We’re halfway!

It is so hard to believe that we are halfway through our journey! We are taking a nice leisurely pace today. The weather is beautiful, no wind or rain, very flat, and a short distance - just 11 miles today. So we slept in a little bit and took our time along the way.

Again, I feel that the Meseta has been given a bad rap. Even today, we are on a 17 km stretch with no services (no bathrooms or water fonts) and no towns in between. We did find a cute little mobile café at the halfway mark, so we were able to stop and have our mid-morning café con leche. But it has been beautiful! The dirt track that we have been following has been dotted with several trees, providing some shade. All along the way, we followed acres and acres of crops. There are several rivers and streams that crisscross landscape, and you can see where they are in the distance by the line of trees cutting across. It’s quite lovely, not as boring and monotonous as the guide books would have you believe. And so many birds singing to us along the way. I can even hear Rory a short distance behind me, softly singing along to her music.

For a good bit of the morning, I walked and chatted with Monique from the Netherlands. She, too, has an incredible story. She is a former psychologist who was forced into an early retirement after getting a severe concussion four years ago in a dog sledding accident. (How bad-ass is that?!) She had to learn how to walk and talk all over again after many months of physical and occupational therapy. And now she is doing her second Camino! She does volunteer work for the hospice facility where her partner died of cancer some years ago. She also befriended a Syrian refugee couple a few years back and has started to support their family that is still in Syria and struggling to make ends meet. This comes out of her small pension. She said she feels that she has enough and is grateful that she has been able to come back from her injury. So she wants to give back. I am so inspired by this woman’s generosity and her recognition of what she has and that it is enough. She doesn’t need more. I think, as Americans, we have lost our perspective on how much is enough. We have food and shelter, jobs, health care. That should be enough. Yet we often find ourselves in a mindless pursuit for more. I am humbled, even a bit ashamed, at my privilege. I have nowhere near the types of struggles that some of my fellow pilgrims have experienced, yet they are so strong and cheerful and generous of spirit. This is what I hope to take home with me.

We stopped at a little rest area off the trail. It is nice that they (the Castillo y Leon government, perhaps?) provide these “areas de descanso” to give the pilgrims a bit of shade and some benches to rest and have a snack.

As we strolled into Calzadilla de la Cueza (population 60), it felt like we were in an old western movie set, wandering into this dead little town and walking down the main street. No one about, all windows and doors shut tight. I mean, it was a Monday afternoon during siesta time. But still, I had that feeling that we were being watched and that a gunfight would break out at any minute. We finally located our hotel at the edge of town and were greeted by a gang of Camino cats. Inside though we were greeted by a very friendly host, and he proudly showed off his green thumb with the hanging plants that grow down from the upper floors.

After a shower and brief nap, we indulged in a vodka tonic to celebrate that we made it to the halfway mark of our journey! Cheers to us!!