Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Burgos to Hontanas to Boadilla

Hey everyone,

I hope all is well back home.  Things are going well here.  We made it to a small town outside of Fromistia named Boadilla del Camino a little after 2pm today after a pretty tough walk.

Since I last posted we have walked about 55km and have gone through busy cities and some desolation--not spiritual though.  We stayed in Burgos a couple nights ago at a nice parish albergue and then headed towards Hontanas, a small valley town about 35km away.  The journey towards Hontanas was pretty interesting even though it was long.  Getting out of Burgos was a pain because of the size of the city and the difficulty locating the waymarks for the Camino--usually a spraypainted yellow arrow or yellow shell, the sign for the Camino.  

After a couple hours we were finally outside of the Burgos metro and into the country.  When I say country, I mean out there.  There was really nothing at some points aside from a far away moo, bleat, or donkey hee-haw scream/yell/noise.  The gnats along the way were particularly annoying.  Even the concentrated deet stuff from the camping store didn´t work.  The way was pretty long and straight and at times seemed unending.  But, we finally made it to Hontanas and settled down in a nice albergue, where I got the best night of sleep since starting the Camino.  We ate a ton of food, especially bread--I think we were one of the only tables to get refilled, and it was just the two of us at the table :-) --and then headed to bed. 

The hike today was, again, very desolate at times.  There was one big climb that I enjoyed, but aside from that it was pretty flat and plain.  It seemed at times it was not going to end, especially the last 8km.  We did about 28km today and walked the first 20 with a guy named Ben from Adelaide, Australia, who is in Europe for an ultimate-frisbee tournament.  He is good company and is a pretty laid back bloke.  

He is staying at the same albergue as we are in Boadilla.  There are a number of people from our last albergue that are here, including a German girl and her mom, a couple from New Zealand, and some other folks we have seen along the way.

Every day brings blessings and struggles, but they have all been worth it.  There is plenty of time for prayer on the walks and all of you have been in the prayers as I go along.  Please continue to pray for us.  much love.

Paul

Here are some pics from the past few days:


Me, Amy the Brit, Jason, and Magdelun.


                                   Heading towards Burgos.




                                           Burgos lies, teasing us from afar.

                                    The Burgos Cathedral

When one has size 14 feet in Europe--bright white sandals with the Brazilian flag!! HAHA

                                                     Another waymarker post Burgos.


                                          Still a good ways from Hontanas.


                       Hontanas welcoming us after a long day.

                        Jason and Ben on the way to Baodilla.


The memorial for where a pilgrim passed away on the Camino a couple years ago.




                                     Making it up the hill.



Until later, peace.

1 comment:

  1. I got to tell you this is pretty incredible my friend. Your mom got me on board, so now I got you in mind and prayers. Press on, we're with you all the way, but my feet don't envy you in the least!! God Bless
    -Ron

    ReplyDelete