Well, friends, yesterday´s blog is just gone. I spent an hour writing last night, close to the cutoff time of 10:00. A sign above the computers warned us that the computers shut off automatically at 10:00; I was just writing the last line at 9:56 when everything went blank. Before I saved it. Yup, it´s gone. Suffice it to say that we had a nice short day yesterday--we walked only 8 K from Molinaseca to Ponferrada, and spend the day there visiting with Jorge, Raphaela, Sara and some new friends over coffee, then sleeping and/or shopping for food, and the visiting the Templar castle in the town. (It was begun in the 13 C to protect pilgrims from bandits, and later confiscated by other lords and expanded to more palatial dimensions.)
Last evening the albergue was very crowded. Emlyn cooked dinner for us, but the kitchen was so crowded none of us could actually help her. Niles and I sat outside with our feet in the fountain (we love the albergues with cold foot baths or fountains!) and chatted with some new friends. We are finding that we are beginning to feel pretty weary, as are others on the journey.
Today we left at 6:30 in the morning to walk about 23 K to Villafranca del Bierzo. The first part of the day was through suburbs--one of which was rather disturbingly similar to a suburb in the US. (We saw others looking around in some dismay, actually.) After that we got into more rural, and hence much more beautiful, areas. The mountains are surrounding us, with rolling fields planted with vineyards and wheatfields between. It was at times a strenuous walk, but the weather was much better today--only about 75 with a good breeze while we were walking. I spent part of the morning walking with Ingrid, a woman from Germany who must be in her late 60´s.
I was a little surprised to find myself struggling more with the tendonitis and neuroma today, since with the exception of a few climbs the walk was fairly level. However, much of the walk was on concrete--and that´s always a problem for me. Marty was struggling again with blisters, and Emlyn had a bit of an upset stomach, and Niles was just feeling a tad weary--we weren´t necessarily at our most chipper again. But we made pretty good time, stopped for coffee or cold drinks a couple of times, and managed with no major problems.
The guidebook I have listed a couple of albergues in Villafranca--the municipal albergue, and another albergue run by a man who is a bit of a legend on the Camino. He runs the Refugio Ave Fénix de Familia Jato, a refugio that he is rebuilding after it burned in 1996. The guide said that he´s a bit eccentric--you can´t leave before 7:00 a.m., pilgrims are not allowed to do any work, and there is a separate room for people over 50.
Niles and Marty said they weren´t in the mood for "eccentric," but Emlyn and I were, so we opted to split up for the night (the albergues are just across the street from each other). Em and I pretty much fell in love with the place as soon as we walked in. We were put in a room only for women (sorry, guys, but that probably means a lot fewer snorers), and I didn´t get relegated to the room for old people, which was so very encouraging for me! It was interesting to me--again--that I felt a definite sense of this place that is very different from some of the albergues that are run mainly for profit. I´ve heard that the man who runs this one has a gift for healing; there´s definitely a sense of wholeness in the atmosphere here.
After we cleaned up and did laundry, we went to find Marty and Niles for lunch. As we were leaving we met up with Sara again. She, Raphaela and Jorge had thought of going further today, but she fell and cut her knee, and they all decided to just call it a day. I was delighted to see them, and we agreed to have dinner together.
The Eastman clan went to the town center for a late lunch (wonderful thin-crust pizza), and by the end of it Marty, Niles and Emlyn were all feeling the need for a nap. Since I napped for two hours yesterday while they went out shopping and exploring, I´m feeling a little more energetic. I found Rapaela sitting outside when we got back to the albergue, so Emlyn went in to sleep while I sat to chat.
Another delightful conversation. I learned that Raphaela is a child psychologist and has been practicing for about a year, focusing in play therapy. She loves what she does, and I can only imagine that she must be very, very good at it. She just radiates welcome and this delightful energy; I can well imagine children opening up to her so easily.
She spoke again about how wonderful she thinks the work our church is doing is, and wondered about what it was like to be "one small church trying to do good in such a big world.¨ I talked with her about my sense that the Holy Spirit is moving in the Church for good things, and the encouragment I find from my colleagues and church leaders, and she thought that was a wonderful thing. In her church, she said, it´s all ¨just boring. No connection to people or their lives--they just seem to think they should keep doing what they have always done.¨ She did attend an "evangelical" church service once, which she really liked, and she is thinking maybe she should give church another chance.
Well, I´m about out of euros and time, so I will wrap up. Again, a good day with unexpected blessings returning, unexpected challenges, and a sense of looking forward to what will happen next. I do love this!
Blessings and peace to all.
You know, it's okay that there was nothing yesterday. Nothing really is something. You are open to whatever God says to you in spite of your humanity. That "no preconceived notions" thing is hard to pull off. We tend to want to see what we want to see. So there is "nothing" for yesterday. Maybe that's better than there being "something".
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