Abba Burgos

... hit the road. Hope we have better luck than yesterday.
The key is in the ignition... Say a quick prayer to the God of starter motors (Well it is Sunday) Turn the key with anticipation....Joy of joys as the engine roars into life...We're off!
Heading south to cross the border at San Sebastian into Spain as the sun rises on another lovely day...The views as we pass through the Pyrenees are spectacular ...

... You can just watch the history unfolding on the walls.

Aside from the churches, the city itself felt a bit like Valladolid. We did find a place to take a (short) hike up to see an amazing view of the city. It was really cool...though the altitude made it somewhat challenging.

We also got to see some pretty serious protesting in the city center. A bunch of masked men were waving flags and ...

... s a tradition in Jose Luis's family and to keep the story short, all the women in the family get gifts that day. Jose Luis and Chelo were thoughtful enough to get me something--a guide book about the area I'll be living in and an apron for when I'm on my own and have to do all the cooking myself! So, to sum up that day, we ate lunch, exchanged gifts, and then sat around and talked. A couple of the siblings gave me some ...

Tonight we stayed in a camping ground/ hotel. The place was virtually a large shed, but an improvement from the deportivo the night before.

We had arrived early, around noon. I found myself worrying what i was going to do for the next ten hours until bed. THe initial transition to the camino is very positive, and you find yourself living more in the moment and enjoying life. However, i think i may have hit a wall ...

... about 100 teenagers waiting to give us bad looks as we staggered in.

A bit frustrated with the morning, not being able to understand the dialogue made our wanderings seem more exhausting.

Off in the morning heat, where we planned to stay at Rabe Del Camino. However, the small hostel was run by a very mean woman who we felt was overcharing us, so we plowed on through the meseta. THe meseta is unbelieveable and i will try to describe it in a later post. THe ...

Villafranca to Cardenuela 23.1 km

Today was my favorite walk! As we left the albergue, there was a hill to climb - - not my favorite thing to do in the AM or anytime for that matter. The reward was a beautiful walk through fern, evergreens and then forest for 12.2 km on a wide road. It was just like Northern Michigan!!

Passed thru Atapuerca, where archaeologists have uncovered the best preserved human ...

... photos of the hard-to-find signs. The city´s cathedral is massive and hugely impressive. The sheer scale of it brought to mind the story of Dubai and its flag: when originally flown apparently the largest in the world. That is until its neighbour, Abu Dhabi, got wind of this record-breaking flag and immediately set about erecting one of its own, but even bigger! And so I reflected on the sort of competition that must have gone on between ...

... didn't know that a swimming cap was required. We had to buy these silly black rubber caps from the bar that also served as the swimming pool office and entrance. I have never worn one so picture my sis and I sitting on the side of the pool trying to pull these silly looking rubber hats over our hair. It was a pretty sad moment! Being that it was such a hot day, we decided to push back checking out the church until 6:30pm. I would guess that it was still in the 90's ...

... The body is amazing, it seems to know that it has just 8 hours to fix itself while i sleep in preparation for the next days walking. We arrived in Burgos and had a nosey round, nice city but the roar of traffice and the bustle of people meant that a quick getaway in the morning was essential.

... his train in Sahagun. It wasn´t a particularly tear-filled occasion, as one might imagine, though Brandon the Canadian did give him a pretty swee neckless that his sister had made for him. Nevertheless, things seem a litte emptier without him, so that´ll take a bit of readjusting. Tomorrow we´re headed either to the tiny Mansilla de las Mulas, or the mega-huge Leon. Hi Helen. Hope your husbands knee is ok, and the move went well. Grant