Second Try Today

A lot has happened since I was last able to post. San Juan de Ortega, the town I was in 2 nights ago, was a town of 20. No, I didn´t forget a 0 or two - 20, as in one more than 19. The albergue served garlic soup, a traditional dish of the area, which was mainly water-logged bread in a garlic broth. It tasted alright, and was free, so I can´t say too many bad things about it. During that time, I met some guys and we went next door to the bar to have dinner. Two were from France, Vincent and Bibo (I think that´s what he said his name was). Vincent is from Paris, Bibo from Lyon, and they met in Hong Kong during an internship they both had there. Both studied business in school, and they just graduated, so they´re young. There was Jonathan, a Canadian, who spent the past 6 months in Israel doing various things, one of which was hiking an isolated path for 6 weeks through mountains. So he said the Camino is just for fun. Sounds crazy to me. The last was a Hungarian whose name was so complicated it slipped my mind as soon as he said it. He just finished medical school in Hungary, but has never wanted anything to do with medicine. I was curious why he would have gone in the first place, but never got around to asking. He is going to go back to school for computer science - his dream has always been to write a new operating system. Pretty intense. They were fun, and I´m wishing now I had taken my camera with me to dinner, because I never got a chance to get their pictures. That´s one thing I need to be better at, taking pictures of the people I meet.
Spain won the World Cup. That was sheer insanity. I was in Burgos last night, which is a fairly big city (the second biggest I´ve been in since starting the Camino) at 170,000 people. There was a giant screen set up in one of the city squares, and mobs of people were there decked out in their red and yellow, with flags and horns and even some were dressed up as matadors. I tried the local ¨festival drink¨consisting of red wine and Coke. I wasn´t too sure about it until I tasted it - it´s surprisingly delicious!! I´m told that it´s really only good cold, though, which ours was. The cups they were serving these drinks in, along with beers, were probably 40 oz. In other words, massive. And it only cost me €4. I could only drink about 3/4 of it, all the pop made my stomach hurt and I was simply too tired, but well worth it. Most of the people from the first group I travelled with were in Burgos as well (yay!), so I went with them to watch the match. We were standing on the periphery of the square, and I was only able to handle the first half, then my feet were telling me it was long past time to lie down. I definitely heard when Spain scored in what must have been overtime, though. People were partying in the streets hard core until 5:30 this morning. There were fireworks, horns, shouting, music, singing. Someone near the albergue was even shooting off a gun or two. I´m just thankful ´we´won. Who knows what might have happened had those masses of drunken people been mad about losing.
I had time this morning to go through the Burgos cathedral. It is pretty awe-inspiring. It´s stunning to think how much money went into the place. It was super ornate everywhere, with several (maybe 8?) little chapels inside, each one different. Lots of people are buried in there as well. I took tons of pictures, because I simply couldn´t get over the details in the carvings and sculptures.
I took two busses today. One from Burgos to Leon, and the second from Leon to here (aqui), Astorga. This morning I passed a couple different people that I came to know over the past few days as I was leaving the albergue, and I felt myself slinking off, almost feeling ashamed, even though I knew that there was nothing wrong with taking a bus. I quickly got over this feeling as we drove through some of the most boring countryside I´ve seen. It reminds me of the midwest. Ha. My camera had died in the cathedral, and I had been feeling a little bummed about not being able to take pictures along the way here, but as it turns out there wasn´t anything I wanted a picture of anyway! The first bus was having several difficulties, one of which was being stuck behind an accident in which another bus hit a car. They had to CareFlight someone away, and and ambulance took someone else. At that point it was still a question as to whether I would make my connecting bus, but I was okay with the possibility of not making it. As it turns out, I missed it, but another one came an hour later. While I was waiting I tried to make a post, but I wrote until I ran out of time and the computer kicked me off. Oops.
I also just finished a €10 Japanese massage. It was pretty wonderful. The funniest part was when she cupped a butt cheek, swirled it around a little, then pushed up and suddenly let go, letting it jiggle back into place. She did this 3 times on each side. I almost started laughing. The weirdest part was when she took half a cottonball in each hand, stuck them on the end of her fingers, and then stuck her fingers in my ear! She was pushing around in there and it became clear that she just really wanted to give each body part equal attention. The whole thing lasted 45 minutes, and felt pretty darn good.
All of your comments are cracking me up! Dad - there have been men in speedos, but most of the swimsuits worn by men remind me of those drag suits that were really popular my senior year of high school. The little boyshort type things. Same with underwear. The men all strip down to their mini boxerbriefs or tighty-unwhities (they all are some bright color - something else European, I think) and walk around the sleeping areas like that. Even the old men. Even the large men. Even the old, large men. Like I said previously, it takes some getting used to.
Grandma - don´t worry about me falling too hard for the potbellies! Many of them are wrinkly as well.
Mom - I´ll most likely be coming back, don´t worry. I´ve yet to see cold, fresh milk. Even in supermarkets, they keep the cartons unrefrigerated. And I don´t think it´s fresh. Someone said it´s got preservatives or something in it. I don´t know. I´ve yet to try it.
One last remark to leave you thinking - I´ve experienced more farting here than ever before in my life. And I have a brother and lived with boys for several years! Someone is always letting one rip, and they´re not little squeakers, either. They sound like someone needs to hurry to the toilet because they just made a mess. And sometimes they´re already on the toilet. Tip for anyone thinking of doing anything like this, ever - if you have a choice, pick the bed furthest from the bathroom. If you´re not woken up by the sound, you´ll be woken by the smell.
And with that, I wish you a good night! :D