October 11th, 2013

A  couple nights ago at the albergue San Antonio de Padua  I got into a conversation with one of our dorm mates, a young German actor,  Andreas Buntscheck. He told me he´s been acting in theater, TV and film since he was a child (he was in a TV show with Christopher Waltz - "Iglorious Basterds" and "Django" ) and gave me the name of several German movies he´s been in:  "Tannod", "Greuzveshehr", and  "Ludwig II".  (Anybody want to try netflixing these?).  I told him I´m a film buff and we talked about German and American movies we like, and then, since I was interested, he told me little about his job as an actor.  One thing he told me about was some of the techniques they use on actors to make them cry.  He said for one film they kept re-shooting his crying scene all day, so he had to keep crying all day, and by the end of the day they didn´t even have to do anything, he could just cry on his own!  (He said crying all day long is exhausting and emotionally draining, even if you´re only acting!).  So we spent last night in Hospital de Orbigo, a really cute town with the oldest bridges in Spain.  You know, after  you´ve  pledged your love for one albergue it´s really had to stay faithful...because, much as we loved San Antonio de Padua in Villar de Mazarife, we loved  the albergue "Encino" in Hospital de Orbigo, too!  It was just built last year and has a restaurant and bar, and for 9 euros was more like a hotel than an albergue.  We had our own private room with a key!  To a door that we could actually lock! A first on the Camino!  We had our own bathroom and now we have to say that it has to be the best bathroom in all Caminodom!  It was modern, spotless, had a soap dispenser not only by the sink but in the shower stall as well!  There was was even a clothes rack in the bathroom that got warm when the heat came on so you could hand your towels over it to dry.  Actually, maybe it was a heating element and not really a clothes rack, but it was great!  Now, when I said we had a private room, perhaps I should specify that it was a private room that we were expected to share with two other strangers.  That´s as close to a private room as you´ll get in an albergue, except for that so-called room we had in the Benedictine Monastery, but I´m not sure what that four-walled space actually was.  Anyway, we ended up sharing our  room with only one other person and not a stranger but a young Irish woman, Sinead, whom we knew from albergues past.  She works in Costa Rica with a sea turtle rescue organization.  (Reminded me of you, Claire, and you, Maria, back when you worked for Save The Harbor, Save The Bay in Boston. )  The 9 euro pilgrim meal at the Encino was so good.  Mostly.  Tom started with the salad and I had prawn  and vegetable  noodle soup.  Awesome!  Next Tom had steak and I had a very juicy pork chop and we each had a side of that same kind of chip we had at Patatin Patatan Hamburgeria, ultra thin, potato chip-esque fried potatoes.  Dessert was a cultural experience.  I ordered the cheese cake, wanting to see how Spanish cheesecake stacked up against the Cheesecake Factory.  But the server told me they did´t have any cheese cake today and asked me if I´d like coffee cake instead.  "Sure,"  said I, wondering if it would be more like cinnamon streusel or cherry danish.  What the server brought me was a jiggly squarish shape  in two shades of brown that resembled some kind of  jello dessert made of coffee.  I looked at the thing for a minute or two, then slide it over to Tom, who gallantly offered me the rmains of his delicious vanilla custard flan in exchange.  He said the coffee jello thing was good, but then he does like a coffee after dinner.  Too bad for me they didn´t have tea cake!  This morning we left Hospital de Orbigo to walk 15 km to the beautiful city of Astorga,  with it´s churches, museums, and cathedral. We just checked  into the San Javier albergue, charming, looks like a hunting lodge with a big, wood-burning fireplace surrounded by comfy-looking sofas and comfy-looking pilgrims sitting on the sofas.  Our  dorm room has stone walls and rustic wooden floors and wood-beamed ceilings, and Tom says it´s a dead-ringer for a boy scout camp cabin, all that is required is a bunch of giggling kids to make bodily function noises after lights out.  We´ll see if the pilgrims opt to rise to the occasion!  May you all have occasion to smile today!  Love, Patti 8)