“When life itself seems lunatic, who knows where madness lies? Perhaps to be too practical is madness. To surrender dreams — this may be madness. Too much sanity may be madness — and maddest of all: to see life as it is, and not as it should be!” Miguel de Cervantes, Don Quixote

We entered the region of La Mancha sometime this past August and the scorching sun drove me completely mad. But eventually we trod into Mota del Cuervo, meeting one Don Quixote, who himself knighted me to do battle with Giants. And this glorious deed has returned reason and sanity.

Sometimes it is good to not plan too much. On a scorching hot day we walked into Mota del Cuervo to find that we had reached the region of Castilla-La Mancha. The land of Cervantes’ Don Quixote. What a great surprise. I happen to love Don Quixote and especially the play, ‘Man of La Mancha‘, and it’s music.. He is everywhere here. We found a hotel named ‘Meson de Don Quijote‘ so naturally chose to stay. And spent the afternoon reminiscing of my days as a hospitalero at Albergue Verde near the Bridge of Orbigo on Camino Frances, where the real Don Quijote (Don Quiñones) and companions defeated 300 knights of Europe in honor of his love. That was in the summer of 1434, thus inspiring Miguel Cervantes who published Don Quixote in 1605.






