El Burgo Ranero, day 16, who knows how many steps
This morning as I was packing my bag up I dropped and broke my step counter so there ends that expirement. I don´t mind so much though because I think I have a large enough sample to be able to predict how many steps I would have had at the end with some sort of accuracy. And it is better this way anyways, because I aslo took my watch off at the suggestion of a german girl that I was walking with and now my dependence on mechanical gadgets has dropped. I think it is better because they were merely devices that I was using to put some quantitative number on what is most certainly a qualitative experience.
One thing that I need to comment on about Spain is the fact that the Spanish have an obsession with HAM. Ham is not meat. The other day I met a british woman who is living in Spain and who is a vegetarian, she told me that several times she has asked waiters if a dish had any meat in it and after being assured that it didn´t, ordered it, only to discover when it was brought out that it had Ham on it. When I walk into the supermarkets to order meat for a sandwhich there are probably 6 or 7 types of ham, an equal number of sausages, and funny bologna type products, and not a piece of beaf, chicken, or turkey in sight. It is nearly impossible to buy chicken or turkey lunch meat at the market, and when I do happen to encounter it I tend to gorge on it and not be able to enjoy my only chance in weeks to eat my prefered meat. So if you happen to love HAM Spain is definately a place for you... :-P
Another thing that has struck me as odd in the last couple of days is the shirt that a spanish barkeeper was wearing one morning when I went to eat breakfast. Her shirt said in english "Today I want to be myself." Talk about irony, perhaps she was fluent in english, but even so...
The last couple of days of walking have been mildly unremarkable. The meseta is very large and very flat, and there more or less aren´t any trees, but it is beautiful in its own way and I have enjoyed walking through it. It is freezing cold at night and roasting hot in the day, the sky is as blue as blue gets, there is hardly any water, all the crops need to be irrigated, and and farming is done on an incrediably large scale. The other day I stood and stared in amazement as I watched a forklift load bales of hay, each the size of a compact car, onto a Semi-truck for transport to who knows where.
Tonight I sleep 40 kilometeres out from Leon, and the question of the morning will be do I walk 19 kilometers to the next refugio or go all 40 into Leon and take a day of rest to see the city. I´m not sure, I´ll see what the morning brings.
One thing that I need to comment on about Spain is the fact that the Spanish have an obsession with HAM. Ham is not meat. The other day I met a british woman who is living in Spain and who is a vegetarian, she told me that several times she has asked waiters if a dish had any meat in it and after being assured that it didn´t, ordered it, only to discover when it was brought out that it had Ham on it. When I walk into the supermarkets to order meat for a sandwhich there are probably 6 or 7 types of ham, an equal number of sausages, and funny bologna type products, and not a piece of beaf, chicken, or turkey in sight. It is nearly impossible to buy chicken or turkey lunch meat at the market, and when I do happen to encounter it I tend to gorge on it and not be able to enjoy my only chance in weeks to eat my prefered meat. So if you happen to love HAM Spain is definately a place for you... :-P
Another thing that has struck me as odd in the last couple of days is the shirt that a spanish barkeeper was wearing one morning when I went to eat breakfast. Her shirt said in english "Today I want to be myself." Talk about irony, perhaps she was fluent in english, but even so...
The last couple of days of walking have been mildly unremarkable. The meseta is very large and very flat, and there more or less aren´t any trees, but it is beautiful in its own way and I have enjoyed walking through it. It is freezing cold at night and roasting hot in the day, the sky is as blue as blue gets, there is hardly any water, all the crops need to be irrigated, and and farming is done on an incrediably large scale. The other day I stood and stared in amazement as I watched a forklift load bales of hay, each the size of a compact car, onto a Semi-truck for transport to who knows where.
Tonight I sleep 40 kilometeres out from Leon, and the question of the morning will be do I walk 19 kilometers to the next refugio or go all 40 into Leon and take a day of rest to see the city. I´m not sure, I´ll see what the morning brings.
posted by -J at 12:05 PM
1 Comments:
Yahoo, are ya still hanging in there? Six more days & you'll have some company. What do ya say to that? Looks like you've inspired your brother to blog away! Oh, the anticipation of not knowing what's over the next hill...sounds like surveying to me :)!
Looking forward to the next blog of your continuing saga (wow, what a word)!
N Ayr Mtn
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