Belorado to Agés

Well, when I left off, I was about to go wake up Skip to head to the other albergue in Belorado. TRAGEDY. I came into the room and he just pulled a corner of the tape away from his ankle. His whole foot was swelled up like a hamhock, he had a red rash just above the ankle, and the blisters we popped in Estella...well, one looked like a giant purple leech crawling across the back of his foot. BAD news.

We hobbled to the other albergue, and by then, he was getting hot and cold chills. We bundled him up into bed and the Germans (who seem to be a walking pharmacy) gave him something that Felix´s mother (on the phone) swore would break his fever. He was out for about two hours.

Federico from Florence was there, along with Francois from Quebec. Ladies, all of you who said I´d meet some incredibly suave Italian dude on the Camino...meet Federico. I have pictures, never fear. (I´ve decided to make a Men of the Camino calendar when I get back. Skip wants September, Hungary wants June, and Kasey Kahne has GOT to be February.) And we found Al, too. Dinner was full by the time Skip and I arrived, so I had to fend for myself while he passed out. Met two girls...Georgie is from Leeds, England and Daniella is from South Africa/Zimbabwe/Germany/London. They were a lot of fun. It makes me dizzy to hear Daniella switch back and forth from fluent British English to fluent German.

Dinner was uneventful (except that the old guy behind the bar went on and on about America and tried to kiss me when we left), and when we got back, Skip was revived and one of the hospitaleros was giving the girls and me a bottle of red wine on the house. When in Rome.... We talked a lot of politics...everyone wants to know who I think will win the election, and all I really have to say about it is I´m glad I´m not at home right now because I HATE election years!! They go on and on and on....

Anyway...turns out that there is a translator in the albergue, and the doctor could see Skip NOW...like 8pm on a SUNDAY. (Providence, making us change albergues, ha ha.) They even got an ambulance to transport him. So off he went and came back about an hour or so later. They cut open his blisters and drained them, and declared the rash and the swelling due to a spider bite. Blood blisters AND a spider bite. Only an Aussie...only a relative of Chuck Norris would get infected blood blisters AND an infected spider bite ON THE SAME FOOT. The man comes from the land of poisonous killer bizarre animals and has to come to Spain to get waylaid by a spider. Anyway, Skip´s out for two days. Back in Belorado. Hopefully he will catch a bus tomorrow night to meet us in Burgos. He got the boys´ cellphone numbers...which I gotta say, is kinda cheating. I tracked the boys down the old fashioned way last night, and it seems like it interferes with the power of the Camino somehow to orchestrate a reunion when it should happen or not happen according to the laws of the universe. But I´m not really complaining because it´s nice to know we´re quite likely to see him again.

I didn´t mention...it´s been overcast since we left Grañón and it got COLD overnight. We almost died of the heat approaching Grañón, and the next day we´ve got sweaters on. I FROZE MY BUTT OFF LAST NIGHT. I have a silk sleeping sack, and it´s always been okay for me, but last night I was dying. And today was cold, too, even though the clouds dissipated and the sun was out. So, be forewarned...it CAN be cold in Spain in mid-July, even on a sunny day. Who´da thunk?

It sucked to leave Skip behind this morning, but we pushed out around 8. Couple of small towns on our way...very pretty walk today as the sun came out behind us and shone on the wheat-covered hills ahead of us, with a purple sky behind them. The towns we passed were all shuttered and closed...we only see old, old people in the small towns, never young or middle-aged people, and almost NEVER children. What do they DO? What do these people subsist on? A couple of towns later, we stopped outside a cafe because I declared that their sign said they opened at 10. So we waited 25 minutes. Around minute 24, I realized I´d read the wrong sign and it was an advertisement for a tour of Atapuerca, our first town tomorrow and the site of the 1994 finding of the oldest European human. I did NOT tell the boys we´d waited 25 min for nothing. Ha ha.

The next town was open and had a very nice lady who made us bocadillos (sandwiches) even though it was too early for them. This jamón and queso thing is growing on me. It´s ham, but it´s like bacon, and it´s tough and gamey and salty and WONDERFUL. I got a second one for the road.

While we ate, the girls caught up with us. Hmm....

I walked behind the group at my own pace the rest of the day, which was nice. They were very loud, and I wanted peace and quiet. I have to get through a book or two before the school year starts, so today was a couple hours of Life of Pi, which is a very good book, by the way, and read well by a guy who has just enough of an Indian accent to be very amusing.

The scenery was gorgeous today. Yesterday, I realized, was blasé not just because it was blasé, but because it was cloudy, too. Today we had a very steep ascent into the Oca Mountains and walked for a long time on high ground through forests that our guidebook said used to be inhabited by bandits who would attack pilgrims. Today´s big bummer was going through Villafranca Monte de Oca, where the church was supposed to have a very ¨striking¨ statue of St. James and a huge scallop shell donated by the Philippines. The church was closed for apparently NO reason at all, and nearly besieged by indignant pilgrims of all nationalities (one family of whom offered me a sandwich about two seconds after I appeared...what nice people...Polish, perhaps?).

So up we climbed. The walk was uneventful, I was absorbed in my book, and the others walked ahead of me. We stopped by the road a few times for sandwiches and other things we´d brought in our packs. Very pleasant.

We reached San Juan de Ortega, which is on EVERY Camino map, and so seems to be a large town. No. Population 26. That´s TWENTY-SIX. The church was beautiful (they all are, of course). The guidebook says ¨a pilgrimage to this church was the last hope of childless women.¨ Hmm, indeed. It was beautiful inside, and I´ve made a mental note to return on either the autumnal or the vernal equinox, as on those days, the sun strikes a capital in one of the naves, illuminating a sculpture of the Annunciation. (I hope I got that right.) Intriguing.

The Americans were there. They´re hopping a bus tomorrow in Burgos and going nearly to the end of the route. Jason, the leader, says that the fireworks/pyrotechnics display at the facade of the cathedral in Santiago on Feast Day (July 25) beats every fireworks display he´s ever seen, or ever will see, COMBINED. Wow. Gonna have to come back one day. (Holy years are when 7/25 falls on a Sunday...the next one is 2010 and the Camino is packed on those years.) So we´ll lose them after today. They go to mass EVERY DAY. Wow.

So there we are, lounging under a tree outside the church, eating and contemplating another 5k to Agés so that tomorrow won´t have to be a full 30k...when around the corner of the church comes....

CHRISTA FROM AUSTRIA!!!

I hollered ¨AUSTRIA!!!¨ and she hollered ¨VIRGINIA...IS THAT REALLY YOU?¨ and it was awesome. She did 37K today!!! Wow. She couldn´t do another step. I should have stayed behind with her, but the siren call of internet and washing machine was too much. We sat and caught up (it´s been about a week) and got stories of Estelle and told stories of Skip and Hank and the boys, and then headed out. It was a beautiful walk through forests and fields to Agés, and we were surrounded by panoramic mountain views.

Christa´s walk today, though, got me thinking. She did 37k today. I need to be stepping it up, maybe not 37k worth, but definitely need to start averaging closer to 30 instead of close to 23. I´ve got to get down this road. Burgos feels like 1/3 of the way, and if I don´t have to take the train, I don´t want to. (There´s talk of doing the meseta by night, since it´ll beat the heat and it´s some of the easiest days as far as wayfinding. We´ll see.) I need to spend some time route planning tonight. And I might need to break away from my little crowd. They´re comforting and I love them, but I have a purpose here and they might be a bit in the way. Perhaps it´s time to move on. Skip would definitely agree with that...he´s quite a guru. Christa too. Neither of them loses focus of the purpose of their trip. Christa has more time and can take her time...but Skip has a deadline. (Did I tell you? He´s walking to mark the 10th anniversary of his brother´s death, and Aussie cop who died in the line of duty. I believe it´s Aug 8...?)

It´s always good to see Al and Mimi and Jocelyn and other familiar faces in the evenings...they´re outside now, though we seem to have lost Hank...but it might be time to head out alone. I thought my walk would be much more introspective than it´s been so far, and perhaps there are revelations waiting for me in solitude. I will meet other people, of course, but I need to stop basing the night´s stop on where my friends will be. I came here for a reason, and I´m losing sight of it, and that´s not good.

Tomorrow morning I´ll wait for Christa...5km behind, she´ll be here in 45 minutes from whenever she leaves, and I´m sure I won´t be ready before then. We´ll probably still stop in Burgós tomorrow night, since it´s a big city, but after that, I´ll see if she wants to knock out some big days with me and get on down this road. If not, perhaps I´ll go alone. Either way, there´s some decision making to do tonight. It´s MY Camino. Skip has his, the boys have theirs, Christa has hers, and I think you do yourself a disservice if you allow your Camino to become someone else´s.

So that´s the deal. We´ll see how the next couple days play out.

Anyway. Notes for the prospective pilgrim. Toilets here don´t always have seats. Apparently, sitting on the porcelain is not a big deal. It skeeves me out.

They also sometimes flush with the approximate force of Class 5 hurricanes. Apparently, that is not a big deal either.

The first cold shower I´ve had to take was this morning in Belorado, after a REALLY cold night. I was not pleased. This is not an indictment on the albergue, which was lovely and had a beautiful garden.

AND A POOL. On a day that felt like about 50 degrees (F). Figures. I´ve been dreaming of swimming pools for DAYS and we finally find one on the day I´m freezing my butt off.

The bocadillos get smaller the farther you go. In Navarra, 3€ gets you a sandwich as long as your arm. You quarter it with your pocketknife, ask for papel, and it lasts all day. By the time you hit Castilla y León (our current province), they are smaller. Still good, though. I´m already trying to figure out how to get this kind of ham in the States.

Condiments are overrated. You order a jamón sandwich, and it is jamón, heavy on the fat, on a baguette. THAT´S IT. And it grows on you. Get some cheese on it. And if anyone knows the word for butter, please pass it along. I need that. Please also send ¨May I have this sandwich wrapped up to go?¨

8 minutes left...what else to say. Not much. My sweater is in the wash and it´s COLD. Not good.

There are girls who come walk the Camino in cute clothes and makeup and look none the worse for wear. This makes me want to call them bad names I should not say in a blog my grandmother reads. I have to keep telling myself I didn´t come here to look cute. But it burns my butt a little bit anyway.

Everyone else´s gear always looks better and more efficient than yours, and often you are surprised when you find out how much someone else´s backpack, in fact, sucks. HAH.

All for now. I´m out of things to say. Tomorrow, Burgós. Anyone got a remedy for SERIOUSLY stinky backpack straps? This will NOT get better in the next three weeks....

Please keep commenting. Love you all.