Day 13: Hontanas to Boadilla

It'is said that The Camino tests a pilgrim in three ways: the body, the soul, and the spirit.  The first stage tests the body; you need to cross the Pyrenees and climb many more hills and mountains along the way.  Your feet will ache.  The second part tests the soul. The Meseta’s seemingly endless expanses, with no shade and few way stations in between stops, can make the journey seem tedious and hopeless.  You need to persevere.  And finally, as road swells with  walkers who join only the last stretch to Santiago, The Camino tests your patience and goodwill.

We’re walking through the Meseta.  It’s beautiful and vast.  We walk by wheat, wheat, wheat, sunflowers, more wheat.  And wheat.  The Meseta is Spain’s High Plains.  It’s very fertile, desolate, mountainous, rocky, remote…lonely.

Today's the final day of the heat wave that’s been gripping Europe for days.  We left our albuergue at 5:15 am to beat the heat.  Before dawn, we passed Arco San Anton, the ruins of the ancient XIVth century Convento San Anton and now a basic albergue with no electricity.  It’s beautiful!

Arco San Anton at Dawn

We had coffee at a beautiful village called Castrojeriz.  Its centerpiece is the Iglesia Santa Maria del Manzano, again a XIVth century gem from the pilgrim road.  We were grateful for the gracious hospitality of Hostal El Manzano, which served generous slices of Spanish omelet and yummy cafes con leche.

Iglesia Santa Maria

Then we started the long climb our of the valley.  From the distance, we could see the ruins of an old castle.  We were met alongside the road by a local gentleman offering a “Sello” (stamp for our pilgrim passport) and a Tau charm.  The Tau is the symbol of the Antonine order, who are devoted to promoting the health and happiness of pilgrims on the road to Santiago.  The symbol has been adopted as one of the pilgrim symbols for The Camino.

The Tau Symbol for Pilgrims to Santiago

Walking out of the town, we came to a mesa.  We climbed up over a kilometer, at a 12% grade, to reach the high plain above the town.  It was an exhausting climb. Here’s a picture from the top.

The view from the top, into the sun.

And then we walked.  And walked.  This is the Meseta.  You just walk.  This video gives you an idea of what we saw, and will continue to see, as we walk.

As we were approaching the town of Itero de la Vega, where we hoped to have our Coca Cola break, we unexpectedly ran into our Camino friend Jacob, who we hadn't seen for over a week.  It was great to reunite with an old Camino buddy, and we continued our walk together to our resting place for the night: Boadilla. 

Jacob and Paco 

We started walking to our destination.  Suddenly, from our left side, a man came running at us calling out, "Give me your (walking) stick, give me your (walking) stick."  Startled, Paco handed him the pole, and the man ran toward the canal, smashing into the bushes.  Paco and Jacob followed suit.  Turns out, the man's dog jumped into the canal and couldn't get out.  The water was rushing too fast, and the dog had nothing to hang onto.  Jacob took charge, taking off his shoes and sloshing into the water to rescue the dog.  In the meantime, the second dog decided to jump into the canal too.  Luckily, he got out without further ado.  The man thanked us profusely, got in his car, and drove on--with the dogs running alongside the car!

Unfortunately, just about everything the guidebook said about Boadilla was wrong.  There aren't three restaurants...just one.  There's no store in which to buy food.  There's just about nothing.  Had we known, we wouldn't have picked this as a stopping point.  Oh well.

One of two rooms of bunk beds.  Two toilets and two showers.

In this large albergue, we reconnected with many other Camino friends: Mary and Jonas from the previous day, as well as Norbert, and Ana from Barcelona.   We met a new pilgrim, a 16-year-old South Korean named Seon Heon (pronounced Thon Hun, I think!)  There are many South Koreans on the Camino.  Apparently, a recent TV series highly promoted the walk and enticed many South Koreans to embark on this journey.  During our conversation, Seon Heon asked me how old I was.  I asked him to guess.  He said “39”.  I love this kid!