America, do you have chickens inside your Churches? (Day 10)

tezelahm
Apr 10, 2024
2 min read

Yesterday after arriving to Santo Domingo de la Calzada I had a chance to meet Frank for lunch and later the rest of the group arrived. We talked about how each one will feel when we get to Santiago. I don’t have a good answer for that yet and it seems too far away. But on the bright side, I downed a vegetarian pizza, a spaghetti Napoliten and 2 orders of fries. I did have 3 Coke Zero’s to ensure some balance and also to make sure there is some capacity left for my chocolate croissant for my desert. Amy loves chocolate croissants so I try to eat them to feel she is with me. Miss her everyday.

Afterwards we all toured Catedral de Santo Domingo de la Calzada (origins 12th century). Getting a huge discount to enter the museum due to my official pilgrim status (Camino passport) made me feel special like my mom always told me that I was. The 4 euro discount I got also paid for the “I miss Amy croissant”.

This cathedral has an amazing story that I recommend you google about. Particularly the LIVE chickens that are housed inside the cathedral.

The below mosaic depicts the story of the chickens (zoom in to see he is a pilgrim - shell) and second photo is the LIVE chicken (the other one was photo shy) housed inside the cathedral. Third photo I zoomed in so you can see the chicken on the left side. I tried really hard to have eye contact but I felt the chicken had diva syndrome and wouldn’t engage.

We were also allowed to climb the tower and took below two photos from the top. The bells and the path we took to leave the town.

This morning I left at my usual 7am to catch the sunrise. Not my best photos but Amy likes my sunrise photos so I try not to skip them.

I wrote up to this part during my breakfast in Granon. Yesterday our cohort split into two since some decided to skip the whole chicken stuff. Therefore the Camino is relatively empty. The cohort will unite in Burgos this friday as that is a big city and the end of the “Body” or “Life” phase (1/3) of the Camino.

6 of us are staying at the below albuerge in Tosantos after a 29km day. It is donation based and connected to the towns church. Has been housing pilgrims for centuries. Below is our room. As it is a donation albergue there are no beds just mats on the floor. They say you have to try this once and this is the night for me. Doing it with friends that makes it easier. Sharing the room with 10 others but so far it is only 7 of us.