Day 2: Guillena - Castiblanco, 17.8 kms

Castiblanco - "white" town

Today was a good day.  It had an inauspicious start as my darn roomies were rustling their backpacks at 5:45am, a time which the stars haven't even begun to think of snuffing themselves out, all so they could congregate in the common room over their coffee or cafe or whatever the French drink in the morning.  I hadn't slept more than 2 hours due to les francais's snoring so I wasn't feeling very warm and fuzzy first thing so I just got up, packed, and left.   It was 7:40am and still pitch black outside. I started following the only 2 moving objects I could see: 2 Belge men, one of whom almost went for a swim in the river looking for the Camino arrows!  Luckily it got light 10 minutes later so I could let them to themselves and carried on my merry way.

The narrow verge alongside the highway soon gave way to a hardened dirt path through fields and olive groves, and that in turn gave way to scrubby oaks and chapparal forest (?)  and distant horse farms.  The birds were chirping good morning and the sun rose orange and bright and all was good in my world.

 
  The scenery was beautiful, the way had a nice steady rise in elevation (which I prefer to flat), my body felt stronger, and my pack rode better.  I had lightened it's load by snacking on 2 granola bars, drained some water and ate the apple. Note to self: Apples are heavy! Cake is lighter, and,  dare I say, tastier?

snack break

I checked out the municipal albergue but it was a bit frightening so I followed a tip from my Camino web forum and got a room with the tiny Señora Salvadora who rents out bedrooms in her huge warren of a house for the same price I paid to listen to snoring all last night!

Albergue: squished bunks and very basic amenities

I returned to the albergue to chat to my two Scottish friends and brought back 8 more pilgrims to the Señora! It's very very busy on the Camino, perhaps because it is Easter Holy Week (Semana Santa) next week, but it makes me nervous about finding a bed further down the road. But for tonight I will just worry about the weather....

Thanks, Allison

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