We just realized that today is Saturday - we've lost track of time and didn't stop at the grocery store to pick up more food - we have lots of nuts, chocolate, cookies and a few pieces of fruit. Our destination tomorrow is through the larger town of Santo Domingo de la Calzada and we're sure to find something open.
Currently we are in Ciruena, having arrived at the albuegue Virgen de Guadalupe just before it started to rain. Perfect timing - we are getting a lot of help from the heavens!
There is no internet here and we are in what was probably a typical farm house with two front doors. There is a large room downstairs that looks like it recently had a concrete floor installed and it was probably for the animals at some point during the life of the house - it is currently a sitting room for pilgrims. The kitchen and sleeping rooms are upstairs. We are in a room with two bunk beds and having arrived first, pinched the bottom two. Anna and Jena, a mother and daughter from Hawaii whom we've run into over the past week are sharing the room with us. Quite pleasant!
It appears that there are seven of us here tonight (we four, another couple we've seen off and on from Germany and another German man who lives in Malta.) The proprietor, Pedro is making us dinner and the aroma of warm food is floating into our room from the kitchen next door.
We again started out in the dark this morning and went out into a cool, drizzly morning - the light mist reflecting in our headlamps. It didn't last very long and the day was cloudy and cool (high 66 degrees F), so the walking was fairly pleasant and we hardly broke out into a sweat.
We had coffee in Najera and again in Azofra on our way and enjoyed a cookie break at a stack of hay in the midst of wheat, beet and vineyard fields. The rolling hills surrounding us were beautiful with textures, colors and form.
We arrived here by 1:30 and are blessing our fortune to be able to relax with the wide window open listening to the rain, napping (I am thinking of you, Mark), reading, journaling and blogging. After a 14 mile walk this is heaven.
Today I had a bit of a slog at the outset - my feet were sore and so were my hips. I have joined the countless number of pilgrims who are getting through each day with Advil or something stronger.
I have felt quite a lot of sympathy for my fellow travelers whose feet are bandaged and sore from blisters. We've seen people walking in their alternate shoes, sandals, plastic slippers with socks and today, a woman with thongs and socks and another just walking in her socks. When we rest at night, we see people limping around with their bandaged feet and moving quite slowly.
We feel relatively good. We both wear knee supports and I am so happy to have made that decision. One of our first-day friends did in both knees coming down the mountain the third day of the walk which was hours of down hill walking - both treacherous and hard on the body. She reported coming down on her butt.
This village is rather nondescript and doesn't have the charm of some of the medieval villages and towns along the Camino although there is the village church and what we've found in so many towns and villages, a patch of lavender growing in the square. I went for a short walk and discovered that our albergue, The Virgen of Guadalupe, was the nicest place in the village.
Dinner was a sit-down meal presided over by our host who is managing the albergue himself after having realized it was less trouble than hiring people. He cleans, cooks, welcomes people and on top of it all, is an artist. Dinner was absolutely delicious (lentils and rice with vegetables served in large olive-wood bowls) and delightful. There were some language problems because the German couple spoke no English or Spanish. The single German, Hilmar, was proficient in both English and Spanish as well as German and was so helpful in translating for everyone (Pedro's English was as good as my Spanish!)
Pedro had a very interesting story. He comes from San Sebastián, on the Atlantic coast close to Bilbao and had spent several years in Mexico (hence the name of the albergue) and walked the Camino 3 times. He was moved to provide sanctuary and assistance to Camino pilgrims. Apparently, he had a very moving experience in this house on one of his trips and felt he needed to come back. He is also a painter and has some of his work in the village gallery and is a Tai Chi instructor as well. We were all moved by his commitment to pilgrims.
It is interesting that my angel card for the day was 'creativity'. There are so many ways to be creative - through producing works of art like Pedro and my companion, Diana; creating beautiful spaces and gardens; creating delicious meals; and creating wonderful experiences and atmospheres both at home and in our work life. It seems to be a basic human need to create and although I look forward to returning to my studio, I am loving the opportunity to create this blog and take pictures to complement it now.
Nice work on the photos, Hol.
ReplyDeleteHuuummmm... I can almost taste the food! The atmosphere looks really special. I hope your feet and hips improve.
ReplyDeleteMay the joy and beauty continue to outweigh the hurts and challenges.
ReplyDeleteHere is our reading from meditation Sunday morning from Thich Nhat Hanh.
The Sun My Heart
Since we realize that "One is all, all is one" in our bodies, let us go to another step-
the presence of the entire universe in ourselves.
We know that if our heart stops beating, the flow of our life will stop, and so we cherish our heart very much. Yet we do not often take time to notice that there are other things, outside of our bodies, that are also essential for our survival. Look at the immense light we call the sun. If it stops shining, the flow of our life will also stop, and so the sun is our second heart, our heart outside our body. This immense "heart" gives all life on earth the warmth necessary for existence. Plants live thanks to the sun. Their leaves absorb the sun's energy, along with carbon dioxide from the air, to produce food for the tree, the flower, the plankton. And thanks to plants, we and other animals can live. All of us- people, animals, and plants- "consume" the sun, directly and indirectly. We cannot begin to describe all the effects of the sun, that great heart outside our body. In fact, our body is not limited to what lies inside the boundary of our skin. Our body is much greater, much more immense. If the layer of air around our earth disappears even for an instant, "our" life will end. There is no phenomenon in the universe that does not intimately concern us, from a pebble resting at the bottom of the ocean, to the movement of a galaxy millions of light years away. Walt Whitman said, "I believe a leaf of grass is no less that the journey-work of the stars...."
These words are not philosophy. They come from the depths of his soul.
He said, "I am large, I contain multitudes."
And so we give thanks for our 2nd heart, my friend. May your day be merry and bright.
You're so right - there are numerous ways to be creative. I never thought of it quite that way, but it does elevate more simple tasks to the realm of creativity. Sometimes I look at tasks I don't want to do as a way to "serve." But now I will also look at them as creative gifts...
ReplyDeleteYour blog with the photos and your thoughts is such a gift to all of us. Thank you, thank you!
Holly,
ReplyDeleteI am thinking of you every day, cheering you on, and hoping that you follow my lead, taking a well-deserved nap each day!