Seventh Day On The Camino Monday, September 24, 2018

No sleep last night.

Last night at the alburgue Casa Magica I shared a dormitory sleeping room with four other people. There was a couple from Vermont, a woman from Germany and Vladislav, Vlad, from Romania. After dinner everyone was tired so we were in our separate beds with the lights out by 9:30. That is when the trouble began. Vlad immediately began to snore so loudly that he rattled the windows. I had my earplugs in and that didn’t even begin to dampen the racket. Vlad is one of those inhale snorers. His exhale was just a little wheeze, but on the inhale he sounded like a pig rooting in a slop bucket. This went on all night long. According to alburgue etiquette you can’t wake up someone who is snoring, you just have to put up with it. Needless to say I did not get a wink of sleep. This morning as we were packing our packs Vlad politely asked me how I slept. I told him that I did not sleep at all and his snoring would put a lumberjack to shame. He was not surprised by this. He then told me that the pilgrims at the last alburgue nicknamed him Vlad the Inhaler. Apparently, there was a 14th century nobleman in Romania who liked to impale his enemies on stakes. They called him Vlad the Impaler. The frustrated and sleepless pilgrims at the previous alburgue thought that it would be funny to give Vlad an alburgue nickname, Vlad the Inhaler. Today I walked 26 kilometers from Villatuerta to Los Arcos in a sleep deprived fog, hoping to put some distance between me and Vlad the Inhaler. When I was checking into the alburgue in Los Arcos I asked them if Vlad the Inhaler was staying at the alburgue tonight. They answered in the affirmative and told me that the only bed available was in a dorm room with Vlad and six other people. I politely declined their offer to put me up for the night and found a pension where I will have a room to myself. I hope that I have seen the last of Vlad the Inhaler during my Camino.

I got out on the trail by 7:00 AM. I walked for about 30 minutes and as dawn was breaking I looked back and got this great picture of the church at Villatuerta at sunrise.

As the sun was climbing above the horizon it bathed the hills to the West with a golden light.

This is a fountain at the east end of Estrella. The inscription reads: “Good bread excellent water and wine meat and fish are all necessary for happiness.

Apparently they kayak in Estrella. Who knew?

This is the infamous free wine fountain in Irache. This is another picture every pilgrim is required to take. The wine is free, and that is a good thing, but it is awful. It is not as bad as MD 20/20 but it is close. I got the picture and then poured the wine on the ground.

Beautiful pictures of harvested hayfields.

These are blackberry bushes. I filled my hat with blackberries and had a nice snack.

This is the Fountain of the Moors near Azqueta. You go through the arches and down 15 steps and you get to a spring fed well.

This little old lady was sitting by the side of the Camino playing her accordion for tips. I gave her a generous tip and asked her to play some polka music. She gave me a look like she didn’t understand. I figured that if she plays the accordion she must know some polka, Lawrence Welk type songs, like The Beer Barrel Polka. I spent 10 minutes trying to get her to play a polka on her accordion and finally gave up. Another disappointment on the Camino.

Aren’t these beautiful hay fields? You use hay to feed cows, right?

And then the cows magically turn into steak. Not ham or chicken, steak.

I have not had a piece of beef since I arrived in Spain 7 days ago. I am convinced that there is plenty of steak around here but the Spaniards are keeping all the beef for themselves and feeding us pilgrims all the ham and chicken. I am getting tired of ham and chicken and am hankering for a steak and a loaded baked potato.

This is a roach coach parked on the side of the Camino about 6 kilometers from my final destination, Los Arcos. As I was sitting there enjoying a Spanish Gatorade, “It’s Raining Men”, the disco song by The Weather Girls, came blaring out of the proprietor’s boom box. Once a song like that gets in your head you wind up walking with it to your next destination. So I walked 6 kilometers to Los Arcos singing “It’s Raining Men.”

This is my humble abode for tonight in Los Arcos. I am heading out for a bite to eat and then to bed.

Dinner

Seafood paella. Good but not nearly as good as last night or the night before.

I hope everyone had a great Monday.

Good night from Los Arcos, Spain.