Day 27 - Hospital de Orbigo to Murias de Rechivaldo.

First, catch up on yesterday!
Yesterday was the last of the Meseta marches, we made our escape from Leon and made our way to Hospital de Orbigo.  In the morning, we were one really big family, and by days end we had 15km separating the leaders (Nancy and I) from the back of the pack (they elected to walk the industrial zone out of Leon).

One of the wonderful things about three Camino is the numerous "Donativo" stands doing the Camino, pay what you want, if you want!  You can set one of the pictures the guy has a dome complete with power, want OJ, he'll freshly squeezed some for you.  Hot coffee, no problem, tissues, wipes, snacks, all Donativo and all no problem.  They do it for the love (and I bet a pretty sizeable return on their monetary investment).

We had one, 7km long stretch of road... No corners, just field - you know it's bad when you get excited because there is a fence to break up the monotony of the walk.  Many stopped for the day at San Justo de La Vega, but we pushed on to a reservation at an albergue that came highly recommended.

Arriving at our albergue unwilling to make another step, we discovered it was not Italian themed as lead to believe, but as the German book describes best " “Albergue Verde” is nearly a must for vegetarians and alternative spiritually-oriented pilgrims."...  A hippie albergue!  I did say that I read going to let the Camino help guide me, so I said what the heck, the beds were clean and the place seemed generally tidy, just very friendly hosts and a lot of comfortable spots to relax.  They offered a free yoga class, again, I'm here on Camino, in part, to try be things, so I attended...  Not my cup of tea, but I DID feel much better afterwards, so I wasn't complain either :).  After that long experience, we had an organic vegetarian meal, hand made my the host and served family style.

Before the meal, we had a special doing sung to us to bless the meal.  As the servers said, they sing the song nightly, but try each night to sing it with the passion of their very first time.  We had homemade baba ganoush, hummus, bread, salad, beans and rice with caramelized onions followed up with dense cake and tea.  Breakfast was a help yourself scenario, and all the food was Donativo and delicious.  The basic of the evening was the host's obvious love for his job and the passion he displayed.  He also warmly told all the Peregrinos to sleep in as late as they wished, there was no mandatory leaving time (usually 8am).

All in all, out was a great day, hard long walk and surprising albergue, but a great day.

So, before today's adventure, Cruz de Ferro is my driving force right now.  At the top of the highest point of the Camino is a tall pole with a large iron cross on top.  At the base of this pole is a massive mound of burden stones brought up my millions of previous Peregrinos over centuries and even rumored to predate Christianity.  I will be adding my own burden stone to the top of the mound when I ascend in a few days.  When I add the stone to these pile, I will release mental and emotional burdens with the stone, leaving them behind and freeing myself of them.  I carry a special burden stone, given to me by my sister-in-law - black onyx, my birthstone...  It's normal power is to relieve you of burdens, so it was a natural burden stone for my journey.

So, on to today, departed the "hippie compound" around 7 and slowly made our way back into the rolling hills, leaving the Meseta behind and looking onward to the mountains and Galacia beyond.  I also got to embrace a Peregrino tradition today - the walking clothesline!  See, clothes doesn't always get dry enough before you leave, so you pin your laundry to the outside of your pack and it dries in the morning sun.

We passed another Donativo stand today, of course leaving much more then we took, but then we have direct reports of the awesome kindness of the guy running it - he runs it from the heart, nothing else.

Just before dropping into Astorga, there is a lookout pointing out the vote and outlining the cities below...  Pointing to Cruz de Ferro on the distance...  Seriously, I was like a kid at Christmas!  Being able to set the peak in the distance just fired me up and released my inner-child!

There are two pictures of a cross on the overlook, after that is another with a tree in the center.  That tree, on the left side has a branch pointing up and pointing to the peak that is Cruz de Ferro!

It is funny, I have been excited about many things on Camino, but I really feel like I am being drawn, pulled if you will, to Cruz de Ferro.  Ever since I departed Leon, the summit has been drawing at me and the main focus of my travels, pushing hard for three days so we may hopefully summit for sunrise on Saturday, releasing our burdens and freeing up that space for more positive energy/emotions to refill that space.

OH!  Today makes 4, full weeks of being on Camino, in the short weeks I will be returning back home to my family.   distance wise, I am less then 300km from my primary destination (I have a post Santiago destination of Finisterre and Muxia)

....Oh, hold on, dinner is served, I'll return soon....
Mid dinner update: wonderful fresh salad, and a vegetable lasagna, served of course with water, wine, and bread.  The lasagna is phenomenal.
Dessert is a Fromage Blanche your deal with jam on top....
...
OOH YEAH BABY!!!  They are serving a nightcap!!!  Orujo de hierbas - the albino pink elephants come out tonight!!!
.....
OK, where were we?  Ooh yeah, the draw to Cruz de Ferro...  Funny, MANY people at tonight's table are feeling the same thing, a big draw to the summit.  Guess I'll have plenty of friends to Keri need company!

Anyways, that about wraps it up for me tonight.  I'm sure I'll have plenty to write about tomorrow and of not, Saturday should be great!

Buen Camino!
Kevin