Camino: I quit!

Having hurt my knee yet again I've decided I need to do some more restful activity. And so I've quit hiking. It's also turned cold and slightly rainy, so that's helped the decision.

Really, after being robbed on day 1 the camino hasn't been how I'd hoped.

I've now taken a bus to Baños de Montemayor, which is still on the Via de la plata, and famous for its Thermal baths. I figure its a good place from where to figure out my next step, and enjoy some thermal waters.

I arrived to find the town was having a festival. This is the 3rd festival I've happened upon so far. I sat and watched this one, outside the town hall there was a band playing, old folks dancing, everybody drinking. Latee when I passed there were people dancing with paper mâché heads for the kids, and then later there was modern music from a DJ for the young adults. Like I've said before, Spain knows how to have a fiesta. This fiesta was for San Isidro: the saint for agriculture.

Actually, to look at Spain you wouldn't know that its economy is suffering so badly and there was such high unemployment. The people are well dressed and smoking and drinking and eating out. The towns and roads are maintained. High speed train lines are being built. Public transport is really nice.

Having seen all this it makes me remember the time I worked in a bank: the showy people with the latest clothes, cars, accessories, had credit card debts. The people who wore last seasons clothes and looked after what they had, had money in the bank.

I believe I'll bus the remainder of this section of the camino to Salamanca. Beyond that, I still need a plan. I might return to the camino later, it depends on how everything else is.