Belorado to Villafranka Montes de Oca

I think I fixed the comments problem, feel free to try.

Today's post starts last night.
We checked into a large private albergue, kind of industrial, but seemed fine.  Camino Ray was not feeling well from the weather beating we had, so he crashed at 7:30.  I crashed shortly after posting and contacting the family.

We didn't open any windows, cause the nighttime temps were 48°f and Camino Ray was already feeling a bit of a chill...  It was stuffy.  I woke up this morning completely stuffed up with a sore throat.  The stuffiness cleared as soon as I entered the clean air, but too late, sore throat!

Given the combination of Camino Ray's experience and my sore throat, we were not happy campers and just didn't have the energy in is to tackle the small climb (350 meters) and 12km to the next bed.  Just outside of town, a Landover type vehicle was slowly driving down the Camino road handing out tiny flyers for a new albergue in town.  We made a. decision to jump on it.  €10 scored a single bed in a 16 bed dorm with dividers!  Add to that we had several Camino friends in the same place, MEGA SCORE!  13.2km day, nice and easy, have about 540km to go.

The walk was actually very pleasant, even given our assorted health challenges.
The decision on Burgos has been answered for us, we will take our spare day for Burgos and use that to ease the walk into town into three days instead of two, AND we still have time to tour around Burgos.  Current plans call for us to arrive on Sunday, early day and have the rest of the day for touring.

If you are looking at the prescribed stages, we are 1/2 way thru stage 13...  You shouldn't use the stages as a rule, they are a guide only, I'm letting my Camino decide and its treating me very nicely!

It took almost two weeks, but Camino funk creaped in, and no shower was removing it...  No problem, go to the local shop, get some Camino soap (for hair, body, and clothes) and a tiny bottle of antiperspirant....  A tiny bottle with an overwhelming perfumey odor!  MISTAKE!  Immediate nasal attack, to late, it got into the shirt as well...  Ugh! Donativo left in the men's room, not going on THIS body again.

While walking today, I started to wonder, I am normally an emotionally private person, but have freely posted my emotions here...  The reason why is two fold, I want to capture those feelings for later, and it is important to me that prospective Peregrinos understand the full impact of such an immersive endeavor - this is not a vacation walk, but one of the oldest and largest pilgrimages.  Emotions are a huge part of the adventure.

Speaking of which, last night I mentioned that we had many single Peregrinos invited to join us at the dinner table language barrier be damned!  Today we saw the Russian lady as we were exiting town, she saw us and an immediate smile came to her face.  We all shared a quick hug before we departed company.  Later down the way, we crossed again, she was cracking some fresh nuts and was quick to share (declining due to sore throat, spoken in body language :) ).

The point, screw language barriers, we are all family!  A bigger point?  Should we go around hugging people all the time, probably not, should we open ourselves to others and invite people to share in our company and joy, absolutely yes!  We live in big cities, but are so lonely surrounded by people.  Here I am, an ocean apart, foreign country I have never been to, only speak "poko Español", and by myself and I couldn't possibly be less alone. 

That should cover today's ramblings, today's challenges have been more health then mental, physical, or spiritual.

Buen Camino!
Kevin