May 23--Pond Scum for a Burger?

Today was a GREAT walk! A little rainy at first heading out of Burgos, but it wasn't completely unwelcome if I'm being honest.  I don't know when it's going to start getting warm and sunny, but my white European skin DREADS that day with a passion.

You know, the people along the Camino are just super cool.  Most of them are older--like 40 and up which is crazy to me. Most of them are full-on backpacking the entire Camino, staying in albergues, the whole raw experience...and all AFTER their middle-age crises :-) Some are teachers, office workers, business people.  Some are American, others German, Spanish, Portuguese, and they are all doing the exact same thing we are! It's pretty crazy, and I am very impressed.  But it is super easy to just start talking to people, and honestly, what weird or crazy dramatic people are going to hike 500 miles?  (Okay, we all need a BIT of crazy to do this, but you know what I mean.) They're all just chill people who either like to hike, walk, or just want to see the country in a new way.

Today we stayed in a little town called Hornillos del Camino, and I think I got my COOLEST sello yet! Whenever we get into town, I stop into the tourism office (which sadly this town didn't have), and then I start making my rounds to all the albergues. I like doing this because I KNOW they'll have sellos and usually they are pretty cool.  Today, I walked into the albergue and when I asked about a sello, this lady pulls out a HUGE stamp.  Turns out her friend made a design that he uses for prints and made it into a stamp for her as well!

There weren't too many other highlights from today.  Thankfully the hotel where we are staying had a laundry service, but unfortunately, during the process of washing, one of my garment shirts got lost.  I don't think it was in the laundry.  I think it was when they hung up the clothes to dry.  People in Europe don't seem to be big into dryers.  I mean, why use a dryer when you can just hang things out to dry? And unless it is a rainy day, the clothes dry SUPER quickly.  My parents told me that electricity is also crazy expensive in Europe, so maybe that has something to do with it.  Anyway, our clothes were hanging on lines with a BUNCH of other people's clothes.  I think while someone else was pulling their laundry off the line, they accidentally grabbed one of my garment shirts.  Of course you have to wonder, how does ANYONE mistake a women's garment shirt for actual regular clothing? Form-fitting but with cap sleeves and stretch cotton with the mesh panels on the side--a strange thing to errantly grab, but nevertheless, I am now one garment shirt short.  Thankfully I have four other pairs, so I'm still good to go, but it's just a little annoying and a lot strange.

One funny thing that happened was when we found a pool in the back of the hotel which OBVIOUSLY was not being used--it was a nasty green color, the water had little bugs swimming around the bits of dead leaves, and there was dirt that swirled at the bottom of the pool.  At some point, someone offered a burger to whomever would jump in.  Although the offer was on the table, the most enticing reward came from the hotel owner who came out back when she heard us talking and laughing.  We told her about the offer, and she said she'd ACTUALLY give us good food if we jumped in.  Although that was enticing, I had just washed my hair that day, and our current housing situation has six girls sharing one shower, one toilet, and one sink, and I didn't want to risk getting stuck covered in pool scum while someone else held the bathroom hostage.  Well, in the end, one of the girls did end up jumping in, and the hotel owner gave her a chocolate-filled croissant :-)

After she had taken a shower and picked the pond bugs out of her hair, we played many rousing rounds of card games including B.S., Egyptian Rat Slap and Scum.  It was just a good night.  A lot of times, because we have been walking so much, we think that we don't have the mental capacity to do something like play games, when in actuality, it's a way better way to relax our bodies and minds in a very different way from sitting around and talking or individually scrolling on our phones.  And of course, we have been talking all day while walking, so games give us a totally different focus from everything else we have been talking about and doing that day.