In Burgos

It's a very bad feeling to be in a strange country where you do not speak the language, you have no money and you are not sure how, or if, you are going to get any.
In addition, the telephones give very little instruction re: international operators, so I don't quite have them figured out.
Since it was too late in the day to do anything about the money thing, I called home through the hotel - at great expense - and Steve said that the Royal Bank had a big computer failure, and no one could access money from Interac for a portion of the day. That seemed a reasonable explanation, so I had my second luxurious bath of the day and slept reasonably well.

Early in the morning I ran out to a bank machine, but again to my horror, it was rejected, as well as my Visa. Now I'm in freak out mode! I can't even check out of my hotel as planned, as I can't pay them.
There was a small coffee shop across the street from a bank in my immediate area, so I used a few of my dwindling dineros to have a coffee and wait for the bank to open. It opened fairly early and I went right over and tried to explain my situation, although we could barely understand each other. A woman named Ana took me under her wing and let me call Visa. Visa explained that my 5 digit PIN would not work in Europe, although interestingly it had up until now.
I don't know what type of bank this was, but they had no money (no tellers, as Ana explained), so she walked me down the street to another bank where my Visa was not cleared - again rejected.

It took a long time for this bank to determine that Visa would not authorize any money, and Ana waited with me the entire time (over an hour - I don't see this ever happening at home). Ana suggested I go to the "International Bank of Spain" about 6 blocks away.
When I arrived there, I told my story, as best I could, to the 2 gentlemen that manned this bank. They started off the same way every one else did by saying, "No problemo", took my info and asked me to wait while they checked it all out. I waited well over 2 hours as they made various calls and let me use both their phone and personal computer. Finally, they said that Visa would not accept my card. As they also were a Western Union agent, I decided I had no choice but to call Steve and have him wire me some money. As it is 6 hours earlier in Canada he tried to do it online, but it was rejected, so he had to wait for a Western Union agent to open and go there in person. Because the bank I was waiting in closed at 2.00 pm I would not be able to receive my money there.

Steve figured out another Western Union agent I could go to later that day. Steve, as always, was so helpful and reassuring and went to no end of trouble to help get this resolved.
When I showed up at the Western Union office, where they opened at 4.30 pm with, I might add, no expectation that I would ever get any money, I wasn't disappointed. They said they had no money and that I would have to go the Post Office.
I really wish I could say that I saw the humour in this, but I was having a major melt down!
I finally found the Post office, and by 6.00 pm, I was solvent again.
To paraphrase Bogart in Casablanca, "We'll always have Western Union."

On the way back to the hotel, I ran into the British guys who were staying another night, so I agreed to meet them for dinner at 8.30 pm. That's early here, I might add. People have dinner much later. I had a fantastic meal - knowing that I could actually pay for it helped; a plus.
I was starved, as I hadn't eaten all day.
We had a great evening. One of the guys deals in Chinese and Japanese antiques and has travelled the world many times. They were interesting and fun dinner companions and we stayed until they closed the restaurant down at 12.30.

In the morning I made the decision to stay one more day in Burgos.
It had stopped raining, the sun was out and I wanted to check out the beautiful Cathedral and stock up on supplies - blister bandages, etc. - as it will be quite awhile until I get to a major centre again.

I also wanted to go back to the 2 banks that had been so kind and helpful, and thank them again. When I got to the Bank of Spain where I had spent most of the day, Manuel showed me a Thank You note Steve had written him - in Spanish, no less - thanking him for trying to help me. He was clearly bowled over by Steve's efforts and was wondering how to reply, as he could not correspond in English. Very nice, Steve!!!

Burgos is beautiful, beautiful!
Wonderful buildings, monuments and fantastic shops of all sorts. I positively drooled over the shoes and clothes in the shop windows.
The people here dress very stylishly, which I really appreciate and always love to see. I wanted so many things (most un-pilgrim like) but of of course, there is no taking on any additional weight.

One more bath tonight - then back to being a Pilgrim.