Mo’ Leon, mo’ problems

I am now in a village called Carrión de los Condes. It is a very cool place and I am staying in one of the coolest albergues I’ve been to yet. However, the beds look suspect to bed bugs (here’s to hoping!). I ended up running into my classmate Vida and they informed me that a couple of others (Phil and Shiloh) are nearby. Thus, I am beginning to feel less lonely and even beyond running into Vida I am begging to open myself up more to fellow pilgrims. Vida gave me good perspective when they said that a good way to battle homesickness is to view each chapter of your life is a life of its own. It reminded me of a conversation that I got into with an Italian man (it feels weird to be mentioning everyone’s nationalities but I do so just because I am excited to be meeting people from all over the world) who was talking to me about how the Camino showed him the importance of constant arrivals. As his speech got more passionate he at one point picked up a rock and put it in my face and said “this, this is MY Camino.”

Also, I am battling the harsh reality of having to rest my torn quad from skating or else it will turn into something nastier. That one is hard because if I don’t skate everyday I constantly feel like I am missing something. Oh well.

Writing from Grado, 4 km before the days’ s destination, San Juan de Villapañada, which is uphill from here. They have no food and, I suspect, no wi-fi, so i will post here. The Cathedral at Oviedo is a big-time stop in the cult of relics circuit. They have the cloth covering Christ’s face in the tomb, a piece of the shroud of Turin, several pieces of the true cross, a part of a bone from the forehead of a saint, five thorns from the crown of thorns, and one of the six amphorae from the wedding at Cana where Jesus  changed the water into wine. Much more. The building,  cloisters,  museum… are magnificent. Today, a 29+ km day in warm rain. Met 6 peregrinos who started today in Oviedo (they were so clean) and there were about 10 in the albergue, so there are some folks on the Primitivo.

First night of passover tonight, and I’m hoping to find so matzah. So far I haven’t found any, but I know that there are jewish people in Spain.

Villafranca Del bierzo–14:44

My injury is saying hello today. Guess I’ve been overdoing it. Looking forward to 2 days in León.

León Cathedral

Arrived in León Wednesday night and met up with some more classmates. Spent yesterday hanging out in the city and taking today to explore around some more. Having a wonderful time with wonderful people. Over halfway to Santiago…

León!

I’m sure we have to be over halfway by now. We pushed through today for about 40 km. We stopped in mansilla. Adrien and I cooked patatas bravas ‘fries with andalouse sauce’ and pasta carbonata, and Rachel did the dishes. We are very full from a good meal and good company.
But today wasn’t all sunshine and roses. In fact, the rain continued for most of the morning and afternoon. After about 18 km, we left a small town with a long way to go. Adrien, who had been skateboarding and walking with his board since Geneva, tried to push the board to me while I tried to catch up. The wet pavement made the board slip into an irrigation canal with filthy water running off the fields. He quickly threw off his pack and jumped into the water -forgetting about his phone, which somehow survived. He waded the strong chest high current up and down the canal for over half an hour, with no luck. The quick brown water had swept his board away from him. The mood of the three of us was a bit lower for the second half.

Note, that happened wednesday. Thursday we took a bus for the last 18km into leon so we could find Adrien -the boy who lost his bestfriend- a new skateboard. We spent the day at the park enjoying the sun, and not carrying our packs. It was splendid. Friday we will stay in Leon, and Saturday we march on. 309 km to go.

Leon Spain