Day 11: Belarado to San Juan de la Ortega

Day 11 on Camino, Monday, June 15, Belarado to San Juan de la Ortega

Numbers: 15.60 miles per Garmin GPS and 38,543 steps and 147 floors per Fitbit

Dave journal

A day like every other for the past week: a forecast of rain starting near 9:00 AM that doesn’t happen and the DJRs out early to beat it and doing so because it threatens but never does. So, San Juan de la O, a town with a stated population of 20. Our hotel, however, is in the nearby metropolis of Santovenia de Oca, a town which seems to have a population of one: The guy who picked us up at SJ de la O and delivered us to S de O, was also the reception desk clerk and waiter for the restaurant.

When free, he’s promised to show us how the shower works. It’s a Jacuzzi sort of thing except that one sits and, when starting up the jets with the shower door open, it's easy to wet down the entire room. This is a "space ship" type shower occupying a two foot by two foot area In the corner of an otherwise normal-sized bano. At least it isn’t the other European invention, the bathtub shower with a plexiglass "enclosure" that only "encloses" the two feet of space closest to the shower head. This might seem efficient; in operation, the user must remain very, very close to the shower head and adjacent wall, standing on the drain. The happy European alternative is the shower-head-on-a-stick, the hand held version of a shower head which, when combined with the tiny amount of "enclosure" inevitably results in a lot of water on the floor. The travails of being international.

We see a fair number of cats and dogs in the villages and towns we pass through, and farm animals, of course. Out on the road in the countryside, it’s different. We see snails, which are welcomed since we always travel with drawn butter and chunks of French bread. (The little buggers never know what hit’em) The other kings of the Camino are slugs, some large enough to have confronted unwary pilgrims and taken their foot ware. Scout has photographic proof.

This being Day 11 on the Camino, we are encouraged to believe we’re 1/3 of the way done. Good. We think our backs are stronger now from carrying the packs, but we drop them on the ground at every opportunity. Legs and hips seem okay and only one blister thus far. (We attribute this, in part, to wearing "toe socks" which separate the digits so they’re less likely to annoy each other.) Dave has something wrong in the left pectoral region that surfaced after the inglorious mud fall of a few days ago, but he’s a habitual whiner so it’s probably a pathetic ploy to get sympathy.

Deb voice

Got some decent pictures today - especially of the slugs. But the Internet connection is nil in our room, and not so hot, even in the hotel lobby, so I'll post later or another day. We had some nice climbing today into a forested and misty area and I'd like to post some of those pics....another time.

Ok...let's give a go for one of our little friends..hope to post one of his big brothers later. :-)

Posted with Blogsy