Day 17: Castrojeriz - Fromista, 24.9 km.
Super slow start today yet I am grateful to have started at all. Last night, I went out into the village to try to find a pilgrims meal, or any meal for that matter, that I could eat. Being a vegetarian on The Camino is consistently challenging. The most common options for vegetarians are ensalada mixta, which typically is iceberg lettuce and maybe some other greens, tomato, cucumber, egg and tuna which I ask them to hold. It’s less then satisfying after walking 20+km a day. There is also the ever reliable tortilla Española. Tortilla is a dish you may have heard referred to as Spanish omelette. It comes in many variations but veggies are the faithful ‘tortilla normal’. The 3rd option, for those occasions where ensalada mixta just won’t cut it, there is ‘Patatas Bravas’ at pretty much any restaurant or bar in Spain. These potato wedges typically come lathered in a tomato or garlic sauce. Day after day, this is standard.
So this evening I found a place that had pizza on the menu and needless to say, I was thrilled…right up until the time it arrived at the table. It was obvious it was a frozen pizza out of a box, way less then satisfying yet when you need food, and you are a vegetarian, you eat what you can find that fits those 2 categories. Turns out, this was a mistake of dire proportions.
I returned to the pension and decided to skip the wine tasting (those who know me know this means the situation just got real!) as I had started to feel nauseous. I can only believe it must have been food poisoning as I proceeded to get violently ill the entire night until 6:30 am. I have an iron clad stomach so this is highly unusual for me. I cannot tell you how happy I was that I had a private room and was not in an albergue with shared bathrooms. I would come out of the bathroom, lie down on the bed and if I didn’t move or breath could buy myself a couple minutes before I made another mad dash. I thought for sure I was down and out for the count. Needless to say, this was a very long, incredibly miserable night.
I finally fell asleep just before 7am and slept for about 1.5 hours. I woke at 8:15 and the poison was out of my system. I was tired and dehydrated but everything else was completely gone. I made the decision to keep moving, to get out on the Camino and go as far as I could. So I did it, I got up, loaded my pack, put all 12kg/27lbs on my back, and headed out the door. Back on the road by 9:15am.
Turns out, I was able to walk the entire 25km and make it to Fromista, which felt like another Camino miracle. With all the poison gone, the walking in fresh air is healing and I ended up having a truly great day. I arrived sore and tired, having no sleep the night before, yet pleased with my resilience and happy with the accomplishment. The day was filled with beautiful sunshine, light breezes, more wide open spaces, 8.5 km stretches with nothing but fields and sky, and a really long steep hill to begin the day. 12% grade up and 18% grade down.
We met some interesting people along the way. One Taiwanese couple doing The Camino with their 19 month old in a stroller and/or carrying in a baby backpack. Every time I've seen her she is happy as can be. Another guy is doing it on horseback. Yet another who has done all 17 Camino's in the past 5 years. I didn't even know there were so many to choose from. All in all, I am feeling blessed and grateful!
