BuenQamino Spirit

Musings about adventure and becoming

camino de santiago, europe Christina P. Kantzavelos camino de santiago, europe Christina P. Kantzavelos

Day 23: Astorga to Rabanal aka Church Bells

The church bells made it impossible to continue sleeping in our wonderful, warm and comfy beds. How are people in these towns 'ok' with church bells going off until midnight and then waking up you up again at 7 AM? Seven hour of silent sleep isn't enough. We barely made it outside before hitting a wall of 1°C cold fog, forcing us to throw on more layers. The fog gave the city this eerie vibe we weren’t accustomed to. We decided to stop at the café for coffee and OJ, and toast (the gluten-free bread I purchased yesterday). We then went to the cathedral where mass was taking place, and took pictures realizing later that there was a poster with a camera crossed off in the front. Sorry Jesus.

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camino de santiago, europe Christina P. Kantzavelos camino de santiago, europe Christina P. Kantzavelos

Day 18: Terradillos de los Templarios to Sahugun aka The Camino Ghost

We are currently staying in a monastery (Albergue de las Madres Benactidinas) where the stamp they use looks like it’s a HP dementor... Quite fitting for them. Where do I start with this place? It is €17 per person to stay in a creep double room, and they charged us €10 each to wash and dry our clothes and wouldn’t even wash everything in the bag provided, because they said we packed too much inside? Mind you, the nun busted into our room while I was showering just to tell us this. Later on, when it was time to grab our laundry, she angrily told me I nearly broke the dryer because our clothing had too much lint? I was shocked by the way she spoke to me, and could not formulate a response, and then she said, “wow poor girl, you don’t speak any Spanish at all, do you?”

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camino de santiago, europe Christina P. Kantzavelos camino de santiago, europe Christina P. Kantzavelos

Day 16: Fromista to Carrion de Los Condes aka RIP Taste Buds

Our abergue didn’t have breakfast. The owner says it’s because there aren’t as many pilgrims in the fall, so it’s not worth it for her. It was freezing out .. My phone read 30°. We stopped by a bar for coffee to get out of the cold, and because we needed some caffeine and calories. Today wasn’t too eventful. We stopped about 7 miles into a bar and bought some delicious ham and sheep's cheese (€5) that is from a local farm. The road was extremely rocky and give us both blisters. I know I keep saying this, but I’m over the roads being rocky and/or parallel to freeways. I want dirt, soil, mountainous terrain, not man made foot-killing paths.

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camino de santiago, europe Christina P. Kantzavelos camino de santiago, europe Christina P. Kantzavelos

Day 13: Santander (played hooky and went up north for the day) aka Gran Hotel!

Woke up to a rain storm outside, which was at first a bummer. It was at breakfast (provided by the hotel/really decent), where we met Marcy, who’s from LA and completing the Camino with her son. He’s a couple days behind us because she unfortunately got an infected blister and decided to take the bus to the next big city to wait for him, while she healed. It’s sad that I keep hearing these tales of infected blisters and toe nails falling off. I can’t begin to stress how important it is that you take good care of your feet on the Camino. That means good shoes, sandals to change into, nightly foot baths, short toe nails and Compeed or Second Skin for blisters.

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