Day 11 Santo Domingo de la Calzada | Rest Day!
So after walking over 200 kms our bodies are now telling us that we need to rest. But because we are staying in an albergue we have to check out at 8am. That means waking up early, packing all of our bags, and finding somewhere to stay until we can check back in at 11am. Not really a rest as such.
We find a little quaint Spanish cafe where we occupy a table for the morning. I'm able to do a memory dump from my camera and write a couple days blogs that I'm behind. We also manage to nearly drain the cafe of their cafeine content.
At 11 we brought all of our belongings (which isn't much really) back to the albergue. The check in time is 11am but we forgot that in Spain nothing really happens on time so we couldn't actually get in until 11:30. After we dumped our stuff we were had some free time to kill. Because my knee was giving me grief I wanted to try what the other pilgrim's recommended as the best knee brace in Spain for fifteen euros. Off to the pharmacy we went! Speaking to anyone in Spain who doesn't know much English is always an experience, but this whole event went relatively smoothly.
It wasn't long before Em and Court rolled into town. They had had a layover in Viana so were a day behind us. We gave them the update that this was the best albergue in town and we were so happy to be reunited! We got them checked in and then invited them to join us for lunch. We ended up meeting a new friend they had made called Emiel. He is from the Netherlands and we played some epic card games while we got aquainted. That night we all joined in food and wine and we laughed and laughed until our hearts and bellies were full.
The stand out for me that night was Emily. She seasoned her meal with bicarbonate soda accidentally and didn't realise how bad her pasta tasted until she tried someone elses. She also accidentally spilled the black peppercorns from the grinder when she was trying to season it more. It was a disaster! THEN to top it off, she dished up a new plate without bicarb soda or pepper. She asked Courtney to grind the black pepper for her and Courtney accidentally spilled the peppercorns from the grinder once more and ruined another whole dish! We were in hysterics!
We went to bed with smiles on our faces that night.
