Well, I was really hoping to give you guys some photos...

I found a little computer place, but they don´t have ports for downloading photos - so I´m sorry about that. I am staying at a hotel here in Burgos and there is a computer in the lobby that I can use for a 1/2 hour at a time, but I don´t know if there is photo capability there either. So, you´ll just have to be a little patient.

I did write a couple of little essays for you to read if you like. And there are two random pictures below from a fairly boffed attempt at a computer shop five days ago in Najera.

How I´m doing? Thanks so much for asking.

I´m doing alright. The body´s holding up okay and my spirits are mostly good. I am still very much enjoying walking everyday and the countryside continues to bless me with some stunning landscape. As we move west I am getting to see the tail-end of the wildflowers; which had already folded their petals for the year where I was in the east.

Having a bit of a rough time at night, have stayed in some lovely, mellow alburgues where I get to sleep outside and they are not very crowded...but every evening is a bit of a challenge for me, so that´s getting a little old.

I´m about 19 days from Santiago at this point (barring rest days), couldn´t tell you the actual mileage, but it´s 475 kilometers away, so you´ll have to do your own math on that one. It´s less miles, I know that.

That´s kind of a fun little thing in that the days are laid out in kilometers, "man we have 24 kilometers to go today!" But in my guidebook they´ve been translated into miles, which psychologically works in my favor (24 works out to about 14 miles I think...something like that).

The Spanish continues to come along. I don´t get so shy in shops anymore. The way things are set up here pretty much forces you to use it. Today I wanted lunch, but I didn´t want to eat in a restaurant. So I had to go to the Fruteria to get some fruit and vegetables.

And you can´t just go in and wander around and pick pears and oranges out, touch melons. You can´t touch anything actually. You wait in line and then when your turn comes you tell the (always beautiful) woman what you would like and she picks it out for you. I have learned the names of the fruits and vegetables I generally get, and the women always smile when I try to pronounce the word for orange (naranja). But it´s not a smirky smile, it´s sweet.

So, having gotten my oranges, bananas, tomatoes, what-have-you, I then have to go to the meat guy (almost always a guy, but there are women carneceria shopkeepers...I very rarely see men running fruit shops although there was this one super sweet old guy in Najera who gave me an apricot for free because he thought my pack was too heavy and I deserved a treat.)

Anyway, the meat...okay, roast beef is impossible to find. If you want meat on your sandwich, your getting salami, chorizo or ham. Or canned fish of which they have no end to the variety of here. So you have to order some sliced meat from the meat guy.

Then you go to the panaderia and get your bread, again, you have to point to the one you want and she´ll wrap it in little piece of paper and hand it to you.

And there you go. Lunch. No fast food here. No rush in and rush out with a completed product. If you go to a restaurant for lunch, it´s an hour while you wait for you bread, then your first plate, then your second plate and so on.

It´s a nice system but...carry snacks with you.

Anyway, so I had my lunch in the plaza of the Cathedral, and watched other pilgrims slouch in from their travels. I love rest days. I love walking around without my backpack. It´s just good to take a break.

Anyway, I do hope to catch you up with pictures soon. Very much love to you all, know that I think of you everyday even if I can´t stay in touch regularly!