Day 18 – Silent night

Day 18: Carrion to Teradillos. 0km by foot. 35 minutes by bus.

I know i wrote last night id be walking 30kms today. Well that was a lie. After clocking 85km in the last 3 days, my backs been hurting more and with blisters still healing we decided to have another rest day. So instead of walking straight through the towns and not actually seeing the sights we decided to go and actually sight see and went and visited an o11th century Benedictine monastery. It was amazing. We were the only ones there. We entered into the cathedral through 2nd century roman marble doors and there were a whole lot of tombs lying there. The cathedral ceilings so high, everything was white. It was absolutely beautiful. I started humming and realised the acoustics made it echo almost haunting. Jessica and i, seeing as no one else was there decided to sing Amazing Grace, stopping every few lines to hear our echo. It was so cool. We tried to work out another church song we both knew to sing but we couldnt so we settled on silent night.

We strolled around the monastry. The work put in to every part of the building was unbelievable. It wasnt until i was walking in the courtyard did i notice on one side, human skulls had been incorporated into the pillars. A little creepy.

For 1.5 euro and a morning off walking, i am so glad i got to see it!

We caught a bus to Teradillo, population 80. I laid on my bed all afternoon and it was delightful! Its been 18 days without just lying down and doing nothing. 18 days without your own space to simply rest.

Carrion

Found obi wan

This ones for you ma! 😂😂😂

So because its been rather uneventful, todays diary are my camino thoughts…

–/– Ive reached a new low. Not in my thoughts. More in my standards. Im not sure whats worse. To everyone on the camino they can relate. Ugly goes. But my new low isnt the fact i now actuall6 prefer walking in socks with sandals and even socks with thongs (or flip flops if you really dont want to weird the europeans out by saying you love wearing socks and thongs – lesson learnt). The low is when youve walked all day and you go into the shower but you just cant be bothered undressing. On multiple occasions now I simply hop in fully clothed. It could be because a sweaty sports bra is near impossible to get off without looking like some trapped daddy long legs spider trying to dislocate shoulders, banging your elbows on the cubicle walls trying to get it off. Or just the feeling of water (2 times out of 10 hot water) just on your face is amazing. So now i just stand there exhausted fully clothed under the shower for a minute before taking the clothes off. And on the camino youve 2 sets of clothes so you wash what you wear every night, so i just save time and do it in the shower. The clothes have to get wet anyways…

–/–

The most random songs pop up into your head when walking. Im now listening to the Les Mis soundtrack. The other day the sunday school song this little light of mine popped into my head.

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You have so much time to think sometimes you just drift off and go back in time through your life like watching it on a film. Remebering things. Like a friend you grew up with smiles’ when you were 8 years old, or i wonder what happened to ….

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Im trying to be patient. Instead of wishing i was 5kms ahead or at my destination, im trying to just enjoy everything and everyone around me here and now.

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People seem to have a lot of deep thoughts walking the camino. Me – what did i ponder on for a good 15 minutes yesterday: The words on your car rear view mirror ‘objects in mirror are closer than they appear’. Are they closer than you see in the mirror or does the mirror make them appear closer than they actually arw in real life. People are here solving lifes problems and im thinking about mirrors and reflections on a car! Sharing a bottle of vino with Princess eliot last night while he wrote in his diary, he asked what i thought about today, so i told him. Poor 22 year old just looked at me stunned and just said ‘you cant be serious…’ Then starts rattling off physics stuff about light refraction how mirrors work, why mirror on mirror is infinite… Ok Einstein… He really does loves us. Its like we’re his big sisters and he comes to us for help and advice. A few hours earlier there I was treating his chafing from his pants and pack. ‘Bit of vas Princess and you’re good to go’.

–/–

The camino is great for relationships. You have to be open with the peopel you meet straight away as they are all you have. We are getting a bit of a name for ourselves for just always enjoying ourselves. We have people we have met message us to find where we will be in the evenings so they can join. We dont take ourselves to seriously and people are becoming attracted to that. We arent running round loud making fools of ourselves either, we are just being friendly and get excited when we run into people again, making them feel loved and remembered.

–/–

I absolutely hate feet. Always have. Theyre disgusting. Yet now every evening come beer time. It is blister show and tell with everyone! Everyone showing everyone else just how bad their feet are. Its normal now to have someone sitting beside you sticking a needle and thread into a blister all the while youre there munching on bread commenting ‘ooh thats a bad one. Id give it another poke’. Had one man tonight, Ted, tormenting the young guys with his toe nail now hanging by a thread. Feet are seriously gross! And on this Camino, everyones becoming experts in blister care.

R. x