We've had a difficult weekend since the beauty and decadence of Burgos. The cathedral, tapas bars, history and culture. Those are the reasons we came on this journey, in addition to the physical challenge. We didn't count on the logistical challenge that we have faced over the last few days. We are on a tight schedule with my time constraints. I have to be back to work. It requires us to bus/taxi/train ahead based on time and distance. Coordinating transportation and getting into town at a decent hour make it all difficult.
We bussed through several small towns and then took the train from Burgos to Leon where we spent the night. We were only able to spend a brief evening there. It is always hard to find the albergue in the bigger cities since we have no phone service. The bus or train drops you at the station and then we have to get out maps and plot out where we are and where we are going the old fashioned way. Picture that and then try to find the local bus stop or correct bus line or hail a taxi that will drop you to your destination or the nearest the albergue. Needless to say we were both stressed, tired, and short on patience.
In Leon we stayed in former college dormitory. We had our own room (separate beds) and a private bathroom. Spartan, but clean. That morning we had planned to bus ahead to Astorga. We left the room and forgot our passports, cash and credit cards. We were using the automated ticket machine at the bus station and I used my credit card. It didn't work because some credit card retailers in Europe require a pin number. I searched for cash and that's when we discovered what we had forgotten. Lu sprinted several kilometers back to our room. She returned with all that we had forgotten and we were happy once again even though we missed our bus and had to wait several hours for the next one. As bad as we thought it was it gave us perspective, and we were two as one again. Two of us as in against the world? Maybe. Functioning as the unit that we are used to? Definitely.
Once on the bus I asked Lu when she wanted to take our next Camino trip. She said, "The next Sunday from never!" Fair enough.
The next day we bussed ahead to Astorga. It was a mideval city with a beautiful cathedral. What town in Spain doesn't have a beautiful cathedral?
We checked into our single room with a shared bathroom. No problem, right? Wrong. The room, although ok looking, was less than clean. Lu's bed looked as if it had been slept in when she pulled back the blanket. Hair on the pillow, creases in the sheets, you get the idea. She found some clean sheets and just re- made the bed. Simple. The shared bathroom was a different story. Although we didn't know it at the time, we shared it with several very creepy old men living there who didn't think that cleanliness was next to Godliness. We were stuck in a boarding house. It was on the main street of town and the traffic never stopped while the heavy farm machinery started rolling through town at 4 am. For lots of reasons it was a sleepless night.
We walked 13 miles to Rabanal del Camino. We found a beautiful, family run albergue. The proprietor is a kind gentleman and the casita we stayed in was almost as nice as home. We showered, and washed all of our possessions, as we looked forward to a nice peregrino dinner. All is well that ends well. We will see what tomorrow brings.
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