Super long and tiring day as we are still trying to catch up on our itinerary. We start out at 8 am. Our first stop is Relegios at 11 am for coffee, after walking along a gravel track beside a country road. After that comes Mansilla de las Mulas for coffee number two.
We then arrive in Puente Villarente at around 2:30 pm and have a snack at the Bar Casablanca. The owner gives us 2 cups of hot chicken soup as she says we look cold, which we are. A Spaniard named Tomas starts talking to us and tells us that when he was studying in Valladolid, he knew of a group of Augustinian priests called Filipinos because they were sent to the Philippines and was part of the group of Padre Urdaneta, known to have made maps of the Philippines. He said that the group still exists and that there was even a street called Calle Paseo Filipino there. One picks up interesting pieces of information in the most unlikely places. It is great to know a bit of the language.
It feels like forever getting into Leon. We arrive at the outskirts about 6 pm but only arrive in our albergue after an hour and a half traversing their industrial area and busy city streets. When we are in the main part of the city, I suddenly feel like throwing up. It may have been the weird combinations of food that I ate, or it may have been that I was not hydrated enough or maybe I was just too plain exhausted. I throw up everything I had eaten that day beside some trash bins on a Leon city street, as my sister looks on aghast -- she later composes herself to try and help me. By some lucky coincidence, there is a fountain right by there and I am able to wash up after.
I sit down on a sidewalk bench, call my husband and tearfully tell him how awful I feel. He comforts and commiserates with me and I feel a lot better. My sister suggests that we maybe take a taxi if I feel that terrible, and that prompts me to get up and force myself to start walking -- I want to do the entire way on foot.
Thankfully, it is maybe just less than a kilometer of walking before we find our albergue -- the Albergo Francisco de Asis in Leon. The hospitalero gives us a 4-bed dorm room with a bathroom to ourselves. It is great. We go out to have some tapas and a pint of Mahou beer for dinner though I can hardly eat. I take 2 Alvedon tablets and sleep much better.
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| Leaving El Burgo Ranero, a nice early morning light |
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| Mansilla de las Mulas |
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| At the approach to Leon -- a bit dismayed at the sight of a big city and clogged streets |
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| Leon |
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| Tapas |
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