Las Vegas Burgos

... 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 ...

... minutes away. Unfortunately I didn't get any pictures of the amazing mountains we drove through to get there!

The third and final weekend with the family was spent in the city where the parents grew up--Valladolid. We spent Saturday at the 40th birthday party of Chelo's and Jose Luis's friend. He is quite the crazy character, and his antics kept everyone entertained all day. Since all the adults there had kids ...

... and excitement high. In some ways this is positive: i generally do well meeting new people and enjoy conversations and keeping things interesting. HOwever, this impatience can also be dangerous and i think (on a larger level) is a cause of many of the problems i experience in life. I am going to try and take some more time in the day to just sit and bring myself down, focusing on my breathing and just :being:. I phoned ...

... was also indescribable and i walked very very quickly to try and make it to Hornillos as quickly as possible.

The hostal was full, in the traditional sense, but they had opened the deportive next door and had matresses and little beds for pilgrims.... kind of felt like a refugee camp, but i was grateful. Some people around me are less positive... more on that later. FUn night at dinner with tim and an older german couple... more on the later! Out of internet time!!

... up with Simon and the others, who had gone on to the next town instead of staying in san juan the night before.

The hostel was very similar to the one in Santo Domingo: very new (within a year), clean and large. It sort of felt like sleeping in a cupboard, the beds arranged in strange, one'sided, built-in cubicles.

I layed down for a while and chomped on some cookies, getting my blood sugar back up. My blister, which gave me very little pain that ...

... token... every person i have met here has offered me somthing illuminating. His friends came along (two investment bankers and one priest!) and i was able to meet them as well. It was funny as Jaime had worked at a YMCA camp in maine for many years, and in general they all had incredible english.

The town was tiny, with a small cluster of residences and a plaza with the medieval church and monastery and a small restaurant / bar. Jaime and I sat talking on a picnic ...

Today was a very easy walking day, i think partlybecause yesterday was a short 13 miles, so i wasble to rest my legs. However,i am feeling rather strange emotionally...more time needed to figure this out. Tomorrow will be a very varied terrain, lots of hills and valleys.

Thank you so muchto everyone who has emailed me!! It is so great to end the day by hearing from you!!!

much love from Belorado... buen camino

... most of the open plazas now have underground parking and there are these small stainless bins all over the place that I later found out are for recycling. The cool thing is that all the bins actually have containers underground so all the recycling and trash retrieval is hidden below ground. The cathedral was amazing although we only had time to see the outside. We walked around the city quite a bit. I think I could get used to Spain.

... It has been built around a golf course. There was a swimming pool, shops and carparks and dozens of new apartment buildings and houses. But no residents at all! Quite spooky, in a '28 days later' kind of way. In Santo Domigo de la Calzada I stopped for a long coffee break before the final stretch to Granon (21km). The albergue there is in the back of the church, very basic with mattresses on the floor. You pay by donation and dinner ...

... routes, as a marketing strategy to attract pilgrims. As Burgos was on the Route to Compostela it all made sense. It was getting late and we were all tired, so we headed back to Madrid, running into several traffic jams in the highway that made our way back a little tedious. During the ride, in my mind I was going over all the things that were to be done that night, as we are leaving Madrid tomorrow. And we still don't have flight tickets.....