Hello everyone! 
     Today has been a day. We started at 8am and reached our destination for the night at 8:30pm.
     After a homemade breakfast in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, we hopped on the bus and went to Villafranca Montes de Oca. Once there, we walked about 4 kilometers to “Monumento  a los Caídos” (Monument to the Fallen). Claire P. gave us an informative presentation about the Spanish Civil War and the massacre that occurred at that site. 300 Republicans were killed in the night there, and the Monument was erected in their honor.
     From there, we walked another 8 kilometers to San Juan de Ortega. The terrain was hilly and the weather was sunny. Once in San Juan de Ortega, we visited Albergue Monasterio San Juan. Nanette taught us that San Juan de Ortega (Saint John of Ortega in English, also the patron Saint of pregnancy) who was a pilgrim himself before dedicating his life to serving pilgrims. Santo Domingo (the patron saint of civil engineers) helped build the monastery that also served as an albergue (hostel) for pilgrims on their way to Santiago. In the monastery, the remains of San Juan de Ortega lie in a simple stone tomb. Women struggling to get pregnant frequently visit the monastery to pray to San Juan de Ortega. Even Queen Isabella (the one that sponsored Christopher Columbus’ expedition) visited the monastery.
     After this, we took a trip to Atapuerca. This is an active excavation site where some of the oldest human (and similar species) remains have been found in Europe. Unfortunately, our tour guide did not speak English, but fortunately we had two of our own guides who translated the information for us. We learned a lot about making tools and starting fires. 5 hours later...we got on the bus once more and drove to Burgos! 
      Now we are spending the rest of the night exploring the city before a rest day tomorrow!!

Thanks for reading, ¡hasta luego!

**THIS POST WAS WRITTEN BY ANNE**

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