Day 10

Yesterday was a funky day in which I spent much of it feeling sad and crabby and a bit off. It ended in an alberge that was marginal at best, complete with a woman running the place who was even crabbier than I was feeling. That actually snapped me out of my funk, because it was so outrageous it was funny.

So, after a good night’s sleep and an intentional shift in my own attitude, I began Day 10 of my Camino adventure. The haiku I composed somewhere in the first couple of kilometers describes it well.

open arms and heart

is how I greet this new day

one step at a time

And that is how the morning went. Kilometer after kilometer there was a lightness in my steps and a quiet contentment in my heart. I ran into my friends in the village where I stopped for breakfast. And then on I walked. Small old world villages blended into one another, each with their own unique charm. Which led to the happy accident of my final stop for the day.

I had intended to have an easy 20km day, but I lost track of how many villages I had walked through. I was 2km down the path before I realized I had passed the place I intended to stop. So I kept going for another couple of kilometers and arrived at San Anton Abad (hotel and alberge) in Villafranca Montes de Oca, making it a 24km day. It feels like I have arrived in the lap of alberge luxury – upscale and elegant in a beautiful setting. The dorm I’m in has roomy individual cubicals for each bed. It’s light and airy. And it’s 15 euros for the night.

As I write this I’m sitting in a comfortable leather chair, sipping on a delicious glass of sangria. I even wrote my very first poem in Spanish.

Las mañanas son para el camino.

Las tardes son para vino y amigos.

¡Y todo es por Vive!

I might see about staying another night. I haven’t taken a rest day yet.

May all your days be as lovely as this one has been. It’s quite remarkable what a little shift in attitude can accomplish. Buen Camino.

Someday I will have enough bandwidth to get some photos posted, but apparently that day is not today. Keep checking back.