly weirdness and 'process' together... we start referring to her as the snake woman...we joke about it but we are also disturbed by the incident...we try our luck in the next town...but there is also nothing...it's like we just had a hex put on us,by this lady.. ... We meet a young french couple, the same two that had whipped past me in the early hours of fog... I start chatting them up mostly in hopes of finding out lodging information... between the four of us we have three different guides and each one has different information...they are not looking for a place to stay because they are doing the whole Camino camping but they are also not having any luck finding food for the night..... in next town, again no Auberege.. finally we arrive at a pre-town to Burgos, Villafria, this little booklet I have says there is overnight places but it is not an Auberge but a Hostel which here is a cheap hotel.. my german friend ends up deciding to grab a bus for the last 8kms into Burgos, because he's exhausted and with leg pain... we had walked 32kms today.... the french couple is also here, while we are getting information, they are in the same bar buying three ice-creams in a row that they eat for dinner, later I saw them hosing themselves off at a near by fountain...presumably to go find camping along the way... Perhaps it was the weird change of mood from the snake lady incident... or walking too much ..but I seemed to suddenly find it hard to make my own decisions.. I really did not want to use any more transportation on the Camino unless my body forced me to... so in the end I tried to chance it on the Hostel hoping it would not be too expensive... I said good bye to S and found the room...it was only 20euro which seemed like a good price for my own room, with tv and clean sheets... I found out almost immediately that my little lap top had stopped working... it had been giving me probs opening up for the last few days...but now it would not open up at all anymore... I tried not to be glum about it...but I had become very very dependent on it... but also I tried to practice non attachment as much as I could... and hoping that maybe in the next days the conditions would change...but I also thought half jokingly it was all part of the hex... I showered and went to check out the bar restaurant downstairs … it was not open for dinner yet but I could have tapas.... so I had some potato fried thing... and a consolatory beer... a nice big one... just as I was taking a swig off my frosty big beer... I noticed a dead fly floating on top... Yup, very funny...... over all the day had been good, my body was doing okay for the long walk, i'd gotten a cheap single room, and taking a break from the dorms is always nice...but I also felt kind of raw and vulnerable... and fretted a little about all the data I might have lost on the lap like two months worth of journal and photos...but sleep came to the rescue
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