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El Burgo Ranero to Mansilla de las Mulas
The weather was good when I left the village. Before long I overtook
MaryAnn who was feeling anxious about walking alone. She was afraid
that she might have health problems. Later when Gundrun caught up with
us, I quickened my pace and left the two behind. I wanted some solitary
time to enjoy the weather and the walk for a change.
I made pretty good time and got to the albergue at Mansilla de
las Mulas about 3:00 p.m. When I went into the interior patio, I was
surprised to see José. In his rush to continue on yesterday,
he had developed blisters which were so bad that he could not go any
further than this village today. Also, his feet were swollen, so I make
him take some ibuprofen, which is anti-inflammatory. Now I've become
Dr. D., the pusher man.
The albergue was in a renovated building that, like most in that
section of town, was over 500-years old. People of the Middle Ages were
not very tall. The building's ceilings were very low, especially on
the staircase. Since I'm over six feet tall, I hit my head several times
— I'm a slow learner.
Later had lunch with José at a restaurant. I found out, among
other things, that he is an architect. He's interested in going to the
U.S. someday because he wants to learn more about "ball on framing."
I was confused until I realized he meant "balloon framing."
Later that night I had dinner with Vicente, Gundrun, and MaryAnn. Vicente
knew neither English nor German, so we all spoke Spanish. I was surprise
at MaryAnn — her Spanish was excellent, especially in her use of
the past tenses. (In Spanish there are two past tenses and which one
you should use depends on, among other things, whether it was a completed
action or an ongoing action.) Since I have a problem with these verbs
and have been trying to learn them for 25 years, I asked her when she
had learned Spanish. She said, 25 years ago when she was in college.
So I asked the follow-up question, how many times had she been to Spain?
This was her first time since a brief visit as a student!
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