Short day! I had planned to walk just a couple hours this morning to the next city of Santo Domingo, which is a small-medium city of 6,600. There is a nice square, cathedral with museum, tower, and cafes to peruse. My Camino-predacessors and advice-givers Christy and Cary Graham told me they had stayed in this town and treated themselves to a Parador (nice, historic hotel), instead of an albergue for the night. So…I did, too! I like the idea of taking a rest day every 7-10 days (or whenever needed), to stay fresher in mind and body. I really love the albergue set-up (so practical, and so affordable), and it allows for me to meet and mingle with people if I feel like it; but having my own room and shower, a big bed (not a bunk) with 4 pillows!, and plenty of space to unpack and air out my stuff…was a lovely treat. I went to a grocery store, did laundry, and toured the cathedral, museum, 132-steps up to the bell tower, and chatted with some other (English-speaking) pilgrims which was nice.
I had some good time off my feet to relax, read, and blog as well. It was a really well-rounded day.
Funny incident doing laundry. I used a local laundromat. I went with my backpack full of everything, and after I had gone to the grocery store and bought stuff for lunch to eat in the adjacent park while I waited for clothes to wash. I was loading my clothes when I realized I really wanted to add in the things that I was wearing at the time – they were some of the stinkiest! What do you know, there was no convenient changing room attached to the tiny Lavandaría (self-serve laundromat), so I quickly scanned the area – not many people around and no one paying attention – so I did my best on-deck Transition ever, changing into my rain pants and rain jacket which were the only things I wasn’t going to wash! I laughed, but also congratulated myself for getting all the dirty clothes into the washer. I looked like I was headed out for a rainstorm, though, not to picnic and journal in the park! Another great thing about this trip for me are these kinds of details, “what I look like”, just don’t matter, and it’s very freeing. What is practical, what works, use-what-you-have, that’s what I’m doing….awkwardly changing outfits in a Spanish laundromat!
