Fourteen of the 20 bed in the refugio last night in Casar de Caceres were occupied. By the time we rolled in (2:30 pm, early for us) all of the lower bunks were already taken. The refugio itself was pretty nice, as far as refugios go. Four showers with hot water, a kitchen with microwave, but only one working bathroom. Better than most we've seen and free, too. So tonight we're splurging in a little hotel overlooking a reservoir. Our guide book listed this as closed, but it has been re-opened and re-named. A bit on the pricey side, but sometimes a private room with a bath is a bargain at any price. Even still, the room with dinner and breakfast came to 77 euros. The alberge just down the road is very nice, too, but a dorm arrangement.
We set out in a fog so thick it collected on our hair and glasses. By noon we stripped to t-shirts. Rain had been forecast, but we got lucky.
We've melded into a new cohort of peregrinos and met a lot of new people already. It is interesting that we haven't met any other "camino virgins" and we haven't met any other North Americans. Roughly 20-25% are from Spain and the rest from central europe. Many have done multiple pilgrimages. Today we walked with a couple from Pamplona, Alfredo and Nieves, who walked this route about 15 years ago as part of a larger group who re-blazed the the Via de la Plata after a few centuries of non-use. Now they are re-walking the route in stages, but from Granada instead of Sevilla. In previous years they completed the section from Granada to Merida, and this year they resumed in Merida. They intend to walk till the end of this week and then finish sometime after Nieves retires in July.
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