October 13 2019

Heard people rustling around 630 am so I got up.

Went to the common area and did some yoga in the dark

There was an older Australian couple next to us who came out and I think I scared them. They were like tré hip. The lady had long grey dreads and the man had a pony tail with a bunch of tattoos. 

Woke Gracie up around 730. Then we headed to the only town bakery for breaky. It was popping 

I had pan con miel and coffee. Grace had pan con tomate and a Spanish tortilla. Don’t eff with Grace and her breakfast.

Then we set out! Windy and overcast all day but lovely for hiking

First part was up rocky terrain and down into a small cute town. However, after that…

Crappiest crap crap walk ever

We walked along the highway, next to industrial factory after factory for six miles. Bridgestone factories. Smelled like burnt rubber for countless blocks.

No one ever posts about this crap, it would scare the bajeebus out of any future hopeful pelegrinos (that’s Spanish for “pilgrims” – aka what we call ourselves on this trail)

So we finally made it out of industrial land and into Burgos. 

Burgos is LOVELY. My favorite little big town to date (better than Logrono and Pamplona)

Here is why: 

• It’s by the river so super cute and quaint feel
• Gorgeous cathedral
• This new plus old vibe. Old pharmacies with bottles everywhere – looks like an actual alchemy. But yet new cute modern shops
• Greatttt food. Gastro hub
• Friendly locals 

We got in earlier today (1:30ish?), and our checkin time wasn’t till 3pm. So we set out to eat lunch

And an epic lunch we did eat.

We found this super packed Tapas place. Packed with locals -Always a good sign. Grace nabbed us a table and I went to the bar to order

I assumed it was smaller tapas so tried to order like four things and the guy basically said, no you fatty. That’s too much. And so we ordered 3 dishes for the two of us: jamon (ham ham ham ham), seta con queso (cheese plate and mushrooms) , gambas (shrimp).

And these were bigggg portions. But guess what? We killed them. 2 girls walking miles each day, we can eat.

Peep this food y’all 

After lunch, we went to the Cathedral, and took a million photos. It was built 13th century and every time I see a church here now, I just think of the Pillars of the Earth aka POTE series by Ken Follett (super good read btw!) 

Some cool church facts: 

• It’s the only Spanish Cathedral to be SOLELY recognized by UNESCO without the city also being lumped in there i.e Córdoba 
• First part was built like 1260 and then was UNTOUCHED for another 200 years!!!
• It’s style was gothic (Pillars of the Earth book 3… all about this, I’m telling you) 

So in POTE it talks about how if you were a church builder, your life was made and you had a set job for decades, and could provide for your family. A church would make a town. People would flock to towns with big prominent church’s and then basically your economy would flow. Nice church = rich town.

So… there was some poor church next to this awesome cathedral and I kept wondering if it was built first and if so, if that poor church builder was just laughed out of town when this new guy came in and made a mockery of his work for the rest of his life.

Okay so after churches we did the observation point, than went to the bank. Got complete ripped off with the exchange rate… I thought atms were better than other places but this one charged me $480 for €400 euro when the conversation should’ve been $440

And it’s a big bank! Caixa Bank like what the hell man.

It’s been a few hours and I still haven’t quite gotten over it. 

Then we checked in, showered, hand washed our clothes, power napped, yogaaaaa, set out to find dinner.

We ended up at this restaurant known for “funky tapas” @ La Boca De Lobo. (Mouth of the wolf)

We sat next to this couple I’ve seen a few days before in the other towns. Turns out they were doing the camino but in parts ( a lot of people do it this way. Very popular to do just 8 days at a time, leave, come back where you left off, go again, repeat) 

Anyway this guy is pretty nutso… he does a big event and then they hike for a week as his recovery before going home.

In April he did the London Marathon and then did the first couple towns with his wife, starting in France where I did and ending in Logrono.

This time, he did the Barcelona Ironman last week and then flew to Logrono to hike the past few days with his wife till Burgos.

Like… sir. I’m struggling without the insane race ahead of time. Can you not? And of course he’s older than me, with kids, oh and he’s a surgeon. A heart surgeon… no big deal….

But ya they were pretty awesome company for the night.
ALSO— he told a joke completely in Spanish and I UNDERSTOOD THE PUNCHLINE. This was HUGE for me! Shows I’m getting better!!!

Tomorrow we made the executive decision to go 13 miles to Hornillos del Camino! Graces last day of hiking with me.