Day 4 - Borres to Berducedo (Hospitales)

When we arrived at Albergue la Montera yesterday we were greeted by the owner Isabel and later her husband Ramiro. Their English was as good as our Spanish so our discussion with them included a good deal of charades.

We wanted to know about the weather for the route we would take today. They wanted to know where we were from. Ramiro pulled up a map of the U.S. on his phone so that Bonnie could show him where Idaho was.

I engaged Isabel regarding the forecast. We wanted to take the Hospitales route but had been warned not to if there were thunderstorms as there are no shelters if there is lightning. I mimed thunder and lightning which made her laugh. She looked up the weather report on her phone and it showed rain all day, but thunderstorms would start at 2pm.

She mimed back that we could take the upper route or the lower route and either way we would get rained on. The lighting wouldn't start until 2pm so we would need to make sure we were done walking by then.

When we went to pay for our beds, I was trying to pull out the right amount of Euros and Ramiro elbowed Isabel and said, "Americanos," and rubbed his thumb against his first two fingers like we were made of cash and that she should ask for more. All four of us laughed!

Then we asked and mimed about where to eat. They shook their heads no.

"No cafe?"

"No."

"No bar?"

"No."

Bonnie and I looked at each other.

Ramiro and Isabel looked at each other.

And then they began to laugh! They pointed us to the bar that would serve us a pilgrim's meal for dinner and also make a ham and cheese bocadillo to take for the next day's lunch since there are no stops on this 24 kilometer route.

We had such fun with this couple!

Bonnie and I have a traveling washing machine bag and detergent sheets as there is a daily need to wash our clothes. Unfortunately it was impossible to get them dry on the line outside because of the rain. We tried hanging them in our room (I have a miniature washing line in my "be prepared" bag) but there was not enough air flow in the room. The clothes were still damp this morning when we went to leave so we had to stuff them in a small bag to deal with later. Normally a pilgrim will pin their damp clothes to their backpack to let the sun finish drying them while they walk, but with the forecast we knew we had no chance of that.

We set our alarm for 5:30 and were on the road by 6:00. We had hoped for a reprieve from the rain but our ponchos stayed on most of the day. I also ran into an issue early on as the bite valve on my hydration bladder was missing, which meant everytime I leaned over I was getting squirted with the Spanish version of Gatorade that I had filled my bladder with. Unfortunately I didn't pack a backup bite valve, so again, I'm not as prepared as I'd like to be.

Today's hike was epic! It certainly isn't for the faint of heart as it took all we had to make it up and down over those mountains. And though it did rain on us today we still got spectacular views through the fog and the clouds. Many times I had to keep my phone put away because of the storm but we would stop to take in the view.

People are told that the lower route is beautiful too, but I think they are told that so that they don't feel bad if they choose not to go over the Hospitales. Our Australian friend Gordon (who walks in sandals) caught up to us today and said that last year he had walked the lower route and even with the weather today there was no comparison. Bonnie and I are so glad we went this way.

These mountains are full of livestock, but there are no fences. None of them seemed too bothered with us walking through their world.

It took us a full eight hours to walk the 24 kilometers. We took a couple of breaks - one to eat protein bars for our breakfast, the second to have peanut butter M&Ms along with sour gummy worms (Bonnie was passing them out to other pilgrims going by us like she was a personal candy store), and the third time to eat our bocadillo lunch.

Towards the end we were checking our phone apps because our legs and feet were sure that we had already walked 30 kilometers. We were very grateful to find our refugio at the end of our walk today. The owner also has a cafe/bar and made us our first coffees of the day. As soon as we finished them we ordered a second round.

Our clothes from today are gross. Our damp clothes from yesterday are too. Thankfully our hospitalera would take care of them for us and add a small laundry fee to our bill. It will be well worth it.

The Primitivo is a horse of a different color. This isn't like any of the four Camino routes I've completed. I feel so privileged to be here and to be walking with Bonnie. We both agreed that today was so, so hard, and oh so worth it!

Ultreia et Suseia!Read more