Day 16 - Santo Domingo to Belorado -22km

I am in Belorado, the same albergue Jörg and I stayed in 2009 relaxing with a rye and coke. I was reading my journal last night from that time and decided to try and stay here again. I have a special memory here so be sure to read the throwback at the end.

The walk was 22km today, but about every 5-7km was a town so I stopped in each one. Funny thing is, I changed up my routine this morning and had breakfast before I left but I was really struggling for energy early in the morning. The first break was at 6km and I had an orange juice and chocolate croissant. I didn’t have my coke at that time and I think that made a difference in energy level too.

Last night in my albergue room, there were two men, at opposite sides of the room that were sick with colds so I overdosed on orange juice today to hopefully hold off catching it. My bed was right in the middle of the room, I think far enough away from them but we will see in a couple days.

I had a strange dream last night. I dreamt that I was going to die while on the camino. I was diagnosed and I had only one day. I was then all of a sudden at home and I wanted to take all the money out of my bank account. The bank had asked why, and I calmly said “ I am going to die.” It was very interesting as there was no fear at all, it was all just a matter of fact. I believe I actually felt good about it.

One observation I have made is that I cannot think of Jörg as an angel yet. I feel like I get some signs from him, that he is with me, but I don’t think of him as an angel looking over me. There have been a few people in my life that I have lost that I loved dearly and I think of them fondly as angels guiding my way. When I did the first camino, I had sewed a patch on my backpack with the letter M which represented my “M” angels: Marilyn (my mother), Minne (My grandmother) and Mabel (My aunt). I thank god I still have M4 with me! Also I know Uncle Donald is there watching out for me, but for some reason, I cannot accept Jörg there yet. I was thinking that maybe he is like Clarence (It’s a wonderful life), he doesn’t have his wings yet. I think he has to come back and show me that life is worth living, then he will get his wings and can be my guiding angel.

Tomorrow will be a short walk again. When I read back in my journal, Jörg and I did a big day climbing a hill at the end of the day and I was exhausted and had to sleep on the floor. I remember that I got bed bug bites from that place as well, so I decided to make tomorrow shorter, only 12km and then tackle the uphill 12km the next day when I am fresh and avoid staying at the albergue in San Juan de Ortega. It was a great experience, but I will leave a space for someone else to enjoy the garlic soup this time.

TTYL

Throwback to 2009 from Julie’s Journal

Last night in Belgrado I read in bed for a long time, then decided to sleep. Because I wouldn’t see Joerg to say goodnight I left him a note that said “Joerg, Goodnight, Sweet Dreams XO (kiss) (hug), Love Julie”. I left the lighted pen with it on. I actually awoke when he came in. He smiled, put it above his head and we held hands before we slept. In the morning, he put the note in the fence at the hostel for everyone to see.Meer informatie