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Published: June 30th 2013
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Back in a hotel so we had a good nights sleep and a long shower. I forgot to tell you yesterday that we were officially informed by a Welsh lady that we did not understand the way of the Camino if we were staying in hotels - we considered ourselves told off.
I am now officially known as Smurf Kiwi on the Way. Everyone thinks it is hilarious, the blue kiwi got a bit tedious.
Met some great Kiwis today who now live in Korea teaching at an international school. Dad walking with daughter which is so cool. Mum meeting them later to finish off.
A long day today which started with us a bit anxious about the kids travelling to LA. Good news came early on that Christopher and Sam got the last couple of seats on the 7.40pm flight with ben and Renee the last two on the 9.30pm. Felt funny to both of us knowing the kids were winging their way across the Pacific separated by a couple of hours with us somewhere in Spain. Christopher and Sam of course did not know if the others got on so there was the prospect of them
arriving in LA on their own. They all have two days there before they fly out to Chicago. Again we a little anxious about it but what an adventure for them. Cannot wait to hear all the stories.
We had a bit of a climb back up to 1100m and quite hot. Fiona's leg getting much better but being replaced by blisters. When we stop in villages it is obvious we are not on our own as walkers are all treating ailments of one form or the other.
The clouds are all gone now so we try where possible to get underway by 7. This generally means we arrive at our destination between 2 and 3pm. We normally manage 2.5 - 3.5km/hr including breaks. The breaks are between 20 and 30 minutes each.
24km today into a tiny village of only 30 with a church any city would be proud to have. This area is famous for its garlic with a festival held each year in late summer. After mass at night each pilgrim is normally treated to garlic soup which for some reason only drew blank stares when we asked about it.
San Juan was
a disciple in the 12th century who based himself in this region and whom the village is named after. This was a hostile area at this time and he established hospitals and monasteries to try and settle the area down. San Juan made his own pilgrimage to the Holy Land and back again - makes our trip seem like a stroll in the park on a sunny afternoon.
We arrived and checked into the only Casa Rural - read bed and breakfast without the breakfast, photo attached. We have worked out how everything is so cheap along the Camino and generally in this part of Spain even the cities. One person does the work of three or four. Whole restaurants are run by one waiter and we never saw a single person in the Casa Rural. We checked in at the local restaurant where the sole worker that we saw was the receptionist for the alberque and the Casa Rural, the barman and the waiter in the restaurant which probably put 40 or 50 people through dinner. When you take out the high labour costs and provide simple menus it is not too hard to run a low cost
operation. The premises are all run by the owners from what we can see, given they all have substantial vege gardens the daily outgoings are minimal. This applies at all the villages along the Way.
Tomorrow is a big day and it looks like being hot. We travel to Burgos which was our ultimate destination for this trip. We will now likely head on for another two days before getting the train down to Barcelona for one day r and r and then off to Chicago to meet up with the kids.
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