Well, we have had an adventurous couple of days to say the least!  We lucked out 2 days in a row and got to stay in two very special albergues with very limited space.  The first was tucked away just off the Camino path on its own, called San Bol.  It was run by a sweet young woman named Lucia, a fellow pilgrim herself who stopped her own walk to volunteer for a week as the hospitalier.  Very beautiful grounds with tall trees and small building, lots of land but no facilities, whatsoever...just an open field with some tall grass in the back, no shower, no pillows and extremely thin mattresses on our bunks.  It also has a well that´s the size of a small swimming pool that you can bathe in, or if you fancy a beer, you can dive in for one.   Now, it has actually been really cold the last couple of days, making the well water feel that much colder-- ice cold.  Lucia informed us that the only way we could have beer was to dive in- and only one beer per dive.  Stephen was the first in!  And he actually set the record for the most dips- he went in 3 times!  I think he went more for the refreshment than for the beer (which he really doesn´t drink a lot of)  Ah...when in Spain!  I did not go in-- those of you who know me well know my aversion to the cold but the girls and I had fun watching the boys bobbing for beer :)

Then Lucia made us a nice pasta lunch followed by paella for dinner, but Stephen and I made omelettes as she put every kind of meat imaginable in the main dish.  There was this French guy named Kristoffe who was killing me!  He kept showing off all his backpack items to Stephen, almost like show and tell...trying to impress and outdo all at the same time.  Then he tried to teach Stephen to sing¨"Love me Tender" by Elvis with his thick French accent.  It was hilarious!

Then we got up early to make it to another historical site, one of the old pilgrim hospitals from the medieval days that is now a hostel, called Ermité de San Nicolas.   It was a beautiful old stone building with an alter, beds for only 8 pilgrims and a big long dining table, again with no electricity, all candlelight.  This one was run by an Italian confraternity.   These two old Italian men who acted like brothers (constantly needling each other) offered us incredible hospitality.   A delicious pasta dinner, red wine, liquer, tea, biscuits, dessert and even breakfast this morning- we were absolutely stuffed.  The main guy in charge, Aldo, took a strong liking to me.  He found out I was a singer and insisted I sing throughout the evening- the more I would, the more wine and dessert he would give me!  "Bella!  Bella!  I love you!", he would say.  He was even going to duke it out with Stefano (Stephen) for me!  (They actually did armwrestle at breakfast this morning and I won´t say who won, but Aldo is a 250 lb Italian ox of a guy! ;) 

Again, I pulled out the Ave Maria for this special foot washing ceremony they took us through last night. Stephen may as well be my agent because he keeps advertising my abilities :)  Aldo washed each of our feet and gave it a kiss like Christ did with his apostles.  It really was a fantastic experience.  Aldo almost cried when we left this morning...Ah,  good times. 

We are now in Fromista, we only walked 15km today.  We decided to make it a light day and stay in a brand new albergue- probably the nicest I´ve seen, and have a lazy Sunday like the rest of the world.  Well that is the latest.  A lot to tell you all!  Thanks again for your messages.  We are almost at the halfway point.  We will probably do it in about 30-33 days.  Today is day 15.  Miss you all and love you lots,

Andrea & Stefano