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Day 22 Astorga to Foncebadon 8 hours 28kms (+ an additional 4kms just for the fun of it)
Today flew! After last nights spanish bunkbuddies debarcle (and ill have it known that that lady snored the house down, to a point where i got so cranky after rocking the bunk so hard that i sat in the toilet watching a movie on my phone till 1230am), we got out quick smart. Only to walk out and find that lady loading all 3 of their belongings into a car!!!!! She aint even walking, shes driving the camino! How dare she keep us up! After jess and i both stared her down in disgust we picked up anna from outside her albergue and hit the road. Anna now had walking poles and asked if we’d be embarrassed if she pretended she was blind. We lost it! That kind of set the terrible hilarious tone of the day.
Time and the kilometers go so fast when youre talking and catching up on the previous days. We’d no sooner done 10kms when we decided we better stop for the usual breakfast coffee n pan au chocolate. At the cafe i ran into Jane. An older Canadian lady i met 2 weeks ago in San Domingo. She was so happy to see us but boy did she have words to say about her, now ex boyfriend she had been walking the camino with. ‘That miserable f***ing son of a b****’ to be precise. Just lovely. We were out in the plains again for a while but passing through villages every few kms. I met an american man and was walking with him for a bit and he told me his friend up ahead was counting countries from people he met. Australia was already taken (there are so many australians here btw) so he asked if i could pretend i was from Dutch Indonesia. Where even is that?! Does that even exist any more?! But he drops back and i speed up to get to his friend. I casually walk past, say buen camino and just ask if hes having a good day. ‘Im on the camino, of course i am! Hey where are you from by the way?’ I panicked as i hoped he wouldnt ask because im a terrible liar. ‘Dutch indonesia’ i quip. ‘DUTCH INDONESIA!!!!! OH MY WORD THAT IS JUST FANNNTAAASTIC’ he says in the strongest southern american accent. I felt so guilty! It was so cruel. He then rattles off about someone hed know who had lived there. I knew his questions weren’t over. ‘How long have you lived there?!’ He asks in the most attentive interested face. So i make up a story about how my parents were missionary teachers and took me and my brother over when i was 10. He was like an excited boy and i was feeling horrible. After another question about what life was like there i had to say i am so so sorry your friend put me up to it, im australian. ‘Arrrrggghhhhh that little so and so! I will get him oh boy oh boy i will’.
Jess, Anna and i stopped about 1:30pm in the shade of a church and had a picnic. Jamon, queso n tomate bocadillo, chocolate and a side of blister draining.
It started to get mountainous again and we had a steep up hill climb in the heat at the end of the day. Anna had told us earlier about these 2 kiwi boys Evan and Finn she had met who were only walking 4 days from leon. We caught up to them as we started the uphill. Immidiately the insults started. Evan, a nurse from Nelson, finn a teacher from Oamaru. All 5 of us then spent a good 2 hours hiking, laughing and just insulting each other with some of the harshes calls. The boys refusing to say Buen Camino to anyone on the trip. Even got called a camel cause i was wearing a scarf! It was like being with younger brothers again and one day with them was just what we needed! A little bit of fun, no deep conversations about why we are walking the camino ( mostly cos they just didnt care). After chatting about my work they then asked whether i was responsible for the killing of the seals in the kaikoura earthquake rebuild. And whether id shot any. I made the mistake of saying we dont shoot, just club. And from then on i was known as the girl who clubs seals. We made it up to Foncerbaron in the afternoon. The town was beautiful. Well all 8 buildings. Perched up on the hill, sheep and cattle around and views for miles. First bit of farm land we had seen in a while. The 5 of us checked into the Albergue, showered and did our hand washing (me teaching finn to handwash), before just sitting outside the front door in the hot sun and drinking beer for most of the afternoon because we couldnt be bothered moving anywhere! Couldnt even be bothered moving to the side of the albergue with the view. Tomorrow morning its recommended you climb 2km up hill and be at the Cruz de ferio (cross where you put a rock from home with a burden/prayer/wish beneath it) at sunrise. But the american earlier in the day told me its better if you go up for sunset. I convinced everyone to head up there after dinner so all of us in our thongs, hike another 2km uphill. We had the hill and cross to ourselves and just sat up there talking nonsense. Ev all of a sudden goes why dont we go round in a circle saying what we like about each person. The 3 of us girls looked at each other like ‘whaaat the heck!’ And laughed. Deep boys! Haha! But we did and of course that just turned into a joke and laugh fest. Ie- ‘You’re not a natural blonde are you jess? I like you put in the effort!’
It got dark so we stumbled back down the hill and went to bed. It was here when the boys asked us for soap and toothpaste did we discover they havent had any in 5 days!!! It got to around midnight where i woke up absolutely covered in sweat, desperate for water. It was boiling! I heard Evan next to me stir and im talking right next to me, there was the tiniest wall divider between the bunks. He turns to me. ‘Its bloody hot!’ All 5 of us now down to our underwear. Who knows what went on with the heating but snoring was the least of our worries that night. R. X
Another day another sunrise another selfie
Starting every day off right with pan au chocolate
Delicious bocadillo
Jess, Finn, Evan, Anna & i
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