Camino Day 22: Calzadia de la Cueza to Sahagun

More rain this morning! Also, strange geavestone like markers by the road that read "MAPT." In one tiny, rainy town we found a starving and bedragled cat, fed her, and removed some obviously painful ticks before continuing on. We were completely disheartened by this poor, hungry creature-- so surrounded by humanity, but so utterly alone. We were both sruck and dismayed by the human capacity to ignore such suffering.

Though we enjoyed a peaceful lunch, met another, much healthier cat, and walked in afternoon sunshine, her hurt stayed with us for the rest of the day. We are too often, on Camino and in our travels, confronted with the human capacity for cruelty to our fellow creatures.

Finally, in early afternoon, we reached Sahagun-- the official halfway point on the Camino. We stayed in the municipal alburgue,  on the false second floor of a crumbling old brick church. The ground floor hosted a dance school, so we were treated to practice performances of bachata and flamenco dancing, and cheered for the dancers from our bunks on the second floor balcony. Today, as always it seems in life, the food with the bad, sweet with sorrow, beauty with pain. No day is wholly good, nor wholly bad. Life, and the Camino, are complex.