Wednesday, April 24, 2024
Once again the forecast called for rain, and once again the weather was perfect for us. It’s nice a cool, and there is just a gentle breeze. Perfect hiking weather.
This morning we had a hard time getting out on time. We had a private room, and it should have been easy, but it wasn’t. These slow starts are going to bite us one day.
Sahagún is considered the geographical center of the Camino. There is a cool couple of statues that mark the halfway point just as you come into town. So even though we’ve hiked exactly halfway now we know we are more than halfway done because we had a bunch of half days in the beginning when Betty was sick. We’re moving right along now.
In Sahagún we stayed at the Albergue Santa Cruz. It is really nice. Tonio, the Catholic priest in charge, and his crew do a great job of running everything. At 5pm we had a really nice “Pilgrim tea” where pilgrims were invited to get together and have some cookies and a drink and to talk about what we’ve learned on the Camino. The kids did a great job sharing.
Later, I introduced Betty, Nidia, and Joycelyn to one of my favorite Spanish foods: salmorejo. It’s like gazpacho (which is basically cold tomatoes and other veggies blended up with olive oil), but it’s ground up with bread as well -- so it’s really thick. It’s super good.
In the evening we had a nice communal dinner. Tonio and co. put up the first course (a yummy creamy veggie soup), and then everyone else added what they could (tortillas de patatas, chorizo, chips, olives, etc.). We all sat around a big table, and we had a great time. It was a really nice afternoon and evening.
