The Way-Slow Way

Charlie. Yesterday Wynette was still recovering from her cold so I walked from Villafranca to Atapuerca by myself. She took most of the stuff with her in the taxi so I was only carrying about five pounds instead of over 20. I wanted to start early so I was first to breakfast at 7am. Wynette said she was last at 9am.

I left at 7:20 and it was pitch black out. Due to some combination of latitude and position in time zone the sun rises an hour later here than in Albuquerque.

I had to use the flashlight app on my phone for a half hour before it was light enough to avoid tripping on rocks on the trail. The photo above is how I had to read the Camino signs.

I took a selfie as I was starting in the dark.

I got to Atapuerca in 4.5 hours and met up with Wynette at the albergue. We were happy to see each other.

More at
https://www.dropbox.com/sc/natsn9gmm5e3ilc/AABBWtBZgV1zIKt-nBru85OCa

I finally got around to updating the “live” map of our trip. You can find it on the “Camino Links” menu at the top of the blog or here.

It shows three lines. The upper one is our 2013 walk. The lower one is our planned 2014 walk. The middle one is our actual 2014 walk.

A red line section means we didn’t walk that segment, taxi or bus. The other colors we did, or planned to, walk. The checkbooks at the top control which lines are shown. The color of the checkbook labels is the color of the walked line sections.

Charlie and Wynette. We were hanging around by this bar this morning and Wynette took the above picture. The man had been clowning for our camera, then he came over and pretty much grabbed Charlie’s phone and insisted on taking our picture. A town worker was walking by and the guy insisted he be in the picture, too. He thought the man worthy to be in the picture because he worked for the ayuntamiento, the city government. Everyone knows everyone in Atapuerca.

The people are so great here.

Wynette. Our friend Rebecca commented on our DAY 15 post photo of above beautiful golden/labrador(?), but, before we saw the comment, we deleted the post because it was a duplicate. (Sometimes WordPress does strange things. We changed picture for that post to use it here.) Rebecca had commented OMG, what a beautiful sad-looking dog.  Do you see many of them along the way?  Do any pilgrims bring along dogs for the journey?  She’s just gorgeous & very majestic.

Yes, Rebecca, isn’t she beautiful? Very sweet. We were having a snack on a park bench and it was clear she would gladly accept some of our food (we resisted). But her begging was low-key. She lay at our feet for a while while we ate. We’ve seen lots of family dogs along the way. Most are off-leash and muy tranquilo. Sometimes we pass a dog on leash or behind a fence barking at us. We’ve never felt threatened.

Charlie saw a couple who were doing the pilgrimage with their dog. They appeared to be having a hard time finding a place to stay. I imagine they are prepared to sleep outdoors for the times there is no place that will welcome their dog. We haven’t seen any others doing the Camino with their dog.

The dog in photo below (can you spot him?) lived at our last night’s albergue. I bet he was aware of us, but he didn’t move or open his eyes when we put our backpacks on the bench. So many strangers pass through his world.

https://www.dropbox.com/sc/fgwub186bui6qdu/AAD2N07ZdJx2cRcNm7-w5oy7a

Wynette. It was a few days ago but I wanted to post this before too much time passes.  We stayed in a beautiful, peaceful, pretty much perfect hotel in Ventosa named Las Aguedas. The owner cooked a dinner for her guests. There were 4 couples. In above photo, front to back, they were from Seattle, Albuquerque, Plymouth, England, and Albuquerque! The other Albuquerque couple had been hearing about another Albuquerque couple and vice versa. The photo was taken after the simple, delicious meal of salad and paella and tangerine ice cream, made by a local ice cream maker. The Seattle couple asked the owner to join us for dinner but she  graciously turned down the invitation. She said she couldn’t eat at 7:00, when our dinner was starting. She had to wait till at least 10:00. We were grateful she didn’t make us wait till 10:00. Well I’m sure she knew she wouldn’t get many takers for such a late dinner, at least from North American peregrinos. (Actually I don’t think any other country eats as late as the Spanish.)

Charlie relaxing in living room of Hotel Las Aguedas:

The three are so different.