Day 16, Fromista to Carrion del Conde, November 15

In kilometers of course.

Tonight, we stay at the Convent of St. Clare... for only 5 euros!.  It is a beautiful old convent and we hope to attend a Vesper service this evening.  It rained a bit today but overall the weather has been pleasant.  Today, we had lunch with a woman from Japan who travels the Camino wearing traditional Japanese garb.  It is incredible to see a woman walking this many kilometers wearing a kimono and Japanese sandals.

Day 15, Castrojeriz to Fromista, November 14

Day 14, Hornillos Del Campo to Castrojeriz, November 13

Even when the landscape is a bit dull, the sky provides us with some interesting shapes.

Father Eamonn standing in front of the church in Hontanas where he led a pilgrim Mass in English.  It was one of our favorite moments so far.

St. Martin Hospital for Pilgrims.  It was well known in medieval times for curing St. Anthonys fire which was a fungus which often turned gangrenous.

Day 13, Burgos to Hornillos Del Campo, November 12

One of many water fountains found along the Camino.

It´s been 2 weeks! We´ve walked over 200 miles.

We´re in Castrojeriz tonight at the end of Day 14.  Today was Sunday and we were blessed today to go to church with some fellow pilgrims in a town called Hontanas.  As we walked into town, Bilal from Germany stopped us and told us he had a message from Father Eamonn.  Eamonn had asked the local priest if he could lead a service for the pilgrims in english and the Spanish priest kindly obliged.  There we sat, Judit from Hungary, Matan from Israel, Brend from Holland, Bilal from Germany, and me and Mark from Bostonia;  all of us from different faith traditions.  We sat together and watched as Eamonn prayed a blessing over all of us and Mark did the reading from Proverbs which just happened to be about a good wife!  I think God is trying to tell him something. :)  My reading was from Thessalonians about being sons (and daughters) of light.  The Gospel reading for the day was the parable of the talents.  We were able to worship together and it was a beautiful time together.
Many of our friends we met at the beginning have left the Camino to go back to work so we find that we are making new friends every day even as we feel sad that we cannot be with those who have left.  As Mark likes to keep saying ¨It´s all part of the Camino.¨

Day 12: Agés to Burgos (November 11)

Father Eamonn on a beautiful morning.

Mark, Becky, and Pedro in front of the Burgos Cathedral where El Cid is buried.

On this evening, we said goodbye to our Mallorcan friends as they had to return to work after 2 weeks on the Camino.  We will miss them!

Day 11: Belorado to Agés (November 10)

We climbed into a pine forest after walking for a few days through brown fields. After the vineyards of La Rioja, we were a bit spoiled so we were happy to see green again.

Today, we walked past a Monument to the Fallen from the Spanish Civil War where Franco´s army shot 300 Republican soldiers. It´s so easy to forget that the beauty that surrounds us also holds a sad and troubled history.