Santa Marina del Rey

Today life really felt like a bowl of cherries! Or a hatful - picked by our fellow pilgrims in the garden of our lovely albergue. On the Camino people are always saying it’s about the journey, not the destination. However, today it really was the destination which made this day so very special.
We arrived at our albergue and were greeted with a cup of delicious herbal tea (the herbs grown in the garden). Lunch involved a lot of ladder-climbing in pursuit of the ripest cherries and was a social, happy affair. Fiona and I had bought gazpacho and were eating it when our fellow pilgrims joined us, shared our crisps and provided hatfuls of cherries.
Later in the afternoon a fellow guest led an hour- long yoga session (with a little help from Fiona). And before dinner we were treated to a ‘sound bath’ held in honour of the founder of the albergue who died a year ago tomorrow. It’s hard to describe what this was - we lay on the floor while someone played Tibetan sound bowls. It may sound strange but it was deeply serene and meditative and felt like another significant spiritual moment on this pilgrimage. Afterwards, he offered to play the bowls on Fiona. I know this sounds stranger still, but a few of us volunteered to experience it too and it was really affecting to feel the music resonate through you.
Next up was the most wonderful vegetarian meal in the garden polished off with cherry cake. One of the special things about this place is that it is a donativo - you only pay what you can afford for the food. The accommodation cost 13 euros. At the end of the meal the cook talked about the founder and how the three of them who worked with him had set up an association to continue his vision of looking after pilgrims after his death. She cried and was comforted by a lovely German woman called Ramona who had visited in 2016 and remembered him.

Earlier in the day we had met Ramona, who we’d bumped into a couple of weeks ago and she said she’d had a couple of difficult days, had wanted to return to Albergue Verde today but they were full. When we arrived I asked if there might be a spare bed and they said they had one bed left so I sent her a WhatsApp and reserved it for her. She was delighted and very sweetly, said that we had been her Camino gift today. It was nothing at our end but very satisfying to have helped make someone happy.
Another bonus today was being introduced to Nick, a vegan chef from Hove, who is helping out here. He shared a vegetarian map of the Camino which has set us trying to book up vegetarian places for the days we still need bookings for.
Oh, and I have successfully walked without taping up my toes. I took the risk this morning of wearing a new pair of socks or, should I say, gloves for the feet.Read more