Nieva!! Snow!! Saw our first snow in 2 years today. Pretty exciting. The weather today was actually quite nice compared to yesterday. Sunny, fairly warm, no precipitation! There was snow on the ground which we assumed fell yesterday when we were getting rained on. A lot of it has already melted.
Justin has promised me to start wearing socks with his flip flops so I won´t worry about frostbite. We are going to cut and sew them into sock mittens for the flip flops.
We both slept very well last night. After a breakfast of yogurt, muesli, black tea, and kiwis we hit the road. The trail was quite lovely with lots of hills and forests and mucho sol.
We wanted to stop in this one town for lunch, but when we arrived all the cafes were cerrado. The older lady who told us this was standing by a van filled with bread. We asked if we could buy food there and she said yes. So we got really yummy pie/calzone/sandwiches. Thin squares of pie crust filled with meats. So yummy and buttery and perfect.
We met a nice Dutch man in that town who started in Amsterdam. We´ve met so many people who started in Germany, Belgium, Switzerland, etc. It makes what we´re doing seem very tame and a bit lame. It´s also inspiring for future adventures!! He said France is really great to walk through, maybe we´ll try that next.
We spent the afternoon singing xmas songs in the snow. Justin also tried, with no luck, to teach me how to carry a tune. I guess we have 13 more days to work on that.
Our alburgue is very lovely in our town of 50. Nice fire and good company. We ran back into the Belgian Nina impersonantor - Anna- here. She has bad knee problems and has been resting in alburgues and taking buses for 2 or 3 weeks. She´s walking now but only about 10 km a day. She started in Belgium and has been walking 4 months. I´m astounded at her resolve to continue.
In other news I lost my Peru hat on the trail today! I was very upset, but I didn´t go back because I had no idea when it fell out of my pocket. An hour after getting to our alburgue though a man from Spain came in the room with hat in hand!! Hooray!!
Tomorrow we climb a mountain and meet the man at the top. We wanted to stay with him tonight, Amawalker recommended it, but we couldn´t make the 32 km today.
Love and snowballs to all!!
My immediate future
14 years ago
2 comments:
Hola peregrinos - if you can't actually stay with Tomas, you should try to stay for his 11am Templarios ceremony. (It is at 11am because it is then mid-day in Jerusalem and that is when the Knights Templar would have their ceremony.)
If possible, try to stay at Ave Fenix in Villafranca del Bierzo. Continue on past the Municipal albergue on the way down to the town (it might be closed now anyway) and go on to Ave Fenix. The albergue has been run by Jesus Jato and his family for over 30 years. He is a healer and perhaps he could do Reiki on your sore shins or tired shoulders.
The albergue burned down a couple of years ago and for a long time pilgrims slept in a ramshackle assortment of plastic over corrugated iron and wood. Then a miracle happened. People from all over Spain, France, Italy, Germany - and as far as Brazil - brought stones to help re-build the albergue from 'out of the ashes' (Ave Fenix). Ask Jesus to show you some of the stones - which he knows personally.
Buen suerte - you are doing so well and I am loving following your winter journey. If you do compile a winter packing list, please may I put it on my blog too to share with others.
Abrazos,
Sil
Hola peregrinos -
I am impressed at how much you are writing! Also confused about the time thing. I guess you posted this latest comment in the morning of Nov. 26th, which is tomorrow here. Or is the time on the posting your local time? I sometimes think I'm not really ready for the electronic age. Happy nieva to you! I bet it was fun to play in the snow, even with Justin disregarding Aleza's request about throwing snowballs! It snowed yesterday in Wisconsin and Lake Forest, but it's been mostly sunny and medium cold here. Pretty nice, actually. Have to get back to work. Safe and happy caminos a todos. Much love from Mamacita.
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