5 May 2008

First things first. Happy Birthday Suresh.

Well, as we said yesterday, we got an early start heading to Castrojeritz, not as early as we had hoped but still early. The day got of to a good start with a cool morning and a decent road. We walked about 5 kms before reaching the isolated Arroyo de San Bol which comprises one Auberge. It seemed pretty spartan so we walked by it without even checking out. Another 5 kms later, we came upon the village of Hontanas where there was 2 cafes one across from each other. A number of our Camino friends were already sitting at one having cafe con leche and bread so we sat ourselves down and did the same (no cafe for moi). I took the opportunity to lather on the sunblock lotion because, for the first time, I took the lower part of my slacks off. It starts off quite cool in the morning but by 10 o clock, it is scorching hot. It makes the trek quite hard for me the winter person. After a quick stop, we left and when we finally pulled into Castrojeriz, we crossed what we thought was the town and found nothing there remotely resembling a auberge. A few minutes later, the town start again and at the end of a very long street, there we were, in front of the Albergue we had been looking for. By then, we are exhausted, close to the end of our rope and the albergue in question is at the top of the longest flight of broken down stone steps. Where all of us found the strength to climb up there is a mystery to me. The place was really nice, the hospitaliero was the most welcoming little Japanese guy. He had previously worked in Calcutta, India at the Mother Teresa place. He was quite happy to share these experiences with Bernie. The dorm was one large, high ceiling room, very airy and clean with a number of bunks and also mattresses on the floor with great facilities. Soon after getting there, I did laundry and took of my watch and ring. When I went to put them back on, I could not find my ring. Bernie went to see if it was with the stuff he had put on the line and I proceeded to empty my pack, pockets, ziplock bags and more. No ring. Just then, a lady walked in showing me her finger. It turns out I had put it on a table at the cafe in Hontanas when I creamed myself. She was sitting there and we had been talking to her, her husband and son. She was so happy to see me and I was very glad to get my ring back. We are now great friends. Later that night, we had dinner with them and a bunch of other people we have been with for many days now. It was most enjoyable and the food and wine were great. That was a fine ending to a good day. Tomorrow it will be Boadilla del Camino, about 20 kms again. This walking in the heat is a real killer. Someone, rescue me.