Eating meat is fun

Busy, insane week. Said goodbye to my flat in my barrio in Logroño for the last time on Friday night. It was a bit sad- I've had some good times and some wonderful memories there. Also said goodbye to Pablo the flatmate, but he'll be back in September for exams so we've arranged to catch up then, hopefully with Juan Carlos as well.

On Saturday Beza's brother got married and I got invited along to join in the festivities. The wedding was in a beautiful church in a tiny village in La Rioja. Some of the villages in La Rioja are extremely dubious, populated only by ten old bachelors and the local baker but this one was very picturesque, with a leafy park where they set up tables for the wedding feast. I have to say it was one of the funnest and coolest weddings I've been to. Eva wore hippy flowing clothes, no bridesmaids/grooms, minimal flowers and their friends sang the songs during the service. (Photo: With the married couple, the legendary hippy uncle and Beza)

On Sunday morning at 7 am, took the six hour bus ride to Barcelona for my flight to Prague. The parents were waiting for me at the airport and after nine months apart, it was great to be with them again. I had no idea there was so much meat to be had in the Czech Republic and at such cheap prices. Beer too. In the five days in the Czech Republic my dad must have drunk about six litres of beer, which may not seem much to some, but my parents are wine drinking folk who shun beer.

From Prague we headed to Brno which has a fascinating Capuchin monastery with naturally mummified bodies of past friars and the Mendel museum. After about five or six consecutive meat-only meals, we had lunch at a vegetarian restaurant where you pile up a plate and they charge you based on weight.

We're currently in Budapest, Hungary which is also amazingly meat laden. The only thing with Hungarian food is that it seems to be lactose-intolerance unfriendly. (Photo: Luther with view of the Danube River)

Home- but not for long

Arrived back in Logroño on Sunday night, pretty exhausted from too much fun.

Highlights of the last two weeks (very tough choice):

1. Beza surprising me by arriving early in Burgos.

2. Santo Domingo, which was a lovely town.

3. Food- free tapas in León, queso de cabrales and cider in Llanes and the amazing pintxos in San Sebastian.

4. Going to the beach for five hours, four days in a row with awesome weather, in Llanes/Poo and San Sebastian.

5. All of the camino de santiago minus the blister.

My last night in this flat will be Thursday. I'm not too sorry to say goodbye- we had a good relationship while it lasted but then it started breaking down and tried to electrocute me once. And it's getting damn hot in my room, even at night time. (Photo: Luther overcome by so many pintxos in San Sebastian)

Land of lions

In Leon! Eight days and 180 kms later, I've arrived in Leon with Beza.

He met me in Burgos on Friday. I was going to go to the bus station to meet him at around 6 pm, but I called him at around 3.15 pm, while sitting in a cafe in Plaza Mayor eating lunch and he said he was just leaving work in Logroño to have lunch. So we were chatting happily and suddenly he said 'Look to your left.' And there he was, coming towards me.

Apparently he asked to leave work early so he could catch the 1 pm bus and surprise me.

On Saturday we caught the bus to Sahagún, then walked to El Burgo de Ranero (a village of about 250 people). It's been a great week, though we got rained on this morning. The first few days were sunny and hot. I got up at around 5.30 every morning and started walking at about 6.15. I've met an insane amount of Germans, some Dutch (including a man of about 70 who started in Holland), French, Spanish and a few Koreans. And a New Zealander. Surprisingly, no Australians and no English, though I did meet an Irish guy.

Later in the week, Beza and I are heading to the beach up north. He has family in San Sebastian so we get free accommodation with his aunt.

What happened in the torre

Santo Domingo is famous for its cathedral and tower, which is one of the only ones separated from the cathedral building. There was a saint (Domingo) who performed a miracle with a roasted rooster crowing or something, which is how the village got its name. In honour of him, in the cathedral up high they have two live white roosters on display. I wonder if they actually have eight or nine roosters on rotation so they're not cooped up in the cathedral their whole lives. I also wonder what they do with the roosters if they die or get old. (I suspect they eat them.)

Anyway, so I decided to climb up the tower, which is about 70 m high and not a very good idea after four hours of walking with a 10 kg backpack. I nearly died halfway up. At the top, I met an old man, who started talking to me. He said he was amazed I could speak Spanish and invited me to a coffee in the Parador. Then he gave me a mini tour of the cathedral and explained the history of the gothic part and the roosters before taking his leave of me. He said he had to go before he fell in love with me and his wife got angry at him. Hilarious.

People in the villages are really friendly. When I went into the pharmacy to buy some blister bandaids, the pharmacist also said he was amazed I could speak Spanish. He said he almost had a heart attack when I walked in because he couldn't speak word of English and didn't know how he'd communicate with me.

Day Two, Camino

Yesterday was a bit of a stress and in comparison, today has been fantastic.

Had a stressful weekend. It was my last day of work on Friday, which was actually very cruisey, because the first and second graders had an excursion to the Science Museum in Logroño and the principal asked me if I wanted to go so of course I said yes. We played in the park afterwards.

But then on Saturday, I tried to book accommodation for Eastern Europe with my parents and realised I needed to transfer money in my bank account. Except I'd forgotten my password, tried to reset it, called up and finally got it to work only to be told I needed another password to transfer money (what kind of moronic, albeit secure, system is that?), which I couldn't remember either and this one I needed to reset via telephone but the office for that was closed.

Gave up and went out with Ana and Beza to have a cocktail instead. Then on Sunday, I packed some of my stuff and took it to Beza's house because I have to move out of the flat by the 19th June. We had lunch with his parents, who cook awesome food. His dad goes to the mountains once a week to pick wild mushrooms and makes scrambled eggs with mushroom that are the best thing I've had in ages.

When I came home, booked the accommodation (realised I actually did have enough in my account), which took almost three hours. Then packed my backpack for the camino.

Left home yesterday at about 9 am. Again, some internet guides said it was 26 km but it was more like 30. So it took longer than expected and when I arrived in Nájera, the guy at the front desk of the pilgrims' albergue said all the beds were taken. Then he checked and said there was one left. It was basically a huge room with 100 bunks but much better than sleeping in a school basketball court which is where they put the pilgrims who arrive too late to get a bed. It's also free but you can donate if you like.

Today, left at 6.30 am and arrived at 10.45 am and was the first to check in. Today's albergue in Santo Domingo is a palace.