Camino Day 16 - September 22

Today, we walked from Hornillos del Camino to Castrojeriz, about 20.5 km. I said to Rob today that it´s amazing how a 20 km day now feels like a short day. We are definitely getting used to this walking, as are our bodies..

 

A couple of especially interesting things today.. (Or interesting to me, at least). We stopped in a cafe for an early lunch. All of the tables were full, so a young man who came along asked if he could join us. We had a good visit over lunch, even though it made our stop a bit longer than planned. He is from Moldova, and thinks he may be the first pilgrim from there. (My world geography is very poor; so I had to get him to explain to me that Moldova is between Ukraine and Romania.) He is walking about 40km a day, which is twice what we we are doing.. He was a very interesting guy.. One of the things I´m enjoying so much about this journey is the people I´m meeting. Each person has a different story, a different reason for walking, a different approach to the Camino, and many share it openly without my asking. It´s so interesting to me.

 

The second thing which especially captured my attention today was in San Anton, where there are ruins of a convent built in the 12th century as a pilgim hospital. Long ago, there were many pilgrim hospitals, built as places where pilgrims could rest and be restored, and receive medical attention. I could see how they could be useful. And for as many people as are walking the Camino now, I understand there were many, many more in medieval times and in the middle ages. It´s hard and amazing to realize that this pilgrimage has been happening for so many centuries, and that so many of the buildings and bridges and monuments built long ago still stand today. 

 

One final amusing thing.. Many of the eating establishments have menus translated into various languages, which is so helpful. But some of the translations are funny.. Tonight, we ate supper at a hotel close to our albergue. One the menu appeared macarones con tomata - macaroni (or pasta) with tomato sauce. The English translation? ¨Tubular powder with tomato.¨ I forgot to take a picture, but it totally made me laugh out loud.. But again, I so appreciate the translations, as even that English is miles better than my Spanish.

 

Blessings to you all,

susan