Late Night Thoughts

2:45 AM Wednesday night/early Thursday morning

Random thoughts during the snoring night. 

I have a great part of convertible pants, the kind that the legs zip off and become shorts. They dry fast, have pulls in the bottom of the legs to keep bugs out and look good. Well, they did look good. I've had to belt them on for the past couple of weeks so much that I'm beginning to look like PeeWee Herman. I hope to find a better fitting pair of pants in Leon. 

I've scared dozens of frogs and toads as I sneak into the grasses to tee-tee. Poor things. Just living their froggy and toady lives, and in plops some shoes and a PeeWee Herman squatter. 

I wonder what John's oxygen level is these days. He's not used his cpap (way to heavy and power isn't always available) for weeks. 

Is anyone else awake, listening to the snorers, in this albergue?  

If we keep eating the way we were starting out, the PeeWee pants might start fitting again. Peregrino meals are so filling, and always have dessert. The hosts are hurt if you don't eat it all. I'm hurt if I do. ACK. Blimp sighting on the Camino!

Drat - I just got an email that our beloved book store in Pahoa is closing. Our credits will be transferred to the sister store in Hilo, but there goes another wonderful Pahoa business. 

Why, oh why, have I developed an allergy to beer? My beloved beer. Each day I've been enjoying a beer with lunch and suffering from a stuffy nose right after. Another DRAT. Beer only occasionally, if I'm willing to take the consequences. DRAT.

Why don't people turn off the tip-tap keypad sounds on their devices? Really now, so they need to hear every single letter sound off?

GO TO SLEEP!!!

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Burgo del Ranero/Reliegos/Mansilla de las Mulas

Sept 25 18.8 km 11.6 miles

It was a very chilly 44 degrees when we silently left our beds and roommates at 6:50 AM this morning. The sky was crystal clear and the northern hemisphere stars shined brightly. The moon is new, so wasn't around to brighten our way. Our early departure is due to the fact that we didn't have a reservation for this evening and were counting on getting into the municipal albergue. When John checked the temperature after we left town, on his fancy-schmancy watch, it was 41. Freakin' BURRRRRR. 

As the sun came up, it cast a red glow upon the plowed fields, making the red clay soil even redder (more red?). Our entire world that we were walking through was such an incredible color. Most mornings have held clouds over the eastern skies, mellowing the colors. Not so on this fine, Kansas type, chilly autumn morning. 

I did much better this morning without my coffee. No vending machine, and certainly no bars open for coffee in the tiny village of Burgo del Ranero. Our first stop was around 8:30 AM, on a cold concrete bench, in a little path side picnic area. The empanadas I bought the night before hit the spot, along with a health dose of water.

The shadows cast by the raising sun were spectacular. Just look at that physique. Complete with a dangling pack strap.

We stopped in Reliegos for coffee con leche. John had a tortilla, but I set apart from the typical morning fare with a splendid salad of terrific tasting tomatoes, onions, peppers and olives. Life with a salad for breakfast is fine with me. After visiting with a couple from Halifax, we took off again. From the time we left our coffee break, until we reached our stopping point for the day, only 2 people passed us. Either we are speeding up, or everyone decided to just sit in the sun and enjoy more coffee.

John's blisters are on the mend. I pulled the thread last night and put on Compeed. We checked them after we arrived at our albergue this afternoon and they are doing much better. A shopping trip to a sports store is in order in Leon. John needs something that will not aggravate more blisters. I need something with more support. That love/hate relationship I had with my boots is only a memory now. These replacement shoes just don't make it. And we have some serious mountains to get over before we get to Santiago De Compostella. 

Leon tomorrow. We might do two nights, but probably not. With just over 200 miles to go, we are both beginning to crave our home. With the lack of well marked pilgrim paths, dangerous highway crossings and advice from pilgrims who have experience, we are opting for taking a bus into Leon. It's such an industrial city and the traffic, smog (we could see it this morning) and the smokestack fraught outskirts are simply more than we want to deal with. Are we cheating? No. We are preserving our lives. People have died crossing the non-pilgrim friendly highways. 

I was stressing where we would stay in Leon, but the hostess made a reservation for us at a pension this afternoon. Our stay in Leon will be comfy. 

We got into the municipal albergue. For better or worse, it's what we have tonight. The cost is only 5€ We have a dormitory room with 7 bunks. 14 pilgrims. 

Snoring is the norm. But our hostess has a terrific sense of humor.

Surgery on another pilgrim. 

We were blessed again with the wonderful camaraderie of people from all over the world, and a dinner by Tomas and Ward.

While John did dishes again, for some 17 folks, Tomas played guitar. After the dishes were done, our chefs went to a bar that reportedly had a piano. Ward's fingers had been itching for a keyboard and he played on and on, while we sang. The meal last night was the last the two will do together, as Tomas has finished his Canimo. He went from Leon to Santiago last year and tomorrow he hits Leon. Ward plans to carry on, and has Claire from Perth to help. They fed 171 people on the Camino. We were blessed to be included in their meals.

John says it's f-ing cold. It's not f-ing cold. That's when the temp is below freezing and the wind is blowing and it's sleeting. We aren't there. But the autumn weather, as we near Santiago de Compostela, will be colder and might be f-ing cold in the mountains. The new shoes need to be warm too.