El Camino de Santiago - 2017

Day 18: Leon to Villar de Mazarife

Michelle wrote:
24 Sept. Sunday

Laundromat in Leon

We woke up at 8:00 am and got my backpack down to the neighboring albergue for pick up by Jacobtrans. We'd missed the pick up at the hotel. 30 minutes later we checked out of the hotel and saw my bag picked up and put on the van. Whew! Barely made it! We went to the nearby lanudromat and put our clothes in the washing machine.

Curtis went to find the church, which we knew was close by, and I stayed with the clothes.  I was starting to get concerned because the clothes were almost done and he had the money for the dryer and we needed to finish in time for church.  When he came back he said that the mission president was finishing an interview with a missionary just as Curtis walked into the church.  The mission president, Pres. Kevin Pack, used to live in the Collins Hill Ward!  They moved out in 1997, three years before we moved in.  His wife Cindy was the first RS president of the newly created Collins Hill Ward.  They are good friends with a lot of our good friends from that ward.  Small world once again.  

Curtis & Pres. Pack at
 the chapel in Leon

There was no Sacrament meeting that day because it was District Conference and it was held at a hotel just up the street a bit.  We got the clothes dried quickly (very efficient machines!) and walked to the hotel, which was on our way out of town anyway.  Perfect!  It was a good thing Curtis found out where the church was early, or we would have missed the conference.  It started 30 minutes earlier than Sacrament meeting would have started.  



After church we started the walk out of Leon.  I liked Leon.  We walked through the suburbs and industrial parts of the city.  We didn’t see hardly any pilgrims.  They’d either already passed through or were stopping in Leon for the day.  After 8 km of this, we realized that we hadn’t eaten lunch, so we stopped for a bocadillo and lemonade.  Things felt better after that!  

Plaza de Santo Domingo and facinating building we passed as we were leaving Leon

We took to the optional path that took us away from the highway.  The land has changed again and there aren’t very many plowed fields or any type of active agriculture.  We passed through 2 small villages and saw a total of 3 other pilgrims.  One was an interesting woman from Belgium who had a lot of flag patches of the counties she’s visited.  The 4 km brought us to Villar de Mazarife - a 21 km walk from our hotel in Leon.  We left Leon at 12:30 and made it to Mazarife at 5:30.  

We were happy that we were able to walk 21 km in 5 ½ hours!  I was worried that my leg wouldn’t hold up for that long and I’d have to slow down, but my leg didn’t tighten up at all!  A blessing for making church a priority today? Sure! I’ll take it!

Our albergue is called Tio Pepe’s and it is okay. It’s probably considered a good one, but we had just spent the night in a very nice hotel. It wasn’t fair to compare it to the hotel. It was still better than the dormitory rooms. The private rooms are nice but expensive. This one cost 50 euros. We had to repack our packs before going to bed. We plan to leave early in the morning.

Pres. Kevin Pack of the Spain Madrid Mission after District Conference in Leon 

Pres. Pack wrote the following on his Facebook post:
"This past Sunday I was able to attend a conference of my church in León, Spain. I always enjoy these gatherings and leave spiritually renewed as I gather with friends and fellow believers, and this was certainly the case on Sunday. In addition, about an hour before the conference began, I met a man named Curtis Whetten from Georgia who was walking the Camino De Santiago with his wife. As we spoke, we discovered that we had many friends in common back in Georgia. It made me think about one of the great blessings of being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. Because of my membership in the Church, I have friends literally throughout the world, wherever I go. Paul's words to the Ephesians indeed rang true to me that day...."Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone." (Ephesians 2:19-20) I am grateful to belong to The Church of Jesus Christ, built upon a foundation of apostles and prophets, with Christ himself as the chief cornerstone."

Curtis writes:
Our time in Leon was too short for the things we wanted to do. We prioritized and got the most important things done. Another year we can tour the cathedral and maybe even attend an organ recital there. THAT could be awesome.

Rio Bernesga on the west side of Leon

As with most of my blog entries, the photos are posted in the order they were taken. We didn't take our "morning selfie" until after doing the laundry, and after attending Church meetings and after hiking west, across the Rio Bernesga, out of Leon and up the hill side in the adjacent community of Trobajo del Camino (yes, spelling is correct). Finally at this point we remembered to take the picture.
In Leon I was able to replace the hat that I left on the west side of Bercianos del Camino (most likely).

Just a note about style: I liked my other hat better.

It was nice to have a good walking surface.

This is the first field we came across with this unique pattern in the soil.

Dove coat on La Meseta

You can see this spot in Google Maps when this tree was still green.
Dove cote near Villar de Mazarife

Welcome to Villar de Mazarife

This mosaic mural welcomes pilgrims near the entrance to Villar de Mazarife.  Though the technique is ancient, this is a modern work of art.

We stayed at Albergue Tio Pepe.  The reviews rated it highly.  My experience was not quite the same.  We had our own room with a private bathroom.  That was nice.  Unfortunately, it was right over the bar.  So, like the night before in Leon, there was a lot of noise that kept me up: a loud TV and a passionate discussion between a couple of bar patrons.  Finally, around 10pm (which is really late for pilgrims but not late at all for the men in the bar) I went down and asked if they could turn the TV down a little.  The dormitory where most of the other pilgrims were staying was across the small courtyard, so they were not bothered by the noise.

Albergue Tio Pepe