Villanueva de Argaño

We were grateful to arrive in Hornillos after a long walk through Sun bleached landscapes. We didn't have a place reserved and so quickly picked the first albergue we could find - which of course had an ice cold pool for us to soak our achy feet and homemade wine from their backyard.

We made our way to mass mostly accidentally as we just wanted to see the church and low and behold there was a service in progress. We enjoyed the ceremony and afterwards the priest asked for all the pilgrims to come up for a blessing. All of this unfolded in Spanish which added to the entertainment. He had the blessing read by one person in every language present. We heard Spanish, German, French, Mandarin, English, Basque, and Portuguese. Then the priest asked each language group to sing their favorite hymn. The Australians sang a pub beer drinking song which is surprisingly on point for them. It was a lovely reminder of how beauty crosses all cultural and language boundaries and hits us directly in our hearts whether we understand the words or not.

Finally the priest asked us to pose for a selfie with him.

The night ended with Mario and Mark enjoying the free wine at dinner. But don't worry - there no such thing as free wine. We might have taken a few bottles with us for the road. Can neither confirm or deny it.Read more