Day 21-Sunday, May 18 - Carrion de Los Condes to Caldadilla de la Cueza- 11.2 miles from 7 am to 11am

Last night about 6 pm we had chorizo and cheese pizza at a bar/restaurant. Another pilgrim we have seen for many days asked us to take a pic of him holding his wine glass and so he reciprocated with a pic of us. 

We attended the Vigil Mass at Iglesia de Santa Maria del Camino (12th century) but ahead of Mass there had been a wedding. It was interesting to people watch after the ceremony. Such a variety of clothes and some of the highest heels I've ever seen. The bride and groom and wedding party had pics taken outside. Once inside the church waiting for Mass, I snapped this one. 

It was a beautiful Mass in a fairly simple church compared to what we have seen. We loved the simplicity. 

After mass the peregrinos and peregrinas were called up for a special blessing. There must have been 100 or more from New Zealand, the U.S., South Africa, Australia, Croatia, Ireland, Germany, France, Spain, South Korea and on and on. A general prayer was prayed over us by the young priest and the we heard a message from one of the nuns. The the priest and nun each had a line and individually they laid hands on our heads and prayed. We were given a small paper star cut out of paper that children had colored and instructed to carry it with us to Santiago as a symbol of God's love and the fact we are all brothers and sisters in the Lord. I saw many people leave with tears in their eyes. yes, the Holy Spirit was moving. 

As the number of days on the Camino continue to increase, it is becoming more difficult to keep the blog.  Some days I don't have internet and most days I am tired and it takes effort and time and patience to upload pics and write. So, if I miss a day or two don't worry about us. Either I had no internet or I decided not to write and post. 

We left Santa Clara convent about 6:30 am and in a block or so passed a place serving breakfast. The coffee call was LOUD so without any hesitation we went in. The husband and wife from Newnan, Ga (now living in Alpharetta) were at the next table. She is having blister issues and a Canadian man tended to her feet. We are thankful for shoes and socks that have been good for our feet. 

Pics as we made our way out of town about 7 am.

This was at the far end of town, the Real Monasterio y Ermita de la Piedad -13th century. St. Francis of Assisi allegedly stayed in these buildings.  I wish we would have had the energy yesterday to walk here and look around. I think the Polish couple now living in Canada stayed here. 

It is immense. 

It was a highway walk for a time. 

And then came the long, dusty dirt road - probably about 8 miles of our 11 mile day. A tractor passed by and provided an interesting diversion.

When I spied a slight hill ahead, I was happy to see it and took a pic. Today I agreed with Stoney that the Meseta was boring. Crunch, crunch as we walked along.


Many in front of us and behind us for as far as we can see. For the first time on the Camino I pulled out my iPod Shuffle and listened to tunes. It helped me to keep a better pace as well as helping my mood. The moon accompanied us today once more. 

We pulled over for a break here. An enterprising local man was grilling sausages and had a nice set up. Stoney had a Pepsi (unusual to see it in Spain) and I had a Kas (like Fanta). It was a short break of less than 15 minutes but I was glad to have the stop. 

We saw this man pulling a cart attached to his waist  

On these long stretches barren of trees bathroom stops can be tricky. This woman had pulled off in a wheat field and her husband walked in to meet her. There was another person further back in the field. They walked in on tractor tracks. I thought this idea might help a future pilgrim; remember to follow the  tractor path into a wheat field. 

When I saw this below, I hoped we were nearing our destination for the day. 

The day began to warm and I was wishing I could change into shorts. We put on our wide brimmed sun hats for the first time. About 10:30 am I checked my watch and figured we had at least another hour to walk but we could see no town. There was a small hill ahead of us with an old structure a long way from the road and I had the thought it would be odd to build it far from a town. When we crested the hill, we could see our town for the night right in front of us.  Praise God. 

Little did I know our room here would have bed bugs!  It reeked of Clorox which I thought was odd. I would not recommend Camino Real Hotel, Caldadilla de la Cueza. Another aside - the owner watched us eat breakfast from the buffet. There was a large sign that read Do Not Take Food From Dining Room. That breakfast cost $10 per person. 

We checked in and then had an egg and cheese omelet on french bread for an early lunch. It was delicious. I washed my hiking pants in the small sink as well as my socks and undies and put them outside our window on the roof to dry. 

I pulled back the sheet and looked at the mattress. It looked new. 

I met Allie and Jill from Capetown, South Africa today while they enjoyed a potato tortilla and huge glass of beer. They had taken a coffee break first and then decided the next would be a beer break and so on for their day. However this beer was quite large and they were concerned there would not be enough trees for them as they walked on. 

It has been a very relaxing afternoon for me and very boring for Stoney. This is a town of 60 people and the place we are staying and it's restaurant and the albergue are the only things in town. I had my 3rd Magnum chocolate ice cream treat this afternoon (think dark chocolate on the outside and chocolate ice cream - rich like Dove bars). 

We'll have a combination plate rather than pilgrim meal for dinner.