León

It’s the first day of the brother’s walk. Steven was a half hour late because he was still on west coast time and couldn’t fall asleep last night. We all got gourmet picnic meals from the parador to take with us. And we were off…

15 minutes after we start walking they all want to stop and get a coffee. Sorry boys, no “go cups” in Spain. You gotta stay and drink your coffee onsite. Not long after that, we spot a peacock and some chickens strutting around in a park. We stopped to enjoy the moment. Let’s just say the day got off to a VERY…SLOW…START….

But it was just fine. We aren’t in a rush. The time is ours. We know where we need to go and how to get there. The day would turn out to be one of the hottest days on the Camino for me so far. I’d normally finish walking by noon. Today we finished by 3 pm. 🥵plus I was still feeling the early stages of a gout attack and my stomach wasn’t doing all that great. Bonus challenge is that when I read the label of the pepto bysmol it said not to take if you are taking gout medication (sigh). No catastrophes. Whew!

The unexpected joy from the day came when two new pilgrims who started their walk in León today walked with us for the day. They are Amerigo (19) and Lisa(18), a couple from Italy who decided to do the walk together. They met for a dual interest in playing guitar. Started a band together a d are heading off to university in the Fall. We all thoroughly enjoyed the two of them and had a great exchange about our different cultures. As per the usual, Lisa, when learning about my work got into a conversation about religion and faith. Again another young person who chooses to stay away from the church because she sees the church as not practicing what it preaches. It is one thing to know intellectually that all these young people have difficulty with certain practices and beliefs of the Catholic Church. It is another to hear a real persons story time and again share the same issues. I did my best to represent the Catholic faith and respond to her questions which I think at least helped Cheeto see some of the issues more broadly and differently.

We said good bye to them as we went to our Alburgue for the night. A delightful owner but the accommodation are vastly different, with no a/c and 90 degree weather at 10:30 pm indoors is stifling- even with a fan! I’ll see of if I can sleep tonight. Tomorrow is a 20 mile day. 😱 Czytaj więcej