June 11

What a great place Villafranca del Bierzo turned out to be! That was the town we were in as of last night, all day today, and till tomorrow morning. Again, I will remind you that we were staying in a literal OLD CONVENT turned boarding school turned hotel. As my mom points out – they all use the same basic layout 

Before we had our own little church meeting this morning, Emilee (my roommate) and I went walking around town. I love walking around places late at night and early in the morning. It is always fun to see who is up and doing what, and what a place feels like when most everyone is still asleep. Although there were abandoned buildings in this town, just like all the others in Spain, it did feel less decrepit and sad – we’ve seen kids running around, there are people strolling the streets at all times of the day – they have several successful businesses, it feels like a healthy town. 

It was funny--I feel bad I didn’t get a picture--but this town is known for their “beef jerky.” As my roommate and I discovered, it is NOT beef jerky. For lunch we decided to split a pizza, and one of the pizzas had Cecina which is the “beef jerky” that this area is known for. So of course, we ordered that pizza cause we had to try it out! First off, it was literally just a cheese pizza with this meat thrown on top at the end.  Second off, the meat topping on the pizza was NOT beef jerky, it was just another cured ham like we’ve been having throughout this trip. I mean sure, it looked a little different, and tasted a little different, but they weren’t fooling us…

And on another side of food, I don’t know if I’ve told you all about the salads they have here, but basically their go-to salad is called “ensalada mixta” meaning mixed salad. Want one? 

1. 
   Get some romaine cause you gotta have some good romaine for any salad. 
   
2. Take a tomato and cut it into 4 wedges – add those to the 4 corners of the plate. 
3. Take a white onion and chop ¼ of it into slices – add that to the side. 
4. Finish the salad with a healthy serving of tuna – in oil or water – to the top. 
5. Take all the vinegar and olive oil you have and DRENCH the salad in those two things. But wait, we aren’t done  
6. After the olive oil and vinegar, take a salt shaker and mercilessly pump that baby for a good 15-30 seconds on top of the salad, especially hitting the tomatoes. 

Sometimes the salads are better and come with a balsamic vinaigrette instead, or they have been more conservative with the salt, olive oil and vinegar. I especially enjoy when they drain the tune well, because I love me some tuna, but tuna juice mixed in with the vinegar and olive oil? It gets to be a lot. Anyway, we had that for dinner… it was decent. 

Then we got a steak. You know what is funny? Here in Europe they tenderize all their meat, so it is all very thin and tender, but MAN I don’t know if we have had any places cook a steak consistently. While my very thin steak looked like it had been in the pan for mere seconds on each side, dripping with juice and blood, the girl next to me got a steak that was literally GREY it was so cooked. Pork chops, pork loin, sausage, chicken? They cook it well, but beef, whether in steak or a burger, is never cooked consistently and often at the wrong temperature. I don't eat burgers, but many of the other students have ordered them, and MAN are those babies PINK when they bite into them – they are THICK and PINK! And I just don’t know about that…

After dinner was probably my favroite part of the day. I had discovered earlier that afternoon that our hotel was a TREASURE TROVE of weird things and places to see. So a group of us went out after dinner to do some “Spooky ‘Splorin’” which wasn't actually spooky, but it was kind of eerie seeing all these old places that weren’t being used in the hotel. The main attraction was actually behind the school, in the back lot. When we exited the back of the hotel, we were met with this big concrete area with an old amphitheater and tile steps leading to a second level. On that second level was a promenande lined with manicured trees, but it was completely overgrown. Even with the weeds and plants, we could see how this area used to be – how the Spanish boys at the school would’ve found solace and enjoyment in this area of nature. As we climbed higher on the hill, we were met with two old soccer fields, watched over by a pillar with the Virgin on top. Finally, right before the property ended, we found a basketball court, flooded in areas with clay sediment, nothing but deer footprints visible. We had some fun here, trying to reach the hoop, finding a pear tree and lobbing pears across the court. We see so few young people along the Camino, and most don’t stay in hotels, but prefer the cheaper Albergues, that I bet this basketball court hadn’t seen anyone under 60 in a long time. We could feel the spirit of the place even though it was overgrown – it was a place of enjoyment, release, joking and fun. We could feel it while we were on that court, and we could easily see how the students from that old school would’ve played there, connected with each other, had a good basketball/football game at the end of the day. Even overgrown and seemingly forgotten, we could feel the echoes of school days long gone, or simpler times. It was really cool. I especially enjoy it because some of it felt like Interlochen, the boarding camp I attended as a kid. Having been in business since the early 1900s, there are places on campus where I could feel were once something special, but had just fallen into disrepair or been forgotten over time. But I could tell by the names written on the walls, the old signs and posters hung about the rooms, that they used to be a special place to someone. That recess area felt the same, and we definitely picked up on that and had a fun time messing around on that old basketball court. 

After that we actually left the hotel grounds, headed up to one of the churches in town, sat on the lawn out front and watched the clouds. Nothing fancy, no deep conversation, just watching clouds and relaxing in the evening breeze. Again, it felt like the kind of town where you could do that – it felt alive and well and content. Villafranca was a good town, I’m happy we got to stay here for two days 