Day 8 El Burgo Ranero - Mansilla de las Mulas: Big Up in View and Elvis is Alive on the Camino

Meseta Memorial to a Pilgrim on The Camino

More Meseta Please

Today brings another relatively short 20 km / 12.4 mi day. The distances are sometimes dictated by where accommodation is and this was the case through the final stretches of the mesa.

Many find this terrain very mentally challenging as it is often hours on end of terrain that looks exactly like this with no change. I'd been on the Meseta for many days on end myself.  

How did I avoid this Meseta monotony? How did I stave off wishing my Camino away with León anticipation? I said my daily prayer inviting God, Archangel Rapheal and my Guardian Angel along for protection and to open my soul up to communication and signs.  I was thus open to whatever came my way and always enjoyed being in the moment of a life-affirming journey. Sometimes these signs were somber. I saw many Memorials to Pilgrims who had died along the way such as the one in this photograph. Good music helped too. So did knowing amazing wine awaited me at the next village.

And Tales of Medieval Romanesque Porn... Why Yes Please

Romanesque "Architecture"

I learned a rather risque bit of history on my Camino which also helped occupy my mind. It seems the Medieval Church used a novel approach to bring the parishioners into the fold. "Sex sells" is an axiom that applied even in the 11th and 12th centuries and corbels of the Romanesque period were quite obscene by Victorian and Puritan standards. I saw a few here and there along The Way mostly quite provocative female nudes and males pleasuring themselves which are apparently more scandalous to the typical American than European. But the ones befitting a modern Museum of Sex have been removed by a combination of Victorian restorations and thieving art collectors.

I was reading "Off the Road: A Modern-Day Walk Down the Pilgrim's Route into Spain " by Jack Hitt and learned of the some of the more risque examples.

• At the Colegiata de Santillana del Mar is a man and a woman splayed crotch to face, a primitive 69 position.
• At San Martín de Elines is a man exhibiting his penis while tightening a garrote painfully around his neck (autoerotic asphyxia). 
• At San Vicente de la Barquera, a man is taking a woman from behind. They appear almost to be flying. Around the corner is a priest in robes, hiking his skirts to show his erect penis.
• At San Pedro de Cervatos, a corbel shows a woman with her legs pinned behind her ears, offering for public view a finely detailed, naturally proportioned vulva. Beside her is another corbel of a man with a hand on his chest and another fiddling with his visible scrotum and penis. A few corbels down is a man performing cunnilingus on a woman..

Theoretically, these corbels were not intended to tantalize although I think one would have to be a bit naive to think they did not. After all, the human population did survive throughout the 11th century. Rather the official reason for their being was to show the human condition suffered by man and woman outside the church one of them being the mad calling of sex.

The Big Mountains Are In My Near Future

I've been on the Flat Mesa for Days but the mountains are on the horizon

While I am walking on the flat land wearing shorts now I can see the big snow-capped mountains coming into view. This both excites and frightens me a bit. My inner dialogue reminds me of successful treks to and above Mount Everest Base Camp, Machu Picchu and up to the Grand Canyon Rim from the Colorado River. However I noted none of those posed wilderness dangers that could be deadly when faced alone in the winter. Oh my...

Sinín Prieto, the colorful proprietor of Bar La Torre en Reliegos

But Who Can Worry With Elvis?

I soon found my way into the small village of Reliegos with only 6 km / 3.7 mi remaining in my day's trek. With the guidance of a local friendly dog, I very soon discovered Reliegos contained one of the legendary haunts of The Camino; Bar Le Torre (Bar of the Bull). Sinín Prieto, the proprietor is known as the Elvis Presley of The Camino. 

Bar La Torre en Reliegos

My initial plans were to stop in for a quick Coke and head on my way but really an institution such as this that also was serendipitously  playing Dire Straits Walk of Life on the CD player calls a romantic like myself to stay a bit longer.

I thus ordered a steak with fries (Again, real potatoes cooked in olive oil - delish) and a beer or two. The food was wonderful. This place had graffiti on the wall from pilgrims past and I felt compelled to add mine too. The beers were too. It brought a sense of happiness to this Pilgrim. 

Entering Mansilla de las Mulas

Mansilla de las Mulas Town Gate for  Royalty and Pilgrims

This medieval town derived its name from its fame as a Mule Market in the 10th Century. Like many of the towns on the Meseta, it changed hands many times between the Moors and the Christians. I found a nice and quite empty hostal here and began exploring the medieval walls and narrow streets.

I soon found my way into a cafe for a glass of wine and pinxtos (tapas) when The Camino brought me another Angel encounter. "Hola, recuérdeme" (Hi, remember me) a friendly voice says. I look up and see Salvadore who last rescued me from the streets and showed me an Albergue on Day 1. He spoke a bit of English and asked how I was doing. I replied "Gracias, muy bien y tu?" (Thanks, very well and you?) to which he exclaimed he was happy to hear. He then left.

I noted how I was a bit anxious about the mountains and had visited the Pharmacy today to tend to my feet and a small upper respiratory infection. I am thinking this might have triggered his presence.

I never saw Salvadore again. I never saw his name registered in The Santiago Pilgrim Office Records for completing the Pilgrimage. I further checked and found no Google reference nor the end all, be all a Facebook entry.

This is what leads me to believe I likely encountered an Angel.

I headed back to my hostal where I saw the 2 Korean students from the day before and another Portuguese Pilgrim. We shared a Pilgrim Meal and a bit of conversation.

I soon was off to sleep excited about the next day's destination - León and my reservations in one of the world's most luxurious hotels. OK, maybe I was also a little bit excited about Romanesque Cathedral  pornography too.

My Tunes for the Day

I loved bringing  Pink's new record "The Truth About Love" along for the ride. I loved this track and in deference to my rather sexual overtones of my day, I bring you my Walk of Shame. We're walking... we're walking.