Hontanas to Boadilla del Camino 29K Day Twelve

Left at 6:45 this morning using our headlamps for the first time on the road. The stars were so beautiful...Compostela means ¨field of stars¨ because of the direction the Camino takes under the Milky Way. Later that morning, we came across the ruins of the impressive Gothic Conventa de San Anton. The Finnish film crew were there filming...once again we encounter each other!

The meseta stretched out before us and I felt liberated. These plains are similar to our Canadian prairies except for these unusual table-top plateaus. The plateaus have been deforested and there is a lot of erosion, but thankfully efforts are being made to reforest these areas. I enjoyed the panoramic view of the endless golden fields of wheat. The beauty of the meseta ignited my connection to the sacred. A favourite quote came back to me from the book, The Colour Purple. ¨I think God gets pissed off when you walk by the colour purple and don´t notice.¨ In essence, live in the moment and appreciate life as it confronts you.

Next.....the mother of all ascents. Before we started climbing, we prepared ourselves by stripping down to our bare essentials, drinking lots of water and taking several deep breaths. After 3K of this imposing climb, we were rewarded with a spectacular view and free refreshments for all the peregrinos/as. We found out later that four days ago a 42-year-old pilgrim had died of a heart attack on this same climb.

Once again, the heat toward the end of the day was relentless, especially with no breeze...even the windmills were silent and still. Because we were so tired, we took the first available albergue being peddled in the street. Perhaps we should have known that we would soon be encountering difficulties. The person in charge was a macho chico desperately needing an attitude adjustment. With all his puffed-up authority, he told us we would be back on the street if we didn´t close the door after entering and if we didn´t clean up our mess in the kitchen. We all loved Judy´s fast response: ¨You know you are talking to a bunch of mothers!¨ Next came the cold-water showers and the toilets that wouldn´t flush!We had to go to another albergue for a pilgrim´s meal and were surprised when we entered to be identified immediately by the server as ´Canadians´. Apparently Judy and Linda are dead ringers for Canadians. I, on the other hand, was deemed asi asi in terms of my Canadianism. We sat at the table with the Finnish crew.....would you believe it?

After walking 20K on their own, Marilyn and Elizabeth hopped on a bus in Castrojeriz at the end of the day and travelled 16K to Fromista, just one community ahead of us. They were happy to spend this time with Sylvie and Helene, our new friends from Quebec.