22.7 km ~ 31,905 steps
Song of the Day: Colors of the Wind – Judy Kuhn
We started the day with a nice sunrise and a foggy morning which was honestly pretty enjoyable. It definitely put a new twist on Camino life. This gave way to a beautiful, sort of overcast day as we wound our way through more endless fields with some great views. Almost like that old Windows 2000 screensaver if any of you remember that.
Unfortunately, upon making it to Santo Domingo we were again turned away by an albergue that I had researched that said they would allow dogs. Two days in a row of that, so that was definitely a bit discouraging but we did find a pensión run by the sweetest little lady.
After washing my clothes in the sink and then hanging them out to dry, Maverick and I ventured out in hopes of finding a pet store here since he is yet again out of food. No luck. Not only that, it’s a Sunday so there is absolutely nothing open. Luckily we did find a grocery store that was open so Mavy is dining on the most gourmet canned food a Spanish supermarket can buy. Let’s hope he doesn’t get sick from it.
We shared some ice cream before he waited outside the cathedral so I could check out the famous chickens inside. There’s an old legend from this city that gave birth to the cathedral always housing chickens. According to the tale, a family was making pilgrimage to Santiago when they stopped in Santo Domingo de la Calzada. The daughter of the family they stayed with here was smitten by their son and attempted to seduce him. Being a religious man himself, he turned her down. Angry at being denied by him, she hid one of her belongings in his stuff and when he and his family left the next day, she told the authorities that he had stolen from her. Sure enough, when he was stopped and searched the authorities found the item she had planted on him and he was hung for his crimes.
Now here’s where the chicken part comes in. While his parents were on their return journey, they stopped again in Santo Domingo to see their son’s body. To their utter surprise, they found him hanging ALIVE. They rushed to the sheriff’s house to beg him to cut down their son. Upon hearing this, the sheriff who was just about to cut into his dinner claimed that their son was no more alive than the cock on his plate. At that moment, the bird jumped up and crowed loudly. The boy was cut down and pardoned and from that day forward, chickens have been quite the stable in Santo Domingo de la Calzada.
While the chickens in the cathedral definitely were amusing, I found my favorite part of the day came this evening after dinner. A large group seems to be traveling together that we’ve gotten on stage with, including a girl from Ireland walking with her cello and a traveling band from Korea. Tonight, everyone gathered in the square to listen to Sarah from Ireland sing and play her cello for us, inviting others to sing songs they knew as well and dance and spend time together. This seems to be what pilgrim life really is all about.
