Hornillos de Camino - Catrojeriz

As of today, I have walked over 200 kms. The morning and nights are much colder and I´m thankful for the gloves I bought at Burgos. Last night´s refugio sucked, no hot showers for Lisa and Till (suckers! coz I got some!) and my bed sucked too coz I was right by the door at the top bunk. This morning, stupid people who left so early couldn´t close the doors and I was forced to wake up earlier or freeze to death. Lisa and I weren´t feeling so great...she had a sore throat and I felt like I was coming down with the cold. Till was so nice to make us hot chocolate and warm milk. We are now at the meseta and the landscape is quite dull...boring undulating fields of hay. The good thing about it is that we can walk on the fields instead of the pebbled paths which is so much easier on our feet. My two blisters were bothering me all the way to Hontanas because the blister pads didn´t stick for long and I was so happy to sit down for a bit while Lisa and Till had hot drinks at the bar. The rest of the way went better. I walked ahead of the two towards the ruins of the Convent of San Anton. This place was amazing. All that´s left are parts of the walls and the arches of the old convent and they have made a little refugio there too.

After eating our usual fare of bread and chorizo for a light lunch, we headed 4km to the town of Castrojeriz. Castrojeriz is amazing. Lots of churches and monasteries and the ruins of a castle on top of the hill overlooking the city. The hospitalera, Marina, at the refugio where we finally decided to stay (there are 3 in the town) is really nice. She greeted us with kisses on the cheek as we came in and made us feel really welcome. We managed to get 3 beds right by the heater and the hot showers here were God sent. It is truly amazing what little things makes our day now.

Tonight, Lisa and I are planning to attend Vespers at the Monastery of Santa Clara. That should be a good experience. My feet are still in pain (i think they will permanently going to bother me for the rest of the trip) and my blisters...well, hopefully they won´t be so bad tomorrow.

All in all, I´m still in awe on how far we have gone and how far we still have to go. Today, I felt quite sad thinking of us getting to Santiago and then parting ways. But, really, I shouldn´t get ahead of myself...still have 400km or so to go after all.

P.S. Today I was craving for Schezuan chicken, fried rice and an avocado shake. I swear, as much as I love the Panaderias and wine here in Spain, I really miss the variety of food I can have at home

London Gatwick to Toulouse to St. Jean Pied de Port

So after much anticipation I finally landed in London yesterday at 7:30am. But just my luck I lined up in the longest slowest line ever and it took me 1.5 hrs to go through customs. Then I got yelled at by the customs guy coz i couldnt understand his british airport talk. Then I couldnt find my baggage coz i was way late in picking it up and i ended up missing my rendez-vous with rudolph by 5 mins since he had to check in for his flight home.

Then, after 8 hrs of waiting, napping on chairs, eating funky soup and catching up, Lisa n I went on our plane to Toulouse,France. This time around we didnt hve much problems with the airport n got on the bus to the train station near our hotel just in time. At the station we got out train tix for this afternoon n after being turned away from one hotel coz they were full, we ended up stayin at Hotel Des Ambasadeurs...it was nice n small and we totally savored our last night of comfortable beds, pillow, private washroom n television.

Today, we walked around Toulouse in search of a propane tank for Lisas camp stove but alas, our mision failed. However, we did get to see some of the city, attended mass at Basilique St. Sernin, and met Fr. Philippe who blessed my rosary, hooked us up with a stamped Pilgrim passport which will allow us to stay at the refuges along th e way to Santiago, and he was super nice to also bring us to the grocery store where we got some provisions for the next few days.

All in all, it has been interesting so far. The French seem to be nicer than the Brits And I really hate this keyboard in this Internet cafe coz it isnt QWERTY!!!! Well, tomorrow we start the real adventure with packs that sem to be too heavy and no insoles coz i forgot it at home...yeah...i knew i was going to forget important stuff.


P.S. So far Lisa n I have managed to resist the boulangeries and patisseries here in France n shoppin too. I guess it helps that we r strapped for cash.

P.P.S So far I have seen one cute guy in France and so has Lisa...none in th e London airport though.

P.P.P.S The French immersion course this summer has helped a great deal although most people who realize i aint francophone switch into english if they know how. Too bad I didnt practice much spanish though. oh well....