July 4: Estelle to Lorca

A much better day for all of us, I think. We woke up at 5:30 (well, actually, at 5:00, because the person sleeping next to me had her alarm set for 5:00 and then returned it to snooze about 6 times, so it went off pretty much every 7 minutes between 5:00 and 5:30), with the intent of getting to breakfast at 6 and on the Camino by 6:30. We covered 22 k again today (which was the actual distance yesterday), and the early start really helped conserve our energy because the days are really, really hot. Walking in the cool of the dawn is wonderful. High noon--pretty not so much so.

Since we had collapsed into bed between 8:30 and 9:00 last night, getting up at 5:00 wasn´t bad. And the day was wonderful for walking. Oddly enough, I really didn´t see anyone looking like they were going to church this morning--maybe we were just out too early. We did pass the monestary with the wine fountain at about 7:30, and I was pretty darn excited about stopping and having communion there--how perfect would that have been? But alas, the wine was definitely not flowing. As Emlyn put it, the Fuente del Vino (Fountain of Wine) was the Fuente del Disappointment. I even got a granola bar out of the vending machine to have with communion, but it just wasn´t to be. They did also have little bottles of the wine in the machine, but I just wasn´t going for it. Ah, well.

The rest of the day was challenging, but we´re all feeling a lot stronger, I think. The scenery today was absolutely wonderful--rolling farmland, with alternating wheat crops and vineyards. I practically had communion by absorption. Incredibly deep blue skies, wisps of cloud floating above, and the colors of the vineyards (startlingly bright green leaves, and the grape clusters just beginning to form as bright green nodules) and the wheat fields (amber and rich brown) was incredibly lovely. Oddly enough, the other thing I notice a lot is the insect life along the Camino. My inner Buddhist really struggles, because it´s very hard to avoid the lines of ants that are always crossing in long streams. Sometimes you´ll see clusters of 50 tiny little ants working together to carry something quite large, and somehow, although they all seem to be pulling in different directions, they manage to move their burden along. And the butterflies--amazing! I can´t think of a color I haven´t seen, and every one seems more beautiful than the last. Snails, slugs, lizards, all kinds of things crawling and darting along and between my feet or around my shoulders as I walk.

There continue to be relatively few pilgrims on the route. There will probably be more when we get within 100 k of Santiago de Compostele, since you only need to walk 100 k to get your pilgrim´s credential. We always see a few people, we pass and are passed and pass again, but there is plenty of time for walking and reflecting alone, too. Today Em, Niles and I all seemed to crave the quiet time; we walked within sight of each other, but most of the time far enough apart to feel alone with our thoughts. It was really a wonderful space.

Still had some steep ups and downs, but we took them much more in stride. Still, looking ahead to some days of 34 k and more has us a little intimidated. The guide book esimated today´s hike at about 5 hours, and there´s one coming up in a few days that will be over 8 1/2 hours. That doesn´t include the breaks and rests, by the way. We´re still realizing we need to get out even earlier, but daggone, it´s hard at 5:00 a.m. to remember that!

The other thing we´re going to have to remember is that the shops all close on Saturday evening, and stay closed on Sundays. So if you want to buy groceries for early breakfasts or lunches, you really gotta think about that before, oh, Saturday evening. Fortunately, the restaurants stay open. But the hours are different; lots of places are indeed closed for siesta, and don´t open until later in the evening.

We ran across TJ again today. He put in over 30 k today, after a very short day yesterday, and caught up to us. His feet are feeling much better, so he´s feeling more confident about finishing the Camino than the last time we saw him. We all had dinner together again, and spent way too much time laughing over beer and wine, and teasing (and being teased by) the waitnress. Didn´t get back to the Albergue until almost 9:30, and I´m blogging when I should probably be in bed. But the lights are all still on, people are still busy and talking and moving around, and I´m not as tired as I was yesterday, so I don´t think I would have gotten to sleep anyway.

But I should get myself there now. It´s quarter to 10:00, and we´re getting up early again. By the way, I do receive and appreciate all the comments and post replies, and it´s very encouraging to me to feel connected, to know people are reading this, thinking about us, holding us in prayer.

Happy Fourth of July to all of you at home, and blessings on your day!