The walk today from Bercanos De Las Camino to Religos was VERY long and boring - the track was right next to a main road, so there wasn't much to see. I was absolutely stoked to walk into Religos and headed right to the bar, where I proceeded to sit over a 'cafe con leche' for a veeery long time. I was so happy to be sitting down. I had woken up with my shoulder aching so much that I was actually feeling sick, so the day was a bit of a struggle, especially with the 10kg backpack weighing me down!
"I bet God has a great sense of humor" (Very relevant to a pilgrim!)
"Beauty: what was always there, but not truly realised".... Jake Ballinger
I had a really surreal moment while I was sitting there. The bar was in a tiny village, somewhere in Spain, and I was listening to the same album that I had spent hours listening to in a coffee shop in Katovice, Poland. (Back to Black by Amy Winehouse, if you're interested). Two massive extremes, yet the music just slipped in and was so right!
I had been suffering from a bit of a cough, and as all of the bars in Spain are filled with smoke (no smoking regulations in Spain), it got worse while I was sitting there. It didn't help matters that the owner was trying to light the fire place and flooded the bar with smoke and ashes! Anyway, I was having a bit of a coughing fit, and the owner came over and plonked a mug in front of me, gesturing to his throat, as in: 'drink this for your cough'. I will admit, I was a bit scared to drink it, but I didn't want to be rude, so drink it I did. The most interesting thing I've ever consumed! Sweet, then hot, it made my lips numb for the rest of the day - probably thanks to the chunks of chilli I discovered floating in it!
After a few hours, I finally dragged myself to my feet and slowly wandered the remaining 6km to Mansilla. I had a glorious, spontanious, who-gives-a-f*@k moment in a spot of sunshine, dancing to 'Going, going gone' by Jack Johnson.
The Albergue in Mansilla was really nice, and full of people (including quite a few nice looking boys wandering around in the lycra bike shorts. Nice!). My biggest concern this evening was trying to decide if I should save money and have packet soup, stale bread and questionable meat, or go out to eat.... It wasn't a concern for too long. I was wandering through a shop when I ran into Xavier, a Catalan who I had been passing by and waving at all day. We decided to cook dinner together (Jess's famous Camino soup), and then popped out to a bar where I had my first introduction to Liquor de Herbas, which would quickly turn into an addiction on the Camino...more on that in a later post!
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