Taxi to Leon

Waiting for a taxi. Sitting outside Hostal San Martin in Mansilla de las Mulas. I decided not to walk today because my back hurt. I will have time to rest because we are staying two days and Leon. Lea is going in the taxi with me. I thought she should walk today but I didn’t push it. We had dinner last night with cowboy Russ and Susanne from Denmark. dinner was crap but the stories were good. Before dinner we had wine and appetizers at TDFSF Apartment. Cowboy Russ, Michelle and Terry from Vancouver were there. Terry drove me crazy because she couldn’t shut up about how she had her 21 year old art student son living with her and had given him the master bedroom so he could do art. We left early because I couldn’t take it anymore. I don’t like her. she short changed me a couple of euros contributing to dinner a while back I like most people. Not her. It feels unusual not to be walking. I look forward to breakfast in Leon. We hated Hostal San Martin. Unfriendly. Antiquated. Soft lumpy bed. Horrible dinner. We saw them carrying delicious trays of meat to tables when we got there. When we sat down to dinner, they told us that they only serve that food during the daytime. Disappointed. Lea and I took a taxi to Leon. We dropped the packs at the Hotel and walked around town while we waited for our room. Lyons is very clean and beautiful. Everyone is well dressed. lots of local shops. No chains. Although I did see a Burger King on the way into town. We went looking for a breakfast place. We ended up at a Churrería. Lea had a tortilla and I had ham on toast. we noticed that everyone else had churros and some kind of chocolate in a cup. I ordered one. i’m instantly addicted. The chocolate is somewhere between hot chocolate and chocolate pudding. very dark color. So good. I couldn’t eat it all with the churro so I just finished it with a spoon. i’ll be back there tomorrow. After that, I bought a new pair of sandals. same brand and leather. Hopefully they will last longer than the last ones. I also bought a very small day pack. I’m going to try to ship my backpack to the next town for a while. My back still isn’t 100%. i’ll carry water in a few items in the day pack. It was still pretty early. We thought we would try to find the Camino and watch the pilgrims as they came into town. we didn’t know where it was but figured it would probably be close to the cathedral. We toured the cathedral. Solemn, ornate spectacular. We meditated for a few minutes inside. We came back out of the cathedral and soon ran into familiar faces. Johnny Cash, Justin, TDFSF. Chuck wrote individual postcards to each of his eight grandchildren. He’s been doing that periodically on this trip. What a good grandfather. As we started walking back toward our hotel, we found a wonderful dollar store called Tiger. I like to browse dollar stores. Leah bought bubbles so she could blow bubbles around town, which she did. Then we came upon a supermarket, Familia. I browsed that store, lusting over the fresh meat, fish cheese, salami, etc. We made our way to the hotel. Our room was ready. The hotel is simple but nice. Not too far from the city center. it has a bathtub. I took advantage. After a brief snooze, I headed out for a late lunch with the guys at 3:30 PM. (Jim Burd, TDFSF, Cowboy Russ and Justin). It was a pretty fancy tasting menu. Don ordered the most expensive wine on the menu. €22. Russ, again, entertained us with a rodeo story about getting thrown off a bull, knocked unconscious, and losing half the skin on his face. It sounds gross but it was pretty entertaining the way he told it. He ended up in a bathroom asking when he was supposed to go on the bull, not noticing his bloody face. I walked back to the hotel with Justin, who is also staying here. Lea is off at dinner with Michele. I ran into S&M at a café on the way back. I might get back out there today. It’s only 6:30 PM. I don’t have any deep insights for today. Perhaps because I didn’t walk. Love, the bear