Sixth Day On The Camino Sunday, September 23, 2018

We got up at 6:00 AM and went down to the kitchen area for the alburgue provided breakfast. The kitchen area was swarming with Italian pilgrims drinking espresso and complaining bitterly that there was no orange juice. It was pretty meager breakfast fare, toast and ham and cheese sandwiches. I made myself yet another ham and cheese sandwich and looked around for something to drink, other than the ubiquitous coffee, to help me choke down the sandwich. There was a sign that said there was yogurt in the fridge. I found the fridge in the laundry room. I have no idea why the fridge was in the laundry room and not the kitchen. In the fridge I found gold, three big cartons of OJ. I drank one of the cartons myself and grabbed the remaining two cartons, one in each hand. I then strode triumphantly into the kitchen area, raised my hands above my head like Rocky at the top of the stairs at City Hall in Philly, and exclaimed: “You sons and daughters of Rome, I came, I saw and I found the orange juice. Come and get it!” They were so excited that they stampeded at me like I was the Walmart greeter who opens the front door on the Black Friday sale. With shouts of bravo, bravo, bravissimo ringing in my ears, I did a mike drop with an empty orange juice cup and left the room. Then Abe pointed out that there was a good chance that I had liberated the albergue owner’s secret stash of OJ. I proposed that we blame it on St. Christopher. Instead, we decided to get out of the alburgue and out of town as fast as possible.

This is the path leading out of Puente La Renia.

This is the first town, Maneru, we encountered on own journey today.

This is the elephant walk, nose to tail, pilgrim style. The town in the distance is the second town we walked through, Cirauqui. I stopped here and had an apple and a yogurt.

Yes, this a vineyard.

They make very good wine in Spain and don’t like it when you tell them that their wine is good but not nearly as good as Napa Valley wine.

This is a close up shot of the grape vines. They haven’t harvested yet. I harvested a few grapes and ate them. They were the best grapes ever. When I popped them in my mouth and bit down on them there was a flavor explosion in my mouth.

This picture is a look back at the trail we walked during the morning. As I was taking this picture I encountered a member of the Italian contingent from this morning’s albergue orange juice incident. We did a fist bump and exchanged ciaos, when I noticed he was carrying a boom box the size of a loaf of bread. He was playing opera music on the boom box. I know what you are thinking: “Mark, how would you know it was opera music when you have absolutely no experience with or understanding of opera?” That is a good point, but the guy was Italian and it did sound like what I imagine opera should sound like. You had to be there.

This is Casa Magica. It is an alburgue in Villatuerta.

I have been listening to a podcast on the Camino hosted by Dan Mullins. The name sounds Irish but he lives in Australia. A couple of months ago Dan spent an entire hour interviewing the owners of this unique albergue. It is in a very old building but is very new age, with incense burning and light jazz playing throughout the common areas. There is a shaded courtyard in the back of this alburgue with a fountain, tables and chairs and hammocks.

I checked in at 1:00 PM, showered, washed my clothes and had lunch at a bar around the corner

The stuffed peppers were delicious.

I am now on the covered terrace of Casa Magica laying in a hammock and typing this blog post. We are having a group dinner at 7:30 PM. The cook told me we are going to have paella for dinner. I told him I had paella last night in Puente La Renia and it was very good. He said his paella is so good it will make me forget about the paella I had last night. I am already hungry and it is four hours to dinner.

Dinner

Salad was the first course.

We had meatballs for the second course.

We had paella for the third course.

This is the paella pan. It was as big as a truck tire.

We had flan for dessert.

What a great meal!

I hope everyone had a restful Sunday.

Good night from the Casa Magica in Villafuerta, Spain.