We arrived at the town of Hospital De Orbigo at around 2pm. Though the trek was only about 16 kms, we really walked more like 18 – 19 kms as we walked into this small city looking for our Albergue, Karl Leister. On this trek, I overtook Marybel and was ahead of her first time, on the camino. Two things contributed to this. My healing from last night worked and I was pain free. Second, Marybel was stricken with a knee pain on one of her legs and sole pain on her heels. She had to slow down today. As I looked back to see her walk, I felt sorry for her but was at the same time glad that I had at last overtaken someone on the Camino even if it was my best friend. What kind of a friend am I? I will have to make it up to her later with the reflexology I learned from the Healer from last night as it worked wonders for me.

To enter this city, we had to cross the Rio Orbigo on a medieval bridge. A part of the bridge is 700 years old and the extension of the bridge is around 300 years old. I walked on the old cobble stoned bridge and imagined ancient townfolk walking the same bridge as I did. Experiencing a bit of Spanish history while making my way into city centre.

Now, Marybel has an interesting perception on the Spanish people and their lifestyle which is a lot different from Colombia. She says the people here live like vampires. Towns and cities come alive only in the late evening and people do not start their day until 10 or 11 am in the morning. Ok, maybe semi-vampires as they do begin their day in daylight but they do not sleep until around 2am in the morning. Offices and schools do begin earlier in the morning but that is broken up with siesta at 2pm until 4 pm and children don’t return to school after siesta.

We reached our initial Albergue of choice as per our guide book at 3pm. Upon entering the bulding, I find that it is really old and in their term “parroquil”. Again the bathrooms and showers were outside and I did not relish going out to the washrooms in the middle of the night. I asked Marybel if we can look around for another place to stay and she agreed.

We walked a little down the street and I saw a sign that said Albergue Verde, 5 mins away. I found the Albergue and I almost could not believe the theme of this Albergue.

It is run by Velas and Miriam. Their friend owns the building and goes to India every year and stays six months in India and six months in Spain in Barcelona. They were given this opportunity to leave the stressful life of Barcelona and take care of their friend’s Albergueall year round. They grow their own vegetables and live a vegan lifestyle. The decoration throughout is very meditative and we were greeted by mantra chanting sounds playing in the background. The smell of incense lightly perfumed the room. The statue of Buddha was installed in the living room. One of the rooms is being renovated to be a yoga room.

This is an unexpected find on a catholic pilgrimage such as the Camino De Santiago. However, it is just right for me and it felt good to be here for the night. No decision needed to make this place my refuge for the night.

The cost for the night is $9 per person and Dinner is by Donation. They only serve vegetarian food.

They even place a quartz in their drinking water for ionization.

They have a rain shower in their bathroom. What a luxury with several jets all around.

Enough about the place, we went back to checking Marybel’s feet. She has the onset of a blister on her big toe and her heels are swollen. We were told to put sanitary pads in her shoes to cushion her heels for tommorrow. Miriam gave Marybel some of her own. We will see how this will work for tommorow’s trek. Our destination for tommorrow is Astorga. The length of the walk will mirror today but Astorga is a big city. We may walk several kms in the city just to find our Albergue like Leon. We will not know until tommorrow.

Despite the pain and physical exertion, I am enjoying this camino. I am wonderfully surprised everyday by something as the Camino unfolds to show me its sights and sounds. I am also surprised to find a Healer when I needed one the most. It also amazes me to find a refuge that resembles an ashram in how it operates and serve the pilgrims who choose to spend the night. Robert Adams did say “everything is an emanation of your mind”. I am starting to believe him as my mind is piercing the Camino and giving me some of my own projections.

I will end tonight’s blog with a saying from Dolly Parton, “when you want the rainbow, you have to put up with some rain” which has been quite apt for my camino thus far.