Day 24, July 1st, 2023
I don't even notice how bad the air is in the dormitory again until I have to go to the toilet in the middle of the night and open the door to the corridor. The rush of fresh air immediately makes me gasp for air. One day I will suffocate on the Camino.
Completely deprived of oxygen, I only wake up in the morning when Maria shines her headlamp directly in my face while she is packing her stuff. Still half asleep, I get up and am overwhelmed by the chaos in the bathroom, which has a grand total of only two sinks and two toilets. I just want to get out of here and eventually leave the hostel around 6:30 without being washed.
A greasy bar
Coffee. Where can I get coffee, please? After what feels like an eternity, I spot a bar across the street with a light on inside. It looks rather uninviting, but my craving for coffee is stronger than anything else. The interior is old, and it smells musty. Against the wall next to the toilet are a slot machine and an old armchair with an upturned chair on top of it. The TV is on, and the barmaid shuffles slowly around in flip-flops, holding an unlit cigarette. She indicates that I will have to wait a few more minutes until the coffee machine is ready, but I am welcome to stay. When the water is hot eventually, I order a large coffee, hoping for a 'digestive breakthrough'. When nothing of that sort happens, I order a second cup and use the waiting time to book a hotel room in Santiago de Compostela for July 14th. I have calculated that I should arrive there on that day, assuming everything goes according to plan. I am feeling a little wistful and realise that I don't actually want this to end. But by now there are still two weeks to go.
The Watch
After the second coffee also fails to produce the desired result, I leave the greasy bar and once again walk for what seems like an eternity along a main road. Shortly after Trabajo del Camino, the path finally turns right uphill into a less frequented area. But something is wrong. Something is missing. Oh God, my watch! My expensive sports watch is gone! I left it attached to the bed frame at the hostel. Panic! What now? Walk all the way back? At this moment that is the only thing I can think of. At the very least I have to get back to the main road, because here in the wilderness I can't do anything.
On my way back down to the main road, I call the hostel, but they don't understand me at all and think I want to book a bed for tonight. I wave my arms frantically to hail a taxi, but none stop. A Spanish pilgrim tries to help me by calling a taxi company, but of course they want to know our location which we can't give precisely. Next I meet two German pilgrims, one of whom suggests I try Uber, but there isn't a single Uber vehicle nearby.
I am utterly distraught and continue walking down the street back towards León, where I ask in a bar if they can call me a taxi. The barmaid looks at me in surprise and points to a taxi stand right in front of the door. Blind as a bat, I didn't see the taxi in my agitation. So, the first hurdle is cleared, and a few minutes later I am in a taxi back to the hostel. Augustin, the driver, promises to pick me up again and take me back to the point where I left off and gives me a pen with his phone number on it. Now I just have to be lucky that someone has found my watch and turned it in honestly, or maybe it is even still hanging on the bed frame.
When I arrive at the hostel, I run across the courtyard and up the stairs to the dormitory. The cleaning ladies are in full swing and look at me questioningly as I burst in and head straight for my bed. I don't give them a chance to scold me, I talk nonstop, pointing alternately at my wrist and my bed. And sure enough, there is my watch. I am so relieved and want to squeak with joy. The cleaning ladies are happy for me too and visibly surprised that they haven't noticed the watch. mind you, the grey strap has been well camouflaged against the grey bed frame.
It takes less than two minutes, and I am back outside. Augustin could have waited for me then, but of course he is gone now. He finally arrives ten minutes after my call and promptly charges me for a second pickup. Whatever, I am just glad to have my watch back and to be able to continue my tour exactly from that spot where I realised my predicament.
Villar de Mazarife
It is already 9:30 when I continue my Camino. Normally I would be at least ten kilometres further along, but it doesn't matter. I am in no hurry. Eventually, my adrenaline subsides and I can enjoy the walk. And because I am heading south, I have the sun on my face all day. Things are going well today for me.
The route mainly follows a lightly trafficked country road and, surprisingly, continues straight ahead. Shouldn't this change after León? Later, the path continues on red clay soil through the heathland until, shortly before the small village of Villar de Mazarife, I come across the old Roman road at a bend, which I will follow all the way to Astorga.
However, today I am staying in Villar de Mazarife, in a hostel that resembles a quaintly rambling labyrinth. Apart from the rooms and the bar, almost everything is open to the outside, albeit covered. Various corridors lead across wooden floors from one section to another. Pilgrims have left their mark on the walls with drawings and messages, everything is intentionally covered in graffiti. The wooden bunk beds are spread across several rooms and are very comfortable and cosy - nothing creaks or wobbles! And after a long time, I am finally getting proper bed linens instead of paper sheets, all for just ten euros.
There is a little supermarket in the village where, besides some fruit, I also buy a few prunes for obvious reasons. That is when I realise I don't have my purse with me. I do have some change in my pocket, so I am able to pay for my groceries, but I am worried that my purse is either lying on my bed, visible for everyone, or that I lost it on the way to the supermarket.
What a day is this?
I hurry back and am relieved to find my purse on my pillow, untouched. Honestly, I have had enough adrenaline rushes for today, all I want is a cold shower. So I am having that shower and then realise that I have forgotten my towel, respectively washcloth. With an icy smile I use my t-shirt to dry myself, which I then - soaked as it now is, have to pull over my still very damp body.
What I still need to complete this disturbing day are two Americans in my room, both of whom have a certain quirk that I can barely stand in Americans. Firstly, there is the trendy Vocal Fry, a way of speaking where the voice deliberately drops into a deep, creaky tone. Secondly, I find it absolutely dreadful when someone uses the word like multiple times in one sentence, even in those where it is completely out of place.
Anyway, next to me talks a 'Like'-man to a 'Vocal fry'-woman. I can hardly stand this combination and have to leave the room because I am getting completely worked up about it.
The fly
For supper there is soup with beans and chickpeas and meat-lobes with fries.
While I am eating, I observe a fly on the tablecloth in front of me, lying on its back and unable to turn around. Another fly approaches, stops briefly in front of the upside down fly, then trying twice to turn it over, without success. It gives up, walks towards me and stops in front of my plate. My initial interpretation is this:
The fly approaches me because it wants me to help the upside down fly, since itself can't do it. So I turn the upside down fly over, but this doesn't change a thing. Although it is now the right way round, it still doesn't move. Now I think, maybe it is like this:
The healthy fly tries to help the apparently ill fly, but after two attempts realises that it is pointless. It walks towards me as if to say, look, I tried, there is no helping it, so you don't need to bother and try yourself. But I try anyway and soak a piece of bread in my wine and place it in front of the ill fly, but it doesn't touch it. Therefore, this version two is probably correct.
I think I am beyond help as well, I should go to bed. What a day.
Distance: 21.7 km / Steps: 24,159 and several uncounted thousands more