Going the extra mile

I took a chance today.

Every time I open my AllTrails app, the first suggested option to select tends to be the next standard Camino segment, based on my physical location when I open the app. Today, it said Belorado to Atapuerca.

My new Camino friends, Matt, Lauren, Emma, Hamish and Tamara, my newest friend Daniel from Barcelona, and his friend Daniel from Colombia, among others, all stayed at the monastery in San Juan de Ortega. I felt called to go further today, in line with some of the reflections from yesterday.

I spent much of today walking alone, listening to music and reflecting on the walk so far.

At the elevation peak through today’s mountain pass, I ran into Lauren and Emma and told them my plans. I assured them we’d connect tomorrow in Burgos.

I’ve had a trend lately of just showing up to towns and taking a chance on what I find. Atapuerca is a smaller town, though, and Lauren recommended that I text an albergue to make sure there was space. It was solid advice.

Through a search, with the help of ChatGPT, I found INpulse Atapuerca Hostel, described as a small, pilgrim-oriented place with only around 17 beds and a communal dinner.

Music to my ears.

Love or hate AI, the system knows what I like, and this albergue was speaking my language.

I texted and got an auto-reply essentially saying that you either need to look on booking.com or take your chances by showing up, as they generally reserve four beds for walk-in pilgrims. This was at 11:57 a.m.

I went to booking.com and and saw that the albergue was sold out.

Around 25 minutes later, though, I got another text from the number:

“1 top bunk bed in a four ladies room 🙃”

Not entirely sure how to interpret that, I went in strong:

“Yes, I will take it! Jeremy Bauer. I should be there in around an hour and a half or so.”

Then, 31 minutes later, after no reply — and with a little worry that maybe I didn’t meet the criteria — I went ahead and sent:

“Gracias!”

Finally, at 2:58, when I was literally just entering the town of Atapuerca, I got a response:

“Enjoy.”

And finally, I knew I was in.

I walked in and met Estrella, the owner and operator of the albergue. I’m looking forward to learning more about her tonight at dinner. She has walked the Camino before, and she bought this place a few years ago and now hosts traveling pilgrims.

It’s an old brick country house with a red tile roof. Inside, there’s a self-serve bar and some snacks, along with a small basket for donations for the same.

She explained the logistics, including a communal dinner at 7, which she will cook, and an optional communal breakfast, which I told her I would join.

She offered laundry for a modest fee, which I took her up on. She showed me the showers — one with a nice window view. That’s the one I used — and then my top bunk bed.

Made of wood with real linens, it actually looked quite solid and cozy compared with some of the rickety, squeaky municipal albergue bed situations.

I’ll be curious to see what dinner is like, and I’ll have to follow up tomorrow with a recap. 

It’s not clear to me yet how many native English speakers are here, though I can certainly hold my own in Spanish. French, not so much. But I’m definitely feeling motivated to pick up French language classes again when I get back.

As I’m writing now, I just got my laundry back and hung it up. It’s 4:40. I have a couple of hours before dinner.

I’m going to finish my wine and this journaling, and then go for a walk through town.

First, some observations.

Where I’m writing: a flagstone patio, the gaps filled with concrete. There’s a cool breeze, but I have my thermal zip-up on, so I’m not cold, though I’m also wearing shorts and flip-flops.

A stone wall surrounds the patio, which sits outside the front door to the albergue. The stones are irregularly shaped, though somewhat flat on the outward-facing surface.

I’m sitting at an old wooden table facing the brick wall, with my wine and journal.

In front of me is an old grapevine, growing from the ground near the wall to my right, up to the top of the wall and then spanning nearly to the house.

I can see around 20 bunches of grapes.

These look more chalky, with something similar to the bloom, or pruinose coating, of a blueberry — in contrast to those we saw a few days ago in the vineyards, which were more luscious and had a glassy sheen.

Though these are no less beautiful or picturesque.

The wall also supports a couple of climbing plants with delicate white flowers, as well as some ivy. These are joined at ground level by pots of herbs like chives and lavender, with rosemary growing in the ground.

There’s a hammock in the corner.

It’s quiet and peaceful.

If I were to open an albergue, this is what I would want it to feel like.

In fact, I just captured a video saying the same and sent it to my friends Michael and Yudi. Michael replied nearly immediately and affirmatively.

Otherwise, before arriving, I had good conversations today with Matt, Lauren, a random Spanish man who schooled me on how to use my hiking poles, the man selling fruit at the top of the mountain pass, Paul and Josie, an elderly couple from the UK, and Daniel and Daniel, from Barcelona and Colombia respectively, whom I met in San Juan this afternoon. Earlier this morning, we all sent our well wishes to Jason who, facing some shinsplints, went ahead to Burgos to rest and recover. We’ll see him tomorrow. 

I stopped in a couple of churches today to pray for my intentions and for those of others.

I also paused by a structure reportedly dating from somewhere between the 6th and 9th centuries, supposedly the remains of the old Monastery of San Félix de Oca.

The ruins are a good reminder of the amount of time people have been walking and praying and living along this route.

More profound yet, Atapuerca — the town where I’m staying tonight — is associated with the discovery of a fragment of a human jaw found alongside stone tools and butchered animal bones, supporting the understanding that this area contains some of the earliest and most abundant evidence of humankind in Europe, going back more than a million years.

If there’s time tomorrow morning, I may pop into the museum, though it’s in the opposite direction from my next stop. We’ll see how I feel. 

Otherwise, I’m looking forward to dinner.

I miss my Camino family, but I feel good about the prospects for tonight. As Jason says “this is good for us.” 😂

I’m looking forward to potential new connections tonight and debriefing with my, what seem like, “old friends” tomorrow, though we’ve known each other all of a week. Funny how that works.