You might be fed up with the word Grace appearing in my posts. Maybe my objective is a little convoluted, so let me explain it differently.
I am using the Camino de Santiago as a spiritual experiment. I am proving to myself that God is faithful. That even if I allow myself to get to the point of having no money, that he will still care for me and meet my needs. Like I said before, I never knew what poor felt like before now, but I decided to do it this way knowing there would be an end. If am going to work with poverty stricken communities at some point during my life, it would do me some good to have genuine empathy. Some "I know what you're going through" feels.
And again, I am not looking for pity. My objective is to prove to you, my dear reader, and to myself that the creator of the universe, the God that sees us, our Heavenly Father cares and provides for us. So I guess it's of dual objectives.
Thanks for coming along this far. The best is yet to come.
So today. A lazy morning. Sleeping in until 6:47. Ha That's hilarious.
My leg looked better this morning. At the bar last night the bartender said I had allergies. From the river or plants. Back at the albergue Alissa asked about how my leg was. She had exactly two Benedryl and she gave me both. So nice.
The hostel was empty by the time I left the bathroom. Only a Lynda was left. I had it planned to meet Camille at morning mass at 8:30, so my slowness was justified.
Got my stuff together and went on a search for a mailbox and then I needed to find this church. I went back to the albergue 12 min before they locked up so I could leave a donation for the stay. God has put it on my heart to donate to the municipal albergues, but that the church ones are on Him. ;-)
I sat at the bigger church for a while. Doors were never opened. I crossed the bridge to go to another. Also locked up. It was already 8:37. Oh well. Back to the Naxara bar from last night to have a coffee and a bocadillo again.
I left the bar at 9am to start my walk. I pulled out my Uke as I tried to find the path out of the city. It took 7 min longer than it needed to because of the uke playing that distracted me from noticing the yellow arrows.
It was overcast and slightly windy. I went braless again (and since I've lost several pounds, that's perfectly fine). But I was also wearing two jackets for the chill anyway.
I walked for 2 hours by myself playing various songs on my uke. People passed and smiled. I put it away as I came to a village. Some other pilgrim guys that had passed me asked me where the music had gone. "My fingers needed a break," I sighed.
The next hour I spent listening to Kari Jobe, one of my favorite worship artists.
As I summited the top of a hill, who did I see? My Camille! She was having a rest and snack on a bench in a picnic area. She said as soon as she heard the music, she knew it was me. She shared her snacks (because that's what Camille does) with Olea and I. Olea is a pretty Ukrainian girl from New York. She looks like a Barbie doll. She's flawless. And her heart and spirit are equally beautiful.
Camille, Olea, and I spent the rest of the way walking together. I'm learning so much about Catholicism from listening to the two of them. I'm so intrigued by the intricacies of a religion that my own was born out of.
We got to Santo Domingo de la Calzada. It's a larger town. Same squeezy 13th century buildings. We checked into the first albergue. It's a monastery and the albergue is run by nuns. I crashed, showered, did laundry.
Headed to the bar with Lainie and Chris for wifi. I ordered a mushroom tortilla (think quiche again) and a coffee. I was in the bar for hours on the phone. This is the first time I've really called home since I've been here. While on the phone with my mom, an elderly man offered to buy me "a drink, or something to eat... anything!" But I declined because his intentions were unclear and I was on the phone.
Camille came by as I was wrapping up with my mama. She sat down for some dinner and when I finished up we went to mass together. My favorite parts of mass are always the readings and the homily. This priest was a little more intense with his homily, which was interesting to see. All the other priests have been more passive.
After mass, we stopped at the treat store to get some orange and lemon skin candy and a Santiago Cake (like corn cake, maybe).
When we returned to the albergue, we went straight to the medieval dining hall. I felt like I was eating in an old castle. Lainie and Chris had made veggies and spaghetti that they shared with me. I returned the favor by doing dishes. As I was leaving the dining area to go up to my room, they were trying to scoot a pigeon out from under the vending machine with a broom. Weird stuff, man.
Olea, Camille, and I are sharing a room. Today was lovely and simple. Tomorrow I'll be able to get my leg taken care of since pharmacies and medical consults will be open again.
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