Santo Domingo de la Calzada

Today we bussed to Belorado. The bus didn’t leave until 12:40 so we ate breakfast and then went to the cathedral again. And we found the chickens!! They were actually good looking chickens. We heard they have multiple pairs of chickens, all direct descendants of the original miraculous chickens, so they swap each pair out every 15 days so they don’t get cramped by living in a small enclosure in a church.

We arrived in Belorado during the siesta so we just hunkered down in our room and then went to the grocery store (very tiny, and you’re not allowed to touch the produce, a clerk has to come get it for you) and the ATM. We found a nice shaded place in the plaza to sit and then ate a little dinner…a salad with tomato slices, ham, and thin slices of preserved tuna with black outlived and oil and a pastrami sandwich on a crusty roll, which we split.

Tomorrow we’re walking again. We are only walking about half the way and we have a town with two bars picked out from which we can call a taxi. The towns are too small for bus stops here! I’m actually thinking that although we’ve hiked all over quite confidently for the last 20 years or so, some of this trip might be harder than I thought. It’s hot, we’ve been sick, and David doesn’t move as fast as he used to. So…I decided there are no Camino police to say we’re doing things right or wrong (although their are plenty of judgy pilgrims out here for sure). But we want to have a good trip and a safe and healthy trip. So I’m very comfortable doing hybrid hiking and vehicle days. The last 100 km you are required to hike if you’d want a Compostella, a special certificate. And we’ll play that by ear. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes but just thinking that blind pursuit of a goal could be unhealthy, and for us maybe the goal for many people (“I walked the whole thing!”) isn’t the right goal anyway!Baca lagi