I’m so excited to tell you about last evening. We were in our albergue when 5:45 pm church bells rang calling people to church. I asked Rick if he wanted to go and he said yes. At 6 we arrived and joined in the service. Rick is a Jesuit Priest so he was especially excited. The service was obviously in spanish except that after the priest finished with the gospel reading a woman helping him read the same Bible verses in English. At the end of mass the priest invited all perigrinos ( pilgrims) to come forward for a pilgrim blessing. He asked each pilgrim where they were from and language then passes out a pilgrim prayer in that language. Then people of that language was asked to sing a song. The english speakers sang something unfamiliar to me. Finally the woman took pictures.
We returned to the albergue for a community dinner for pilgrims. We had paella, ensalada, lemon pudding and of course wine. What great conversation. Unfortunately no photos .
Left early this morning not knowing what to expect with weather. While hiking the temperature was mid 80’s but after finishing a beer the temp increased to low 90’s and it was hot.
on the way we also passed a convent that housed either men or women of the catholic church.
The town we are in now has a defensive fort on the top of a hill. i need to look up details. A defensive fort like this is called a castro.
Finally, i just ran distance numbers and I have hiked 202 miles. My only real issue is a swollen area on the outside of my leg immediately above my ankle. Massaging it helps a great deal.
Poppies are along the roads, in fields and the trail. They are everywhere.
