To Zamora

Hospitalero - pronounced "hospital arrow". A host in a refuge for pilgrims along the Camino.

We are planning to be hospitaleros in Zamora later this year. Maybe once I've done it, I will be more understanding. I arrived in Zamora early this afternoon, only to find out the refuge doesn't open until 3:00. The guide books say it opens at 1:30. Washed laundry could be drying in the sun. I could be resting, or drinking a hot drink. Instead, several other pilgrims and I have to wait until 3 pm to start our afternoon routine.

In Salamanca it was even worse. The refuge didn't open until 4:00 pm.

Just a little frustrated right now. In over 100 days of Camino I've never seen a refuge that did not open until 3:00 pm, much less 4:00. I really try to be positive on this blog, and in 'real life', especially on the Camino, so I hope you can appreciate my feelings on this issue.

Other than that it was a beautiful day and walk, with heavy frost on everything at sunrise. Once again, this walk into a rather large city did not seem bad. Mostly through farmland until the last kilometer or so.

Finding a new group to socialize with in the evening. Su-young and Pait from South Korea, and a couple from Holland are here tonight.

Weather: Low 28F High 50F, but feeling much warmer at the times the sun broke through.
Distance: 18 km
Town: I am really looking forward to spending two weeks here. Museums, old churches, beautiful parks, and weather similar to Denver's, with lots of sun. In my two visits, it seems that this is a very wealthy city.

A few good pictures, including Juan's "Blue spanish eyes" (caught up with him when he took a day off in Zamora), frost on the cattails, the "plata colza" that will be bright yellow in 3 more weeks, a nice mural with our heart, the old bridge and city of Zomora, and a stork feeding her young out our albergue window, in a steeple-top nest, early this evening.