July 9: Belorado to Ages

If you´re wondering how I got to Belorado, that´s the town we walked to yesterday from Santo Domingo de la Calzada. Sometimes I get confused about posting where we started the day from, and where we ended it. Sometimes I´m just confused about where I am, period.

A pretty good day today. My sun poisoning has almost completely disappeared, since I´m wearing the legs on my pants every day to keep the sun off. (Zip-offs, if you´re confused.) On the other hand, the irritation from the sun poisoning has been more than replaced by the irritation from bed bug bites, courtesy (I think) of the very authentic ambiance of that really old monestary we stayed at a few days back. Ah well.

We had originally planned on stopping in San Juan de Orgeta, but the day wasn´t too hot, and we made such good time we went on an additional 3.5 k because we heard the albergue here was much better. It is very nice, with a nice little bar/restaurant downstairs and a grocery on the corner. Since we got up at 5:00, we made good time and still got here around 1:00. We have, so far, walked a hair over 165 miles, which staggers me when I think about it. We´ve been actually walking 12 days. It feels like we´ve been walking only about 5 or 6, but when I think back to meeting Roland and navigating that first day in SJPP, it feels like about 3 months ago. Time just blurs here; none of us can keep track of the day or date.

I´ve fallen into a bit of a system when it comes to packing up, with specific pockets in my pack for certain gear, and certain pockets in my shorts for items I want to be able to find quickly (wallet, iPhone, headphones, sunblock, aspirin, lip balm, camera). Since I bought two pair of identical shorts and simply switch off between them each day, my system is the same each day. (I brought just one set of the zip-off legs, which of course works on both pairs of shorts.) It´s amazing how quickly this becomes an important part of getting out in good time each day, and moving along after breaks. It also helps to know exactly where, in the pack, everything is, because often we´re getting up in the dark and trying to get out without waking up peregrinos who are still sleeping.

Walking in early morning continues to be lovely, and walking uphill in blazing sun and very high temperatures continues to be really, really not fun. So we try to set out early each day, so we can get into the albergue early enough to shower, do laundry and rest up and still feel like we have time to relax with other friends we´ve met on the Camino. Today was a good day; we arrived without being so exhausted that we fell into bed for naps, and were able to spend a couple of hours with fellow peregrinos, chatting and sharing food and drink.

The Camino culture continues to amaze me. We meet and part from one another so quickly. You never know if you´re going to connect again, but quite often you find yourself sleeping next the same people several nights in a row, or catching up during the walk and spending some time chatting along the way. Bathrooms are pretty communal, with private shower and toilet stalls, but often with the men and women sharing the same common area. More than once I have found myself casually sorting through the intimate items of some man or woman I barely know, looking for my own things, because we opted to save money when things weren´t drying quickly by sharing a dryer. No one thinks much of it, and everyone, by common agreement, just acts as though it´s the most natural thing inthe world to be living in this kind of proximity and intimacy with people we don´t know, or know just enough to (one would think) make things awkward. But it´s all good, and feels very natural and comfortable.

The fellowship is congenial, casual, free-flowing, wide-ranging, and great fun. There are a lot of young people in their 20´s walking, and I find that I connect more with them (probably because of the presence of Niles and Emlyn) than I do with the other walkers closer to my own age. Today I found myself sharing music from the iPhone-iPod lists with a young man from Sligo, Ireland, and was amazed to find how much musical taste we have in common. (Go me and my coolness!)

Odd thoughts come to me along the way, often. Today we were following the tracks, once again, where quite a few sheep have travelled. In the albergues, most often, you are not allowed to wear your boots past the entrance area. That´s because our boots often carry quite a bit of dirt and--well--sheep doots. I never realized this, but sheep are really....productive. They seem, from the evidence of the trails we´re following, to leave a pretty constant and pervasive trail of mess behind them wherever they go, and there´s just no way to avoid walking through it and carrying a little bit of it with you. Makes me wonder if Jesus was choosing his metaphors more carefully than we like to think.

We continue to find that there are fairly low numbers of folks walking the Camino, and we continue to be glad of the nature of the experience we´re finding. Again, there´s plenty of time for lone reflection, for silence, and for talking with wonderfully fascinating people. Such a very cool opportunity! And tho the weather is hot, the scenery continues to be beautiful. Even in July there is such an amazing abundance of wildflowers. The sky is often an amazingly deep blue, the vineyards are such a bright green, and there are also olive groves, sunflower fields, wheat, and rolling hills with forest in between. Did I mention beautiful?

We do wrestle a bit with homesickness. We´ve been at this long enough that the novelty has sort of worn off, but we know we still have a long way to go. So sometimes the mornings can feel pretty draining, especially when we´re walking through suburb-like areas, industrial parks, or along highways. But before long we settle into the rhythm, and on days like this, I feel like I could keep doing this quite a long time. Which is good, because at this point I pretty much will.

Tomorrow we arrive in Burgos, and the next day (the day of the World Cup) we´ll be leaving the large city for a smaller town, which everyone seems to agree will be a much better place to watch the game and deal with the after-game events. (After the last game Spain won), we found that several trucks passing us seemed to be doing so at much higher than normal speed, and one actually ran into a guardrail not far from one of the walkers. Not very comforting.)

So that´s pretty much it for today. We have about a 20K walk tomorrow, and we hope it will be fairly easy. But every day I´ve dreaded has been easier than I thought, and every "easy day" has turned into a killer, so maybe it´s time for me to stop trying to second-guess tomorrow. Huh. Might could be there´s a lesson there somewhere....

Anyway, know that we continue to appreciate your prayers, and I keep you in mine. Peace!