Day 16 El Burgo Ranero - Leapfrog Ahead

Today was a non-walking travel day - bus and taxi.  I had arranged, back when I thought I would walk 30 kilometers (18 miles) a day, to meet my friend Diane and her daughter Megan in Leon on the 17th of May.  As of yesterday in Burgos, I had used about half of my time, but had not done half the distance.  So I hopped on a bus to Sahagun, then took a taxi to El Burgo Ranero.  With that trip, I had leapfrogged ahead over 100 kilometers.  (I´ll make it up next time I do the Camino.  Any takers?) El Burgo Ranero is a tiny town, but the street with the albergue has 2 bar/ restaurants, so all was well.  I settled in to the albergue, washed some clothes, put them on the line to dry in the substantial breeze, and walked across the street for a "vino tinto."

I met some other pilgrims, and we chatted about where we were from and our reasons for doing the Camino.  One of them was Ulrike, from Cologne (Koln.)  Ulrike has walked from her home in Koln.  Walked... all the way.  She left in mid-April, and intends to reach Santiago in July and then go home, but not by foot.  Every day this trip amazes me.  There are so many people, so many stories.  Ulrike has been caring for her husband for some time,  he´s either a paraplegic or amputee, I couldn´t figure out which.  He supports her trip 100%.  Another German was Thorsten, who lives up near Hannover, and, in his late 40s, is debating what to do with his life.

So many stories...

I remember a few days ago, sitting in front of the single bar in San Juan de Ortega, talking to Toshio from Japan.  He´s retired from finance, lives just outside Tokyo;  we ended up talking about the effect of China´s development on the balance of trade of the world´s economic powers.  Toshio is walking the camino because, in his words, he has reached a turning point in his life, he´s 61.  He told me he is not christian, but he likes the camino. He alternates his nights between albergues and hotels, so every other night he spends in a hotel, to be alone.    The next day, I met Dora from Hong Kong, who is walking because she became christian a few years ago.  She had planned to walk with a friend, but the friend´s plans fell through, and Dora continued.  I called her Dora the Explorer (a character popular in preschool circles) and she said that was exactly how her friends referred to her!  Left me to wonder how she and her friends even knew about Dora the Explorer. In El Burgo Ranero, I ate dinner with Harry from Holland and a Slovenian woman whose name I didn´t think to write down, it ended with "-enka", as do most of them.  They are both cyclists, and usually do about 60 kilometers on the camino. (Mile users, remember the rule: "klicks times six." So, 60 times 6 equals 360, drop the zero and that´s 36 miles.) Turns out Harry´s son has had a number of his short films in You Tube´s Top Ten.  And he´s only 19!  (The son, not Harry, who is 55.) The three of us had wine after dinner, drank until 10 and the bill was less than €10 each! Tomorrow I will go to Leon, to meet Diane and Megan, and will officially be past the halfway point.  For those friendly commentors who have asked. Will post photos later...