28 April 2022
Today started out usual enough. We made ourselves breakfast with the eggs we got last night. Nobody wanted them turned over easy. We also had a couple glasses of milk from the albergue. We said thanks to to Jorge and Margarita for their hospitality and headed out at 7:30am.
The temperature was even warmer today than yesterday. The air was moist. We could see the mountains/hills in the distance ahead.
The stretch from Villadangos del Páramo to San Martín del Camino, and to Hospital de Órbigo was along a major road. We did our best to ignore the noises. As our minds wandered, Nobody asked,
“Why did they hang that upside down?”
“Hung what upside down?”
“That, on the wall.”
“You meant the horseshoe?”
“Yah! They never hung it likes that in Texas.” Nobody insisted.
I wasn’t sure what the answer was so I pretended I didn’t hear the last comment.
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So we continued on, minds wandered. Then Nobody asked,
“Do you know what sports are played on grass?”
“Yes, many of them are.” I answered thinking I knew the answers to this topic.
“Football?” Nobody asked.
“Of course, both American football and Spanish football.” I answered, quite certain I got the trick question.
“Tennis?”
“Sure.
“How about basketball?” Nobody followed.
I laughed, “No, basketball is played on wood floor or concrete. Hard surfaces.”
Nobody grinned, “Then you don’t know what you are talking about.”
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Nobody 2 : 0 Me
“Wanted to play again? Why does a monkey climb the tree?” Nobody asked.
I wasn’t about to go 0 : 3; so I practiced selective hearing. And went “Look at that. It is 12:20pm. Let’s find something to eat.”
Nobody did not know that trick. So, we stop at the Casa de Los Dioses to have a drink and snacks. There was no beers; so we drank lemonade. Nobody had a couple hard boiled eggs. I had two plums. We were admiring the bohemian look of the place. We also thought that the terrain and the trees in this area looked so much like the TX hill’s county, the area near Johnson City.
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Finished the break, we started descending into San Justo de La Vega. We could see Astorga in the distance.
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We reached Astorga at 1:40 pm. The temperature go to 20 Celsius by this time. We were both thirsty and hungry. So we went got ourselves a couple beers, bread, and meat to make our lunch. We sat on the bench in the middle of Plaza España, ate our lunch, enjoyed the warm sun, and people watching.
A group of bikers on fat-tires had just arrived. We had seen this same group the last two days. They did not ride fast, and they stopped very frequently. We saw many more pilgrims on bikes in the Meseta compared to the section before Burgos.
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After lunch, we made our way out of the city at 2:10pm. We reached Murias de Rechivaldo about an hour later.
Here, we met up with Caterina from Sicily. Either she didn’t understand us or she was too young. She were the first person we knew not knowing anything about Al Pacino and The God Father.
Caterina was a nutritionist, specializing in naturally fermented foods. Such a specialized space, Nobody thought. She got seven day left but she really wanted to get to Santiago de Compostela. She was planning to take a bus the next major town to go forward a few sections. Caterina gave Nobody a small jar of the food she made. We saved it for dinner tonight.
We said goodbye to Caterina at Santa Catalina de Somoza. She stopped there while we continued on. We were the only pilgrim on the road by then.
We reached El Ganso at 5:00 pm and decided to stop here for the day. We found a bed at the Albergue Gabino. There was not much to see from the outside. But once passed the small store front space, the albergue was very cozy inside. There were two older Korean pilgrims there (Sue and her nephew).
After cleaned up, we went down to the store nearby to get a beer, a couple oranges, a liter of milk, and a small bottle to replace the reused plastic bottles we had with us since the start of the Camino.
We drank the beer, ate the oranges, saved the water and the milk for breakfast. We also ate the small jar of food Caterina gave us. It was sweet with some sorts of beans in it. It would have been good with toast.
We ended another great day of walking.
By the way, why the monkey climb the tree?
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Tally costs for the day
1. Bread and coke: $1.47 (1.40 EUR)
2. Lemonade, eggs, plums: $1.58 (1.50 EUR)
3. Lunch (2 beers and hams): $3.15 (3.00 EUR)
4. Evening snack (beer, oranges, water, milk): $6.30 (6.00 EUR)
5. Bed: $10.50 (10.00 EUR)