In the flats...

We're in flats headed toward the city of Leon...this is the stage of the Camino called La Meseta...known for being flat, long hot stretches with nothing in between...few trees if any and not many places to stop for water. It is time you spend with yourself. Peregrinos get up and out early...5am or so to try to avoid the hot afternoon sun. On our way to the small town of Berciano, we found cool shade under an overpass under construction...under some scaffolding! We are more than half way to Santiago.... though there is much ground to cover still as next we'll head into Galicia. There are new pilgrims just starting as we get closer to Santiago. This Ano Jacobeo, which won't come again for 11 more years, attracts twice the number of people to the Camino. There is concern about overcrowding but we will take it day by day and focus in the moment and aren't worried about it. We met a French man who is walking with his donkey named "Licorice". It wears a straw hat with holes for it's ears! We have been staying in smaller parish albergues where dinner is served communal style and everybody helps prepare the meal and clean up. In Berciano we stayed in a 16th century adobe monastery. It was very cool...Despite lack of television there is alot of enthusiasm for the on-going World Cup soccer championships...Spain is still in and it matters in a big way to Spaniards...I'm sure we'll stay informed on this subject.