Burgos: rough transition back to a city

Trip Start Jul 20, 2009

Trip End Aug 31, 2009

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Flag of Spain and Canary Islands Burgos, Castile-León, Spain and Canary Islands
Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Before comingo n the camino, I had read that after being in the country for so long it can be quite a jarring and unpleasant experience to transition back to urban life in teh small cities along the camino. I was thoroughly unconvinced (surely pamplona, burgos and leon would be a walk in the park after 4 years in west philly!). However, after getting lost in the sprawling industrial wasteland that is the suburbs of Burgos and stumbling through the slanted streets of the small city, I realize the truth to the warnings. After the peace, quiet and solitude of the tiny camino hamlets, city life is a shock to the system. In the country you are very unworried about how you look, a limping, dirty, sweating pilgrim clutching a walking stick. In Burgos, there is much more going on than the camino, and people are much less friendly. I felt awkward and exhausted, the scorching midday heat scrambling my brain. Finally, I found the hostel and caught up with Simon and the others, who had gone on to the next town instead of staying in san juan the night before.

The hostel was very similar to the one in Santo Domingo: very new (within a year), clean and large. It sort of felt like sleeping in a cupboard, the beds arranged in strange, one'sided, built-in cubicles.

I layed down for a while and chomped on some cookies, getting my blood sugar back up. My blister, which gave me very little pain that day, has started bleeding profusely despite improvement. My sock was rather soaked in blood, but again, did not hurt and only looked grusome. I spent some time reuniting with some of the groups and meeting some new people.

The germans and damon went out to get supermarket food, and i was frustrated as i really wanted to go out and experience some good spanish food. The small villages have very modest food provisions, and the meals they prepare there are not excellent (although taste great at the time and are much appreciated!). Luckily, tim was willingly to have a few beers and accomponied me to a cool little tapas bar where every liitle item was 1 euro... i had about 6 items and then dropped tim off at the (huge!) cathedral for mass. i was initially going to go, but my head felt rather poor from the sun exposure of the day and i wanted to lay down.

Spent a lazy evening planning the days of the rest of the camino. I wish i had more time, or an open ended schedule, as the need for a schedule detracts from the whole �camino� experience. I understand that it is very hard to do for americans especially, but i highly recommend that if you are going on the camino, try your best to havfe a very loose and open ended schedule. You want to spend each day living positively, eating when you are hungry, resting when you are tired, stopping where you feel so inspired. Off to bed in my cubby...