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Fromista to Carrion de los Condes
The day started out nice, but quickly changed to a light rain. Just
on the outskirts of Fromista, I found the section of the camino
that I had been on six years ago — when I first became interested
in walking to Santiago.
After about two hours of walking in the rain, I came across a hand-painted
sign that said "Bar" with an arrow pointing toward the highway
which ran parallel to the camino. It was across the river some
distance from the path, but the rain was all the excuse I needed to
deviate in search of a warm cup of joe and a little descanso
(rest). I crossed over the river to a small collection of houses in
search of the bar. I went to the logical choice, only to find that I
had opened the door to a private kitchen. The lady of the house took
it in stride and pointed across the street.
The bar was more like an oversized lemonade stand with a tin roof —
in front were a couple of picnic tables. The bartender was an English
woman who had been on the camino and decided to take a rest.
I asked her how long she had been working there and she said: "3
months." Now, that's some rest!
Rather than cross back to the path though the woods, I decided to take
the direct path along the highway. There was not a lot of traffic but
there was a lot of rain and wind. I ran out of songs to sing and deep
from my youth came up 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall. I was only
able to get to 75 — couldn't remember how the rest of it went.
I finally got to Carrion de los Condes at 1:30 p.m. The albergue
is in a convent, El Monasterio de Santa Clara. It consists of a series
of semiprivate rooms, a couple sets of bathrooms, and a small kitchen.
It's a little more expensive then the average albergue (7 euros
compared to 3 or 4), but it was worth it to get clean sheets, a pillowcase,
and towel.
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On the way back to the convent,
I saw a French couple at a bus kiosk reading the schedules. The wife said
that she was through — that she had "lost her heart" for
the camino. I thought to myself that if a little weather could
get her down, she probably wouldn't like the mountains of Galicia coming
up. I think many people start off on a lark and don't think through what
a commitment of time and effort the camino really is. These people
have come a long way. They started in France. I would think they would
have had too much personal investment in the trip to stop at the halfway
point.
The convent had a museum with items that dated back to the 14th Century.
It was very interesting to see tools that the nuns used in their daily
life, and some of the items that they created as a part of their spiritual
lives. While I was wandering around the museum, a door opened up and a
nun started to come out. She saw me and quickly backed up and shut the
door. I was surprised, not realizing that there were still nuns at the
convent. I asked the hospitalero and he told me that there were
still nine monjas (nuns) living an active life there. He said that
most were very old and he did not know what will happen to the convent
when they are gone.
After dinner, I returned to my room, determined to work. I decided to
download the photos from my camera to my computer. I pulled out the fiche
reader and hooked it up to the computer. But horror of horrors, it didn't
work. I didn't understand what could have gone wrong except perhaps it
was damaged as the result of the excessive dampness of the past two days.
Desperate, I called home base and asked my partner to go buy another reader
and send it via FedEx to my hotel in Madrid. As soon as I reached Leon,
I will go to a hotel and have it shipped overnight from Madrid. |
