...And Lighten Your Pack
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

September 27th, 2015

9/27/2015

1 Comment

 
​
​     Yesterday we stepped out of the town of Rabé de las Calzadas onto the Meseta, the vast plateau region of Spain. The Camino as it crosses over the Meseta is a dusty (or muddy, if it rains), stony,  flat-to- hilly path through rolling brown fields as far as the eye can see.  This section of the Camino is a treeless, shade-less walk where the vista is always the same all day, every day, for the week or so it takes to cross it.  
Picture
     The days on the Meseta feel long but, having crossed much of this stretch two years ago in driving rain and boot-sucking mud, I can attest that it's better to cross the Meseta in the hot sun, as we did yesterday, than in the rain.
     We walked 18 kilometers - about 11 miles - yesterday from Rabé de las Calzadas to the town of Hontanas. 
     As one approaches Hontanas one sees a sign advertising an albergue in the town 2 kilometers away.  Upon seeing this sign one is hit with two reactions:
     1. Is it possible that the town is still   ​another 2 kilometers away?  And,
     2. If the town is only 2 k's away, why can't I see it somewhere out on this flat, endless horizon?
​     But you keep walking, keep looking, keep hoping something resembling a town will soon come into view.
      Eventually you come to another sign advertising the same albergue, but this sign tells you the town is now 1 kilometer away.  You still can't see it.
      Finally you reach a big, showy sign announcing that the albergue is 500 meters away. But where the heck's the town?!  You scan the scene before you and all you see is:   
Picture
     But you keep walking - what else can you do? - and then thirty seconds later you suddenly see:
Picture
      Like an oasis - or maybe a mirage? - in the middle of the high desert, up has  popped Hontanas, the El Dorado of the Meseta, the Las Vegas of the Camino.
    
​ Hontanas
Picture
    Well, mayhaps I hyperbolate just a weence.
​    But though Hontanas may be a one-street town, that street is lined with albergues and cafes, offering plenty of beds and food, which is about all the entertainment a weary pilgrim requires.
     We were hoping to - and managed to - get beds at the same albergue we stayed at last time, El Puntido.
Picture
     El Puntido is the coolest albergue on the Hontanas strip, and was one of our favorites on our last Camino.
​     It's got a nice bar,
Picture
     
​...5€ beds in lovely dorm rooms,,
Picture
...and a little store that sells snacks and necessities.  But the store is locked and if you want to enter it you have to ring the store's the door bell, after which the hospitaliera who is busy registering pilgrims, working the bar, and doing the pilgrims' laundry, will drop what she's doing and open the store for you.
​     The showers were about average.albergue showers.    
Picture
   There was plenty of hot water and a hook on the wall upon which  to hang your clothes, which was nice, but made for a tricky situation since the showers were co-ed.  This meant that you had to either hang your clean clothes over the stall door where the'd get wet from the already damp stall walls and the spray from your shower, or you could hang your clothes on the hook outside the stall where they'd stay dry, but then after your shower you'd have to hop outside the stall for a moment to grab your clothes and risk flashing some poor guy who  might be waiting in line to use the shower.
     I opted to hang my clothes on the hook and after my shower to crack the stall door and take a teeny peek outside to make sure there were no guys in the room, then zip out and  grab my clothes and get dressed in the stall while holding my clothes, being careful not to drop them or let them touch the wet walls of the stall.  It was a delicate operation but I pulled it off splendidly.
​     Dinner was a 9.50€ pilgrim meal served in the homey, rustic-looking albergue dining room.
Picture
     The food was so good.
​     I ordered a seafood paella for starters,
Picture
...followed by the tastiest, tenderest beef stew with a side of fries to dip into the juice,
Picture
...and for desert I chose, of course, the rice pudding option.
Picture
     Our very nice dinner partners were a Spanish university professor of languages and an Episcopalian priest who, unlike the Catholic  diocesan priest we met a few days earlier on the Camino, felt no need to hike in his cassock.
Picture
     To each his own Camino.
1 Comment
Doug
9/27/2015 06:47:46 pm

All these pictures of desserts like rice pudding and pastry make me want to run out to Panera or the local donut shop for some sweets!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Patti Liszkay

    My husband Tom and I will be walking the 490.7-mile Camino de Santiago de Compostela from St. Jean Pied de Port, France, to Santiago, Spain. We leave Columbus 9/02/15 and return 11/02/15, God willing.
    If you're interested in reading about our first Camino two years ago I've chronicled that journey in "Tighten Your Boots" at www.pattiliszkay.weebly.com

    Archives

    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

    The sequel to "Equal and Opposite Reactions" in which a woman discovers the naked truth about herself.
    Picture
    ​"Hail Mary"
    by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Amazon:

    https://www.amzn.com/1684334888


     A romantic comedy of errors.
           Lots and lots of errors.

    Picture
    "Equal And Opposite Reactions"
     by Patti Liszkay
    Buy it on Kindle:

    http://amzn.to/2xvcgRa 
    or in print:

    http://www.blackrosewriting.com/romance/equalandoppositereactions
    or from

    The Book Loft
    of German Village,
    Columbus, Ohio

    Picture
    Or check it out at the Columbus Metropolitan Library
    Picture
Proudly powered by Weebly
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact