Manzilla

We woke up in bodego del camino after having walked 31 km the day before. The hostel we stayed at was lovely with a big garden and kitchen so we took our time getting ready. We ate breakfast in one of the few bars in the town and ran into some of our friends. They had stayed in the municipal hostel but since we arrived at 5:30 the day before we assumed this would be full. Bodego was not that nice a town as it felt as though it was only built for the camino. It had a few albergues, bars and one tiny supermarket. All the buildings were modern and it lacked the spanish charm of the other villages. Therefore we were eager to leave after breakfast.

The first stretch of the walk was through the mesetta again. The mesetta are the flat hot plains in spain. I find them very boring as the landscape does not change much and there is not much shade from the sun. Katie doesnt mind it as much as she says they remind her of Illinois and that she expects to see her house around the bend.

As the walk went on, the temperature rose and my bladder became fuller from all the water I had drank. I suddenly realised I really had to pee. For girls in the meseta this is a problem. There is not a tree or a bush or anything anywhere. Also peeing al fresco can prove tricky when there are lots of insects and flies around. With the heat though all you want to do is to keep on drinking water yet this is just making the problem worse.

Finnally I saw a village on the horizon. There must be a bar or an albergue or a house or a toilet somewhere I thought. Even though the village was not directly on the track I decided it was worth the detour. I left my bag on the camino as there was nothing but smelly socks in it and nobody wants to steal more weight to carry through the meseta. I trusted it would be safe. Then I followed the road to the village.

It was very bizarre as the road down to the village seemed to be some sort of open air museum. Along the road they had put up old agricultural machinery and signs explaining what they were used for and pictures. Unfortunatly due to the state of my bladder I kept walking. There where also many boarded up houses and sheds. The more I walked the further away the village seemed to be. About ten minutes in I realised that I was making a significant mile long detour just to pee. Also I began to question if anyone still lived in the village and if so whether they had toilets at all. There was not a soul in sight so I decided to risk it and pee al fresco.

Back on the camino I walked the next 5km alone listening to music on my ipod. Then a bar appeared and I was reunited with Katie and Luuk and Joo an american korean man from new york who I had been walking with earlier. We drank some Coca Cola and continued our walk.

We also ran into Eduardo a very friendly Italian man who we see every single day. Then the path joined up with the Roman road that half of the people walking the camino choose to take. Stewart and the Germans decided to take that route. Stewart is in his 60s fron Canada and a very friendly man. However it is very easy to get stuck into an endlessly boring conversation with him. Also he snores very loudly. I dodged the bullet by walking very fast beside them pretending I was really into my music.

I arrived in monzilla or godzilla as Luuk called it at around 1 with Felix, one of the German boys. It was a beautiful village. When Katie arrived we checked into the municipal hostel which was really cute and old and run by a hilarious woman. She brought out a saw when someone complained of blisters, offering to amputate the leg. On the register at the hostel we saw that Luuk and the German girls Anna and Pauline had already checked in. Having heard rumours of the river at Monzilla we had our suspicions where they were.

Diarmaid, sergio, natalie, bo, katie and I walked down to the river after Katie had made us all stretch first. At the river we found Luuk and the Girls as well as E.J a boy from Navada and Lawrance a tall french girl who walks super fast. The water was freezing cold and the current was very strong, nevertheless I went in. It felt so good to be swimming on such a hot day. Katie was concerned about her blisters and decided not to risk it.

After a bit of tanning E.J took us to a spot where you could jump into the water. There was a tall tree with a rope which you swung from to dive into the water below. Most of the boys jumped in and so did Natalie and Lawrence. It looked very dodgy to me and I didnt want to risk it. We watched the boys being macho and rated their jumps out of ten. Then we took a group picture at a fountain and went off to find lunch.

Bo and Natalie offered to cook us dinner that night. We decided to pass the time by sitting at the bar  across from the hostel. Raphael showed us all which wine to order as being Spanish he knew the specialities. As we were sitting there, suddenly Zach and Adam walked by. It was great to be reunited with our friends.

Dinner was a delicious pasta and sauce and we ate it outside with about 15 people sitting aroubd a table. It was super fun. The rest of the evening was spent chatting, playing the guitar, trying to get Katie to sing and playing games. It had been a very enjoyable day.