7-25-10 Villafria to Rabe de las Calzadas day 112

7-25-10 Villafria to Rabe de las Calzadas day 112
(holiday is Santiago day, middle of day stopped in Burgos)
I wake before 7.. I have breakfast in hotel.. again down at the bar...lots of little saucers are lined up with spoons, and requisite packaged sugar squares, waiting for the customers to come by and order their drinks.. typical in Spain ..a really nice older man is behind the counter, he seems to speak to different customers in their various languages.. and just makes you feel special when it's your turn.. I like to document when people go out of their way to be nice.. because when one travel it's not always something one can count on..especially if your a lower budget traveler.. .. ..the fist 8kms where on cement side walk..first its through industrial section of Burgos.. then it switched to residential..it was dull and long, and do I have to mention I was foot sore? ..I dont remember ever looking at my watch so frequently as this day.. as if knowing that time is going by, really help things go faster.......I stop and have more coffee to break up the monotony..... I try egg potato omelet thing again, even though it's what I had blamed for my stomach problems a few days ago..which have not gone away yet.... ...then I enter Burgos proper...I went into church at 9.30..it was in the middle of service..i decide to stay at least till wafers part.. (I believe it's called communion).. priest was young and soft voiced and passionate.. .. of course, I dont understand anything but he mentions Santiago and pilgrimage a few time... I get all teared up... my feelings are a mixture of being a bit deflated but also encouraged to complete the walk, contradictions I know..... then i walked more into town... came to big cathedral..I recognized other pilgrims from various stages i'd met, in Spain... including the young french couple from yesterday..last night they walked all the way into town..so they had a 50km day! They did find a camping ground, eventually, in the city. Then I checked out the cathedral it was more like a museum..beautiful grand..but almost too much, to absorb... I checked out the ceilings... love the mandala like carvings...

at noon there would be a great service and pilgrims got special scarves and entry...i would miss this..but pilgrims who attended would proudly wear these scarves for the rest of the camino... I wanted to move on and I was not in mood for crowds with my uncertain emotions today........then I continued walking out of town.. feet burn from too much asphalt... took breaks just for my feet....on leaving Burgos I heard ringing bells of church... for this special day, I believe Santiago day is one of the more important catholic holidays in spain... I felt moved by hearing them.. reminding me of a sense of purpose of pilgrimage..... then I meet up with french couple again... she had been in australia one year and learned english. He struggles with english and does not speak.. she finds out I have done meditation retreat and tells me about her experience ...she'd done ten-day goenka meditation twice in two months periods. Sounds like she takes to meditation quite easily.. she says she has a lot of nerves and a bad temper..her boyfriend, friends and family suffer...in fact, yesterday morning when I had saw her for the first time whip past me she had been angry...and somehow had managed to walk 20kms in three hours.... they want to live in canada for one year... picking fruit and other odd jobs... midday I stop at cafe... they keep going...from Burgos to Tardajos is 11kms.there was a group of special people who were doing a one day pilgrimage, they all had matching t-shirts and support volunteers to walk with them... it was very sweet to see them all..and impressive they would walk so much for one day hike.. they got picked up by giant bus......the landscape today while walking was a bit dull.....For me the final bit, was only two kms to Rabe de las Calzadas. I had pick of two auberges.. picked the first one.. lady there was a bit odd acting.. .as if she was of noble birth or some such...but she was also nice. Her house was dedicated to pilgrimage..there as the room in which she received you and registered you..it was square floor plan...with high ceiling almost like a tower... the walls were decorated with pilgrim related images and all her certificates from walking the camino over ten times..she got mentioned in the book 'the way' by an american author. It was her first pilgrimage she was 25 at the time. I got a special commemorative stamp... then I did shower and laundry.... eventually I meet Ed he is from the philipines originally... he now has new zealand citizenship and has a green card for america, where he has bee living for a number of years now.. he is a school teacher in LA. He is not crazy about america, but finds he is now of that age were here needs to call some place home... I take a latish nap..... My broken computer bums me out a bit.... I take a quick walk around the tiny town, and find Edwin behind the closed church, we chat a bit more... he has come to europe a few times, mostly to catholic holy places like Lourdes and Rome..i whine to him about my computer … this italian high energy man joins us..I had met him earlier..who knew french couple .... He seems to be able to talk in many languages.. he's a bit odd but has a good sense of humor especially about himself..he had shown us photos of his giant blood blisters o his foot with pride... we pilgrims are so damn proud of our battle scares... ..... dinner is lentil beans stew and salad.. I am pleased, because beans are missing in my diet, being a vegetarian on the spanish camino is rather limiting...she gave us this cutesy Saint Jaque ceramic figure.. I thought it a bit impractical for a pilgrim to lug around a piece of ceramic..but I accept it.. (later I would it sneak it on the shelves of my friend's family home in Hourge, France, which means I did lug it the whole rest of the camino) She talked about americans that came through this year..perhaps she thought it would be interesting to us to here about our fellow american pilgrims? Many seemed to be from texas...she seemed to have a fondness for one very old lady in her 90's who was walking the camino, she used a car service that would bring her luggage from place to place.... There was one woman traveling with a full size harp of all things..she had it in a little trailer she was pulling and gave concerts in the local churches as she came through... Our hostess bitched about the shirley mcclain book from the 80's about walking the Camino..and called her a sex addict and lair.. she claimed to have had sex with spanish men that our hostess knew and she was sure these men would not have slept with her... also apparently Shirley was concerned about the press bugging her too much so she wore a she used a car service that would bring her luggage from place to place.... There was one woman traveling with a full size harp of all things..she had it in a little trailer she was pulling and gave concerts in the local churches as she came through... Our hostess bitched about the shirley mcclain book from the 80's about walking the Camino..and called her a sex addict and lair.. she claimed to have had sex with spanish men that our hostess knew and she was sure these men would not have slept with her... also apparently Shirley was concerned about the press bugging her too much so she wore a giant too obvious sombrero to 'hide' herself... Our hostess also did not like Tom Cruise, and Mrs Obama..... Ed the school teacher, talks about trying to teach kids who's parents dont support their academics and how the kids therefore have no interest in school...a lot of these kids who dont speak english, he speaks a fair bit of spanish, in part he says of the history between Spain and the Philippines... In America, he said they are talking about amnesty for illegals that are currently there, giving them all citizenship... apparently this was done before with one of the Bush's? Anyway, he is against it... he had to struggle to jump through the proper hoops to get his green cards etc... and he does not see why those people breaking the rules should have an easier time of it... it's a sensitive subject, and he shares a view I have heard from other legal immigrants to america.... since I have not faced this problem I just listen and try to understand things from his perspective....i go to bed kind of late this evening..