From Jeannie and Calvin at an albergue for 20

Hello from Villalcázar de Sirga
Yesterday  was supposed to be the day that the "butano" truck comes and replaces the butane tanks. We use butane to heat water for showers and to operate the stove- both of which are extremely important things when people have walked 20-40 kms a day!

So Calvin put two empty tanks on the side of the curb, as we noted that other people were doing. Two men working at repairing and beautifying the area around our building (which is at the back of the municipal hall) made sure we did what we were supposed to do. We stayed close to home for most of the morning except when we went to the Dovecote restaurant (3 blocks away) for lunch.  When we returned the butane truck still hadn't arrived. Later in the afternoon a contingency of men (two of the same ones that were very involved with Calvin and his repair job on the bicycle with the hole in the inner tube) came to check on the situation. One of the two workmen (maybe both) got word out that we were running out of butane and may need someone to take us into the next town to get butane. They were quite worried that we may run out of butane and were ready to intervene! Calvin actually thinks we are OK for right now, although the only way we will really know if we are low is if the stove or hot water stop working!

This whole thing took quite awhile to sort out because a French  pilgrim staying at the albergue  thought he could help in the translation and he got involved too. His Spanish was probably about the same level as mine and he got confused about the Spanish words for full and empty which prolonged the discussion even more. In the end it all got sorted out and everyone now knows the butane truck will come (probably) next Wednesday, and we are hoping that what we have will last for a week. We're still not sure why the truck didn't come this Wednesday as  it was supposed to but c'est la vie!

It was touching to us that the workmen got word out in the village that we might need help, and we think the villagers of Villacazar de Sirga are very fine people indeed. So we will have to get a sweet treat from the village store for the two workmen to thank them for watching out for us!! It takes a village to look after these two hospitaleros!

Photos of the albergue

And sunset at Villalcázar de Sirga