Mansilla de las Mulas

22/7
I´ve walked mainly in endless fields of white. There was a small part of sunflowers that was a refreshing change. I´ve started walking near a water channel. I stopped at Villovieco and went to a church there. A guy named Pepe showed me the place and tried to explain some things in Spanish. Later he invited me to coffee at his place and I had some fruits, nuts and bisects too. It´s amazing the hospitality pilgrims get here. He showed me his house and all the things he made there. The place was just beautiful. I made it to Corrión and slept in am old school run by nuns. The place was OK. I met Aleix again (it´s pronounced A-le-ysh) and made "Ptitim" in a microwave with him. I tried to sleep that night, but 4 guys had a snoring contest, so I took my sleeping bag and a blanket and slept outside in the school yard on a bench. I also didn´t find my flashlight in the morning, but the only time I needed it was to find the flashlight.

23/7
Most of the day was just a long straits walk (17.2 km) in endless fields of wheat without any shade. And it was hot. The last 200m were downhill, and suddenly you see a small village with millions of sunflowers. I had a non alcoholic beer at the bar. The bartender asked me if I was Arabic, I said I'm from Israel. Apparently I look Arabic. The bartender was from Morocco. He was very nice, but we talked about politics and then I decided it bums me down, so I left. I had a bit of a nose bleed for some time now, but it seemed to stop at the bar. The rest of the way was without any shadow, but we saw they were planting trees near the road. They really put a lot of effort in the Camino. We got to Ledigos, and I was thinking of going on to the next town (3 km) but I had difficulties calculating the distance, so I stayed. After a shower and laundry, I sat with Ruth, a 28 old Catholic nurse, and Aleix for lunch. Suddenly, from a hot day it became cloudy and it started to rain (but light rain). I had a siesta, went online to post some pictures and made dinner with Roth (Beans from a can and some pasta with cheese and apple). I had a very good night's sleep.

24/7
Crossed another county. Not too much scenery, most of the way near a road. Visited a small church in Sahgún and went on to Barcianos del Camino. I met two nice guys from Barcelona, Petro and Pedro. They shared with me their lunch, green bean salad and a peach. Really nice guys. Had a siesta (a really brilliant invention) and woke up to the sound of some nuns playing on a guitar and a flute singing some praises to the lord or something. I helped making dinner for the albergue (41 people eating together). Everyone left for mass and I was alone in the albergue with only a few people making dinner. The dinner was great (salad, pasta, and melon for desert). Afterwards there was the Pilgrims blessing. I went to see out of curiosity, just see and not participate. It was more religious than I expected. Petro saw that I was feeling uncomfortable and helped me out without getting blessed by the preacher. I felt really bad afterwards. Like I did something very wrong. I´m not going to any more ceremonies.

25/7
I slept with new ear plugs I bought that morning. They were very good. Too good. Woke up only at 7:05. Had a good breakfast at the kitchen (coffee, bread, jam and biscuits) and started walking at about 8. I cough up with a German woman named Ortrut who I saw in the albergues the last two days. We had a really nice chat and walked almost 15 km without a break. We got to a small town with a really nice bar. It had 50´s and 60´s rock´n'roll songs. Mom would have loved the place. Had a totilla for lunch (an omelet with potatoes in it) and went on to Mansilla de las Mulas. The place looks very decorative, maybe theirs a Fiesta for Santiago´s day (today!).

Did some calculations. And I´ll probably reach Santiago at 08/08/08.
I also walked 444 km till now. Only 320 km more.
New pictures!

Buen camino!