11th Day / Santo Domingos de calza - Belorado

Hello to everyone! we started walking this morning @ 6:24 am. we walked 22 km today; with two breaks adding up to half an hour. we arrived at belorado at nearly 1pm, neither one of us looked at our watches so we don´t know the exact time. we were close to the first to arrive having hot water when we showered; i can´t believe our luck we´ve had hot showers everyday except one day and that is unusual. wooooo, hooooo, the small things in life are most appreciated and bring a joyous smile to my face. let´s see, so you want to experience our life here on the camino: i just went to the bathroom and little things we take for granted are not so on the camino, it makes you think of how you use the resources that are available to you: the lights are on very short timers, in this bathroom when the light goes out there is only darkness, no hint of a light anywhere, it´s only on for seconds, not having time to do anything. the showers at the albergue were also on a timer, i would just put shampoo in my hair and the water would turn off, simple things that we take for granted. our day is simple enough: we get up, quietly gather our packs, trekking poles and sleeping bag in our arms )it makes too much noise when stuffing it into a sack), take our shoes off the shelf, put our things down on the floor somewhere, use the toilet, brush our teeth, pick up our things as we walk somewhere where we won´t disturb anyone who might be sleeping, put our boots on, stuff our sleeping bags into a stuff sack, put our packs on, walk out the door quietly if it´s not locked and go to the local fountain in the village to fill our camelbacks (add our elixer tablets for electrolites), put our packs on and follow a yellow arrow out of the village. Walah, we are on our way! we normally walk through a few villages before reaching our destination; at the first bar that is open we buy cola cao (hot chocolate) and a croissant, mmmmmmmm)& sometimes buying something small for lunch & put it in our sack for later when we get hungry. today we had a treat for lunch, in 2002 i discovered a product in the local supermacado: isabelle, a can with veggies. this time they no longer carry that particular product but have improved on it: rice, veggies, and tuna with some oil-it was so delicious. we are thinking even if the can´s weight is more than we want to carry it is worth it so we can really enjoy our lunch. the walk today was simple: walking through rolling hills of wheat fields and two other crops that are unknown to me. yesterday we passed through fields of snow peas where two combines were cutting them. it´s interesting, every piece of machinery i´ve seen on this journey is brand new. i haven´t seen a piece of old machinery anywhere, i just don´t understand why. the old camino as i know it is in many places being replaced with new buildings and that is very sad to me. we passed through a new town yesterday and we arrived at a golf course where mercedes benz was putting on a tournament, it just seemed so out of place. yes, progress in motion. a new camino is being born along with some old. i have started to think in terms of not what i am missing but, what will become. last night we had an unexpected reunion with a friend we haven´t seen since pamplona, Andrea. because of an injury he stayed behind and walked 40 km yesterday so he could find nicole and myself. tonight, he has invited us to have dinner with him, we are excited to see him again. he mentioned he may come to LA in january and come to visit us in arizona. since arriving today in belorado we have done our house chores, found a place to eat some french fries (not just any french fries, they are very good) and a coka cola and then went in search of the internet. Walah, here we are and now we are going to leave, maybe go rest a bit, we haven´t talked. I LOVE EVERYONE - LIFE IS GOOD - Sweet Dreams, AriZona