The oldest statue of Santiago

We are in a fabulous private albergue tonight. Clean bathrooms, hot showers, free internet, washing machine for the clothes, and good food cooking for us to eat soon. All for 19€, and no extra charge for the snoring. As usual, the other walkers are German and the few cyclists are all Spanish. But there are only 9 or 10 of us in an albergue with space for 50, so I guess the crowds are either ahead of us or behind us.

We are still in Castilla, so the land is relatively flat, though one guide book correctly describes this part as one of "llanos falsos" (false flats) -- you think it's flat but you are always going up and down and those 100 meter ascents add up at the end of the day. The land alternates between mediterranean scrub forest (if that makes any sense -- oaks, pines, bushes, flowers) and cultivated land, mainly wheat or hay. I did see several abandoned corn fields and that hurt my east central Illinois aesthetic. We´ve had relatively manageable days, in terms of kilometers (between 22 and 27), but the heat makes even the short day a bit harder to manage.

This afternoon we were lucky to be able to visit the church in the town next door, and there we saw what is reputed to be the oldest statue of Saint James Pilgrim (Santiago Peregrino). From the 11th Century, sitting on the portal of an even older church. The inside of the church was beautiful -- small, irregular arches, lots of beautifully preserved capitals -- just romanesque perfection!

We have a few more days till we get into Galicia, and I think that's where the ups and downs begin in earnest!