Day 13: 12-5-09: Nájera to Santo Domingo

*Leaving at sunrise: the almost full moon sitting low in front of us; the rising sun behind us casting impossibly long shadows.
*The smell of freshly cut pine.
*Silver and copper coloured millipedes crossing the path.
*Meeting Tim, from Victoria, that thinks he knows my Uncle Arthur and Auntie Margaret. Tim broke a toe twice in the month before the Camino, so is doing it tough.
*Feeling so refreshed after 2 days rest. It´s the cumulative effect that makes the body weary but a tiny but of R&R rejunevates us. We´re only 1/4 of the way through, so need to take this at a realistic pace.
*After resting for 2 dsays, we´re now travelling with a completely new group of pilgrims that have already travelled up to 200kms together.
*We arrive in Santo Domingo on the day of the Santo Domingo festival. It is the 900th anniversary (1109-2009) since he...well, I need to research that bit. From what I understand, he founded the church here, built a bridge and an albergue for the pilgrims, amongst other things. Although the festival was in full swing, we had more immediate concerns of food and laundry (hadn´t done laundry in over 100kms). The Plaza del Toro held a bullfight, but that didn´t hold any appeal. If only they´d hold bullfights that didn´t end in the bulls getting killed.
*While waiting for the laundry, we got a little restless and started taunting each other with "Blah blah blah blah blah BLAH BLAH". When someone came in laughing, we realised we´d been putting on a spectacular acoustics demonstration.
*Many people seem to be exaggerated cartoon characters of what they may normally be. Or maybe a walk of this duration attracts a certain type of person. But given that there are so many different personality types here, I don´t know what that type would be. NFI.