Still in the Meseta

Today we embarked on the second half of our journey, with a relatively flat 14-mile trek from Calzadilla de La Cueza to Sahagun. Weather was mild, in the 60’s and partly cloudy skies - perfect for walking.

The first part of the journey was on a dirt track that ran parallel to the freeway, but there wasn’t much traffic at 7:30am so it was actually quite pleasant. We stopped in a cute little village called Ledigos for the obligatory and much needed cafe con leche #2.

We had our lunch stop at a little outdoor cafe in Moratinos. It was only 11am but we were both quite hungry since we had just toast for breakfast - not enough to propel us 14 miles! We had a nice chicken sandwich and a coke, and took our shoes off to give the feet a bit of air. There were these cool bodegas on the hill across from the cafe. They look like hobbit dwellings, but they actually were used for food and wine storage back in the day.

The last 6km into Sahagun was okay, though the wind picked up a bit. It provided a nice bit of cooling, but it is still hard to push straight on into the wind. As we entered the outskirts of Sahagun, there was some kind of procession with a statue of the Virgin Mary at the Ermita Virgen del Puente. Apparently there is a local pilgrimage to this shrine every April 25th. There was quite the crowd, with fireworks going off - and police and an ambulance on standby in case the crowd got too raucous. So many shrines to Mary and they do love to adorn her quite elaborately. Again I have to question what she would think of all this fuss and finery…

We got to the hotel around 1:45 and after a quick shower, I went to the hotel terrace bar and had a beer (my mosquito medicine - read on), listened to the birds chirping all around and watched for the peacocks at the farm across the street while Rory napped. It is quite beautiful and peaceful here. Our hotel is sort of on the edge of the city, away from most of the other hostels and restaurants, which is nice. We wandered into the main part of the city for dinner of salad and croquetas at a little cafe where we sat on the patio in the shade with a light breeze blowing. Very lovely.

So the story about the mosquito medicine… I am a bit annoyed with the Brierley guidebook that has been our Bible in preparation for and during our journey. It pretty much addresses just about anything you will encounter on the Camino, both good and bad, in terms of food, lodging, etiquette, gear, the terrain, the weather, etc. Literally everything except the mosquitoes! I’m not sure if they are just in the Meseta, but I noticed that just in the past day I have gotten 13 mosquito bites on me (and Rory has just one). And I am fully clothed head to toe. I read that your body odor, body temperature and the type of carbon dioxide you exhale can affect whether mosquitoes are attracted to you. Well, I must be like crack for those little suckers. Upon further reading, there are supposedly certain foods you can eat to avoid being bitten by them: garlic and onion (give me bad indigestion), apple cider vinegar (maybe), lemongrass (hard to come by in these parts), grapefruit (ditto), tomatoes (I have a lifelong aversion to them), chili peppers (ouch!), beans and lentils (I’ll look for them but haven’t seen them on the menu), and beer… WE HAVE A WINNER! So my plan is to switch from wine every night to beer to see if that helps. I will report back on this experiment. Oh, the things I do for the sake of science!