Day 12 (Camino II): Santo Domingo de la Calzada to Belorado

My right foot feels significantly better. The swelling and pain around the blister have subsided overnight. A combination of advanced healing blister Band Aid, callus cushions, and micropore surgical tape has helped - a reflection of the expertise Chisoon gained after mastering "The Foot Bible."
The parador did not disappoint. Best location, sumptuous interior and modern comfort at little more than the price of our hotel in Logrono. When told how much we paid, people who just came to look around regret not booking here. Chisoon will take a taxi again and meet me at Granon 7km away.

My feet look like I have just been crucified. They feel better though. Left side is just for precaution.

Parador of Santo Domingo: before getting out the door, check out the 15th century original door displayed in the lobby.

The weather is perfect for walking - overcast and cool. I leave town by crossing the bridge, the first version of which was supposedly built by St Dominic. I soon reach the top of a hill commanding a view back at Santo Domingo. A dozen or so young people are already there listening to loud music with some swinging their hips, and all this does not make rest and contemplation possible. I wonder what experience they have on the Camino. At Granon, we take a quick look at the main church and have a drink before moving on.

Leaving Santo Domingo via the bridge that the saint originally built

Granon: San Juan Batista Church

San Juan Batista Church: as soon as the one Euro coin drops, illumination occurs.

Soon we reach the border between La Rioja and Castile y Leon. It was a short but a memorable three days in the small region of La Rioja where wine is cheap and plentiful. The huge signpost welcomes us to Castile y Leon. We meet a group of five people from a Madrid hospital who do the Camino together in small bits twice a year. I ask an anesthesiologist in the group if it is true that there is tension between Castile and Leon that I have heard, but she says "no, the independence movement is only with Catalonia and the Basque." We proceed through Redecilla del Camino and Castiledelgado. We pass an elderly German couple from Magdeburg who are hunched over and walking slow. But we find out they have logged a few thousand km on the Camino on several trips in the last few years! No preconceived notions on the Camino!
I linger quite a while near a huge field of drying sunflowers, which provides a photographic challenge. A passing Frenchman from Alsace comments that along the Camino De Puy in France, especially in Gers, you can see sunflowers "for a 100km, all yellow!"

Route map for Castile y Leon at the border: doctor friends from Madrid discussing their next two days

Redecilla del Camino: a 12th century baptismal font in Church of Lady of the Street

Cheer up! Sunflowers look like a defeated troop.

A massive field of sunflowers. But the Frenchman is not impressed.

We stop for lunch at Viloria de la Rioja, the birthplace of Santo Domingo but there is little trace of him left here. The simple lunch is on a donative basis, and we are joined by the French couple from Alsace, the German couple from Magdeburg, two Spanish friends from Lugo and Bilbao, and finally a young Italian man that I helped by giving directions to Ventosa the other day. We communicate and laugh together somehow and end up with group pictures taken with everyone's camera. Going to the restroom upstairs, I realize the property is part of an albergue, where communal experience like this occurs all the time. But we are definitely too old to travel like that.

Viloria: A simple lunch. Donation only. Free wine. And upstairs is...

... the albergue. A familiar scene to most pilgrims, but a novelty to us.

After we leave Viloria, I feel a little of that out-of-body experience again - feeling sleepy while the legs keep going. This time it is simply fatigue, as I only slept 5 hours last night. After lying on a bench right on the Camino for 15 minutes, I feel completely refreshed.

Entering Villa Mayor del Rio: A 15-minute power nap right on the Camino makes all the difference.

Fortunately no more uphill the rest of the way to Belorado

After a cat nap, I can totally sympathize with this cat who cannot keep its eyes open.

As we enter Belorado, the couple from Georgia who we hadn't seen in a few days are greeting us from their hotel room balcony. We agree to meet for dinner at a restaurant recommended to them by their hotel. Upon checking in, we find out the owner of our pension also booked a table for us at the same restaurant. There are only three rooms out pension and we see the Germans from Magdeburg also! This is what you get in a small town, with the pilgrims you meet funnel through to the same places. Our pension is run by a Dutch-Nicaraguan couple who go out of their way to help their guests with trip planning. At dinner the restaurant is filled with familiar faces.

Entering Belorado: that's quite a range of services for five-Euro a bed

Scene from our pension bathroom: Church of Santa Maria and the castle ruins

Prints of Martin Sheen, made during the filming of "The Way," just a few steps from our pension.