Rabé de las Calzadas to Carrion de los Condes

I am sore, sunburnt and ready to fall asleep at any second. The 17-21 kilometer walk we take everyday is incredibly hot with temperatures regularly over 100 degrees and no shade for hours. But there has not been one second where I wished I hadn't come. To be able to look up and see the multi-colored fields and steady windmills in every direction and at every moment is truly something special.
Since leaving the tiny town of Rabé, we have stayed the night in a few other small towns, though none of them nearly as pretty. Tonight we are in the largest town since Burgos: Carrion de los Condes. Like all the others it has beautiful old churches, brick buildings and cafés lining both sides of the sidewalk. We are actually staying in a convent tonight. We arrived fairly early today, as we began walking at 6 to avoid heat, but when we arrived two other albergues we checked were already full. It was a relief to find somewhere to stay despite the rather dismal exterior. However, after discovering there was wifi, everyone was immediately won over. The nuns told us about a concert happening at 7 nearby that was followed by a pilgrim mass at 8. But she also added on that the Spain-Portugal fútbol match began at 8:45 so we might have to "leave mass early."
We have been going out for dinner every night, but tonight we ended up getting fresh baguettes, local cheeses and sausage and some fruit to snack on while we watched the game. Personally, I love eating like this. When we finish walking for the day we sit down and stuff our faces with as much delicious food as we can manage. We then have several hours to nap, take showers, call home and explore our surroundings. Instead of going back out after a long day it is fun to simply go to the local market and get regional specialties that look particularly appealing.
While there are many little quirks that are very different over here, my favorite is the fact that drinks are always served in glass bottles. Everything from plain water to Coke to sparkling lemonade tastes much better coming from glass instead of plastic or metal.


Buen Camino