Keith had a very long night last night. :( While the albergue was clean—it was small, had no air moving and turned into him not getting much sleep—more like resting while he baked in an oven. Around 4:30 this morning an Italian lady left, then around 6 another group left—which is when he finally fell asleep for a while until they turned on the lights at 8 to kick the few that were left out to breakfast and the road. At that point there was a Hungarian man there (who he walked with for a little while) and a Swiss “girl” (Keith’s word—which means she was in her 20s L :) L) that was, unfortunately, not feeling well so she instead decided to make her way back to Burgos to a hotel to try and sleep and recoup before heading back out on the Camino.

Breakfast turned out to be some bread and a bowl of coffee. He got distracted while they were pouring milk into his coffee and he got way too much. Let’s just say that it didn’t go too well, but he was grateful he had his Clif Bars.

He headed out this morning with the Hungarian man, but they didn’t stay together too long. Keith figured it was because the guy didn’t like his company. But who could not like Keith’s company?? I mean anyone that knows him knows he such a charming and cheerful person say before noon. Okay—maybe I’ve just adjusted to his morning self and the Hungarian could have realized Keith just isn’t your typical morning person. ;)

As I write this, he is sleeping (hopefully) in an albergue in San Bol. He was hoping for a solid night’s sleep and it would be his first in Spain. His right shoulder is aching from the pack and he’s hoping to figure out how it needs adjusted to get past that soon. I’d add some type of link so everyone could learn more about San Bol, but I couldn’t find a decent one. So here a little of what it says in the book that Keith and I both have a copy of so I can follow his trek (A Pilgrim’s Guide to the Camino de Santiago): “Delightful location by grove of poplar trees offering shade by the river. The waters from the well are said to have healing properties and to cure aching feet – the peace of this isolated spot can heal more than feet.” Keith said they had no power, except they were kind enough to turn on a generator so everyone could charge their phones for a while. And he said it seemed like sort of a place where you’d have summer camp.

I talked to him twice while he was settling in there. The first time he was clearly just worn out and maybe even a little discouraged. I chalk that up to the extended jetlag. But the second time he sounded much better and was actually cheerful. Yea! He said that a couple of Americans from Pennsylvania showed up and “even better” a couple from Victoria, BC (practically from home!). He said dinner was pretty good. It was paella, which Keith said was “not bad” and that he’d seen them put in a bunch of chicken, but he said none of it ended up on his plate. After dinner they sat around visiting and the non-English speaking people all sang songs. He said he didn’t know the songs, except he did recognize the lyrics of one of the songs as a pilgrim song. The group even enticed a Japanese woman to sing something. He was glad they didn’t ask him to sing because he had no idea what he would’ve sang. We joked maybe a version of Springsteen’s “Thunder Road.” Pretty sure Ross would appreciate that.

Tomorrow night we’re treating him to a hotel room with air conditioning, a shower, a restaurant, WiFi and more. Hopefully he’ll get into town early enough that he’ll be able to have a nice, relaxing evening and get even more much-needed sleep. Until then, folks…I bid you adieu. Yeah…I know that’s French! Okay, here it is in Spanish (at least according to Google Translator): Le deseo despedida!