A week passed and we discovered that there was nothing new to discover on La Meseta. When the Camino passed through a repetitive landscape before in La Rioja, Juan and I focused more on ourselves. Deep conversations were scattered between shallow hills and we felt closer to each other. However, walking through La Meseta for many days had a surprisingly different influence on us. There was no need to talk, no need to think, no need to solve any problems. This time, instead of us being the center of the universe, we became more aware of the surroundings. We found joy in hearing our steps, watching hawks and the colors of early autumn. We let the seemingly boring nature shine in the foreground of our lives. It felt wonderful to be really present and in the present.
I called my mum and I couldn’t be happier. Walking the Camino during the pandemic was a brilliant idea. I was getting stronger, I was eating great food and spending most of the days breathing fresh air.
Our Camino friend Matthias thinks that it’s impossible to catch covid when you are walking outside – you breath the virus in, then you breathe it out.
I wish viruses worked that way. Nevertheless, I was not scared to catch the corona virus either. People in the albergues and restaurants were always strict about masks, hygiene and keeping their distance. We kept meeting the same pilgrims every day, mostly in albergues. Having a chance to say “Buen Camino!” was quite rare during the day.
Warm October afternoons enchanted our minds into sun-bearable lightness of being.
Especially because we could shed many layers of clothes during the walk. At this point we felt like we were walking the Camino for the love of walking. In the meantime, the sun was working on a trucker’s tan only on our left arms.
The days of shorts sadly came to an end around Carrión de los Condes. We were still motivated to carry on, carry on, as if nothing really matters… But only after we bought long-sleeve thermal T-shirts. We were not the only pilgrims surprised by a cold continental wind – several people showed us their brand new hats and gloves. We also quickly learned that the thermal T-shirts are very useful as pyjamas. The hosts in albergues preferred saving money than keeping their words and actually heating up the rooms. Once we were the only guests in the entire albergue and the stove was programmed to work only for two hours. The host went to sleep at home. We dragged him out of his warm bed at 8 am because we forgot our walking sticks behind a locked gate.
A little by little we were getting sick and tired of cold albergues. In order not to get sick for real, we decided to treat ourselves with a private hostel room. We were happy as soon we entered –
the room was already warm and the bathroom even had a bathtub!
What a luxury! It absolutely didn’t matter that the bathtub was barely big enough for one person. “Now your left leg goes under my right arm, ok?” After five minutes of intense gymnastics we were both soaking in warm water, but we could barely move. We stayed in the bathtub until the water got cold. Getting out seemed even harder than going in. None of us felt up for that challenge until we really had to.
Any day on the Camino my heart could be warmed up by brief encounters with random cats. Juan and I were always on the lookout. Whoever spotted a feline first had to yell “Cat stop!”. I love cats and cats love me, so pretty much always they were curious to say hi. Some dishonest cats faked their affection to pilgrims. As soon they heard a backpack being opened, they gathered like hens for feeding.
Once we met a really hungry kitten on the way to Terradillos de los Templarios. We were quite surprised to hear such a loud meow coming from a skinny black kitten. He (as we assumed) seemed scared and lost, walking on an asphalt road in the middle of nowhere, at least 4 km far from the nearest village. Someone must have left him there! He was used to people and immediately came to greet us. As we continued our walk, he began following us with loud meowing. I fed him a piece of chorizo. He must have been starving! He would not have survived, sooner or later he was going to be run over by a car. This is exactly how all my cats in Slovakia died. I didn’t want this to happen to Santiago! We gave him an appropriate name and decided to bring him to the nearest village.
Santiago really enjoyed being carried on my chest for about an hour. He was fed, rested and warm. He started purring and massaging my breasts, trying to get some milk. It felt very pleasant. He tried to escape from us as soon as we arrived to the village. Luckily our albergue, Jacques de Molay, had a beautiful garden where he could rest. The host was not very pleased to see the kitten: “We can’t keep him here, you will take him with you tomorrow!” Juan replied: “Yes, of course ;-)” I pre-chewed some chorizo and let Santiago eat a bit more. We went to eat dinner and do the laundry. In the meantime, Santiago was already bonding with other pilgrims. Spanish proverb says “El que no llora, no mama (baby that doesn’t cry doesn’t eat)”. He was going to be happy there, someone would always feed him.
Juan and I agreed that Santiago was the meowiest cat that we had ever met.
It was getting really cold after the sunset. Santiago disappeared from the garden. We went for a little walk around the albergue to look for him. Unfortunately, he did not respond to our cat calls. But a different animal did. Suddenly we heard very heavy footsteps and the sound of clicking nails approaching the albergue. An enormous dog appeared in front of us. We were petrified at first. The dog looked very relaxed, walked into the garden and just lied down on the lawn. We announced his presence to the host: “There is an immense dog in the garden!” “Ah, yes?” She seemed very curious. She walked to the dog and started rubbing his belly. “Que eres un tonto! (You’re stupid)” She explained that it was her puppy and he escaped from home. A puppy??? This puppy was the biggest dog I had ever seen in my life. It was a Spanish mastiff by the way.
I woke up in the morning because I heard meowing from the garden. Santiago was back! He didn’t freeze last night! The host had given him a bowl of milk. Congratulations, now you have a cat. I was not worried about Santi anymore. I fed him a bit of chorizo and said a heart-breaking goodbye. I had to make sure he was not following me anymore.
We followed the Camino and reached the half-way milestone close to Sahagún. We celebrated it by breaking our food habits and eating a rich second breakfast. Later that day, we were the only guests eating dinner in an albergue in Bercianos del Real del Camino.
Another strange Camino rule: the smaller the village is, more words it has in its name.
A pilgrim in his early 60s had just arrived and asked if he could join us. He was a man of many words, named by his parents as Santiago. We quickly learned that he was a Camino addict. Every time he needs a short life break, he walks a part or all of the Camino. He has walked every Camino route in Spain several times and he has stood in the cathedral square in Santiago around 35 times. He was more than passionate to tell us everything about the Camino. Did we just get second Camino Papá or a walking tour guide? One thing was for sure – not even covid can stop Santiago on the way to Santiago.
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