Calzadilla de la Cueza to Sahagún (22.1km)

Today was a very nice day! It was an easy day at 22 kilometers, which was exactly what my feet needed. My swelling is now much better and my feet feel like normal feet again.

I woke up today at 7:00 and got ready for the day. I was ready by 7:45 and then I headed outside to call my missionary friend Camden about evangelization advice. There's a lot of people on the Camino that I would like to help if I could, and I want to be able to do so properly and effectively! The talk was good and the sunrise was beautiful as well. It was great start to the day!

At 8:00 I headed back to the albergue to get my pack and my shoes on. Me, Joe, Kate, Margaret, and Luis got breakfast at the cafe nextdoor before heading out for the day. I had a cafe con leche with chorizo, which was pretty good. They definitely charged a tourist tax on them though, which was unexpected since almost every tapa is universally between €1-2.

I would like to make a quick note on Spanish food. I asked Luis, who is from Portugal, to describe Spanish food to me. And he summed it up in one word: tapas. For a typical Spanish person, who probably doesn't eat out every day, tapas are probably just fine. They're almost always tortilla (which is just a slice of a thick omelette, with no actual tortilla in it), hard bread with cheese and cured ham or chorizo, chorizo sausage, or olive and fish skin kebabs. That's kind of the norm for tapas, with some variations here and there. So for the average pilgrim, tapas get quite boring pretty quick. And since the Spanish don't really have any big meal until dinner (to my knowledge at least), it's tapas all day until dinner. You can order other things like a hamburger or a sandwich, but their real prized specialty is tapas. Just thought I'd note that since it seemed interesting to me.

So, after eating some breakfast with my new Australian friends, we headed off. Luis hung back, so it was me, Joe, Kate, and Margaret. I talked with Kate for a while about travel, where she and Joe have travelled to, where I've travelled to, funny travel stories, and also about Australian homes. Apparently flooding is very common in Australia, and if your home is in a flood zone, depending on how flooded that home has previously been, the home will take a huge price hit. It's a big part of their real estate. Very interesting!

After talking with Kate, the four of us rejoined and all talked in a group for a while. We talked about Survivor vs Alone, two survival tv shows. We passed through a tiny village and saw a post saying 391 kilometers. That's exactly halfway! So I'm officially over the halfway hump! We also saw a cool statue of a knight.

We then ran into Dan, Sam, Ainabelle, Yondue, and Woody. I thought this was funny, since we had left a while after them. They must have taken some sort of accidental detour. We then walked in a big group for a while, which I thought was quite comical. There were 9 of us walking together. That's a huge group!

At some point, we passed by a tiny village that had houses literally built into the side of a hill. They were hobbit houses! It was quite interesting to see. I talked to Yondue and Woody about what they do for work back home and got to know them a bit better. Yondue is a persimmon farmer and Woody makes furniture. They're very interesting guys!

We soon came to an open restaurant which was perfect because it was getting to lunch time. I got a coke and a piña colada green tea sweet drink, and ate my sandwich. Sugar really is life on the Camino. When I walk all day, I crave sugar all day. And it's so cheap that I can't just not get it. So I do! We all talked around a big table and had a good time with each other. Then Ainabelle, Yondue, and Woody carried on ahead of us. Ainabelle is attempting 57 kilometers today, which is absolutely insane. She must set a crazy pace. Yondue and Woody are following her, and I suspect that Yondue may have a crush on her. Just a tiny observation, not rooted in any real evidence. But 57 kilometers for a guy that you may recall says he doesn't like walking... 😉

At some point I saw cat number 54 right outside. Margaret and I had been planning on giving cat number 50 a can of cat food, but 50 was chasing 51, 52 bolted as soon as he saw us, and 53 was dead. So 54 got the prize! He was definitely very grateful and got to eating straight away.

After a while, the rest of us continued on again. We actually made really good time, moving at about 5 kilometers an hour. I talked with Joe about religion for a while and had a friendly debate with him. He grew up going to Catholic school his whole life, and he doesn't understand religion. He actually has more of a poor view of religion, and thinks that religion is used moreso as a way to control and even oppress the general population. I don't believe that, of course, and did my best to answer his questions and defend my positions as well as I could. It was a good discussion. One of the things I will definitely take away from this Camino is the fact that I definitely need to be diving into how to evangelize. It will be my job, after all!

Time flew and all of a sudden we reached Sahagún at 2:00. Very early! Sahagún is a sizable town, probably a suburb of León. We're quickly approaching León, which is a very big city. So far, the suburbs we've been passing through have been nice, thankfully!

We went inside and claimed our beds. I laid on the floor with my feet up at a 90 degree angle to let my feet drain for a bit while praying. Then me, Sam, Dan, Margaret, Vitalia (who had joined a little after we arrived), and Joe went to the supermarket to pick up food. I got food for multiple meals, then we all headed back while talking. I made my sandwiches for tomorrow's lunch while sitting at a table with Dan, Sam, and Margaret. It was a nice chill time of just talking and making food.

At some point, a new guy came by and we invited him to sit with us. His name is Wolfgang and he's German, from Bavaria. He is a very interesting person and great to talk to. I like him a lot. Around 5:45, we all went downstairs for check in and to pay for the night. I overheard Wolfgang asking the receptionist if there's Mass. Another Catholic!

I must say, I'm extremely surprised that so few people who walk the Camino are practicing Catholics. Plenty of people used to be Catholic or grew up with no religion at all, but it is very rare to find another practicing Catholic. I've met one up to this point, Jose, but we didn't really speak each other's language. Wolfgang is the second, and I can't wait to talk with him more and get to know him. It's can get a bit lonely out here, being the only one who cares deeply about their faith. On top of that, most people don't even have a favorable view of religion. So it can be hard sometimes, and a little lonely. That doesn't mean that I dislike these people at all, or judge them. I love all the people I've met and everyone has been so kind. But it's weird being the only practicing Christian on a Christian pilgrimage.

There was supposed to be Mass at 7:00 at the nearby church, so I headed over early to pray a rosary. I got there at 6:30 but found the church closed. The priest happened to be right outside, and thankfully he spoke English. He asked if I wanted to see the church, and I said yes, so we went inside. I found out that there's no Mass tonight because there was going to be a funeral instead. But the priest and I talked for a good while. He was a very nice man and he told me about his Camino experiences and his experience being a priest who ministers to pilgrims. I told him about my experience so far and why I'm doing the Camino. He gave me a pilgrim's blessing, which was great, and then a bunch of chocolate that he had as well. Never say no to sugar on the Camino! It was so pleasant to talk to him, and the church was beautiful as well.

At 7:00, I headed back to the albergue to find everyone just about to eat dinner. Joe had cooked a nice huge pot of pasta and chorizo, and there was a huge group ready to eat. It was Joe, Kate, me, Dan, Sam, Margaret, Ziggy, Wolfgang, Luis, and two new girls from Denmark. We then all ate together and talked and had a great dinner. The food was fantastic (Joe is an excellent cook) and the conversation was good. It's always fun to compare cultures and see the similarities and differences.

After a while, some people left to get ready for bed. Me, Wolfgang, Dan, Margaret, Luis, and Joe stayed. We had an interesting conversation about the political systems in each of our countries and also how the cultures are with politics. Germany works on a multiparty system, which is very interesting. Their parties have to work together since no one party has majority. We sort of got into the region of personal politics, which is always a somewhat uncomfortable topic for me, because as usual I'm the only conservative and everyone else is very liberal. Everyone was respectful, though, and it wasn't too awkward. It really was a good discussion. Soon it was past 10:00 and time for bed.

I then called Mikayla for about 30 minutes and had a lovely time talking to her. It's so nice to have the comfort of talking to someone you can truly be yourself with. That definitely was a highlight of my day, as usual. Then I wrote this blog, prayed a rosary, and went to sleep. It was a good day!

Tomorrow, the plan is to head out early, around 7:15, with Wolfgang. I'm really excited to get to know him! Hopefully I can hang in there with him and walk the 37km to his intended city for the day.