Camino Frances

Camino Frances
Picture provided by http://www.caminodesantiago.me.uk/camino-maps/

Sunday, August 5, 2012

31-07-2012 Burgos to Hontana

“This waitress is really pretty, I think we’re lucky tonight,” Rafa tells me.
“OK, how does this sound: What time do you get off work and what time do you get in my bed?”
“You mean all together, no pause?”
“Yes, don’t give her a chance to think.” I explained.
“Hmmm, you won’t get much sleep though, aren’t you tired?”
“Yes, but you see, in English we say we have two stomaches. The stomach for food and the little bitty stomach for dessert, right, always a little extra room. It’s the same, there is the energy for walking and then there is that little extra energy.”
“Hmm, that is very good. It isn’t going to work, though.”

“Esta Camarera es muy guapa, creo que tenemos suerte esta noche,” me dice Rafa.
“¿Qué tal te parece? ¿A qué hora sales de trabajar y a qué hora entras en mi cama?”
“¿Todo junto, sin pausa?”
“Sí, para que no tenga tiempo para pensar,” le dije.
“Pero no vas a dormir, me dijiste que estabas cansado, ¿no?”
“Sí, pero te digo, en Inglés decimos que tenemos dos estómagos, uno para la comida y otro más pequeño para el postre. Hay un poco de espacio extra. Pues, es igual con la energía. Tienes energía para caminar y, después, un poco más para lo que sea, ¿sabes?”
“Sí, bien, pero de todas formas no va a funcionar.”


Rafa and I have spent the entire day together. Since we work well as a team, this was fine. We were eating dinner at the same place we had lunch. Unfortunately, our pretty waitress left before I could try any ridiculously bad lines.

Rafa y yo hemos pasado el día entero juntos. Como trabajamos bien como equipo, estaba bien. Estábamos comiendo la cena en el mismo lugar donde habíamos almorzado. Desafortunadamente, la camarera se fue antes de que pudiera usar alguna piropa mala.

Rafa is like a brother. We have taken to calling each other brother in public and referring to Gerardo as our father. The people sometimes appear confused at our multicultural family, but our reputation spreads fast.


We awoke this morning at 5:15 in order to avoid walking in the heat of the day. Despite that, by the time we were finishing our 31 kilometers at 1:45, Manolo was hitting hard. (Manolo is the sun).
After packing our bags, we dropped some things on the floor, irritated the pilgrims who were still sleeping, and snuck out the door.


“Let me explain to you Plan Rafa,” Rafa tells me. Of course, if you don’t like it you are free to say so. I’ll just leave you behind. Plan Rafa is this: we will drink our juice box and eat some cookies before we leave. Then, in a couple of hours, at about the 10 kilometer mark, we will stop for breakfast. At about the 20 kilometer mark we will stop for our daily sandwhich. Then its one straight shot all the way to Hontana.


As we walked, we discussed all the people we had so far met. First, there were the two Spanish sisters, one of whom works in Michigan. They wer always delightful, even though we only had a short time with them. Next, there was a small family who walked with their diabetic Grandfather. Later on we met the siblings Antonio and Maria, who accompanied us for a couple days as passed through Estella. There was the crazy French man who told us his life story in the hostel in Santo Domingo as well as the large group of Koreans who seemed to follow us like a badly drawn Anime.

Oddly enough, despite the fact we have walked so many days together, I have not gotten around to asking Rafa his reasons for walking the Camino. We have talked much about possible reason for walking, the amazing people you meet while walking and the wonderful experience, but I have never asked him directly. I know from our many discussions that Rafa is not a religious person. However, he is a quiet, sincere man who would do anything for a friend.



Hontana is a small town with little more than a couple restaurants and a store that doesn’t sell much. The hostel, however, has a large taris iout front and the pilgrims gather to joke, tell stories and complain about blisters. After the other members of our family arrived, Gerardo and Cristina, we sat outside and chatted. Two kids from Pamplona were very keen to chat with me about the Camino and my life in Spain and Japan. Haitor, in particular, asked if he might walk with me tomorrow. I explained that, because it is a 28 kilometer day, we would be leaving early. But if he didn’t mind waking up, I’d be happy to chat with him as we walked. Haitor agreed and said it would be a good reason to set out before the sun was too hot.

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