Day 9–to Belorado— fascinating people—4/30/2024

After breakfast in Santo Domingo, it was mainly a road walk alongside the highway. 

I was joined in my walk by Carlene from Austin/Colorado and by Aisha from Saudi Arabia. 

Aisha had just retired as a kindergarten teacher in Saudi Arabia and she said she had been to over 100 countries and that at home she drives. She said a lot has improved for women in Saudi Arabia in the past five years. She said her husband encourages her travels, and I suggested that it would be a good idea for her to start writing some books for children about her adventures to give little girls in Saudi Arabia and other Arabic countries a different viewpoint of what life could be. She said she would send me a autograph copy of her first book. Hope that comes true.

Carlene was a family and couples counselor and was moving to Colorado. She worked with  couples and families in person and some via telemedicine and plan to continue with some of them after moving to Colorado, and planned to build up other clients there.  We had an interesting exchange experiences, told her that I had supervised four employee assistance counselors when I worked for the FAA.

They continued on, while I stopped in Granon for some more breakfast of an egg sandwich, OJ, and coffee.

I enjoyed stopping by this church in Granon with its elaborate interior.

Gone were the vineyards and now they were replaced by grains, mostly wheat.

Although it was a sunny day, it was quite windy as we continued along the Camino that ran beside the busy roads.

I met up with John and Angela from Australia when I had stopped for lemonade at Mayor del Rio. He was quite interested in doing the Pacific Trail that I had described to him so he will be checking out my entries on my blog.

I got into Belorado at about 6 o’clock and got the last lower bunk at the Albergue A Santiago at the entrance to the town.  It has 98 beds in over eight buildings and the cost of lodging was €14. They also provided dinner and a hearty breakfast for €10. 

The set dinner for €14 was a choice of soup or salad, and I had the bean soup with chorizo, pork loin, tomatoes, and chilies instead of french fries rather than chicken and dessert was flan. They also served red wine, but I had lemonade instead.

I suppose you’re beginning to see that I like food.