Boadilla-Villalcazar, Sunday, March 22, 2009

I wake up and walk over to the main building to have breakfast. Andreas and I end up walking out together and stop to visit a pony tethered in a patch of grass. I think it might be pregnant. I start to pet the horse and then Andreas starts laughing and saying something about the horse and my jacket. Sure enough, I look down and realize that the horse has grabbed my jacket over my navel and has it between it's teeth. I eventually manage to pull the jacket out of it's mouth and back away, the horse proceeds to try to eat a foil candy wrapper on the ground. It's cold out.
We leave town. Andreas is walking faster than I and is soon quite far ahead of me.
It's Sunday morning. I cross the canal, walk up the road and arrive in the main section of Fromista, near the Iglesia San Martin and the albergue. There is a large group from a bus dressed in black capes walking around. They are called "Friends of the Cape" or something to that effect. Both men and women. They are crowded into the closest bar, and I see some people from last night, so I crowd in as well. Someone tells me that he has also walked the Camino and shows me a pin on his cape. It takes awhile to get served since it's chaotic inside. By the time I leave, everyone else has gone on ahead. The wind has picked-up, and I am pelted with tiny rocks as I cross the overpass toward Poblacion de Campos. I stop at the bar in Poblacion for a sandwich, a pack of gallettes and a cafe con leche while I try to decide which route to take to Villalcazar de Sirga. There is the route that veers to the far right and follows a farm road to Villavieco and then along a canal past the Ermita Virgen del Rio then into Villalcazar, and then there is a route that parallels the road through Revenga de Campos, Villarmentero de Campos, and then Villalcazar. I've walked the first route 2x before, and as it's longer, I choose the road, thinking I can continue on to Carrion de los Condes. I hear bells while I'm entering Revenga de Campos, so go and attend mass. When I prop my pack against the wall it gets covered in plaster dust. After the service I stop in the plaza to eat a bag of almonds, and a man comes over to say "hi" and try to strike up a conversation but my spanish isn't very good so we both leave. As I near Villarmentero, I am trying to walk quickly, and suddenly realize that my shoelace has gotten attached to the metal on my other boot, and I frantically try to kick out my foot, but it's no use. Between the momentum from moving and the weight and balance of the pack, I fall forward on the rocky path, first onto my knees and then onto my face. I throw off the pack and roll myself over so that I'm sitting along the side of the road with my legs stretched out in front of me, wondering if it is possibly to have broken my kneecap. It hurts like hell. I look up to see if anyone saw. I'm embarrassed on the one hand, and frightened that that there won't be anyone to help me on the other. There are two people outside a bar aways in front of me, but they don't appear to have noticed. I pull up my pantleg and look at and rub my knees with my hands. I try bending them, then standing. It hurts really bad, but I can walk. (And happy once again for the walking "sticks.") There isn't anywhere to stay here, and I walk over to see if the church is open (I want to look inside), but it's not. I decide to try to walk as far as I possibly can, while I still can. It's not that far to Villalcazar. I arrive, find an open bar, ask if they have a room, they show it to me, it's cold and dirty, but I pay to stay. I come back and ask for the menu and some ice to put on my knee, I only ice the one that hurts the most. After lunch, I clean the bathroom sink so I can wash clothes in it, and then 4 of the others decide to stay in town, too. Dina (the dog) can't stay here, so "Connie" goes and finds a room in the hostel. Lars, Andreas, and Alex stay at the albergue. Lars and I wander around town all day in the cold sun. At one point someone tells me the Cathedral is open, so I dash inside to look around.

The five of us meet later to go out to dinner. Alex has managed to get the heat in our room turned on, but you can't feel it even a foot from the radiator. The shower water is cold as well. We go to the first bar, but there are only leftovers, so we try to see if the one of the other kitchens are open. We find one in a hotel. I think there is some misunderstanding in ordering and Alex ends up with two bowls of soup, it has tiny bones in it, I think it's from a foot of some kind. Connie has the rabbit, and pretty much licks his plate clean. They all start talking in German, I speak a little in Spanish to the proprietors, but get bored and go back to the room. Two of them crawl into bed together and I tell them that if they make any noise, I'll huck stuff at them. I'm tired, and kinda' annoyed that I spent most of the day outside freezing (although, it's true, the room wasn't really any warmer.)