The Poncho!!!! The Big Raspberry!

There´s no way around this one. The poncho is the most necessary accoutrement on the Camino, and the most un-sexy ever!!!!! Make sure you´re poncho is waterproof and covers your pack. (I´m really smuggling two foreigners underneath my poncho!!! They´re small, but very nice people!)

The Maseta, Camino, dry, dry, dry

It looks hot, but it´s not. Well, let me explain. Spain is quite interesting because the mornings are so crisp and cool, that you´ll freeze your balls off, if you have balls, of which I don´t. But, let´s just say you leave the Auberge, hostel around 7 or 8am, cold, walking fast in order to keep warm and about 10am, you´re sweating balls (if you have them) and have to change most of your clothing into hot-weather gear. Take a good look at my pics----all taken the same day. But just wait, the weather changes with the altitude, the Province, and the sound of wine glasses clinking! Be prepared.

First day of rest

Today was my first day of rest after 20 days of walking. Nobody likes to take a day off of the Camino...only if you´re toes are falling off, you haven´t slept in 2 weeks, and the chorizo you ate is repeating itself over and over. The reason: the same reason no one wants to stop eating in the middle of dinner, stop cycling when it´s still sunny, hot, and Saturday, stop talking when you´ve got the perfect group of conversationalists at hand. The Camino is your Camino, but it also ebbs and flows. Yesterday, I managed to swim in the small, icy-pond that´s a swimming pool at my Auberge just outside of Leon, and afterwards I had a small case of hypothermia when I discovered there was no hot water left in the showers!

I was shaking like a dog that´s trying too hard to take a poo, and my friends grabbed as many blankets as possible to enshroud my little quivering corpse.....and after an hour of blanket coverage, socks, mittens, and scalding-hot beverages, I thawed out like frostbitten steak in the freezer. Ohhhhh, and after that, I got a cold. Just a litle one, but enough to make me stay another day at the Auberge, which we now call "Hospital", because everyone here seems to have tendonitis, blisters, sore muscles, broken down feet, fatigue, shall I go on!??? We´re all in the same sicko boat, so we´re all enjoying each others´tranquil company, sharing stories, sharing medications, and learning each others´ languages.

I am eating everything in sight. I guess they say, Feed a Cold? or Starve a Cold? I can´t remember, but I´m taking the first one!!! And, I´m rediscovering my creative side----you can color, draw, and write poetry on the walls here at this Auberge! I´m like a kid in a toystore here, drawing everything and anything, and writing bad poetry in 3 languages and enjoying the warm breeze that flows through the open-courtyard Auberge.

Coffee and Principe "galletas de chocolate", anyone? Panacea.

I´m trying! Buen Camino:)

El Camino

HOT, HOT, HOT!

It´s HOT now, after Burgos. Beautiful and hot. Must stay wet. Must drink loads of water. Must wet hair!

Near Granon and Villafranca

Grapes, wine, grapes and wine, and new friends

As pilgrims, you´re always hungry or tired, or both. We´ve found a solution-----eat the grapes! The vinyards don´t want to hear this, but to survive, with light backpack, eat the copious grapes that Northern Spain has to offer.

Other photos: new French friends, Michael and Pascale, the 3 Musketeers. We wound up at an Auberge at Torres del Rio very late, 6pm, full of people, 7 people in the kitchen sleeping around the table, on the table and under the table-----so we decided to sleep outside on the terrace under the stars. It was really a good nights´sleep. Try that if you can....