Apologies everyone for the couple day lag in updating the blog. I blame Keith! But who doesn’t?? But, seriously, we were in kind of a holding pattern and waiting to see how things went over the weekend.

We are happy to report that Keith’s trip to Palencia went pretty smoothly with exception of the fact that the 11 AM train never came to fruition and instead he got to hang out at the Frómista train station for six hours waiting for the next one! When he first got up that morning he seriously considered just staying where he was because he was still blechedich. But he gathered his strength (and his backpack) and got down to the station well before the supposed 11 o’clock train. And well well before the 5 o’clock train that he actually ended up on!! While waiting he visited with a Dutch couple off and on, did a little Sudoku, and just held on until the train cometh.

Once in Palencia he made it to the hotel which he says looks a little like it was built in the 60s in a Vegas style. The first night he was just wiped out, but did make it through dinner and got some rest. The second day he was feeling even a little better and he ventured out of the hotel to explore a little. He didn’t go far, but he was up and out and that was good news! He made it through a couple more meals and you could hear in his voice that he was improving. We even were able to video chat for a little while and it was good to see him smiling.

Today saw even more progress as he ventured out to do some limited sightseeing, took a few photos of buildings, and searched for the McDonald’s. Sadly the passage he’d found that lead to McDonald’s was very narrow and the wind was so strong he decided to skip that in fear of being blown into traffic! Instead he found a Chinese restaurant for lunch. He said they looked like they could use the business. He had wonton soup and pollo de la curry salsa—which didn’t taste anything like curry, but was still pretty good. The guy who served him spoke a little English and they talked for a few minutes mostly because the only other person Keith had heard speak English in the last three days was me. The waiter was very nice to him and gave him a free drink of a Chinese libation called (he said) “Flower.” It wasn’t bad. He drank it and then “left quickly to avoid ending up staffing a ship to Shanghai.” I laughed when he said that because it made me think of the McMenamin’s White Eagle Saloon (a place where we’ve spent the night) story since it’s on the Portland Shanghai tunnel system. And he continued explaining that “being sick in a foreign country makes you paranoid” and that it was very nice of the guy to give it to him, though.

Below are neat pictures from Keith’s treks this weekend: a couple of great buildings, one of the city’s historic churches (Church of Our Lady of the Street), and a steamroller or “Máquina de tren de Jardinillos” from a nearby park.

With any luck he will be ready by Tuesday to hit the road once again. He’ll have to make adjustments to his walking plan—which was always likely to happen–but he’d still like to spend more time on the Camino if he’s up to it. He can use all the positive thinking everyone has to offer him.