Via de la Plata: Days 2, 3, & 4

So, it seems I am the only one in Spain, or perhaps, the world, who does not have an electronic gizmo that enables me to phone, e-mail, blog, download photos onto said blog, e-mail etc. As such, I'm reduced to pay phones and going to the local library which seems to be available in only every 3rd village and which seem to feature 1992 era computers. In any case...
On Day 2, I left Guillena and walked through several miles of orange and olive groves and, what I believe, were almond orchards, and arrived at what was described in the guide (and by "the guide", I mean the few pages of information that I downloaded from some Spanish grocery store website) as a Mediterranean forest. In a dry and scrubby way, it was very pretty. Loads of encinas trees and lots of shrubs and bushes that look like they have a very hard life and do the best they can to survive and/or thrive on the few drops of rain that come their way. Although I'm more inclined to like lush, green forests and landscapes, this was also quite beautiful. I'd like to describe it as the chaparral but as I'm not precisely sure of what that word means, perhaps I should not. In any case, this interesting dry, scrubby, landscape, in my mind is the chaparral. This was about a 14 mile walked but seemed like 20. At the albergue I found, Marcello, the Italian who looks somewhat like our family "friend", Eddie Jr. So, at any minute I expect him to talk at length about his kids' ear tube surgery or hobnobbing with mid-level management at government agencies but fortunately, Marcello seems prone to carry on normal conversation. Also there, was French-Canadian, Maurice. We felt we should take in the local color so had some large beers and then moved on to some tapas and wine for dinner. The town, Castilblanco de los Arroyos, was yet another lovely Andalucian town with bright white buildings and sunny skies. The church tower had four storks nests on each of its four corners. I LOVE the storks and am always amazed by these giant nests that they build which are reportedly something like 6 feet across. Unlike when I lived in Castilla Leon where the churches are mainly stone(where the brown nests blended in somewhat) the churches here are often bright white so the nests and storks really stand out against the white of the church and the deep blue sky. On day 3, I got up pretty early and headed out for a long walk to the town of Almaden de la Plata. The first 9 miles were on the road but it was not a terribly busy road so it wasn't a problem. The views were mainly olive trees, farms and horses. Then I entered the second half of the walk in a large national park. I was immediately enchanted as it was full of cork trees. I'm particularly fond of the cork trees. I believe it is every 7 years that the cork is harvested and they strip the bark off the tree leaving a beautiful reddish brown trunk with something of twirling pattern to it. The park was gorgeous and I sat down on a rock to eat my lunch. Seven of the remaining nine miles of the park were enjoyable. I was unaware that there would be hills, or what may possibly be mountains, on this route. So, after walking the 17 miles it was quite a dagger to come across a steep 2-mile ascent up some sort of mountain. Fortunately the weather was dry but the trail had previously been washed out leaving all sorts of rocks, trenches, and sticks along the path. It was so incredibly steep and so tough. Yes, the view at the top was nice but the descent into the village was also rather tough...going straight down some type of ravine filled with rocks and rubble. Alamaden de la Plata though was yet another charming village with a beautiful stork topped church and an even prettier stork-topped clock tower. The albergue was very nice and clean as well. Day 3:This morning I headed out for an even longer walk to the village of Monesterio where I am now located. The walk was primarily through farmland. Because it is rather dry here the farms are mainly for livestock and not crops. There are miles of land that contain little apart from encinas trees. These are a type of oak that I came to love in salamanca. They stand out in fields of dirt. The trunks are a grayish knarled wood and the leaves are small, dry, tough and somewhat prickly...they resemble small holly leaves but are more olive in color. THe animals (pigs, sheep, goats, cows) eat the acorns that drop from the trees. THis is allegedly why the Spanish ham is so good. On yet another mountain pass, I encountered a wee baby lamb just sitting by himself. I could hear the adult sheep a bit further up the path. This little fellow was possibly the cutest thing I have ever seen and he followed me bleating at me as he wobbled along after me. I tried to reunite him with his mother but he seemed more interested in following me. I'll post a picture as soon as I can of this little creature who finally stayed with his mom. I plowed on ahead through miles and miles of encinas trees...it was a really pretty walk. And, much like yesterday, spent the last 2 of the twenty -two mile walk going uphill...not as bad as yesterday for it was a gravel road so it wasn't so steep that cars couldn't scale it. Now I'm in Monasterio at the albergue run by the local priest. Seems I might be the only one here tonight so I'll have the brand new and stunningly beautiful place to myself.
That about catches me up.
A note on walking: It is SO hard. WHereas on previous walks, when I was prepared and about 15 pounds lighter, I would walk about 15 miles before I began to feel tired, or to start counting the kilometers and long to finish. Now, I go about 6 miles and my legs feel incredibly heavy making the last 15 miles very difficult. I aslo start out each day thinking how long it will take, when I will finish, etc. I'm hoping that after I have a week under my belt I will have adapted to the toughness of it all and will not have any more trouble. Miguel Angel, the priest, claims there won't be any more hills for a long time which would be a true blessing.