update 6 (Grañon and whereever I am now)
Wow. Last night was crazy awesome!
Every night we stay in some kind of home. There are refugios, which are kind of similar to city owned places to stay that are very cheap but have many many beds, usually over 90 or 100. Then there are albergues which are more home-style with kitchens and places to do laundry. Then there are hostels which are just beds and thats pretty much it. Some of them have laundry and stuff, but most that I have encountered do not.
Well, yesterday we made it to Grañon, which was one of the not so aweosme treks. The rain was crazy, and I was miserable during my walk. I forgot to purchase a cover for my pack, so it got all wet. Many clothes got wet too. It wasnt too cool. But hey, it is a good opportunity for sacrifice!! haha!
To my utter delight, we found out that the albergue in this particular city was INSIDE the CHURCH! So, we walked in the Church and were directed of a flight of stairs to what seemed to be the would-be rectory. The priest wanted to change in into a place for pilgrims to stay and they run on a donation only basis!! There are juts mats on the floor, no pillows and no mattresses. They provide blankets if they are needed.
What set them apart from ALL the other albergues, refugios, and hostels along the route is that they are run purely by volunteers during the summer months and they have community dinner and breakfast the following morning, with a prepared meditation for evening prayer said in the Church following dinner. There are only two volunteers in this albergue and they are both college students (at least they looked like it). They spoke to us for a while in several languages telling us about the working and history of this albergue. It (the Church) was built in the 15th century and was destroyed some time after. It was then rebuilt entirely by the hands of volunteers, brick by brick. They asked us for our help in cleaning, as they were they only two in the whole Church, plus the priest. So, we all took turns cleaning dishes, wiping tables and chairs, and just tidying up. It was awesome to see all of us come together, no matter the language barriers or whatever type of people we were. I got to play a guitar finally, which was a HUGE relief for me. I played Sergio and some South African in chess and got SCHOOLED both times!! It was crazy. The South African (I forgot his name) has the men of three generations walking together on the Camino. Its him, his father, and his 10 year old son! Talk about awesome!! His son, Noah, was a delight to everyone in the albergue. He was lots of fun.
A cool story the hosts told us was that although there is extremely limited space in the church for pilgrims upstairs, they operate on the principle that they never turn a pilgrim away. So, they will always accept any pilgrim that walks through those Church doors. So powerful!! They told us that once they had over 90 pilgrims staying in rooms that only held about 40!! They had mats and blankets everywhere they said. So awesome to hear about such powerful charity!
Right before dinner, they host offered to show some of us the bell tower and bring us to the tip top of the Church!! It was GOURGEOUS! I secretly (although once it happened, not so secretly…) rang the bell! It was sooo awesome. It was super old and there were holes everywhere to fall into. So many signs of it being rustic and ancient. The sigh of the landscape with the mountains and the sky and the vast open fields with flowers blooming and birds flying and singing was such a blessing. Glad to share it with my companions. Ill get a pic up soon.
Shared many many laughs with Sergio and Sandra. It was just us three in company yesterday with all the other pilgrims. We went and watched the world cup game and have a couple beers. It was great time for talking and building our friendships. It will be hard to say goodbye to Sandra in a couple days when she has to end her Camino.
We walked 28 km today in the worst weather imaginable. Hot, muggy, rainy, humid. Bah! Talk about a cross to bear for 28 km!! I´ve been offering up my walk for a different person each day, so you who were today, I pray, obtained much much grace!!! :)
Tomorrow, another 28km. Looking forward to another good walk in some predicted nice weather. Missing you all, but having a fruitful Camino.
Blessings,
Lamar
View →