rain...snow...kind strangers.... and rest.

hmmm. i was thinking i could upload some more pics but it seems like this computer is too old to recognize the zipdrive....

We are in villar de mazarife now....finally feeling better after a few days of rest, a heated albergue, access to a shop, and use of a kitchen... we got here a few days earlier than expected, due to closed albergues, bad weather conditions, and a really nice guy who gave us a ride from bercianos to el burgo ranero, then later from el burgo ranero--where the albergue was closed--to leon later that day. since the last time i posted, we stayed in the great warm place we were staying in last time i posted, with heat that was blasting all night...which was preparation/pre-"payback" for the next night which we spent in a FREEZING albergue with no heat, no kitchen, etc, and cold air seeping in under the door while it was raining outside.... by the time we got there i was pretty happy just to have a place to stay, as we had trudged from the previous albergue to sahagun--hungry i might add as there had been no shop in that town and no shops along the way--i have never been gladder to see a pack of cookies and a chocolate bar in my life than when we went through terradillos and, searching the town for a shop, i saw a sign at the albergue there that they had a small shop...cookies and chocolate definitely not ideal fuel, but provided enough energy to get us into sahagun... i was really dragging approaching sahagun. my feet were really starting to hurt--tendons in back of heels actually--, we needed good, warm food, i was tired etc etc etc bag was heavy... about a km from sahagun two women out for a walk on the path offered, then insisted, on carrying my bag to sahagun. it took the two of them, one strap each, to carry it :) it felt so much better for me to be walking with no weight for a little while! close to sahagun, they flagged down a delivery truck that was stopped somewhere, i dont know if they knew the driver or not but they got him to take my bag and drop it at the albergue...the albergue which, when we arrived, was CLOSED..... even though i had been told by a previous albergue that it was open, and my good old by-now-deemed-untrustworthy guidebook said it was open.... i called the numbers for the albergues in the book, asked if i could please please stay there, they said nope, it was closed for renovations. i handed the phone to the women who had carried my bag but they had no luck either. they left me in the hands of a city worker who was kind enough to try to figure out what to do with me... he drove me to the monastery that takes in pilgrims in the summer but they said no they were closed....then he drove me to calzada de coto, which is slightly off the camino path, but was the next "open" one. we retrieved the key from the nearby bar, and at least the village had a shop, but the albergue was FREEZING. at least there were blankets. but still, it was so cold that despite the fact there was hot water, i didnt bother with a shower because i was afraid it would make me colder in the end. i ate a quick dinner and then got into my sleeping bag as quickly as possible. actually, i ate dnner in my sleeping bag.... had a really cold night and couldnt wait to leave the next morning. it was misting the next morning, and cold, it seemed like it was going to clear off...it seems like its always a battle between the rising sun trying to push away the fog and mist and dark sky and snow, and you think the sun is maybe going to win....and then it doesnt... it started raining and wind came up, some hail, etc, and this part of the camino is pretty exposed, no trees to shelter you or break the wind. we were planning to stay in el burgo ranero. coming up to bercianos, when we still would have had quite a few miles to go, a man who had driven by previously in what looked like a contractors truck was now stopped, going the other direction, apparently surveying or something. as he got back in his truck, he asked did we want a ride to the village, and he spoke english. when he found we were going to el burgo to stay for the night, he drove us to el burgo, said it wasnt that far and it was cold and snowy and rainy.... when we got to el burgo, they were renovating and the workman said it was closed.... apparently the albergue at religios, which was supposed to be open, was also closed... the man told us that if i could find somewhere to hang out for the day, he lived in leon and would be going there at 7pm and would be happy to take us to leon where there would be an open albergue. that sounded good to me because it was freezing walking in the snow-rain-wind....but we needed to find somewhere to sit for 9 hrs.... i tried to find a sheltered doorway or pavillion or something but no luck. the best i could find was the overhang of the church. the church had a covered entryway, but it was locked. so annoying. we were maybe going to walk the 6 k to religios and the man pick us up there, just so we would be moving and doing something... but the weather just wasnt clearing. i ended up curling up with the dog, who was shivering, under the small overhang of the church, then decided if we were going to be there for 7 hours, i might as well make us warmer, so i pulled out a sleeping bag, a waterproof silver emergency cover, and proceeded to make us a little den. gro was still shivering shivering shivering though... i got my whole body covered by the blankets, and ducked down inside so i was this shimmering silver lump parked in front of the church gate. a little while later a lady said buenos dias...and invited me inside to warm up...but she didnt realize i had the dog i was trying to keep warm. she said i could come but not the dog. i said no, its ok ill stay, the dog is cold. i couldnt see leaving her out shivering in the rain when she was already cold, plus my lap was pretty warm from the dog and me breathing under the blankets... the lady brought me tea and cookies and told me if i needed to warm up or use the bathroom, to tie the dog and come in. i explained to her the best i could that a man was going to take us to leon that evening. a little while later the man called and said he actually had to go to leon that morning. so he picked us up and we got to sit in the nice warm car to leon. it was really nice that he spoke enough english to help us and he told me that his sister was a teacher and he learns from her but she says his english is rotten,but really it was quite fine. he dropped us near the albergue, and we werent to be allowed to sleep inside becasue of gro, but in the closed entryway, which was somehow somewhat heated, and was actually much warmer than the albergue from the previous night! the hospitalera there loved loved grainne. because we were going to sleep in the entryway where cars had to drive through though, there wasnt really anywhere for us to go for the day, we had arrived so early, like 1 pm...so we wandered around the city trying to get phone credit, and some healthy food--ie dried fruit, almonds, etc. we sat in the sun in the park for a while but it was freezing even in the sun. then had to wait till 430 for the shops to open back up. the only thing i was successful in getting was phone credit...i waited in the cold till 5 for the health food shop to open, only to be told that they didnt have things like almonds, raisins, dates, sunflower seeds etc, and that i had to go to a dried fruit shop.... on the way another supplement shop`offered to sell me sunflower seed butter...but had no idea where i could get the actual raw, untoasted seeds. argh. the dried fruit shop only had candy and trinkets in the window and was closed anyway... back at the albergue gro stayed quiet for a little while outside while i was able to warm up and eat cookies inside. we went to evening prayer with the sisters (benedictines) and there were 4 othere pilgrims at the albergue, 2 of whom i had met in pamplona, then in los arcos, and didnt think i would run into again cuz they were faster, but i guess my car ride to leon caught me up`. evening prayer reminded me of when i used to go sometimes at domincan house when i was at Catholic U. even though it was in a different language, the familiarlity of the ritual was a bit comforting. the albergue gave us breakfast the next morning, which was really nice, and they werent in any rush to get us out exactly at 8 am which also was nice.