I never thought I´d say this

But I took a bus.  I´m in the beautiful city of León, where I will spend three days doing what tourists do, visiting museums, churches, drinking café con leche.  So here´s how it happened.

It´s never a good sign when you take off your boot and see blood all over your sock.  It´s even less of a good sign when you´re in the middle of nowhere, 12 kms to the next town.  But I bandaged up that little pinky toe and hobbled my way into Gradefes, home of a 12th century Cisterican monestary that I had been wanting to see. 

The town had just opened an albergue a year ago.  And since no one walks on this Camino Vadiniense, it was still totally spanking brand new.  I was very happy to arrive.

In the late afternoon, my friend Rebekah, who lives on the Camino about an hour east from where I was, drove by and took me to one of my favorite churches in all of Spain, San Miguel de la Escalada.  It´s a 10th century mozarabic church, made with lots of columns and capitals taken from Roman buildings.  I was supposed to walk by it today, but when I went to see it with her last night, I thought to myself.... well, at least I´ve seen it again even if I can´t walk to it.

Reb and I had a good dinner in a little bar along the road, she dropped me off at the albergue, and I went off to bed not sure what I´d do in the morning.  I lay awake obsessing -- after 11 years of Caminos, I have never taken a bus.  I won´t go into the multi-faceted debates about pilgrims who take the bus, but my hang-up has more to do with stubbornness than any camino-purity ideology.  But after tossing and turning, hemming and hawing, waxing and waning, at 7 am I packed up my pack, put on my sandals and carried my boots to the bus stop.  By 9 am I was checked into the Pensión Blanca in León, a wonderful little pensión run by two young women who have B&B for 27 €, quite a bargain.  Including breakfast and a nice computer sitting in the breakfast room for all to use.

Riding from Gradefes to León was actually a big deal, monumental even, but if you haven´t been a peregrino/a I can´t really explain it.  When my bus turned onto the Camino Francés and started to head into León and I started seeing the crowds of pilgrims (at 8 in the morning!), it made me gulp.  I wanted to be walking, but I wasn´t.

So, I´ve moved on to Plan B.  I will spend the next three days resting my toe here in León. I will celebrate tomorrow morning by giving Blanca every stitch of clothing I have. She´ll wash it all and have it back to me before noon so I can carry on with my tourist agenda.  Then, knock on wood, on Sunday morning, I´ll walk to the parador where all the pilgrims turn left to carry on on the Camino Francés, and I´ll turn right onto the lovelyl Camino del Salvador, to head back through the mountains to Oviedo.  But all of that depends on my little pinky toe.  Send it lots of good wishes and cyber-healing!