Other possibilities: His truck broke down, his dog died or he's writing a country and western hit song!
We ended up in the same small room, along with four others (two couples?) from Austria who apparently were traveling together. I say apparently because everyone "slept in" until 7:00 this morning, at which point the one man opened the blinds, drowning the room with light, and began downloading a dozen e-mails, each of which emitted an annoying noise from his cell phone, all while he was in the bathroom.
I am nearly across the Meseta (the plateau) as I work on reaching Leon. They say that the Meseta is good for introspection. They also say it can play tricks on your mind! I don't know if I believe that.
As I walked this morning it occurred to me that my pace had slowed substantially. It may have been because I walked 20 miles yesterday. That in turn may have contributed to the sore hip. As I hobbled along I found myself thinking about this. I really didn't think it out of the ordinary when a "perky" young lady bounced passed me. But I did take note when a 60ish French lady with a cane passed me, then a gray haired man with a red tipped cane, who made matters worse by slapping me on the ankle as he swept side to side as he passed me. A short time later a Spanish woman with a walker, and an elderly man on crutches. But what really drove the point home was when the Frenchman, who had walked 42 km yesterday, passed me, still in bed, with the proprietor of the albergue pushing the bed, uphill!
The province of Leon has really gone out of their way to make the pilgrims "way" easier. Take for example this new bridge which has a designated lane for Peregrinos!
It is even sectioned off to keep us safe
A little further down the road was a construction zone featuring safety signs for foot traffic
and in Puenta Villarente, this nice new bridge to assist peregrinos across the river, contrasting with the ancient Puenta Ingente that is still used by cars and trucks.
It was somewhere just west of town that it happened. The cars were speeding by at a high rate of speed on a somewhat elevated level, relative to the walking path (my eyes are at about the level of the headlights). The road was wet and cars, as I've seen them do repeatedly, were traveling in complete defiance of any proposed speed limit.
As each car passed it emitted a familiar song; tires slurping on wet pavement. But as one car approached I detected a different sound. It was hydroplaning and, as it neared me, it began to spin to the left, then predictably was jerked back, too far, to the right. He was now out of control and heading directly at me. Everything from that point seemed to happen in slow motion, as if I was day dreaming. The nose of the car came over the embankment pointed directly at me. There was no time to run, even if my legs could have managed to move quickly. All I could think of was don't get hit standing on the ground. So I jumped, turning my back toward the vehicle, hoping that the pack would compress against the car and launch me into the air.
"Buen Camino" said the man as he inched past me while I stood day dreaming in the middle of the path. Hey, maybe the Meseta does play tricks with your mind.
An aside:
just had another "why do these things happen" moment. Earlier today I walked past El Casa Blanca, a restaurante along The Way. Nothing unusual about that; I'm in Spain and there has to be dozens of businesses or residences that are named Casa Blanca, or "White House". Just now I received a phone call from Boise, Idaho. My cell phone was my business phone up until a year ago when I retired, but still, maybe once a month, a customer (obviously not a frequent customer) will call the number they have on record - my cell phone! This call was from an apartment complex in Boise whose pumps I had faithfully kept running for over twenty years. They are the Casa Blanca Apartments!
Now back to our regularly scheduled blog.
The trail climbed considerably most of the morning until, shortly after noon, I was standing atop a hill, looking down on the metropolis of Leon.
Between us was a very steep, sloppy, muddy hill that would take a lot of time and concentration to descend.
By the time I reached the bottom I had grown several inches and added several pounds, all in the form of brown mud, persistent enough to still have a presence on my sole after a mile and a half of city sidewalks.
My lovely wife, serving as Travel Agent Supreme, had booked a hotel room for me in advance, a technique that will come in handy as we approach the home stretch. I found, checked into, and was enjoying the view from my window when a familiar figure wandered below. It was Carlo, from "El grupo de Los Amigos de dai uno". I yelled to get his attention and we made arrangements to get together for dinner. He is staying with J.J. who has been fighting major blisters but is ready to hit the road tomorrow.
So the three of us met at a very nice local eatery and conversed. It was my first extended conversation with the 19 year old Carlo, for whom the Camino is only Act One of a two to three year trip around the world! Interesting and very nice young man.
Bonus material:
Pretty
As I walked by a Frenchman pointed out to me, in a very strong accent, "Lion, King of the jungle". I stopped to take a selfie and a very nice and patient passer-by insisted he take the photo. He kept hitting the video button, instead of touching the screen "anywhere". He felt he knew what icon to touch, so I have three videos of me saying, "anywhere" and, finally, the money shot!
My lunch today was pieces of ham in a large plate full of peas! Yummy! Finally, a good meal!
Here's another of them fancy bathroom showers to figure out. Can you determine what all these things are for?
Two old farts on a park bench
An art museum which is a work of art!
Speaking of art:
The art museum architecture is so beautiful. From the story told about the interesting people passing you, I would say that, indeed, the Meseta had taken over your mind. Good luck getting through the area, you may be accompanied by lions, tigers and bears! The guy sitting next to you did not strike me as good conversationalist. Perhaps he was napping ! As for that shower...hmmm...I can only come up with each knob (I think they were knobs...the square things) maybe change the type of spray? And wow, that so called shower looked extremely narrow. You must have to stand sideways!
ReplyDeleteYou forgot to mention the 10 feet of snow through which the bed was being pushed
ReplyDelete