Day 7 - Lorca to Torres del Rio - 38 km.

No, I did not walk 38 km. I did walk 18 though and took a bus for 20. I'll start at the beginning though. It is really quite amazing how great I feel and how fast I can walk after a good night's sleep. This morning I headed out at about 7:30 a.m. The sky was overcast and the air had a luxurious chill to it that felt like silk on my skin after yesterday's burning heat. The absolute highlight of my day was eating a croissant de chocolate and cafe con leche for breakfast at this roadside cafe.

The 8 km to Estella was a breeze and very enjoyable. The old city of Estella is very mystical and will carry you off into a different time. It eventually turns into the modern Estella where I began asking about a taxi. Had I taken the Camino route today I would have climbed and descended another mountain and then walked across a very open section for a total of about 30 km. Instead I was lucky to meet some very helpful young boys who took me to the bus station. The universe was smiling on my because I bought a ticket for the only bus to Los Arcos at 10:43 and it was leaving at 10:50!

I found the Camino route in Los Arcos easily and began walking toward the edge of town. As I reached one of the local Albergues I realized that my bladder was about to burst. I entered, and having had only good experiences at Albergues thought nothing of asking to use the washroom. A woman nearly pushed me out the door and kept repeating no abierto. I pleaded with her, por favor la bano? But she insisting no abierto and I had no choice but continue on the path out of the town. A litle ways down the path an olive grove was a wonderful resting place. There are only a few important questions on the Camino. Where will I get water? Where will I sleep? And where will I find a bathroom? Obviously the latter becoming less of a problem since I'm willing to pee under an olive tree.

It got hotter and my legs began to stiffen up as the afternoon wore on. After about 3 hours walking I saw a town in the distance and knew that I'd have to stay there because I have having trouble even moving my legs. The town of Sansol has only one Albergue. I paid 6€ for the night and was shown to my room. I realized right away that this wasn't the cleanest place to be and began a bedbug inspection. Now I know that a place doesn't necessarily have to dirty to get bedbugs, but this place had brown sheets, which made looking for eggs a bit difficult. On the bed that I had chosen I immediately found a centipede. I changed beds and as I was laying out my bedbug sheet I saw a little bug crawling on my hand. I don't know if that place had bedbugs or not, but I high-tailed it out of there without even asking for a refund and headed up the road again. This bit of misfortune turned out to be the best stroke of luck because the next town was only 1 km away today is the last day of their yearly festival, Fiesta del Rio 2011! Is funny that in this tiny little town on a hill in Spain, 100s of people are dancing and feasting in the streets with a Mexican Mariachi band. It's a great day to be a Pilgrim!