Finishing the Day in Frontier Town

Day twelve was another day of beautiful meseta walking and annoying wind.  We left Hornillos del Camino in the early morning cold, but we noted that there were no clouds on the horizon today.  We were a little nervous about dealing with the sun on the open meseta, but we needn't have worried.  There was a freezing arctic wind that stuck with us all day long. It blew constantly, completely negating any warming effects of the sun, but doing nothing to keep it from burning us.  We spent most of the day bundled in layers and sunblocking our small exposed pieces of skin.  In addition to the cold, the wind blew the dirt and dust from the grain fields into our eyes and noses, and onto our skin.  When we finally arrived at our destination, Itero de la Vega, we must have looked like four tumbleweeds carried in by a rogue gust.

Surrounded by fields of grain and wind turbines for most of the day

The village of Hontanas for breakfast

The ruins of convento de San Anton along the route

Castojeriz Iglesia Santa Maria

After a day of gorgeous vistas and small medieval villages with limited food options and an alarming shortage of banks, I was a little concerned about how we would be paying to sleep and eat tonight.  Fortunately (for the finances but not the appetites), our planned lunch stop in Castrojeriz netted nothing but oranges and a loaf of bread from a rather pathetic shop.  Left with 30 Euros and a guidebook that claimed we could sleep for 24 Euros tonight, we decided to hope for an ATM in Itero de la Vega so that we could also eat.  

As we slugged out the last few kilometers on dirt track after descending from the meseta, I saw something red shimmering in the distance. In my tired and sun/wind burned state, I hallucinated that it was a Coke vending machine - glimmering at the end of the trail.  As we got closer, it became clear that it was actually a red car parked on the side of the road that intersected with the trail.  Upon arriving at the intersection, I realized we had found the best of both worlds.  The red car carried two men who were "selling" coke at a little table for pilgrims.  They were also giving out information about a hostel in the next village, where we planned to stay.  With my pathetic Spanish, I was able to ascertain that there was no bank in Itero, and that the nearest one was 15 km away.  Those are not the words a pilgrim wants to hear at the end of the day.  We assessed the 30 Euros I had and the shimmering cokes on the table.  We decided to get two cokes to share (to make sure we had enough for beds), and to leave ourselves with a couple of Euros for a loaf of bread if necessary.  Priorities.

Rolling into Itero de la Vega felt like walking back in time to some town in the Wild West - a ghost town.  We intended to find the hostel advertised by our Coke vendors, but when we passed a "saloon" with a credit card symbol on the door, this tumbleweed decided it was time to take off her boots and pull up a chair.  The fact that there was also a sign for free WiFi quickly convinced the other three tumbleweeds in my party that this was where we were meant to stop for the night. 

We were not deterred by the local clientele hanging out at the bar.  Nolan was drawn in by "The Simpsons" playing in Spanish.  I was drawn to the sunny, concrete courtyard like a magnet.  There was no dust blowing around.  There were clotheslines hanging in full sun.  There were bunk beds and hot showers, and a WiFi connection that really worked.  I was happy to pay for the beds and four dinners of the "combination plate" with absolutely no clue as to what that might mean.

The cold wind continued to blow, and I ran in and out of the sun trying to warm up and then cool off.  We all tuned in to our own virtual worlds and reconnected with friends and family at home. And, at 7:00 when the bartender came outside to let us know we could eat, we were all thrilled to have a plate of eggs, pork and fries. Apparently they share my aversion to vegetables in the Wild West.  Bueno.  Gracias amigos!