Hospital de Orbigo to El Ganso

Word on the Camino this morning was that Cowboy had a broken leg and that he tried to strangle a woman in an albergue who challenged his claim that he has been walking 50 kms per day (he has been bussing it). Then everyone was telling us about the Montanan just in front of us (we left him behind days ago in Burgos) with the black hat claiming he was taking his mother on the camino and she had a broken wrist (cowboy told me his Mom died a while back and that he hated her). Everyone we meet has encountered this man. Some feel bad because he tells them that everyone around him has died and that he has terminal cancer, but I think he is nuts and somewhat dangerous. Bernt, the German Hells Angel fighter pilot decided to push on toward another town because he saw Cowboy in Astorga. Then we saw him too. He uncannily appears when we least expect it. Something is not right about that guy. He was limping but he did not have a broken leg and he looked like he was going to make meatballs again. Stay tuned...

In our haste to get away from Cowboy, we didn't get to taste Astorga's regional specialty, Cocido Maragot: a dish with goat's blood sausage, chicken, pork, pig's ear, a pig's trotter!, pig snout, chorizo, chickpeas, cabbage, potatoes, and garlic. Whoa!

We've been regularly walking later into the afternoons, covering about 20 miles a day. It's been worth it to get to the smaller more interesting places and we are in good walking shape now, even carrying quite a bit of fresh veges and picnic foods.

I was thinking about the sounds we hear each day. Church bells, cuckoo birds, deep croaking frogs, quieter than expected trucks and trains, pigeons, bored dogs barking, and most of all the many languages on the Camino.

The Russians are here with us again in this albergue. Vladimir made me sit through all his photos from the whole trip last night, using his middle finger to point to the lines that appealed to him in each shot. He takes it very seriously and posed Scott and me for some pics this afternoon. I got a terrible case of the giggles because he kept fussing over Scott's eyes and arm placement. He kept trying to fix our posture and make minute changes to the way we held our backs. I laughed so hard I was crying but he remained extremely serious. The funny thing is that Scott is ten times better at taking pics than this guy and through my eyes, we looked very stiff and Soviet-like in the photos. Later though, he hugged and kissed Scott many times and made sure their hearts touched. Reminded me of Nepal. Men just love Scotty! Cute.

We are climbing up towards the snow covered mountains and are finished with the flat Mesa. This is such a unique trip in that it feels like we are in an alternate universe where walking is what we do and what we've always done. The days click by, we meet scores of people, we eat mountains of food, we take in all the history and architecture, we speak Spanish, then we sleep deeply for nine or ten hours. I am completely absorbed by it all and in the moment.