What a great day I had today. I only walked 10 miles and I debated last night in changing my hostel but in the end it is a beautiful new place with a washer and dryer. I washed everything (I have no detergent but clean is clean) and it’s in the dryer now. 5€ for everything. The hostel is 2 years old and probably the nicest I’ve stayed in possibly ever. They even have a beer vending machine.
I’m in “room” 24 tonight. Just took a wonderful shower and worked on some reservations and relaxing. I walked part of the way with a man from Florida and it was enjoyable. I have no community and it’s day 6 but I’m happy to walk alone. Again I took Donna’s advice and walked slower and took more breaks to look at the drop dead gorgeous Spain coast line. I try not to take many pictures but I overdid it today.
This is such a different walk than last year and I wonder if it’s going to be simply a nice walk or if there’s something more. Today my focus was on kindness. I thought about it all day. I had several examples of kindness today. First, I was walking through a neighborhood of sorts and at the street was a donativo. I stopped and the person had coffee and fruit for perigrinos. I had my first cup of coffee and an apple for a donation. Then there was a man at the curb of a highway selling coffee, beer and snacks. I bought coffee as it reminded me of a lemonade stand and the man had chosen to help again. My best display of the was from an “elderly “ woman. We were walking and missed an arrow that tells us where to go much of the way. She called out to us to say that we were going in the wrong direction. We turned and went around the corner and I knew she would be waiting on us. She was. She explained how to go and when I asked her a question she started walking with us to make sure we were on the right path. That’s kindness displayed on the day I had been thinking of it. Thank you Jesus for the examples.
Spain just keeps getting more beautiful every day. I thought of my friend Jim Ricket and how he would enjoy photographing everything. He could only walk a few miles because of all the pictures he would be taking.
I’m going to keep thinking about kindness as I walk. Meghan and Shannon teach kindness to their children and it is something so lacking in our world today.
Okay, here’s some photos for you from today:
Sorry for the duplicate and now I don’t know how to delete it.
Finally, I stopped and talked to a middle aged Irish couple who were sitting on a rock above a town. After small talk I mentioned a really nice piece I read on the website Raptitude. It was about mindfulness and we talked how we rush and don’t pay close enough attention to what is around us. Dee and I have been trying to sit and be more mindful as we have been traveling. She is now in southern Spain and getting along so well. She will be home June 27 and me on June 30. It’s been a very long wonderful trip and I would not change anything.
If you have read this much you are truly an FOG (friend of Greg) and I am grateful for your friendship and many kind words as I travel. Pop
PS. I forgot to mention the other day that as I was walking into Caminha I passed a woman and we shared greetings and I kept walking. At dinner they sat the woman at the table next to me and we conversed for a while. She is from Crimea part of Ukraine the Putin took in 2014. She is walking the Camino in an effort to get away from the war. We did not speak much about it in respect for her desire to get away.