The best on the Camino!

Although the Pyrenees were by far the biggest mountains, we are constantly finding ourselves going up and down.  The views are amazing, and it makes us excited to be moving towards mountains when we get back to the states.  So the day of September 25th we hiked up a bit to Villafranca Montes de Oca.  We stayed at an albergue that also has a high end hotel on the other side.  The owner, Pedro, was very proud of his establishment and assured us that his place was the best on the Camino and that we should have dinner at his restaurant because it is the best on the Camino! Because he said so!  He was quite a character, and he wasn´t wrong about the food.  It was wonderfully prepared, and a wider range of dishes than pilgrims are usually offered.

The next day we only made it as far as Ages, when we saw Yoga room advertised as a part of a hostel.  The owner, Ana Maria, was so kind and welcoming.  She prepared all of the food herself and had created a welcoming, sacred space.  Each room had three or less bunks and a private bath (unheard of!).  I taught a yoga class to eight fellow pilgrims in the Yoga room.  It felt like a strange mixing of my Camino life and my life back home, it was an honor to offer a practice for my friends.  Ana Maria said that she had built this place for people like me.  Her warm hugs made such a difference this far into our tiring journey.

Burgos, the wonderful wizard of Burg-oz!  After so many small towns, everyone had a long list of things to do in a big city.  You would hear pilgrims say "Everything will be better once we get what we need in Burgos.¨ I was afraid that the city could not live up to all of our expectations for it.  Entry into Burgos was a long brutal city walk. I would never consider walking across a whole city in the states, it would be miserable.  The same is true here.  We stand out a bit with our dusty clothes and big backpacks, desperately trying to follow the yellow arrows painted as markers through the city.  Once in the historic district, all of our Burgos dreams came true.  We checked into our hotel (our weekly treat to ourselves) and went exploring the city.  The Catedral is an overwhelming Gothic structure.  There is no way to see all of it at once from any street view.  It was stunning, and that was from the outside... OK, times up, we`ll tell you more about Burgos and where we are now soon.  Thanks for reading and for your patience.  Blogging has been more difficult than we thought.  We appreciate your prayers.