Today's google street view, headed across the famous bridge in Hospital de Órbigo: http://goo.gl/maps/8Pld7
Entry
42, January 5th,
2012
We
passed a legit jousting pitch this morning. “1st
weekends in June (1° fin de semana de Junio)” say the sugar
packets here in the cafe in Hospital de Órbigo. I am reminded of
Arthur watching the jousts as a boy in “The Once and Future King.”
This is also the town with the bridge with 19 arches.
 |
| The jousting pitch, and the bridge with 19 arches. |
One
of the common sights for the last 100km or so have been small rooms
and houses dug out of grass hillocks. Most look like simple storage
sheds but some are clearly residences, with a few windows and
chimneys. Hobbit holes?
León
has been settled as a city since 910, but it existed as a Roman
military fort since the first century.
The
path was very nice today (if a bit rocky), tracing through forest and
scrubland. Climbing a hill, I came upon a small stand by the side of
the camino called “La Casa de los Dioses,” and decorated with a
large red heart. It is run by a Catalan man named David who sleeps
in a lean-to nearby and mans the post year-round. He walked the
camino from Cataluñya and back before deciding to serve the pilgrims
with organic juice, bread, water, and peanut butter (he doesn't
usually get the peanut butter, but he went into Astorga yesterday and
had an intuition that an American would visit (me)). Everything is
free, and he takes donations to pay for supplies and eventually to
buy the nearby barn for a meditation center and pilgrim shelter.
Now
that
is a liberated lifestyle. He calls his little spot “an oasis.”
A
beautiful soul, but not the life that I want to lead. I am more
complex than that, for better and for worse.
Tonight
we are in Astorga, the traditional resting point before crossing the
mountains, and truly the end of the meseta. Perhaps we arrive on the
14th
or 15th
in Santiago.
Expenses,
Day 42
Breakfast:
2.30
Pastries:
2.50
Provison:
4.37
Oasis:
3.00
Tomorrow's
provision: 2.50
Korean
albergue: 6.00
Menú:
8.50
Total:
29.17
Trip
Total: 971.81
It
is the eve of Reyes, the three kings' arrival to visit the baby
Jesus. The kids all get their presents tomorrow and so they are
bouncing off the walls with excitement. Instead of sitting on
Santa's lap, they sit on one of the three kings', who have a platform
set up in the middle of Astorga. The whole town is turned out for
the festivities, and tomorrow is a holiday with barbecues and
everything. I think the symbolism makes more sense this way than
back home.
Christmas
is a lovely time to visit Spain, even if everything is closed.
Those
with the most faith walk the fastest. Kwang-sik, who has strong
faith, can thrown down 40kms a day, no problem.
The
Spanish are also fantastic walkers. My pace is comparatively slow,
but I am strong on hills and rough terrain. Not a sprinter.
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