An absolutely gorgeous day for walking up, up, up. And it started ever so early as one of our bunk mates got up, oh, at least forty five minutes or an hour early and made so much racket as she putzed around, in and out of the bathroom, rustling bags, shuffling back and forth, doing things she could easily have done the night before (Oh, am I whining?). Then, when the rest of us pretty much got up at 6 and got ready and Stella got down to the bar to have some caffe con leche, she was still there, she hadn´t even left yet!!! The people of Spain are wonderful, it´s the fellow pilgrims who can be SO inconsiderate. Okay, yes, I´m supposed to pray for them, right?
Well, we got on our way by 7 at least to a beautiful clear morning and the sun coming over the mountains. Shortly after we left Santa Catalina, we were joined by Annika, of Sweden, who will soon be 70. Last year, she did Roncevalles to Burgos; this year, she is doing Burgos to Santiago. We walked with her to the first little town of El Ganzo, which was still quite asleep when we arrived, although the owner of the bar, Meson Cowboy,
had quite thoughtfully left the restrooms available for us! :) 
Annika was very fun to talk with. She is retired from the real estate business. She had lived in Spain from 1970 to 1985 and now spends the winters here. We continued on to Rabanal, a lovely little town, about 12 km from our start, where we took our usual mid-morning break.
It´s a village built going up a hill, so, after my cup of tea, we climbed up the hill through it. All of the buildings around here are of stone. 
Shortly out of Rabanal, we come across a cherry vendor selling fresh-off-the-tree sweet cherries and they are wonderful! We buy a bag to get us up the hill. Judging by the pits on the path, we aren't the first customers! 
From there, we had only 6 km to our goal for the day, Foncebadon. But it seemed like a very long 6 km because we climbed about 200m in altitude in that distance. What made it worthwhile were the continual views for miles and miles to other mountain peaks and across the valleys. 
It´s absolutely incredible under the Carolina blue skies. We are at an altitude of about 1400 meters right now. 
The wildflowers are scrubby, hardy things with little purple and white and yellow flowers. It´s been a rocky and sometimes muddy path this morning, but worth the climb. At one point, I arrived at the top of a steep section. There was a tree on which someone had tied up a red swing with red and white ropes. I just laughed - - and then I swang for a few minutes, just enjoying the moment! "Just a swingin'..."
Finally, Foncebadon came into sight. The first indications were the sort of dirty-brown, lethargic cows that seem to match the color and somewhat the feel of the community (not sure that I should call it a village, just yet).
When Shirley McClain wrote about this town in her book "The Camino" back in 2001 or so, this town was completely abandoned and in ruins. 
It is another of the Maragato towns, and apparently it had been completely abandoned and/or everyone had died off. It was known (and feared) by pilgrims for the packs of wild dogs which roamed around here. Fortunately, in the last several years, things have begun to turn around. But it is a rather peculiar existence here. There are piles and piles of stones where houses, and perhaps businesses and barns and who knows what else, once stood. There are dozens of ruins. But there are also new signs of life, built right in amidst the ruins. There are three alburgues, one of which is in the restored little church and is known as Dominus Dei, House of God. Another one is sort of a working commune, and the third is where we are, with a quite viable restaurant and bar. Next door is a medieval restaurant and bar. 
And there is something that looks like it might become a fourth alburgue when it is complete. And there are at least two rather nice very new houses and some others that aren´t too bad. As for the wild dogs? 
We met two of the most laid back, sweetest big, lazy dogs you could imagine as we ate our lunch outside the commune-alburgue just a little while ago. Perhaps Cezar the dog-whisperer got called in to Foncebadon for a major reworking. Or maybe it was all bad PR. Anyway, there are no longer any wild dogs roaming the streets here. And you really can´t judge a book by its cover. We had thought we were staying at the alburgue that looks like a commune. Judging from the description in the guidebook (which didn´t describe it that way) we shipped our packs there. But when I got here first today, I poked my head inside, looking for the packs, and it looked a little rough and, having had experiences with rough looking alburgues, I didn´t think we wanted to stay there. The place we are, looked much nicer from the outside. So when Stella got here, we waited for this place to open. The ´transporte de muchilla´ arrived shortly after with our bags. We checked in - only to be placed in the basement of this place!! We went back to the other place for lunch and while they were making our sandwiches, we took a sneak peek upstairs where we would have been. It would have been a whole lot nicer, with bunks you could actually sit on and big, open windows. So? Don´t judge a book by its cover. And, let Stella do the alburgue picking - I´ve picked wrong several times now!
We had our lunch at the Alburgue Monte Irago, where we were supposed to stay. We looked at the sandwich menu posted on the wall. One of the young men who run the place suggested that the jamon (ham) was very good and deftly lifted dish towels off of something on the table beside us. We were confronted by the large leg and hoof of a pig in a vice grip on the table, partially sliced into fatty slices. The hoof waved in the air as if giving us the finger, or toe, or something. I chose queso (cheese).
Stella chose cheese and tomato, which was on the list, but search high and low, they could not come up with the promised tomato, so we had cheese sandwiches on perhaps the crustiest bread you can imagine. We were cold, so we took them outside to sit in the sun at the quirky tables cut from slices of trees outside and enjoy with our beers. This is where the ´fierce´ big lazy dogs lounged. 
I could not bite into my sandwiches, so I ended up sawing off the crusts with my knife and at first tossed them to the birds, who refused them, but then gave them to the dogs who gratefully gnawed them like bones. After lunch, we walked uphill (what else?) to explore the rest of this odd little community that is slowly being resurrected. The views from here are just exquisite. Twenty miles perhaps? Then we came back and got cleaned up and took a siesta. There really isn´t much else to do. We decided to walk further tomorrow (today was about 18 km) just to give us something to do so we aren´t bored when we get to our destination, though part of it depends on where alburgues are located.
Tonight, we went to the most interesting little restaurant next door, the most upscale dinner we have had so far, La Taverna de Gaia, Cocina Medieval. (medieval cooking). The interior of the restaurant was very interesting and the folks who worked there dressed appropriately. Music on medieval instruments played in the background. Almost everyone else there were 'locals' - i.e. they had driven there from somewhere nearby and weren't pilgrims. My first course was a squash soup, so it was yellow instead of green for a change. We have also changed the texture and style of bread in the last day or two - maybe that's part of the Maragato influence. The second course, we both had chicken, which turned out to be pickled Cornish Game hens set in the middle of this beautifully arranged colorful plate of red pimento peppers, black olives, green lettuce, whitish cheese wedges and golden potato chunks, all with a vinagrette dressing on the plate. It was lovely and I have a picture to prove it if I can ever post it!
Dessert was a real dessert. She called it chocolate cake, but it was a layered square, more on the cocoa side of chocolate, with a middle layer that was the color of something peanut butter, but didn´t taste like that, and a crumb bottom layer. Very rich and decadent. I´ll have to walk it off tomorrow! A nice way to end the day in an interesting and much more lively town than I ever expected this place to be.
