What a fun dinner we had last night. The girl next to me (forefront of the photo) is Claire and next to Dennis is her husband Ian. They own a goat ranch in New Zealand with about 9000 goats. They are a part of a co-op that controls every step of a process that results in canned formula for babies. They even collectively own the canning factory and shipping trucks. Their milk is shipped all over the world including China.
On the other side of Dennis is Steve who we met in our hotel two days ago. He is a very gregarious retired businessman from Long Island. The big fellah seated next to me is David, a retired state policeman and his wife Diane. Not the same David and Diane, the pastor. This David and Diane are from Australia. They have been continuously traveling for two and a half years, seeing the world. At the end of the table is Ron, an attorney (Dennis thinks ?) from Australia. And finally, in between Ron and Steve is Russ, the most southern sounding man you have heard in a long time. He was from North Carolina. The wine flowed freely and there was much laughter.
There was much climb at the beginning of the day. Warmed up the legs immediately! At the top of the mountain, I spotted this young lady. She was carefully scattering ashes on a cross made of stones. I wondered if it was the ashes of someone who had already hiked the Camino or someone who dreamt of the trip. It is so very common for people to walk the Camino in honor of a loved one.
At the very top of the long climb up was this beautiful cross. A reminder of why I walk the Camino. I have never understood how anyone could climb mountains and look at the world from above and not see the hand of the almighty. There was the constant chatter of a cuckoo bird as we climbed reminding me that God has a sense of humor. Cuckoo Cuckoo!
Check out this advertisement for an alburgue! Pretty clever but not one we stayed in.
I stopped in this little bar on my first Camino Francés. What I remember about it was the three Korean girls. I had seen these girls every where for a few days. They spoke not one word of English and I spoke not one word of Korean. They had pointed to their chests and said Korean and then pointed at me. We became so friendly that we were exchanging hugs in spite of not one word in common. Why can't the world be like this? Human beings embracing other human beings. The funny thing about these tiny girls was that where ever I saw them, they had ordered enough food for an army of men. Bon Appetite!
Dennis had a big slice of this chicken empenada! I tried a tiny piece of the center. Unfortunately, still having to be gluten free.
If you look closely, this home owner had painted Buen Camino on his drive way. What a lovely welcoming thing to do. Awwww!
Look at the beautiful church doors. I was sorry that it was closed at least today.
Is there anything cuter than duck butts. Okay maybe kittens but not much. Look at the one diving for food.
The rivers are overflowing. Dennis and I took an alternative route that our hotelier recommended. We hardly saw anyone but we did not hike the highway into Burgos like I did last time I did this hike. It was ever so much more pleasant..We tired to tell some other hikers this but they did not listen. I remember the hike into Burgos as being two hours of the worst industrial area I have ever walked in. Not this time.
This was a two part mural on the way into Burgos.
Dennis and I were having a fun time as we tried to find the hotel in Burgos.
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