Mio el Camino de Santiago de Compostela -10

Day 10 Sto. Domingo --> Burgos


I took the big road today, route N-120. Although it was a sunny morning with no rain threat, I was still tempted to get on the asphalt. It was peaceful. The serene road going out of Sto. Domingo was one interesting road. My head was actually not into my direction ahead. I kept on glancing sideways.


However, after a couple more of kilometers later, the path turned into a busy road. Many big trucks going to Burgos were taking the same route. I realized big roads do not mean easy roads after all. These trucks kept pushing me off the road. On the way up to the mountains, I had to get a hard grip on the handle because if not, I'd be pushed and plunged down the ravine.


It started to rain and as the road went up, the rain turned into snow. I encountered a road truck a couple of times sprinkling the road with what looked like large grains of salt. I resisted the temptation of tasting it. My expectation was right, it was cold up the mountain. Although the area was not covered in snow, it was still cold. My cycling gloves were not enough to keep my hands from frostbite.


I didn't do much thinking during the trip. No reciting of poems, no singing, and no composing songs or making up of lyrics either. I was busy keeping my balance. I reached Burgos safely though, but my bicycle and I were very dirty from being sprayed down by passing trucks that ran over the large grains of salt. If those were salt grains, that is. I thought it was cloudy the whole time. When I took off my sunglasses, it's a very fair, sunny afternoon. And I saw my sunglasses covered with small particles of dried dust.


I checked in at the first hostel I saw because I wanted to fix myself asap and tour the city. The hostel looked more like a 3-star hotel and so I had to ask first if I could keep the bicycle around. They took care of it. I found out later that they kept my muddy bicycle in the conference room.


I wandered around the city. The cathedral was great, no doubt about it. But it wasn't a solemn place to pray. No need to argue about it. Loud tourists! I also went to buy some food from a delicious looking bread shop. I wanted to try the empanada. The seller explained to me what was inside the delectable bread. I wondered how I understood what was just said in Spanish yet I could only manage to say, "Si, gracias" in return. I also bought a pair of snowboarding gloves. Just in case, I really couldn't stand more frostbites any longer.


Back at the hostel, they leased laptop PC's for a cheap price. I was able to check my email after a long time. I know I shouldn't but somehow I knew that I had to. I simply had nothing to do tonight so I surfed the Internet while eating tuna and tomato empanada.
.