Day 14 - Sadness - July 29

Day 14 - Sadness - July 29

I am knackered. Totally spent. Dead tired. I've been going to bed as the Spanish do, very late night or early morning and waking up, unable to go back to sleep, on my US schedule. So I've been getting very little sleep. And I have been working on my feet which I haven't done since my waitress days some 40 years ago. Our busiest day since I've been here was Saturday when we issued 1980 Compostelas. The line was down the stairs, out the patio door and down the block all day. In addition to those 1980, there are those who also come in to buy Credentials, those who want to buy religious momentos of the Camino, people who have questions, and those who come to see if we have their lost items. It also doesn't count  the ones who don't get a credential because they didn't walk the last 100 km and those who get a certificate instead of a credential. Those take even longer and take up more of the office workers because often there is an explanation and then a long argument. So that was a long day.

But now I realize it is soon coming to an end. I have two more days of being an Amigo and working in the Pilgrim's office. I have made some good friends and memories here. I think I'd be even sadder, if I wasn't coming back to Santiago at the end of September on my way to Finisterre. But I won't be an Amigo then. Little tears in my eyeballs. I've been to two masses in the last 24 hours and the Cathedral doesn't seem any the worse for wear.

I went to mass last night because Johnnie Walker was playing the organ and Stephen was singing. It was just delightful. The mass was in Spanish, but I was surprised and pleased to realize that I understood most of the homily. It was about prayer and God's will, not mine. Oh, why does that sound so familiar?

 After mass our whole work detail went out to dinner and talked for the longest time. We shared Camino experiences and spiritual experiences. There was a little bawdy talk and I seem to remember women's underwear being discussed. There was laughter and a few tears. The things we get to experience as Amigos is phenomenal. At dinner Stephen sang Amazing Grace for me. I was so choked up I couldn't remember the words. I must have 14 versions of it on my phone and iPod and I know I heard it more than a thousand times. It and the Ave Maria are two of my favorites. Stephen couldn't remember all the words either so he and Father Al worked it out and Stephen sang it with us all joining in with the chorus of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah. I was in heaven.

On the way home Mario who is from Italy ask if I would like some note cards that had been made up sketches he had done in different parts of the world. Would I? Another teary moment. How does a woman like me who came from where I came from end up here? Well, by the Grace of a very loving God, of course. Today Stephen sent a copy of the Poem about "When I am an old woman I shall wear purple." We'll I am and I do, even in my hair. And today somebody shared an article about the top five regrets dying people have, and the top number one was, "I wish I'd had the courage to live a life true to myself, not the life others expected of me." I've been working on this for years. People have been so kind to me here.

On the way home I found out that what I thought was a Cafe/Bar next door to me is actually a brothel. go figure. When my youngest daughter Leea and I are traveling together we always seem to end up staying in the red light district, except in Fuengirola, where we ended up with cock roaches the size of a small dog. Having some very different ideas about prostitution, I once worked for the de criminalization of said enterprise, I'm not bothered a bit by any of this, except the cockroaches. You cannot even imagine how startling it is to be awaken by something moving your hair, realizing your husband is not with you on this trip But something is clearly moving your, and reaching up to feel a cockroach big enough to make a sandwich with. Yuck!

So I got home from dinner about midnight, got to bed about one, woke up at six, and I won't say I was wide awake, but I couldn't get back to sleep. So up I got, showered and got ready to go. I was planning to go to the 10:30 am mass anyway because Father Al was doing it in English, and he was going to do a Pilgrim's Blessing in English too. I figure one can never have too many blessings. After mass my work partner, Anne and I went to see the inside of the Parador that we walk by every day on our way home. Parador's are usually old Castles or historic buildings renovated by the Spanish government and turn into high end hotels. I'm planning on staying in one in Leon. This one had four cloisters, so I am assuming it was a convent at one point. It was very nice. We sat and drank café con leche and oj, and discussed books about Spain and the brothel next door. Anne is Irish and talks a mile a minute without end. she is just delightful and a really warm and caring person. she has done the Camino several times and is walking to Finisterre when we are done. We had some chuckles and then I went off to take pictures and Anne went off to do errands. While I was taking pictures I popped into the Cathedral to seem If I could get a look at the Portico. I couldn't but it was the end of the mass and the started swinging the botafumeiro, a big silver thing that they fill with burning incense and swing from on end on the transept to the other until it almost reaches the ceiling on either end. It is carried and swung by eight men and hangs on a pulley mechanism. It is quite a sight to see. I saw it last year at the Pilgrim's Mass after I finished the Camino.

I was very tired, but in a good mood today at work. I am now greeted warmly and treated kindly by the staff. It took them a while to talk to me. They see a new group of us every two weeks. But I am persistent.

The Requiem Mass for the train wreck victims was tonight a 7pm. The Prince and Princess of Asturias were to attend. When I passed on my way home after work they were tolling the bells. Tolling is different in my mind to ringing. Tolling is a dull sound, steady and monotonous. There were hundreds of people in the courtyard of the Cathedral, so I assume the Cathedral was full or it was by invitation only. There were lots of policemen and television crews. I hear it was broadcast by Spanish TV. I didn't want to go to the Requiem Mass, so I wasn't offended that I wasn't invited. :)