“ Rest Day “

After 17 days of walking, I arrived in the incredible city of León for my “ rest days “ , which is something often spoken and common to do while walking the Camino but varies in meaning to pilgrims. In my opinion a “rest day” on the Camino doesn't necessarily mean staying in bed with your feet up. It means you aren't putting on your backpack before sunrise and walking 15 or 20 miles to the next village. Instead, you wander a city, do laundry, take care of your feet, find good food, sleep a little later, and give your body a chance to catch up with everything you've asked it to do.

And León was an incredible place to stop not only to see the fabulous city but to finally meet up with Laura who flew over to walk the 2nd part with me . The hug and excitement when picking her up at Leon train station was all I looked forward to, so excited for us to have time together and this experience together. We happened to arrive during an annual medieval festival, and the entire city seemed to have transformed. The streets surrounding the old city were filled with vendors, performers, costumes, music and people. Walking through it felt like stepping onto a movie set.

Cheers our first drink to toast our long awaited adventure

We both were particularly looking forward to visiting the Cathedral of León which we had read so much about. I must admit have walked into a lot of churches and cathedrals on this Camino, but this one is extraordinary. It is famous for its enormous collection of medieval stained glass, and when the sunlight pours through it, the entire interior seems to change color. You don't simply look at the stained glass you almost feel surrounded by it.

Then there was the food. We spent an evening wandering through Barrio Húmedo, León's famous tapas district. One of the traditions here is that when you order a drink, the bar you are in give you a complimentary tapa and each place has its own specialty. So naturally, the only reasonable thing to do is move from bar to bar, order a drink, see what arrives with it, and repeat. It may be one of my favorite Spanish traditions yet.

And then the music …Friday night we listened to Galician music, and Saturday there were bagpipes filling the streets followed by an amazing Scottish group that playe din the Mayor Square on a huge stage that was set up full of locals enjoying and dancing ,that played the fiddle guitar like I had never heard , it was remarkable , . I had no idea before this trip how important Celtic musical traditions are in northern Spain, particularly Galicia and Asturias. The Spanish bagpipe is called the gaita, and hearing that unmistakable sound echo through the old stone streets was incredible.

At one point there was even a Scottish group performing in the Plaza Mayor. Scotland and northern Spain, bagpipes and medieval streets, pilgrims and locals all mixed together it was one of those wonderfully unexpected Camino moments.

After two days of León, though, it was time to start walking again.

Part Two of my Camino. And, even better, Laura's first day. We left León before sunrise, heading west while the city was still sleeping. Almost immediately, the Camino started doing what the Camino does putting people in our path.

We met a group of cyclists from Miami who stopped because they were curious about our walk. We compared adventures for a while ours on foot, theirs on bikes and then continued in opposite rhythms down the same road. Later, we stopped for lunch in Chozas de Abajo, population approximately 87 people. Yes, 87.There we met Alice and Jim from California. Somehow we discovered that Alice had grown up in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and had recently bought land there to build a house. Suddenly, in a tiny village in Spain, we spent the next twenty minutes talking about the Berkshires.

I will never get tired of moments like that.

Along today's walk we also passed something I had never seen before little chimneys seemingly growing straight out of the hillsides. Beneath them are traditional underground bodegas-cueva, cave wine cellars dug into the earth. The ground naturally keeps them cool, making them perfect for storing wine and food, while the little chimneys provide ventilation.

From the Camino, they almost look like tiny hobbit houses hidden underneath the hills. Tonight we are staying in Villadangos del Páramo, which, I have to admit, is not going on my list of favorite Camino villages.

In addition I have seen a lot of things out here on the Camino since I started but today I saw 2 pilgrims walking with 3 dogs and a donkey…it is safe to say I did not stop and chat with them.

At about 7:00 we went looking for dinner and somehow found ourselves in the familiar Camino predicament of realizing there might not actually be any dinner. There were only 3 restaurants At one, a woman immediately told Laura and me that she had no food. We left and tried to find somewhere else, couldn't, and eventually went back hoping we could at least find a snack. Then pizzas started appearing for other people. We asked again. No. We wondered whether it was simply a language problem. Then Mary, a pilgrim from Forest Hills, New York (who lived 1 block from where Laura did for years, ordered and was served. We were completely baffled. I even asked another pilgrim to speak to the woman in Spanish for us, just to make sure we weren't misunderstanding. Still no food. So we ordered drinks and resigned ourselves to eating whatever provisions we had left in our daypacks for dinner. And then, somehow, after asking one more time...There was one pizza. Maybe she found one. Maybe she didn't like us. We will probably never know.

But in true Camino fashion, the evening turned around completely when I spotted Barbara from the Netherlands, whom I hadn't seen in quite a while. Suddenly what had started as a frustrating hunt for dinner became this wonderful reunion and such a fun evening together.

That may be one of the biggest lessons of this journey: don't decide too quickly what kind of day you're having. The Camino has a way of changing the story.

After two days of resting, exploring, eating tapas and listening to bagpipes in León, my shoes are back on, Laura is here me, and we're heading into a completely different landscape for the next few day rain is coming and the mountains.. Part Two has officially begun.

Let the adventure continue.

Buen Camino.