Castrojeriz

9:30pm

Albergue Orión

Our day started out with another visit to The Green Tree for breakfast, because if it ain’t broke...? I mean right? It was once again amazing, and the Italian woman working the morning shift made the beautiful observation, “I’m a traveler. I love to travel. And working on the Camino is like traveling. New people to meet all the time. It is magic on the Camino, and there’s nothing else like it.” We decided it’s like reverse traveling. You stay planted while the world moves by. And I love that. 

We didn’t get too far down the road before we were joined by a father-son duo we had briefly met yesterday, Jose Angel and Dante. Jose is very extroverted and outgoing, and has a way of drawing information out of people with the safe space he creates. He is a photographer (how do we keep lucking out with that??) and took some lovely photos for us along the way as well. 

He asked us about our Camino, how it’s been, how it’s been to walk with each other, who we’re missing back home... and about faith, and love, and purpose, and hope. I’m not convinced he isn’t an angel. Not to mention the fact that he got us to sing as we walked. For me, no surprise. But my dad DOES NOT sing. Truly a miracle. See my dad’s blog for video evidence. He and Dante sang us a song too, and we were all loving it. I chatted with Dante about our shared passion for working with children, specially those in vulnerable situations or crises. Jose and Dante are filled with a deep joy in God and people, and their company made the first 11 kilometers of our walk FLY by. 

Our time with them culminated in a shared meal in Hontanas, the first town we happened upon. I had just been saying to Dante, “They say Hontanas just suddenly appears to you out of nowhere...” and I swear we took 5 steps and there it was. The top of a church spire peeking up at us. An oasis. 

The rest of our journey was pretty hot, but so beautiful. Fields of wheat and poppies, beautiful valleys. An unexpected and beautiful bar popped up out of nowhere one town outside our destination, just across the way from a stunning monastery. We stopped for a drink before proceeding on to Castrojeriz, where we are enjoying a beautiful albergue. 

We arrived in Castrojeriz by 3pm, which we felt great about. Did the whole check in/shower/nap routine, and then enjoyed a fabulous communal meal of Korean bibimbap, which I’ve always wanted to try! Vegetarian and wonderful. And we sat next to a Korean couple, who bought kimchi and shared it with us (this albergue is co-owned by a Korean woman who walked the Camino a few years ago, who serves and sells Korean meals and snacks, and yep, you guessed it, met her partner who also works here! Are you sensing a theme?). They were so happy to find this place and its food, and I so appreciate the great lengths so many of these places take to welcome and celebrate other cultures. 

And now we’re off to bed, with the sounds of life coming back to the city after a majorly cool thunder storm. Birds are chirping, dogs are barking, and that fresh just-rained smell is drifting in through our window. 

This is a special place, and we are so lucky.