Villar de Mazarife

9:15pm

Albergue San Antonio de Padua

I was so encouraged setting out from Leon this morning, feeling better than I’ve felt getting started in a while! The first section of the walk was in city streets, which isn’t ideal but not so bad either. We made really good time, and were feeling great. And it was a beautiful goodbye to Leon. 

Our first pit stop was in La Virgen del Camino. I didn’t even notice we were out of Leon, since it all seemed like one big city. It was maybe my favorite breakfast experience thus far, as I ordered a pincho of tortilla and coffee, and she handed me a LARGE (not pincho-sized) piece of tortilla and a little shot glass of orange juice alongside my coffee, and the whole darn thing was 2€. Are ya kiddin me?? Miraculous. 

The rest of the walk was pretty straightforward. We took an (intentional) alternate route which added a little bit of distance but finally got us off the side of the road - a welcome change. We walked for a bit with Runa from Belgium, who helped make the time pass quickly to our next little snack (ice cream) break. 

Before we knew it, we arrived in our destination for the night. And it wasn’t a moment too soon, because my left shin was NOT HAVIN ANY OF IT for the last few miles today. Please send some good left shin vibes my way, because I really don’t want that to become a problem. But our host is the sweetest, and gave me ice packs to use as I rested until dinner. 

Our meal was a vegetarian masterpiece of salad, gazpacho, paella, and chocolate crepes. So delicious. And who did we share this veggie meal with, you may ask? Well Toby and Rachel of course! So great to see their smiling faces when we arrived. The four of us and a couple from Seattle (Sandy and Teresa) who we met on our way into Leon are the only ones here tonight, and we had a great time together at dinner. So much laughter and great conversation. 

That’s about all I have for the day, like I said, nothing too remarkable to report, and homegirl’s gotta get some healing sleep for this shin. That’s life though, right? Not every day is remarkable. Because if they all are, then none of them are. But this is a pretty blessed baseline.