May 25--Sunburn, a canal, and the WHOLE sheep
Ohhh boy, the days are heating up! I wouldn't say today was HOT, but it was definitely warmer, and I'm worried it's not going to cool off again. Unless it wasn't obvious--I'm in the boat that if I have to suffer one extreme temperature, I'm going to choose cold over hot for the simple reason that I can always put ON more clothes, but I can only take so much off. I'm also a firm believer in sunscreen and protective clothing as my Irish skin has a proclivity to BURN TO A CRISP if exposed to direct sunlight for more than 15 minutes. Unfortunately, many of my companions are not believers in the use of sunscreen, and they have been getting some weird sunburns. The Camino is walking from east to west with Santiago at the edge of the western coast. Because we leave at roughly the same time in the morning, it means for most of the day, the sun is at our backs. Many of the students (mostly boys but the girls are not immune) have been getting bad sunburns on their necks which is more or less normal. But then they are only burned on the backs of their legs and upper back half of their arms. The burns look really weird, and they are just getting burned over and over, day after day. I guess if they don't care about skin cancer when they are older, they can feel free to burn day in and day out. I, on the other hand, will continue applying sunscreen every morning and wearing a hat religiously and NOT relaxing in the sun after a day of walking.
Although the distance we walk each day varies by about four or five miles--sometimes we walk 11 miles, other days 16--those extra four or five miles take a toll. My knees especially start to hurt, but I also notice I am significantly more sore at the ends of these days than at the end of walking 11 miles.
Today was a fun walk though.
During the last 6-7 miles, we walked alongside a canal which, I found out later, is the canal of Castilla. Castilla is what Isabel the Catholic (my girl) ruled when she reigned in the late 1400s.
Turns out, Fromista is known for the canal, and take a guess what it is used for.
It is where the community collects their potable water.
When I got into town and stopped by the tourism office, I asked if we could swim in it. The lady at the information desk said that was absolutely "prohibido" and that if anyone was caught swimming in the canal, they would be reported and fined a good chunk of change. I was glad I asked as the water had been quite inviting. I sent a text out in the group chat to warn everybody who was walking behind me not to swim in the river. Despite my warning, two students didn't see my text in time, and they jumped into the canal. And they didn't just jump in--one of them peed in it. Yup, they peed in the water that the community processes to use for their drinking water. I guess they were just lucky that no one from the community saw them. I was less perturbed by the fact that they broke the rules -- I can understand that it was a nice stretch of water -- and more upset that once again we fulfilled the stereotype that a lot of Europeans have of Americans. We are loud, brash, and disrespectful. Obviously, anywhere in the U.S., jumping in the water ins't gonna matter, but we aren't IN the U.S., and to make the assumption that we can just jump into the water of a canal is very American. I mean, in Europe a canal must be designed for something, right?
Anyway, I'll get off my high horse now. I was just embarrassed that as a group, we didn't meet the standards of the Spanish people.
I was able to sit in the patio area for two hours, in the shade, on the phone. The Wifi was good, the outdoor couches were comfy, and it was just GREAT! Unfortunately, I relaxed too long, and when I eventually headed out to find some lunch, everything was closed! Like 3:30 rolled around, and not only were the bars closed, but the grocery store was closed too! Siesta rules change slightly everywhere we go: sometimes it's from 2-3, sometimes it's from 3-4, sometimes it's from 2-5:30, sometimes stuff is open through it, sometimes it's not. Anyway, I was hungry and literally could find nowhere to eat, but that actually ended up being a great thing because dinner was soon, and MAN was it worth that wait!
Of course it was a 3-course meal. To be honest, I don't even know what I am going to do when I get back to the U.S. and I'll have to pay for every course (or let's be honest, Gordon will for me ;)), but anyway. Our first course was a HUGE salad--bright mixed greens, red tomatoes, some crunchy nuts, a balsamic vinaigrette, and a big medallion of SOMETHING placed right on top. Turns out it was a huge, slightly sautéed, wheel of cheese. Still solid but gooey when I cut into it. That had to be the best salad we've had on this trip and that wasn't even the main course! Our empty salad plates were whisked away, and the guy started bringing out huge cuts of lamb. Not the fancy ribs you see on Master Chef, but we got the whole haunch of the lamb. Some people could see the spinal column on theirs, some had ribs, femurs, or pelvic bones. And some people had little surprises in theirs. Several unidentified organs popped out of the meat as people ate their CHUNK of the lamb. The two pre-nursing majors were literally skipping around the table as they identified little lamb kidneys, testes, gall bladders. I mean, these babies were the WHOLE LAMB. Mine came with a hoof. Was it the most delicious meat? Eh, it left a little to be desired, but the EXPERIENCE made up for it :-)
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