Ugly-Yummy-Real – Camino Days 14-15 (Burgos)

October 27, 2024|Rick Juliusson

This 2-day walk from Belorado to Burgos is one of great contrasts - in landscape, emotions, history, geography. We leave yesterday’s windy open hillsides and plunge uphill into beautiful forest land. So many branches and trees down, thankfully no-one was hurt in yesterday’s gale force winds. In hindsight, we maybe should have taken a safety/rest day…

The tree that fell on the bridge and almost a fellow pilgrim yesterday

We reach the summit thankful for a rest area with benches, only to discover a monument to yet another 300 people assassinated during the Franco regime, less than 100 years ago. We pay our respects at one of the sites where volunteers exhumed the bodies, feeling chilled at the contrast between the rich beauty and Peace we’ve been feeling throughout this countryside and the cruel history of the Spanish Civil War (and World Wars, and…)

When we picture war anywhere but a movie screen, it’s in some strategic port or dug-in trenches in what’s not recognizable as someone’s farm, not a rural mountain pass and the candles-in-the-windows small town below. The senseless and tragic impact of war feels more raw in a real, could-be-anywhere setting and an unexpected discovering like this.

Pop-up Dance Party

After some more kilometers of somber reflection, Federico is waiting to welcome us back to Life. His pop-up food truck has the best coffee on the camino - a doubtful claim, but the music he is blasting is indeed the best and the best-timed. We drop our packs and start dancing in the middle of the wide-open path together with a young Korean man, while Federico twirls around in his cape. We let go of the fatigue of the body, the weight of the pack, and the heaviness of the war monument and just twirl, flail, wiggle and giggle.

As a glut of pilgrims approaches, surely at least half will be infected and join in. “How deep is your love?!” we sing/scream in delight to greet them. But of over 20 tired hikers, only two even deign to wiggle an arm and not one stops. Five do manage to take photos/videos without breaking stride. If we’re too tired to stop and dance with a weathered old Federico in his brown superman cape and an effervescent Korean boy (who continues for another 4 songs), then we’re pushing too hard or too focussed. To misquote an already-misquoted Emma Goldman, "If I can’t dance, I don’t want to be part of your Camino.”

Refreshed and reminded of positive attitude, we’ll finish this, our longest day yet, at a hostel in Atapuerca with amazing curtains on each bunk-bed! We’ve covered 30km and 47,000 steps, powered not by the meh coffee but by the life-giving positivity of superman Federico, the camaraderie of an enthusiastic Korean boy, and the unabashedly contagious cover-tune rhythms of Pink Flamingos and the Cherry Lovers.

Sorry, we were too busy dancing to get a photo of the action!

Ugly Road into Burgos

Continuing with the “contrasts” theme (forest, war, dance party so far), the next day pilgrims are bracing themselves for entering Burgos through industrial areas and city outskirts, described by many as “the worst 6-8 kms of ANY camino!”

But surely we can’t ask, nor want, to travel 800 km across any country and not see some of its underbelly. What would Spain be without car dealerships and flour mills and upholstery shops? We choose to enjoy this brief respite from pastoral beauty and roman bridges, getting a little taste of how most Spanish folx actually live today.

Another "Make Lemonade" pilgrim, walking half our speed due to intense foot pain, later spins it thus: “I got to learn a whole bunch of new Spanish words. If you need your tires rotated, I’ve got you covered.”

Long walk past the airport

Name that industry?

Yummy, Historical, Bizarre Burgos

After the “ugly” hike in, today’s afternoon town exploration takes me to beautiful sculptures, giant city gates, and a museum with powerful, somewhat disturbing religious art. I take photos of the fun stuff, but so much centers on the violence and suffering that underlies this faith - a topic I need to explore and understand more.

For a sweet ending to the day, our father-daughter friends from day one way back in Orrison are in the same town and craving noodles, or basically anything that doesn’t lean in heavily on bread and potatoes like our usual Pilgrim Meals. But before Udon Burgos opens, we take them for a surprise (courtesy again of Atlas Obscura). Right at 7:00, a rather grotesque “automaton” puppet figure - “El Papamoscas” - emerges from a clock way up high inside the Cathedral and moves his right arm to ring the bell. To be honest, it’s so high up it’s hard to see and rather underwhelming, but a bizarre and unexplained 500-year-old technological tradition is always worth delaying a delicious Udon meal with “old” (almost 2 weeks) friends.