-U2
Jan. 1, 2011:
First off, happy 2011 everyone! I hope you all had a great new year's eve. Also wanted to let people know of a small irony that I've noticed....the more ubiquitous the internet gets (smartphones, wi-fi), the more difficult it's becoming to find internet cafes or call centres. It seems to me that the only time I've been able to find a terminal is when I'm in the larger cities. So my apologies if I'm a bit late in posting entries or responding to e-mails.
Carrion de los Condes was a fun time. The nuns in the convent that ran the albergue were extremely kind and accomodating. I also got more pilgrim company there: Daniel from Quebec, who's an absolute riot, Hiroshi from Japan, who's only doing the Burgos to León leg this time around, and Gareth, an ex-pat brit living in Alicante. Thanks to Daniel's odd sense of humor and Gareth's good-natured gruffness, we all had a lot of laughs in the albergue, as well as over dinner and breakfast the next morning.
We were all dreading the first stage of the next day (new year's eve day) - that being a 17k walk to without towns, water, shelter, etc. The plan was to do the 17k to Calzadilla de la Cueza, and continue another 9k to Terradillos de los Templarios where we'd all heard legends of a fantastic albergue. The first 17k were bearable for me, although the treadmill-like monotony of walking through the flatlands was starting to take it's toll on my sanity. Stopped to rest in Calzadilla, and realized I had a pamphlet for the Terradillos albergue, so I called them up...the lady on the other end told me they were closed until Jan 10. So I decided to call it a day in Calzadilla. The albergue was locked, but there was a phone number to reach the hospitalero at. I gave him a call, and he was there within 10 minutes. He also made sure that everything was in good order (heat, hot water, etc), even if it was for just one pilgrim. Calzadilla being a tiny town, there were no bars, restaurants or stores open. So it looked like I'd be starting the new year on an empty stomach. César would hear none of it...apparently, he also owned the one restaurant in town, and he told me to come by for an early dinner (it was new year's eve after all). Dinner was good, and what it might have lacked in variety, it more than made up for in quantity. Afterwards, it was back to the empty albergue (no other pilgrims had shown) to wait out the new year. Being as tired as I was, I ended up nodding off.
They say new year's eve is an indication of how the rest of the year will be. There may be some truth to that; Last new year's was a quiet even with a close friend who means the world to me. The rest of the year was all about quiet times with friends and family (which was really kind of nice). I spent this new years alone in a town halfway between the middle and the edge of nowhere, in a building meant to accomodate 80 people, awakened by several explosions just outside the building (impromteau fireworks from the 6-10 permanent residents of the town.)
This could be an interesting year.
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