“It’s all fun and games until you have to pee in the woods.” – me.
We started walking about 7:15am out of Llanas – which is a fantastic & fun little town with beautiful architecture. I highly recommend it.
The route this time weaved in and out with coastal and inland views. Of course it was all beautiful. We walked across a small beach again and through some “foresty bits” as Stephen calls it.
No day is complete without my daily pause to speak with all the animals. I made friends with some donkeys, chickens, a few dogs – including a really sweet blind German Shepherd (more on that later), a cute and cuddly miniature goat, and a goose. Okay the goose was not pleased to make my acquaintance but it was just a minor misunderstanding.
Unfortunately, I got involved with some stinging nettles again. About a week and a half ago I was petting a horse and the back of my hand brushed against them and it stung for at least 24 hours. Ugh. Today my leg brushed up against it when I was petting the miniature goats.
Details about the blind dog. I walked by a big German Shepherd who was chained to a fence. He didn’t bark but it sounded like he was crying. Usually, I don’t get close to the dogs that are chained because they are typically guard dogs but this one seemed so sad. I watched him for a minute or two before walking closer and I realized he was blind. He was sniffing all over trying to figure out where we were. He was so sweet and just wanted someone to pet and love on him. I signed up for the job immediately. I think he might get a bad wrap given his situation and that he looks huge. He was a sweetheart and if I could have guaranteed I wouldn’t be arrested on foreign land, I would have cut the chain.
I met another American. Larry, 72, from Oklahoma. His son works in minor league baseball so that was a nice connection. Larry hasn’t always lived in OK. He has lived all over the world, including, you guessed it, Australia. Obviously, I told him about Stephen and that they would need to meet. As the Camino always does, we ran into Larry later on the trail. He was sitting outside having a beer at his hostel for the night as we were walking up a hill and through the field. I heard “come on Kansas, let’s go! Get up the hill already.” When we arrived at the top of the hill he invited us to sit down and have a beer. The two of them hit it off immediately. Apparently, the place Larry lived in Australia wasn’t far from Stephen’s hometown. So now they are best mates. It was like listening to two people who had known each other forever. I basically had to drag Stephen out of there to get to our hostel.
After we left the happy hour with Larry, we walked about a half mile and that’s when the nightmare began. That beer has sold me up the river. Guys, I hate peeing in the woods. You know me, I take every precaution to avoid this exact situation. The main and only reason is, I don’t want anyone to see my bum. I can pee with my backpack on and everything but I am so paranoid of being spooked by another hiker or picking a terrible spot and some random farmer catches a peek. It’s really an issue. Maybe a Camino lesson. Ha! I asked Stephen how much further to our hostel…”only about 2.5k”. Quickly doing math in my head. Shit. That’s like another mile and a half. “Okay, I think I can make it,” said my inner dialogue. My bladder, “umm, no you can’t.” Folks, I turned into a bomb dog looking for an explosive device trying to find a proper place to pee. It was ridiculous. First I saw this stone building up ahead with tall grass all around it. “Whew” I thought, I’ll go behind that and nobody will see me. I walked closer. Dammit, it’s a church. “That’s sac-religious to pee next to a church. I’ll be teleported straight to hell.” Ugh. Okay. Keep walking. Just focus on walking. One step closer and another. I’m literally walking like a duck to handle this situation. Finally Stephen (annoyed) says, “just climb up there in the trees, I’ll keep walking and you can just catch up.” Okay I thought, I can do this. So I hiked up into the forest a little bit from the path, did the deed and the shimmy shimmy shake. I know what you’re thinking…no, I’m not doing it, the bandana is too sacred for this type of situation. Anyhoo, I climbed back down to the road, walked about 50 meters and I heard someone behind me. ACK!!! I turned around and some dude is right behind me. I panicked, my worst nightmare HAS come true. I don’t even say any pleasantries, I just blurted out, “did you just see me pee in the woods?”
Oh for goodness sake, Rand. Keep it together.
His reply, “no, I’m polite.”
My internal dialogue: “what the hell. What does that mean? Dammit, of course you saw me. That’s what that means.”
Very awkward moment.
Then I turned around and kept walking and he is literally right behind me every step.
Ummm a girl needs some space, please. You just saw my buttocks.
We both keep walking and eventually catch up to Stephen who is overly friendly to my new arch-nemesis and gets all his details. His name is Chris, he is from Germany (of course), he’s been walking for 16 days from Irun, he sleeps outside without a tent and can pee in the woods without a psychological disorder.
Now it’s really awkward because he is WALKING WITH US! Why, oh why, sweet baby Jesus is the happening to me. I slow my roll to let them go ahead. Then I hear them talking and Stephen (not realizing this dude just saw me pee in the woods) INVITES HIM TO STAY AT OUR HOSTEL. Now I know this is mean but I’m praying to all that is holy that there are no, capital N.O. available beds. The drama of this situation in my head has become like the roadrunner and the TNT episodes. I want to crawl in a hole and blow myself up.
We arrive at the hostel and for some amazing, miraculous reason, maybe my prayers were heard on the spot, he decided to walk on to the next town. Thank you, Lord!
Whew, awkward dinner and lounge time avoided. Hallelujah!
Moral of the story, I’m never peeing in the woods again. The end.
Our hostel tonight is fantastic. It’s someone’s house and they have it set up for a true pilgrim experience. The owners are on holiday so their friend Elizabeth from, you guessed it, Germany is here running the place. The rooms are nice and the homemade dinner by Elizabeth was fantastic. She made vegetable soup, salad, pasta with mushroom sauce and yogurt and ice cream for dessert. Our group all ate together (see photo) Stephen, Dora, Gideon, Constantine (owner of the dog Lylou who I’ve previously mentioned), a new guy David from the Netherlands, Elizabeth and me.
Elizabeth is a really interesting person. She ran an orphanage for many years in Germany. Her stories were fascinating. She is kind but tough. I like and respect her a lot.
Stephen expanded his music selection today and played Sweet Dreams by the Eurythmics. I mean I dig all the music but he is an old. white. dude. What gives?
Someone has been putting googly eyes on the traffic signs. I believe it improves the world immensely.
Dora is still hauling around the hairdryer and having the best Camino.
I had a smoothie! All is right with the world again.
We lost Pablo. He went onto the next town because he is going off trail for one night. His grandparent’s house is close by and he is going there for the night. Hopefully we will see him again down the road. He is great fun to chat with.
We ran into Frank the chef from Germany again. He is trying to quit smoking on the Camino. He is down to one a day he says.
We’ve been connecting at rest stops with another really lovely woman, Elisa from Brazil. We had drinks with her last night. She was also in our hostel. I don’t know much about her yet but I really like her vibe.
I love all the color here. In the flowers, the architecture, the clothing. It’s all so cheerful.
My new nickname for Stephen is barnacle.
Highlight: dinner with everyone. We had a great conversation and it was really enjoyable to listen to stories from all over the world.
Llanas – Cuerres – 23.4km
Goodnight and much love from Spain.
