Ages to Burgos

Another windy, rainy walk today. The rain pelted my cheeks and I got quite chilled. Another little frickety-frick-frack-frizzle expletive meltdown occurred on those muddy farm roads coming down out of the hills because my hands were too cold to operate my zippers. Only the effervescent chirping birds witnessed my frustration as Scott had wisely pushed forward. This was my least favorite walking day so far.

After 7 miles of cold, rain, wind, and mud, with the trail splintering in 4 directions, we ended up on an industrial parkway, still miles away from downtown Burgos.
We passed an enormous Bridgestone tire making facility which smelled like spit burning on a cowpie skillet (Scott's observation). It took hours of walking through some ugly city stuff, loud traffic noises, and diesel fume smells to get to the magnificent and touristy Burgos cathedral.

I have been here once before with Elizabeth and Ben nine years ago with some very posh Spanish friends I once knew. It was an awkward visit to say the least, right E and B? Remember the half lambs in a bowl and the blood sausage? The fancy wife, Patricia, was not impressed by us, to say the least :/

You are not going to believe this. We are sitting in a quiet Latin bar (almost all bars in Spain have wifi) in Burgos (a city of nearly 200,000 people) and you'll never guess who just walked in. Cowboy! He comes right over and introduces his new friends from France and tells them we are his people. They look at us with worried expressions. Cowboy doesn't seem nearly as menacing without his black hat and he has a terrible cold. We wish him well and take our leave. It is so weird that we keep crossing paths with him.

This huge albergue has 150 beds but only a tiny microwave and a few plates so we couldn't cook the veges we had bought coming in to town so instead we made an odd chopped salad with cabbage, carrots, leeks, and peppers and ate chorizo, cheese, and crackers on the side. Later we got a raciones (big plate) of calamari (whole and rings) and patatas bravas. It really is crazy how many calories you burn. I am not wasting away or anything but my pants are hanging quite loosely on me now.

Yay! Our NZ ladies are here as well. Joan and Robin got 15 euro 30 minute massages yesterday and loved it. They always have wonderful stories to tell me about puppies and calves they've saved, their gardens, their homebody husbands, etc. So exuberant!