Day 11: "buen camino." "you can go fuck yourself." "buen camino." "fuck you!"
God is speaking to me. Meseta, baby! Pilgrims hate the Meseta, as it’s like a long desert. No water, no shade, nothing. There’s a big chance you might encounter Jesus, Mary, or maybe just yourself. You could even experience a mirage. It's pure torture. That’s why many pilgrims choose to take the bus at this stage, but that's for the weak. Despite yesterday’s jubilation, the headache was gone this morning. We started early, still in the dark. The sky was clear, and the stars seemed so close I could have touched them with my hands. We were accompanied by shooting stars, and there were quite a few. Morning romance. It was totally worth getting up so early just for this show, followed by a beautiful sunrise. We walked for two hours before the first coffee. At a local bar near the entrance to hell, we joked that it would have been wise to stop by the nearby church first and pray to God, just to be safe. But since no one packed their brains in their backpacks this year, we just took a final selfie with smiles and set off towards the suffering. Again, it was a test of endurance. Along the way, we sent fun messages via MSN and cursed all the cyclists on the path. Andrea was even listening to a podcast about World War I. Perfect timing. 17 kilometres that I would have gladly cycled.
During the walk, I had time to write a post for Facebook, take a siesta (meaning I just shut my eyes while walking, only missing a neck pillow). I also tried an experiment with untied shoelaces to see if I could trip myself since I was too lazy to tie them. I didn’t succeed. It was so hot that even the colours in the pictures were melting. If you ask me, the Camino consists of 9 circles of Dante's Hell.
I know the cyclists in this desert, who greeted us with "Buen Camino," meant well, but those 17 kilometres really got on our nerves. They would go through hell in half an hour, while we’d take three hours or more. We sent each other songs suitable for this part of the journey, like Spirit in the Sky, Personal Jesus, Highway to Hell... I managed to reach the end of hell first. Through the hellish landscape, I finally saw the heavenly gates in the form of a bar. All I wanted was a cold drink. So the song Sing Hallelujah followed.
After we refreshed ourselves, we faced another circle of hell, 12 kilometres long. Far too much for the brain in one day. At the bar, we decided to sleep at an Italian guesthouse because it had a beautiful garden with a little foot pool and lounge chairs. So, the five Italians I’m now walking with decided to go "home" for the day, and I went with them. When we arrived at the guesthouse, no one cared about showering, washing clothes, or taking a siesta. Since we had just gone through two circles of hell, of course, a fiesta followed. Because there was no store in this town, nor one in the previous town (as the app suggested), they cooked us carbonara. We partied until 11 p.m., which is quite late considering we woke up at 5 a.m. and usually go to bed by 9 p.m. Once again, a guitar appeared in the guesthouse, and its sound was perfect for that beautiful garden. The owners of the guesthouse were incredibly kind, they adopted us. Wonderful energy. I could easily have stayed there for another day.
