Friday, October 8, 2010

Day 22

Friday October 8, 2010
Day 22 on the Camino de Santiago de Compostela.
León to Hospital de Orbigo
Dear Blog Readers,

Sorry it is actually day 22. 
Have a fabulously delicious breakfast - you have no idea how fantastic it is to eat eggs, ham, fruit, juice, cheese etc. for breakfast instead of stale toasted baguette, jam and tea.  Staying at the 5 star hotel for my day off really pays off.
Take a taxi to get to the outside of León as most of the guide books talk about taking your life in your hands if you try to walk out of the city because of the Camino competing with the roadway for a few kms.  Leave the hotel at about 8 a.m. and begin the trek close to 8:30 a.m. at a village, La Virgin del Camino.  An old abandoned church steeple has attracted storks to build nests.  The Camino is filled with small rocks and splits into three routes.  Decide to stay in the center or original route to the next stop.  This route travels along a secondary roadway, which over the past three days had been quiet - not so day!  It feels like walking along the 401 in Toronto - voom, voom! I have no time to enjoy the fields along the Camino - with rain threatening all day - a small sliver of blue remains in the distant sky and I focus on it when I cannot find a washroom in the first town.   To make matters worst, the Camino crosses the roadway several times - it is like taking your life in your own hands?  One thing about Spanish drivers - they slow down for no one.  Pilgrims are just a speck on the roadway - these drivers are too busy looking to pass the big transport trucks. Finally, find an Albergue for lunch and a washroom break. 
The trek is supposed to be 25 kms. but at the hotel, the correct number is 29 kms.  Wow, no wonder I hurt when I climb into the tub to soak my aching feet. Have dinner with a lovely Spanish family, from the north coast, walking the Camino.  Tomorrow I will leave the Mesetas and climb into the mountains of Galica - most say it is a beautiful, green province, but the TV warns it receives the most rainfall in Spain.  On one of the mountain tops pilgrims are invited to place rocks as an iron cross symbol to have sins forgiven.  I will place several rocks I brought for myself and friends from home when I climb there two days from now.  I will add others for anyone needing help with health issues or just some good luck. 
Blessings from the Camino,
Yasmin
My personal thoughts for today - I accomplish a milestone today - trek 29 kms.  I am pooped, but elated.  Just 283 kms to go.  Hope to be in Santiago, without any health problems, by Oct. 23, 2010.  You may hear me hollering from your homes - when I finish this trek!

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