Hornillos to Castrojarez

Emi in good spirits at sunrise.

Three girls on the trail.

Emi adding to the rock pile.

Just after sunrise, a little cloud cover to keep us cool.

Remains of a 15th century church.  El Camino passes through a standing flying buttress.

On the trail.  All countryside today.

Entering Castrojarez.

We were very fortunate last night tohavea nice room in an albergue that had just opened three weeks ago.  The town was completely sold out, so it was good that we arrived early in the day.  We said goodbye to our roommates who were going 18 miles to the next town to make up ground, grabbed a quick breakfast at the albergue and hit the trail.  Itwasour earliest start at 6:15 and we beat most people on the road since it was only a 13 mile day.

The first town was 3.5 miles down the road and it ended up only being an albergue.  Marion was dying of hunger, and we were unable to buy and fruit the day before due to lack of supply.  We stopped at the albergue and Marion picked out Sardines to eat.  Since Marion is gluten, dairy and egg intolerant (no bread, pasta, etc), food is difficult to find for her, so she makes the best of it.  The gluten free craze in America hasn't made it to Spain.

We continued down the trail another 3.5 miles to our planned breakfast stop.  We made it there by 9am, a little slow, but still stopped for coffee and a little snack.  There was a big group of Germans outside the bar who greeted us loudly.  As we drank our coffee, more of their friends continued to arrive and they shouted and hugged them.  They had really bonded on the Camino.

The bonding and sense of community is extremely strong along the Camino.  Although we all have such different backgrounds coming from all over the world, we are all sharing this unique experience.  We are happy to see each other on the trail always greeting one another with an "Hola" and "Buen Camino" that is truly sincere.  You may go days without seeing one another, but if you happen to see someone you had a 30 minute conversation with a week ago, you are so happy to see them again.  You never know if it's the last time you will ever talk with them.  It's almost a sense of last words to a brief friend who shares a small part of their life with you.

After breakfast, we started off again and my ankle immediately began to hurt, really bad.  We had been very fortunate as a group in that Gisela only had minor blisters and Julie had sore knees, but so many other pilgrims had already dropped out or had injuries that kept them in a city for days to heal.  I struggled witha walking stick and a few advil to ease the pain.  Now I was the weak link and I couldn't help pace Emi by holding her hand.

Around the 9 mile mark Emi slowed down again.  It might actually be that the rest of us are getting stronger, but Emi is staying the same.  We have increased our pace by over 1 mile per hour and have the same expectations for her.  When we pace her, she can do it.  We walked together with Gisela and I giving some unappreciated verbal encouragement to Emi.  We arrived into town completing the 13 miles in about 5 hours and at the first bar saw Sean and Becky, our roommates from the triple bunk day who still owe Emi an ice cream.  We greeted them with loud shouts and sat down for a cup of coffee.  It was time to celebrate another full day.

We traded stories about what had happened since we parted ways.  Sean had a similar injury and gave me some advice, more advil and loosen the boots and expect continued pain.  Great.  They invited us to Oman to visit them and traded e-mails, etc.  it was like finding long lost friends even though we only shared a few days together.  They were taking the bus on to Leon, about 5 days ahead in hopes that they could finish.  We said our goodbyes once again as we wouldn't be on the same schedule.

Marcos, a German who stayed in the albergue with us the night before had joined us mid coffee.  He had rested in burgos for 4 days healing an injury and had become very lonely since it was difficult to spot pilgrims there.  We agreed to find an albergue together, which we did, then move onto lunch.  We are staying a small albergue, 20 beds, in a room with 6 people.  It's the size we like, just not up to the cleanliness standards we like, but for 8.5 euros, including breakfast, you can't be too demanding.

At lunch, we sat down and a couple next to us asked if we were walking.  They were as well, but just a segment that would complete their entire Camino.  They had done the beginning and ending but not this middle section.  They were of Spanish decent, living in Germany.  So, we had neighbors that spoke German and Spanish, our guest who Spoke German and English, and us who speak English and Spanish.  We talked the whole time during lunch, constantly switching between all three languages so everyone could understand.  It was great fun and I really appreciated being bilingual.

This is the true spirit of el Camino.  It really changes you.  We used to think we were budget travelers, but nothing compares to this.  Julie is uptight about food being clean, but. Yesterday she dropped her muffin and it rolled about 6 feet on the ground.  She brushed it off and ate it because out on the trail food is scarce and you come to appreciate every last bit.  We laughed about how she has changed.  She continue to help out more than ever with cooking, cleaning, laundry and packing, maturing in leaps and bounds in just a few weeks.  As I think about accomplishing this walk, I can only image how high Julie and Emi will set their goals to top this.