We do not
meet the famous Resti, manager of Castrojeriz pilgrims’ hostel. But, for
the record, neither was there a personal computer nor, of course, was
there one in Hornillos. We quit Castrojeriz at twenty past six in the
morning, after having breakfast in « El Lagar », which is a
bar opposite the hostel. This bar owner opens at half past five showing
deference for the pilgrims, walkers and other species (you can find all
people from all walks of life at this stage or the Camino). All of them
can have a hot breakfast. Paca and I are thankful because there are very
few innkeepers in the Camino who get up early.
The Camino: the Mostelares' slope is
waiting for us...
We
slowly quit the town and, while dawn is breaking, we go up Mostelares’
slope, which has on its top a monolith that the Castilla-Leon government
placed there in 1989. Alter a short while we take a swig of water from Piojo’s
well, where we find the old French grandma pilgrim, and we go on to San
Nicolas hostel which is an old hermitage. We greet the hostel manager and we
take a picture before quitting the province of Burgos. We cross the bridge
on the Pisuerga River and before we know it we are in Palencia (another
Spanish province).
Pilgrims' Hostel of
San Nicolás and... the Camino
We
find an open café in Itero de la Vega. They stamp credentials. We go into
it and, surprise!, it is crowded with pilgrims. Some of them, only a few,
are known honest walkers; others, the better part of them are people whom
we have never seen walking, funnily enough only in bars and places where
credentials are branded. Have this last group discovered how to translate
themselves in time? Does a magical path exist that lets pilgrims change
their positions into another space at will? In which bars and taking which
potions can this be achieved? Does Paulo Coelho know how?
Speaking
about Brazilians, whom do we find next to a source when we are arriving in
Boadilla ? Exactly, they are the Brazilian sumo wrestler and his maid.
There are no comments.
Boadilla
del Camino has a nice gothic rollo* and also a neat private pilgrims’
hostel called « En el Camino ». This hostel is in front of the
gothic rollo, and if you follow the yellow arrows you arrive at the hostel,
whether you like it or not.
After
having a coffee in the hostel, Paca and I discover that the Camino does
not pass beside the hostel, so we have to go back so as to rejoin it. Who
has the control over the yellow arrows? The right thing would have been to
point out the hostel without compelling pilgrims to arrive at it. We
think that this kind of abuse should not be permitted.
We
arrive at the Castilla aquaduct. The Camino, parallel to the waterway, takes
us to Fromista. What wasted big works!, we comment, while some groups of
the Xacobea cycling tour overtake us. Support vehicles follow these cyclists,
the cars do not advertise Coca-Cola until now.
Church of San Martín,
in Frómista. Can you ask for more?
We
go with Fernando, Javier and commander Pepe when we enter Fromista. At
noon we arrive at Fromista. We shelter inside the wonderful church of
San Martin. There is a smooth penumbra inside the church, outside sun
bursts your pupils by dint of contracting them. A bus stops beside the
church, the travellers are blind people. Each one with a white cane and a
companion goes into the church. What will blind people feel inside this
church? They must perceive something when they come here even though are
blind. I think, I do not know why, all of us are blind in our mother’s
womb.
We
get our credentials stamped inside the church. We lodge opposite the
church in San Martin hotel. In the hotel restaurant us five « survivors »
have lunch. From the walkers That started at Roncesvalles on July the
ninth and one more that, coming from Jaca, met up with us in Puente La
Reina : Fernando, from Zaragoza, is thirty something; Javier, from
Ronda, of the same age, he is the most religious pilgrim we have ever seen ;
Pepe, from Valladolid , a retired commander (he is the one that comes from
Jaca) ; Paca and I. All of us raise our glasses in a toast to
Santiago, all of us want to arrive at Santiago, it will be more exact to
say that we humbly beg to get there. The Camino is not a good place
for showing off. You can be in good condition today and tomorrow you can be going back
home.
In
the evening Paca and I go to have dinner at a good although slightly
elitist restaurant on commander Pepe’s advice. The waitress serves us
with a touch of disdain. She considers that our looks do not match the
restaurant’s standing, where a bust of Don Juan Carlos (our good king) presides
over the room from the French chimney. The restaurant is « La Hosteria de
los Palmeros » and Paca and I have dinner, not only totally alone,
but a little bit stiff and in whispers. Do you understand? A very
expensive dinner, of course.
*rollo.- An artistic
column. A justice symbol and a place for public punishment at the Middle
Ages.
Stage 14  Stage 15 |