On the Camino 19 days
Well 5am and an alarm goes off. It is the guy on the bunk next to mine. I'm thinking I didn't see any cemeteries nearby. I hope there are none because that alarm was loud enough to raise the dead. Then we'd have a whole other zombie movie idea. :) of course, once that happened a lot of people were awake and started to get up and pack their bags. I couldn't do mine, or even get out of my bunk because the couple next to me were packing their bags. I will never, for the life of me, understand why they don't just pick them up and take them out of the sleeping room to a place that has light. There was such a place about three feet from our bunks.
Oh well, I start stretching, roll up my sleeping sac, and get ready to go. As soon as I get a chance, I grab my bag and take it in the other room. I get all packed up and then go get some coffee and toast I manage to piss off some woman who was saying that German is easier for English speakers to learn than Spanish. Having studied both languages, I told I thought Spanish was easier for me than German, because of the cognates (words that sound alike.) but maybe it is just because I grew up in So Cal listening to Spanish. Though German is the first language I learned. It's a good day when you can give someone a resentment before 6:30am. lol
So I left to get on the trail. I asked for directions to the trail from the albergue and I had already read the directions for getting to Fromista about three times. I did all this because I got lost coming out of Boadilla last year and ended up walking 4 extra miles on the side of highways. So this year I wanted to get it right. Well it was dark when I left, but I got on the trail, so I had my headlamp on. Then the first morning lightening started and I got all wrapped up in the beauty of a soft pastel dawn and this canal we were walking along, and taking pictures. Sometime later as I was listening to the birds and the rustle of the leaves in the trees lining the trail, I realized I hadn't seen anyone in a long time. Certainly some of the people behind me would have caught up while I was taking pictures and, even taking pictures, I usually pass a few of the slower people who leave before me. But there's no one. I keep walking, hoping to see some human being I can talk to to ascertain where I am and what direction I need to go to get back to the trail. No one.
I finally see a church steeple and I think, oh thank goodness, it's Fromista, I'm not lost! Wrong, wrong, wrong. It's not Fromista. So I stop a guy driving a big tractor down the rode and ask for directions to Fromista. He tells turn left it's down the road. I turn left, walk a little and come to a sign that says Fromista is 7 km ahead. That's over 4 miles added on to what was going to be a sixteen mile day any way. It took three seconds to decide to hitch hike and a few minutes for a car to actually come by.
I haven't hitch hike since my hippie days, like almost fifty years ago. But what the heck, it's not complicated. You stick out your thumb and run like heck to the car when they stop, because they never have time to make the decision to stop, and then actually stop until there a little ways down the road. In this case there were two cars, and O didn't think either of them were going to stop, so I turned around and started walking. Then I saw them both stop. The first car had to stop slowly or he would have been rear ended. So here we go with the whole running with the pack, bears flopping scene again. But I get to the car and this very nice man gives me a ride to Fromista. In a car it didn't take long at all. lol
So then I continue what is now going to be a 16 or 17 mile walk to Carrion de Los Condes, but I'm grateful it's not going to be a 20 mile walk. The rest of the walk was pretty uneventful. I got to Carrion and there were still beds available in the Santa Maria albergue which is run by the church and the nuns in the convent. They have singing nuns, plus vespers, and some sort of musical event tonight. And the nuns cook us a communal meal. The smells from the kitchen lead me to believe it will be yummilicious. I Will let you know. Stay tuned.
Well I haven't had dinner yet. It's not until 9 pm. But we have a had a fun filled evening so far. The hospitaleros and the nuns could not have been more welcoming from the minute I walked through the door. We had Vespers at 5:30pm where the nuns sang beautifully. Then at 6pm we had a musical session with the nuns, the hospitaleros, and the pilgrims. It was a lot of fun. The three women of my Spanish friend group are here, Anna and the two Basque sisters. I don't know what happened to Victor and the man. But when the women and I saw each other we were all surprised and delighted, smiling, laughing and exchanging greetings. One of the nuns commented that she thought this was so great that Camino friends are so glad to see one another. Anyway they were at the song fest. One pilgrim had a flute, one of the hospitaleros had a flute one nun was playing a drum, and several had guitars. It was so much fun. When they started singing Amazing Grace, I was reflecting on how blessed I am and tears ran down my face. I think I'm getting soft.
After the song fest we came over to the church again for a classical guitar concert. I have never heard a guitar sound like that. And with the acoustics of this old stone churc it was over the top amazing.
Now I'm at mass where we will get a special individual pilgrim's blessing. Well the blessing was very special and personal. And the nuns gave us each a little gift and the priest stamped our credentials. Wow! This is a must not miss albergue. Santa Maria in Carrion de Los Condes. It was full when I came last year so the nun directed me to a convent albergue which was just wonderful. One of the reasons I was not happy about getting lost was it meant I might not get to Carrion at all or get there too late and it would be full. But I kept reciting my mantra, "I will get where I'm supposed to get, when I'm supposed to get there." And I did. I had no idea why I wanted to come to this place, now I know why. And God sent the Eskimo. lol
Well now it's time for dinner and bed. Dinner was fantastic! Thirty or forty pilgrims being served by nuns and priests. Wild I'll tell you. Never in my wildest dreams. My friend Allison from South Africa just gave me a little gift made in South Africa.
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