Espana

Sara and I had a rough morning; we had a bit of a disagreement. It's inevitable. When you spend 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for 30+ days with someone you are going to bicker no matter who you are with. However we have only ruffled each others feathers a few times, they have been pretty tame and generally over stupid shit. We both feel that we have done amazingly well considering we are in each others business all the time and privacy is pretty much non-existent. By the time we were half-way through our 35km walk today to Hospital de Orbigo we had worked it out and were back on track. The heel toe express is what we do and it's amazing how quickly you forget just how therapeutic it is to walk.

We asked Snr. Camino for a break in the weather...and we got it! The sky was yellow and the sun was blue. It was actually the first opportunity Sara had to wear a sundress and I had to wear shorts and a short sleeve shirt. There was nary a drop of rain in the sky. It must've been 80/85 degrees out - a drastic change from what we had been experiencing. This became a classic situation of be careful what you wish for...the sun and heat created a whole new set of challenges to deal with: Extra weight in the backpack from the heavy clothes we weren't wearing, increased consumption of water and the need to carry more,  the constant application of sunscreen that still didn't stop some sunburns, and the ability of the sun to drain your energy. Sara and I actually missed the cold and the rain; its much easier to stay warm in the cold and rain than it is to stay cool in the heat.

The disagreement this morning was a result of a combination of many things. We are always bummed at the end of a rest day, we were a bit hungover, we didn't get much sleep the night before and we were very sad to be leaving Leon. However we would do it all again in a heartbeat because we had one of the most incredible days of our Camino yesterday. The Camino has been tough, fun, challenging and incredible. However it's kind of a bubble world as it's all Camino all the time. We finally got a feel of the local flavor and a view of Spain off of the Camino. (McG - I get it!) We owe this lesson to the unofficial El Presidente and First Lady of Leon, Felix and Belen.

Felix was a senior in high school when he came to America to spend a year as an exchange student in Indiana where he was paired with Sace's step-mom Pam's family in 1968. Felix described coming from Spain to America at that time as extreme as going to Mars. It was a seminal moment in his life and he always stayed close with and visited his exchange family. Fast forward more than a few years later and you can tell that Felix has been successful in life...success with a beautiful wife and partner, success in business, success with an impressive family of five kids, success most of all in happiness and being content with who he is and what he is about. 

Felix met us at 1:00 in front of our hotel and took us on a quick walking tour of the old part of Leon. It is a really cool city with old roman walls/forts, amazing architecture and neat small streets that are easy to get lost in. After the quick tour and brief history lesson Felix took us on what equates to a pub crawl.  The way you roll in Spain is you go to a bar, order a drink (we stuck with the Spanish wines) and each drink comes with a tapa. Each bar has their own special tapa. You have one drink and tapa and when finished you move on to the next bar. The number of cool little bars in Leon is staggering...they are ubiquitous.

At the start of our pub crawl, Felix's wife Belen met us. She is beautiful, funny and charming. I quickly realized we were with a well known couple of Leon. Everywhere we went, somebody was saying hello to Felix and Belen...that's when I started to call him El Presidente. He seemed to know everyone and everyone loved and respected Felix. It was easy to see why! Felix is smart, charming, stylish, funny, caring and personable. He quickly moved to the top of my unofficial list of coolest Spaniards. 

After our fifth glass of wine and tapas (including cecina - cured beef specific to Leon, garlic soup - a delicious peasant dish, cow stomach, potatoes and peppers, shrimp, black pudding, fried egg over a tomato sauce, chocolate mouse, flan), it was time for Siesta. Spain has a tradition called Siesta...at around 2:00 PM every Spanish city that we have been in basically shuts down. Stores close, work seems to screech to a halt, the streets are empty and the only people walking around are the easy to spot pilgrims. Felix and Belen dropped us off back at the hotel and said they would be back at 9 PM.  A result of Siesta is that Spain is a very late country. Restaurants don't even typically open until 9 pm and when we sat down for dinner at 10:30, we were the blue haired early crowd. 

Felix and Belen came by at 9 pm and we went for a drink and tapas at their favorite spot...a bar right in front of the stunning gothic cathedral of Leon known mostly for the 1900 square meters of beautiful glass paintings. We finished our drinks as the sun set and the lights came on the cathedral. We continued to pepper Felix with questions about Spain. When that was finished, Felix and Belen took us to the best meal we have had in Europe. We started with cows tongue with olive oil, then more cecina, that was followed by grilled octopus "pulpo" (hands down the best dish I have eaten in Europe and one of the best dishs ever),  a delicious steak served on a sizzling platter, side of potato covered with a steamed pepper and some cured cheese. Sofa king delicious.

Thank you Pam forgetting us in touch with El Presidente and thank you Felix and Belen! You have shown us and taught us so much about Spain. I hope we can return the favor in San Diego soon.

Camino Tip del Dia: I have yet to specifically say this as a Camino tip of the day so I am going to reiterate the point: Every ounce you are carrying matters. Do not overpack. Only bring exactly what you need. Your backpack should not weigh more than 10% of your body weight (excluding water). This can not be overemphasized...every person we have seen with injuries, and there have been many (including my own blisters), we also saw carrying a huge pack. 

Camino Friends del Dia: Gary and Margret. They are the aforementioned Canadians (Toronto) that are doing the Camino in (relative) style.  They are an intelligent, funny, cool and caring couple that you can tell still love each other very much. It's neat to see. They hooked us up big time by providing us with their itinerary of hotels. This has been invaluable information as I now have a routine of waking up and calling ahead in broken Spanish to the next hotel in the recommended city from Gary and Margret's itinerary, It has taken most of the albergues out of play and on most days provided us comfort that we had a reservation somewhere. It's also the carrot to keep Sace pushing because she knows we have a hotel at the end of the stick.

Camino Random Observation del Dia: Be careful with your Spanish. I have made a couple of mistakes trying to use words to describe situations. I told the story of meeting a Spanish dude and describing him as my hombre. This doesn't mean friend when a guy is describing another guy...it means your gay lover! (As an aside, way to go Obama. Better late than never.) It was a warm night last night so I told Belen I was caliente. She cracked up and then told me I was probably calour as telling someone you are caliente means you are hot for sex. 

Camino Song del Dia: Going Down the Road Feeling Bad, The Grateful Dead.