27 km ~ 37,640 steps
Song of the Day: Alone with Me – Vance Joy
An excerpt from my own personal journal: “How tired can one human possibly get? Because I am just so mentally tired of this. I’m so tired of planning and thinking a place will accept dogs for them to say no. And no. And no. I’m tired of sitting on sidewalks exhausted with no idea what to do. I’m tired of not being able to shower or do laundry. I’m tired of smelling and itching and hard, burnt earth and hay instead of grass. It’s all exhausting. This is only day 1 of the Meseta and I’m already feeling this way. What does that go to show?”
As you can tell, Day 1 of Meseta life did not go smoothly. We started out later than I had wanted to due to the mix-up at the bike shop. Safe to say Maverick would not be hopping in a buggy to be towed behind a bike for our journey across La Meseta. So we were walking when it got hotter. We walked out of Burgos with a mother and daughter duo that were very sweet. However, we eventually outpaced them and then we were on our own.
We did have a good time as we veered off to dip down into a river, though as Maverick splashed around, some locals who were fishing for catfish there started to freak out because Maverick was scaring the fish or getting in their fishing grounds. They were pretty nice about the whole incident though – in fact, they seemed to fall in love with Maverick. So even though they weren’t too pleased he disrupted their fishing, they still loved him nonetheless. He’s got that kind of effect on people. Like those sour-patch kids commercials. First he’s sour then he’s sweet – you just can’t stay mad.
Upon climbing up into the Meseta, it was exactly as you would expect from reading the guidebooks or hearing of it. Just flat land as far as you can see. And I mean flat. Like no hills or anything. Almost immediately upon starting along this section, I began walking with two women from Barcelona. I feel awful because I only ever really knew one of their names, which was Veronica. They were such sweethearts and we talked in Spanish for our whole time walking together, all the way into Hornillos where we finally split as they had reservations at a different albergue.
The albergue I had planned to stay at denied allowing dogs. When I showed the girl who was running the desk the website where it says dogs were allowed, she vehemently denied it. I asked if we could simply pitch our tent in her garden, but she denied that as well. After checking with all the other albergues, and also checking out anywhere we could maybe pitch a tent in town with Vero’s help, we still came up empty. This town is tiny. Eventually, a man running a casa rural would allow us a room, though it was far more expensive than I had been hoping. We went off to fill up water and see if there was anywhere we could eat before returning back to take a shower. The man’s mother, who the casa rural seemed to be named after, would not let us in the front door when we returned. I attempted to go in the back and she would not let us in that way either. She then said it was because of Maverick. That he would not be allowed in the house. I told her that her son had already allowed it and I had my keys but she would not budge. I was forced to return the keys and get my money back. They wouldn’t even allow me to pitch my tent in their back field.
And so, we were stuck again. Maverick had started limping, it was hot, and I knew we couldn’t continue on at the moment. So we curled up on the sidewalk and napped until finally I decided we had no choice but to push on. As we were walking past the last establishment, a woman was sitting outside and asked why we were leaving. I ended up telling her my whole tale and she took me inside to get a scone at her cafe, The Green Tree. She said that we had to stay because there would be live music playing tonight and that Maverick would be allowed in the cafe to eat with us. She then called her husband and asked if we could stay in their field. And so it was settled. I pitched a tent in her garden across the street, and in the sweltering heat we laid down on the scrubby, hard ground for a bit until it was time to eat.
The food was amazing. The company was good as well. But the woman came over to tell me the gardener had just found a snake in the garden that day. I told her that was fine, as long as it wasn’t poisonous there was no harm. But she said it was, and that we shouldn’t stay there tonight. So after dinner, we headed back out, to pack up our tent and be homeless again. I don’t think I’ve ever cried so much. Talk about exhaustion. And just feeling so down and hopeless. I was crying so much in the dirt, clueless about where to go next, when the woman’s young son and her husband found me. He immediately went to go get her, and she told me I would be staying in their house tonight. They had a spare room her sister had just moved out of and hot water if I wanted a shower, and not to worry.
It was the kindest thing I’d ever experienced. She truly was a Camino Angel.