Had a great nights sleep! The dorm was pitch black with the lights off, it was awesome. Camino Ray was to polite to tell me that with my stuffy nose, I did my fate share of snoring - Nancy on the other hand was honest enough to confess :). Either way, I woke up at 5:55 very refreshed, just layed there waiting for the inevitable light from mobile phones.
Sure enough, a minute or two later, I could see faintly in the room, someone was checking the time on their phone. A minute later it was brighter and soi on and so on till someone gave up cans turned on the overheads.
That brings up a good unwritten Camino/ rule. Bed at 9, 10 at the latest and wake at 6am, that one is almost written in stone , just haven't found that stone yet.
Fully energized, I apparently flew up today's climb (250 feet) without realizing my speed, over the top, down into a dip and back up my energy wasn't flowing, it was pouring out. Skip the energy I didn't expend yesterday, I poured out this morning. We did the climbs and descents and a pit stop (need to tell you about that) and covered 13km in about 2:30... That's a fast pace.
So, this rest stop... We are flying down these forest roads and start you set the logs sticking out of the grounds in the distance. As we get closer, it is a homemade rest stop with seats and benches crafted out of fell trees. There is all this artwork also looks totempoles, and Peregrino silloettes and the like. It would have been a sin to not rest in such a place built with so much love. We used it for a quick snack and foot check. Departing our spirits were even higher then before.
We took an extended break in San Juan de Ortega for a drink, water refill, destroy baños, and extensive foot check. We cleared the distance to the next village and as I looked over the valley, have serious consideration to blowing thru both villages, summiting the next ridge, and officially dropping into the Meseta, but we had friends in the 2nd village at an albergue. It was a good choice, we'll tackle Burgos and the Meseta tomorrow.
We are staying at a nice private albergue in Altapuerca and together with a lady from Quebec, made a pasta dish with lots of veggies... It ended up being a LOT of food, the four of us consumed our lot and still had enough to pass around for at least another 4 servings. Dessert was a light and dark chocolate bar broken into pieces. The combined effect was a veritable pilgrim feast and the company was fun. Now all I need is a grill, man I could escalate pilgrim food to untold levels if I just had access to a grill.
Life is good as a pilgrim, you get up, walk and walk and walk, get a place, do your chores, wash, eat, cleanup, contact family, and go to bed... But you are part of a large group doing the same and the comradery is just awesome. Heck, where else do you put 30 people in a room to sleep, snore, belch and fart? I hear rumors of some municipal super-albergues with many many more beds in one room. Either way, Camino is good.
So, I have been given some assorted nicknames: "mr fix-it", " happy ", but the most interesting I just earned typing this blog - " Godzilla! "... See the are some French people here and they are just generally loud, no volume control, listening to music, etc... Well a young lady was everything our small room (only 6 beds) and I had her open the door wide, much to everyone's surprise (mine included), I literally l loudly proclaimed that they needed to lower their voices, people ARE trying to sleep... Thank you, gracious!"... It worked for a while... And apparently the Camino gifted me with a more outspoken talent... Interesting, I'm going to see how that develops cause it kinda conflicts with the Peregrino mantra of acceptance and tolerance.
Anyways, 6am is coming early, I'm thinking of setting an alarm to make sure I am up... You know, I am missing some good ol' fashioned music from my youth. Thinking of something, " quiet riots come on felt the noise ".... Ooh shit, something is happening to me, and I an not sure if it is good or not, my adrenalin is PUMPING right now! So, the four adult men are sitting In the kitchen being loud. The young lady in there bunk below me goes out and tells then that they are both disrespectfully loud, one guy does a loud "LALALALA!"to emphasize the point quiet time starts at 10pm. I jump out of my top loudly proclaiming "are they being disrespectful to her?!?!?! "And head into the kitchen where I am greeted with silence. One of the guys, solidarity to emphasize his point, grand his guitar and goes outside strumming it, there was no language barrier when I said 6am will come all too soon if that is how we were going to handle this... Then I promised to dismantle the guitar using his head...
It is quiet now....
Seriously, I don't know what came over me, but it wasn't a threat, i was going to liberally apply justice and all because one guy was disrespectful to a lady...
Ummmm... Not sure if this new aggression is because if all the testosterone from the vigorous walking or if I am unlocking something inside.... I'll use the word "Interesting" to describe it for now. Wonder if I'll wake up tomorrow handcuffed to a radiator in a Spanish jail. Ooh, I told them they weren't Peregrinos and to get the heck of the Camino.
But it's quiet now, perhaps the guy is drunk on wine, but his buddies told him to be silent.
Well, this has been more interesting then usual... Wonder if I'll be confrontational tomorrow?! Till that question is answered I'm going to go to bed.
Buen Camino!
Kevin
