Burgos 1

Buffalo Jesus.


The Devil flycatcher.


One of my favorite parts of any cathedral is the carved choir stalls.

Today I walked about 13 miles into the large (200000 pop.) city of Burgos. I am staying in a pension located a few blocks from the cathedral. I am staying two nights so that I will have a rest day tomorrow. I have covered 300 km of the 800 km to Santiago and figure I am about 37% of the way done. So a rest day is in order. I arrived in the city center about 12:30, visited the tourist office, and got the recommendation for the pension.

My body is getting more used to the 13 to 18 miles mile per day walks, but a rest day will be good. Not that I do nothing once the pack is off. I am always walking around in my sandals exploring each town, putting on more mileage after the official walk is over. My toes are fine, just need to bandage the three blisters to protect them and one blister on my heel, also bandaged to help it along. The compression knee brace is keeping my knee in order and I even forgot to take any ibuprofen this morning. I think I can finish and hope so, but who knows what can happen? I have learned the only words a pilgrim can say when asked about the goals for his journey, "God willing".

The Cathedral in Burgos is one of the largest and most impressive in Spain. After my daily chores of shower and clothes washing, I walked over to the cathedral and went through it. The immense size, quality of all the work, and all the details are amazing. There are a few other churches and museums to check out tomorrow and I may just go through the cathedral again. One interesting side altar at the cathedral is Jesus on the cross covered with a green thing that looks like a dyed cowhide. It is aptly nicknamed ¨buffalo Jesus¨. When it absorbs moisture, it drips from the Jesus-something that was explained as a miracle to the medieval pilgrims. And if you turn around 180 degrees from buffalo Jesus and look up to the high ceiling is a clock like a cuckoo clock, but a devil´s face. When the hour comes around, the devil´s tongue sticks in and out once for each hour. This one is the ¨devil flycatcher¨. But those two novelties are not the main reason for coming here. All the work that went into making this cathedral over the centuries is unimaginable. Every possible surface is covered with paintings, statues, and other works of art.