Taking a break!

WEll,
I´ve been walking for a week now...that´s 100 kms!!! Already MORE than I ever thought possible! There´s a chance I may have to stop as my knees are worse and worse...it the down hill that is causing the damage...well, that and, it may come as news to all of you that I am knock kneed which is why I walk with my feet turned out ( not because I fancy myself a balerina!)

So - I knocked off early yesterday and spent the night in a little town called Lorca. ( population maybe 200..maybe) I napped for 4 hours - which is, in itself, a vacation for me! When I woke up there was an older gentleman in my room. ( the albergues are at least 4 per room...if not 65 or 90!) He turned out to be French, so later in the evening he bought my tea and we talked about life and The Road.

There is a lovely thing happening along the way....everyone is the same. Rarely does anyone talk about their jobs, and definately NOT politics...unless it is to say that the whole world should be more like the Camino. Life is simple: you eat, sleep, walk, sweat, ache and watch the sky to determine tomorrow´s weather. As Joe, my French friend said..." On the Camino there is no more veneer that gives us the illusion of being different from each other. Everyone sweats the same, the road is hard and you are happy to see other pilgrims."

This morning I got up and took the bus to Lorgrono ( a fairly big city in La Rojia, the next state? region?...It´s weird to be in a city now...I am resting today in the hopes that my knees will calm down. I can´hardly wait to take a BATH!!! Also, I have a weird rash around my ankles...I´m thinking heat rash... so I´m giving that a little TLC today as well.

If my body allows me...in a few days I will come to the meseta...which is an open plained, no-man´s land, much like the prairies. Many are dreading it....but I have already been excited by the wheat fields....Yes, I guess I really am a prairie girl at heart.

Oh - and I´m travelling alone now....at least for a while, until I meet new folks along the way. Our little group fell of one, by one...some heading out on their own, some falling behind. In taking the bus I have put myself 2 days ahead of that gang...so I may see some of them again....I ran into a woman on the bus that I had met the first day!

OH - and on the bus! I met a young priest...early 30´s maybe. God bless him, but he had a hard time not looking at my chest! He invited me to come and rest at his albergue in some tiny little town, where he has been the priest for 2 years. I passed as I wanted to skip a chunk of the walking in that area....and I didn´t want to be a temptation....though I think I´m giving myself far too much credit! Good idea for a show though, maybe.....

I visit with all of you in my dreams, seriously. It´s like my mind is running through every person who´s had an impact on my life. Weird and lovely!

More later....

R