La Meseta

I walked nineteen miles today, arriving in the small village of Hontanas at 1:30. Then I gratefully had a shower, lay down on my (lower, for a change) bunk, and soon was napping.

I bought a new pair of socks in Burgos yesterday. The exchange, though, was a little mortifying. Spanish shopkeepers are not the friendly, accomodating bunch you mostly find in the States. You are doing them no favors. On the contrary, you seem to be a bother. For the socks, I went into a shop devoted to sporty clothes and shoes. When I discovered that the hiking socks were behind the counter, as was the man in charge, I went to the side opening and gestured at the socks as if I would take the necessary two steps in for a closer look. "Si?" I said. "No," the man answered. For a moment I thought he was being sarcastic, but no, he meant no. So I went back around front and leaned over the counter trying to see. He gestured for me not to lean on the glass top. But then he did deign to call for a young woman to come help me. What he was doing besides sitting on a stool behind the cash register one foot distant from the socks, I couldn´t say. After buying socks I went to a pharmacy for bandaids--which were also available only with help. The pharmacist threw them on the counter as if to say, why are you bothering with this bullshit?

I set off at six this morning. When I stepped outside, the narrow cobbled streets were still wet after the night washing. There was no one about. In the near dark I walked throught the old city, past the looming cathedral and eventually through Arco St. Martin, once the gateway for travelers heading west for Santiago. From there the yellow arrows took me down to the river that runs through Burgos, and to the lovely park that runs along the river.

At a footbridge I came upon a young couple wearing backpacks and looking confused (this is a common sight). The young man said to me, "German, French, English?" I chose the third and he asked me if I knew which was the right direction. After some discussion we decided to cross the bridge. I walked with these two for the next couple hours: Christoph (29) and Johanna (27) from Muenster, Germany. They were astonished to learn that most Americans associate the name of their city with a bland white cheese. "The Munsters family, I know, yes," said Johanna, "but not of cheese."

Christoph is working on his dissertation in history, an account of violent leftist groups that arose in the late 1960s in Germany, France, and Japan. He has been at it sometime. "But last December," he said, "I finally came to the main idea, so now I think it will go faster. Maybe two more years." This figure seemed to surprise Johanna. "Two more years?" she repeated, in an incredulous tone. She has a job with the German equivalent of the Social Security Administration and her income supports them both. "It´s a boring job," she said, though Christoph was willing to describe what she actually did. Then she said again, "boring."

She gets five weeks vacation each year. Walking the Camino was Chritoph´s idea; she was thinking cruise ship. "But next time," Christoph said, "she will pick."

When they stopped to rest I continued on. Once my feet are warmed up, it´s best to keep them that way. I passed through a couple villages and then the path climbed up onto a high plateau--la meseta. For much of the day I crossed this broad tabletop, wheat and barley reaching all around, the horizon broken only by piles of lichened rocks long and laboriously removed from the soil. The sky was grey and the wind blew hard, playing across the green fields. My path, a narrow dirt road, ran straight, only shifting to accommodate the occasional gully or slight rise. I saw many small birds but few people, though occasionaly bicyclists would pass.

Eventually I descended into Hontanas, a stony village set into a fold that one only discovers when almost on top of it. Tomorrow the trail will follow a small valley down to the town of Castrogeriz. Day after tomorrow I´ll be in Carrion, and that´s where I´ll call Manolo to come get me and take me home to Espinosa for a visit.