Amigos

Day #21: Leon to Villar de Mazarife, 14 miles

Day #22: Mazarife to Astorga, 19 miles

Day #23: Astorga to Rabanal, 13 miles

One of the best parts of the Camino is the friends we have made-great people from all over the world. Luckily for me, most of them speak at least a few words of English and we get by. One of the things we all have in common is that you have be a little crazy to undertake this adventure. Another is that we have a common goal. And it's a funny kind of friendship-you walk and talk with someone for a few miles or a few days and then they stop to take a break and you keep moving or you stop to see something and they don't. You may see them again later that day or a week later or maybe never again. But it is easy to form a bond with the other crazy souls out here on the same journey and always fun to find them again. Most of them are pretty unforgettable characters. I realize as I am writing this that I haven't taken enough pictures of them, but here are a few:

That's Jan from Denmark  we met him our first day and still see him now and then. A special character!

We met Thomas from Germany the first day, too. Everyone likes to walk with him because he tells great stories and makes everyone laugh, like here where he is pretending to be the frog in the game. 

Thomas' daughter Lia has gone home to Hamburg now, but she and Grace were great friends. 

Joan from Arizona is struggling to accept her husband's recent death. She is also struggling with the trail, but she keeps going. 

We hadn't seen John from Scotland for a couple weeks, until we ran into him in Leon where he was joined by his friend Christine from England. 

Saturday, September 13

Last night we took bubble baths in our great tub and drank cava. What a life! Today it is back to reality. We awoke to a thunderstorm and donned our raingear for the first time. We scurried across town in the darkness and rain in hopes of having breakfast at the Parador. If you have seen "The Way," it is the fancy hotel they stayed in. It is one of the world's great hotels, built as a monastery in the 1500s. Unfortunately, breakfast there was 20€ ($30), so we explored a little, took some pictures, and had breakfast at the cafeteria across the street. 

The grand staircase at the Parador

A dark photo of the beautiful cloisters at the Parador. 

The weather improved greatly as the day went on, but the scenery for the first part was not good-the suburbs and industrial areas we bypassed yesterday. By afternoon we were walking through the deserted countryside again.

It looks a lot like the Meseta, only greener. They call this the paramo. 

Villar de Mazarife with our albergue, Tio Pepe, in the background. 

This is really ramdom-some locals feeding corn to a squealing pig in the courtyard of our albergue. 

Sunset in Mazarife, and more stork nests in the old church tower. 

Sunday, September 14

I must be getting used to the distances-well over 19 miles today and it wasn't too bad. In fact it was a beautiful, enjoyable day with a wide variety scenery. We are slowly leaving the plains. It is getting ever more hilly and green. 

The medieval bridge we crossed into Hospital de Orbigo has nineteen arches. They still stage jousts on the field in front of it. 

This gentleman from a small village gave us pears from his orchard. 

One of many impromptu roadside displays. You can see that a storm is brewing up in the background. 

This fellow has established a donation-only cantina in the ruins of an old pueblo in the middle of nowhere. It's an "old hippie" kind of place-a guitar to strum, peace and love graffitti, and hugs all around. 

Beautiful view from the Cruciero down to the town of Astorga (where we stayed) and the mountains in the far distance (where we will be hiking for the next several days-they are much higher than they look in the picture).

It was the end of a long day!

End of a beautiful day: on the left is the beautiful old Astorga Cathedral, on the right the more modern Bishop's Palace, another Gaudi creation. 

Monday, September 15

Such a change in the weather! It was cool and overcast all day. But it was a lovely, shorter day and it ended in what might be my favorite little town so far-Rabanal del Camino. 

Cowboy bar!

Communal tea in the courtyard of our albergue (followed by coffee and beer and wifi in the local bar).