Day 10 - Ventosa to Santo Domingo - 32 km

Nope. Didn't walk 32 km. After a great night's sleep at Ventosa I started out in the dark at 6:30 a.m. There is no conscious decision on my part to start walking at this ridiculous hour. When your in a room full of people who are packing and shining their flashlights around and basically making a whole lot of racket, there is no hope of sleep. Walking really is the only other option and of course it makes sense to spend as much time out of the sun as possible. But walking yesterday in the dark was a lot different than today. The moon was covered by clouds and there were no lights of any kind to show us the way down the very dark path through the vineyards. One French fellow came along with a flashlight and I had to walk very fast to keep up with him. I should mention that I'm definitely one of the slowest walkers on the Camino. Almost everyone passes me. I thought that I was in pretty good shape, but most North Americans don't compare to most Europeans. Take the Irish for example; There are a lot of hills in Ireland and many walking groups. Hills don't seem to phase these people who have been walking up them their whole lives. As I walk through towns of Spain that are built on the mountain side I see very old woman and men trekking up and down like they are part mountain goat. Anyway, back to the French guy with the flashlight. We started going up a very rocky hillside and about half way up I was sure I'd have a heart attack, so I just had to stop right there and let him go on. I thought it might have nice if he were to slow down just until daybreak, but he was on a mission apparently. My eyes adjusted enough after awhile to see the rocks, but I was having a lot of problems seeing the yellow arrows. Soon the sun started to rise over the hills and all was well.

By 9:00 a.m. I had walked 12 km and was approaching Najera. The city of Najera is very dirty. It's hard to fathom the difference from one city to the next. I made a decision while I was walking the 12 km that the rest of today would be a day off. After 10 days of walking about 200 km i figured i could use a little rejuvenation. So I went straight to the bus terminal and 45 min later was on my way to Santo Domingo. Nice, nice place this Santo Domingo. Fairy tale medievalish. At the centre of the old city is the cathedral, but more about that in my next post. Next to the Cathedral is the Parador hotel; a luxury hotel converted from the ancient pilgrim's hospital. And guess who's staying there tonight? This is a little slice of heaven and I plan to enjoy every minute of it! The 1st hour was spent here.

Following the most amazing bath of my life, I went out to eat ..... and eat ..... and eat some more. This food it so amazing. How can we get food so wrong in North America? First I went to a little cafe and ordered a bunch of delicious appetizers, then to an abaceria where I ordered these chocolate treats and cafe con leche. Then I bought fruit and cheese at the market. I want to walk to every place I see and eat all this delicious food. Then I explored the streets and shops of the old city. Now for a rest, so I can eat some more at dinner with pilgrim friends.