San Juan de Ortega

When I left Belorado, it was absolutely bucketing down.  Wore my shorts (they were pants when I left home, but you'd be surprised the alterations you can do with a cheap jack knife ... it doubled my hot weather gear!), my rain jacket and my tattered bread bag poncho.  Mercifully, there was very little wind, so I was not deafened by the flapping.  By the time the sun was fully up, the rain had slowed, and by cafe con leche time, it was just overcast and pretty pleasant.

Lots of uphill today, and then a slower downhill through some more forested areas.  Although I didn't see any wildlife (except snails who were happy the path was wet), a couple of the women saw and photographed a snake.  I was quite glad to have missed it.

A bit of the trail on day 11 - Spain has many faces.

Coming into the village of Villafranca.  

Upon arriving at San Juan de Ortega, after a longish walk through the bush - all of a sudden there is another stone church - this one obviously undergoing some sort of restoration work - hence the crane in the background.  The monastery (what was once a monastery and is now being used as the albergue) was attached to the church.  Sort of like a mini-mall - maybe not what the original designers had in mind.  At the far left of the "mini mall" was the cafe/bar.  The only game in town.

The cafe is just past the farthest lefthand door in the photo.

Another shot of the church front.

Inside this church, some interesting religious art and icons.  This funereal piece was particularly ornate; all marble.  It was behind bars, as you will be able to see in the next photo.

Apparently San Juan was a disciple of Santo Domingo - so there is a sculpture of Santo Domingo here as well.

One cannot use flash photography, so my apologies for the lack of clarity on some of these.  I am sure Google images would have better photos than I do.

San Juan's sarcophagus is here as well; a plain stone box - coffin sized.  Not behind bars, surprisingly, but too dark to photograph.

In other news, while the church was fascinating, the monastery was a bit frightening.  One girl thought they'd changed the sheets at the beginning of the season.  I'd say that was debatable.  So fear of bed bugs and terrible creaking and thumping, as well as a distant thunderstorm contributed to a less than idyllic night's rest.  But we had a pretty good "pie atun" (tuna pie), a salad and ice cream at the one cafe, so life was good.

And, no one was bitten that I know of.  One more day on the Camino.