14th Day / Burgos - Hotanas

i am very happy and feel like i am five years old. i have a bottom bunk in a wonderful alburgue. my bed is angled in a corner but the wall is also angled in a corner making it a cozy spot. i put up a maroon blanket colored blanket to make a fort. i have my head lamp on so i can journal. just finished eating an ensalada mixta. this day has been so magical. searched out computers found a nice internet cafe. instead of staying out of town at the albergue and missing the festivities in burgos we decided to stay at the hotel there was great music everywhere. for us we ate rather late 10 pm. deciding on a little restaurant where we found an italian carbonara pasta dish absolutely inviting. as soon as we finished we walking back to our hotel when i saw and heard great drumming. okay, this is so much fun and i have to follow them. eight men in black long gowns, with something strapped to their backs, a big drum strapped around their waists, faces painted the color of blood, black hoods with horns, symbolizing bulls. i cannot stop my body from dancing to the rythm of the drums and my excitement is over the top to be witnessing such a wonderful event. we laughed, running ahead of them as they moved through the town. my endorphins were running high. the things strapped to their backs were fireworks which they set off at the end. they also had two lights at the top of their heads. the crowd was growing with anticipation and excitement. during this moment they also set off fireworks from a can in the center of their circle. what a great way to end the night for us. we went running back to the hotel laughing the entire way. my night in bed was not so enchanting. the bed was short, hard and slanted. i did not sleep, my toes hurt from the tucked in sheet that was too tight (i finally pulled the sheet out a few inches but it was too late, my toes were already painful). i knew we had a long walk ahead of us today, 31 km and i did not have the energy to walk ten steps. when checking out of the hotel i nicely told the sweet woman about the beds that were very uncomfortable. she said, she was sorry about our night and could not do anything about our room but she could give us breakfast. we had earlier declined breakfast, but for the moment we did not have the energy to take one step toward santiago. something about having two coal cao´s each, a croissant and other breads lightened us up. making a comment: just drop us off in the middle of nowhere got nicole and i laughing hard again as we do when we get very tired and cannot put one foot straight in front of the other. this one comment changed our day to a magical one, forts, nicole and i being rori and loreli of the ¨gilmore girls¨ a wonderful program on the tv for the past seven seasons and ended in march 2007. one thing i´ve learned today is you have to chose your own adventure. your next thought if acted upon can bring you enormous joy. nichole and i reached our albergue today in record time and are excited about slipping into our sleeping bags and sleeping until we wake up. i´ve been journaling for an hour, nicole has already slept one hour longer than me. i am going to take a picture of my very cozy fort. life is good.... oh, to add to my joy today my sweet, wonderful new friend (diane) was unexpectedly sitting at our albergue eating a tomatoe and cheese sandwich. when i spotted her she had aready seen me and we both had the biggest smiles. buen camino, my friend. we talked for awhile when she had to leave to walk another ten km to her destination for the night- catrojeriz. i know as she does we shall meet again on this camino. and now, a few pictures of my cozy retreat. life just got better, yes, it is a magical day. we have seen two more of our wonderful friends walter and stephan and of course andrea. the only dear friend missing is willie who maybe in leon. we miss willie, who is known by his friend walter as ¨casanovä¨. willie is endearing. as of today, we have walked 222.51 miles or 350 km. life is good.