Okay, I think it’s time to let you know what’s going on for this Camino.
It is nothing like my expectations.
Today I am going to Àaria and San Roman. I am right on schedule following the guide. Doing each day and each spiritual exercise. The difference is I have not walked.
My first day in Loyola, I stubbed my foot on the stairs coming back to my room after Mass on the Chapel of Ignatius Conversion. My foot became very red and hot. The young woman in reception at Aruppè Hotel suggested I go to the Health Center. I have never had anything like this happen before.
Sitting on the bench in front of the Health Center were the tour directors of the group that I had joined to learn about Ignatius and his life in his family home which is now the Spiritual Center. When I showed them my foot they became alarmed and helped tremendously by staying with me to provide translations. It was time for their tour to leave and the woman was glad that I was stepping into the doctors office before leaving me.
I saw the doctor. He examined my foot and determined that it was not broken. He had his assistant bandage my foot so that I wouldn’t bend the one that was so inflamed. He told me I should not walk for seven days and to take 600ml of Ibuprofen 3x a day for the inflammation.
I wondered how I would do a Camino without walking.
I asked if it was infected and he said he didn’t think so but that the ibuprofen should take care of the inflammation if I didn’t use it for seven days.
I have been taking the bus to each destination and it is a very different kind of Camino. It IS a Camino though. I have met so many angels who have help me and one who gave me her entire day to be sure I would be OK. I met her at the bus stop in Loyola. When she saw the picture of my foot she became very concerned that I wasn’t taking an antibiotic. She called her sister and her father who are medical people. By now we had traveled to Legazpi. They suggested I go back to Zumarraga Clinic because they strongly felt that I needed an antibiotic.
This woman took me on the bus back to the clinic in Zumarraga and would not leave me alone. She didn’t speak a word of English, yet we communicated deeply all day. When I met her that morning, she was on her way to a festival, all dressed in white with lacework.
Saw the doctor there and they did prescribe an antibiotic and felt strongly that I needed it. Telling me that I could not walk for seven days. The woman took me to the pharmacy to be sure i got the prescription and that I would understand what I was to do with the medication.
I suggested that she leave me now and go to the Festival which was close to where we were. I told her that I could get back to Legazpi and my hotel without her help. She refused. She took me back to Legazpi to where I was staying at Mauleon hotel. By this time it was after 4 o’clock and we were hungry. We had not eaten all day. We stopped for lunch at Kateri which is on the Pilgrims recommended list. Finally she would leave knowing that she had given me the complete bus route for the next day to Oñati and Aranztatu.
That was Saturday. I went to evening Mass at Assumption Of Our Lady and received my Credential stamp.
I did get to Aranztatu on Sunday and went to the poteria to receive my stamp from one of the Franciscan Monks.
This morning the Innkeeper drove me to Oñati to get the bus to Asarte transfer to Vitoria transfer to Araia and then walk to San Ramon.
I thought I would need to walk a few kilometers to where I am staying in San Ramon. When the bus driver stopped the bus on the highway and told me to get off and walk around to the left to San Roman, I felt a little nervous about getting out on the highway in the middle of nowhere.
Well, so much for my not trusting.
Every step of this journey and all of the bus/train rides have been wondrously guided. What am I thinking? I looked around and didn’t see any sign that indicated San Roman. I started to walk in the direction that the driver pointed. I realized that there was a gas station in the opposite direction. It seemed prudent to verify the direction I would walk since I am not supposed to be walking and didn’t see a sign indicating San Roman was in this direction, I thought it best to save some steps.
I approached the gas station and saw the sign above the pumps: SAN ROMAN.
No, this couldn’t be possible. I am ready to walk 3 km to the place where I am staying. TRUST, TRUST, TRUST. it is right next to me. My lodging is right next to me. I mean, I am literally walking passed it while reading the sign across the street in disbelief.
I go inside and a big smile says, CAROLINA? My big smile answers, YES!
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