Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Today was a piece of cake. I hadn’t decided how far to go, it was between 15km or 22km. I felt very good and knew I could go the 22, but at the 15km mark, I am in Santo Domingo, which is a small city and I needed a few necessities (for one my deodorant ran out yesterday!). I also wanted a new t-shirt as I left one a couple albergues ago and really wanted a second one on hand (and not always wear my bright coral one).

I arrived at noon and who should be there just before me, my friend Emario from Italy (though I am pretty sure that is not how you spell it, but that is how it sounds). I met Emario just outside of Pamplona. We were the first two to arrive at our albergue. I tried talking to him, but he said “no speak English”. Later that day, there was a pilgrims meal at another albergue, so I went, and who should be there, Emario sitting across from me at the dinner table. I thought I would make another attempt to talk to him. I pulled out Google translate and asked him what brings him to the camino. He replied he had been waiting 30 years to do the camino. He talked some more, but Google translate cut him off. I tried a bit more with google, but the technology wasn’t smooth and I can tell he didn’t really want to talk much so I let it be.

I would then see him every so often on the trail and give a nod and say Buongiorno. I would see him next in Viana and he sat beside me at the dinner table this time. I decided to pull out google translate and I typed in “What is your name, for the next time I see you.” He smiled, and gave me his name and I introduced myself.

Now when we see each other on the trail, we say hello and our names. Today I ran into him a few times on the trail. At one point he was stopped for a rest as I was walking by and he held up his phone to take my picture so I did a pose. I then ran into him checking in at the albergue so I took the opportunity to take a selfie with him. It is funny, we don’t know anything about each other or speak each other’s language but just a friendly hello and smile can make all the difference.

After settling into the Albergue, I went to find the grocery store. I decided to buy a few things for dinner instead of going out to a restaurant tonight. Don’t get too excited, it is nothing to actually cook, are you crazy?! :-) I bought a chicken ceaser salad and some bread and ham. I also got myself a new hiking t-shirt.

Now it is time to go see the chickens at the cathedral. Unfortunately they were a little shy when I was there. I could only see a piece of them and if you look closely, you can see them in the bottom right corner. The really short version of the story is that a young son was hanged for spurning the love of a royal girl so he was hanged. His parents were on their way to Santiago so they left heartbroken. When they returned, their son was still hanging but he was alive. They went to the local authority to cut him down because he is alive and the man said “he is no more alive than these chickens I am about to eat.” Then the chickens came to life and started clucking. It is said these chickens are direct descendants of those original chickens.

After the cathedral, I went up in the clock tower. It was 154 steps but it wasn’t too bad and worth it to see the view of the city from above and here the bells at 5pm.

Ok, I am ready to relax and read about the day ahead. I would like to start doing longer days, but we will see.

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