Twelfth Day On The Camino Saturday, September 29, 2018

Happy Birthday Dana.

This is Dana. She was born 28 years ago today. Dana was just about due but Sara, her older sister, and I thought that we could go out and get the oil changed on the van and get lunch at McDonalds. When we got home Dana was making it very plain that she was ready to make a dramatic entrance. We just barely had time to drop Sara off at Jim and Susie’s house. Jim and Susie are Sara and Dana’s uncle and aunt.

We then raced to the hospital and the minute we got through the admissions process Jane gave birth to a bouncing baby girl, Dana Marinus Hansen. Marinus was my Danish grandfather’s first name and it is my father’s middle name. After Dana was born I called my parents and told them Dana Marinus Hansen had arrived. My father’s response was: “Where in the world did you get that middle name?” I had to remind him that Marinus was his father’s first name and it is his middle name. After I walked him through the concept of a generational family name I think he finally warmed to the idea that Jane and I wanted to give Dana a middle name that honored her grandfather and great grandfather.

Dana had a thick black head of hair. I was the first one to give her a bath and wash her hair. She had such thick hair that I had to wash it twice to get it clean.

Dana teaches math and physics at a high school in the Denver area. Her students love her. Everyone who meets Dana loves her because she is such an honest, caring and generous person. I have loved Dana from the day she was born and I will love her until the day I die.

Happy birthday Dana! 🎂

Last night at the Alburgue

Last night at the alburgue I was assigned to a room with a nice modern clean bathroom and two bunk beds pushed together. I have no idea why the alburgues insist on pushing the bunk beds together. The worst part is that when I checked in the only beds that were available were upper bunks. I needed four people to hoist my fat carcass from the floor to the upper bunk bed. Once I got up there I realized that on one side was the edge of the bed and then a five foot fall to the ground. And I have a touch of agoraphobia. For those of you who don’t speak Latin, that means I am afraid of heights. On the other side was a middle aged man from Germany who told me his name was Willi. It was soon lights out and I got in my sleep sack and turned my back to Willi and faced the precipice at the edge of my aiere. After about an hour of fitful sleep, interrupted by nightmares of falling and never hitting the ground, I was rudely awakened by a whack in the head from Willi. He had flopped from his right side to his left side and with his arms akimbo whacked me with his right arm. I woke him up and explained to him the whole history of me getting whacked for two years by Sister Jean when I was in fourth grade. To clarify, I did not have to repeat fourth grade. It was kind of like a gap year and my parents and the principal of St. Joseph’s grade school, Sister Mary Celeste of the Perpetual Sorrows, decided that the most productive way for me to spend my gap year was to be the baseball to Sister Jean’s fungo bat. I learned a number of valuable lessons in my second fourth grade gap year, like how to duck and cover.

After I explained all this to Willi he promised to stay on his bunk bed and not invade the DMZ between our adjoining top berths. Unfortunately, Willi was not a man of his word. Every hour or so Willi the Windshield Wiper had to flop from his right side to his left side and his right arm would move like a windshield wiper from his right side to his left side and whack me on the head with his right hand. I finally gave up and covered my head with an extra pillow to avoid any further brain damage. Between Willi the Windshield Wiper and Vlad the Inhaler it has been a sleepless Camino.

This morning

We got up early this morning and were on the trail by 6:45 AM. It was dark so I had to attach myself to a group of Italians who not only knew where they were going but they also had headlamps. Dawn broke at 7:30 and the sun came up over the horizon at 8:00. After a 5 kilometer walk we approached our first village of the day, Tosantos. We were looking forward to having breakfast there but the cafe was closed. Bummer!

We had to walk another two kilometers before we got to an open cafe on the outskirts of Villambista.

After breakfast we walked the 1.5 kilometers to Espinosa del Camino. These are some pictures I snapped along the way.

After we passed through Espinosa del Camino it was on to Villafranca Montes De Oca.

This is a donativo new age hippy dippy refreshment stand on the Camino. Spanish jazz on the boom box, an over enthusiastic proprietress, and warm Coke if you are thirsty.

This is the path to our next stop, San Juan de Ortega, where we will stop for the day.

This is our final destination, San Juan de Ortega. We are staying at a medieval monastery that has been a pilgrim hostel for centuries. I am staying in a big room with 20 single bunk beds, no matrimonials, and I have a lower berth! I was thrilled beyond words at my good fortune.

I hope everyone is having a great Saturday.

Good night from San Juan de Ortega, Spain.