Day 13 - Burgos to Hornillos - 21 km

Written Sept 17th 6:00 p.m.

The 1st 12 km to Rabe de las Calzados was pleasant and felt manageable. Many were stopping there. I wish I had, but it was only noon and I thought that another 9 km would be easy. This last 9 km was the beginning of the area they call the Meseta and it was hotter and more difficult than I thought it would be. They had predicted only a high of 23 today, but they were wrong. This afternoon I walked very slowly and found a couple of creative ways to find some shade. As I was walking along thinking how silly it was that I was carrying my expensive Altus raincoat that I'd ordered from Spain, I finally found a use for it. I came upon a single tree that's shady side was in the farmer's freshly cut hay field. My raincoat made a nice ground cover on that shady patch of dry ground. I removed my boots and had a little rest, feeling quite proud of myself. About an hour later I used the shady side of a stack of hay for another rest. However, this time it didn't last for long because after 5 minutes a farmer was coming toward me in his tractor and was about to remove my shade.

Finally I was at the top of a hill and could see the town of Hornillos about 2 km away. On my way down the hill I noticed that my left boot seemed to be getting tighter and tighter. My foot was swelling and becoming painful. I mention this only because it was the only reason that I had no choice but to stay in this town. I'm not sure how to put this without sounding too negative..... Ok so I knew that the Camino was not going to be a bed of roses. I think maybe this is my punishment for staying at the Parador. A guy just walked into the room and said this is the worst place on earth and he'd have to do heroine to live here. He made me laugh anyway. And then there's the flies. The only other times in my life when I've been bothered by so many flies has been on a farm standing next to a pile of cow manure. The wannabe junky is not even going for dinner tonight, he's already in bad at 7 p.m. and says he can't eat here. The showers? Yes, there are showers, down the street in another building and full of nice surprises. And, there is no wifi in this town, so i will not be posting this until tomorrow. I am sounding negative aren't I?

Written Sept 18th

Last night turned out to be a whole lot of fun. Goes to show you, no matter how bad things get, having good people around can turn things around. This is Delphin from France who has been walking over 1000 km from Le Puy, France. Then on the other side of me is Thomas from Germany, who is cycling the Camino and had travelled 110 km yesterday when we met him. On the end is Giancarlo from south of Milan, Italy. We are waiting to get a table to eat the worst menu piligrimo ever, but we laughed until we cried. When you put 4 people together who speak 4 different languages and just a little bit of one other language, it can become very funny. When I went to bed I was still giggling, and listening to the bells of the church tower just beside the Albergue, wondering how many times I would be awoken by this bong, bong, bong.