The days are so full. How will I ever have time to walk?
Yesterday I stayed at the Albergue San Francisco in Calahorra. Another Pilgrim arrived in the afternoon. I asked his help to open my stuck window. He is a tall nice looking man from Germany walking the Camino Ebro to Santiago. He began in Barcelona and shared his experience at Montserrat which deeply affected him. His name is Thomas.
After fixing my window he asked if I would join him for dinner later. Now he was going shopping for tomorrow’s food.
I had just returned from a long walk to the train station. Here is what happened.
I was walking to the Plaza Rosas to visit the Turismo Office before they closed at 1:30. It was 12:45. I met a man, Asan, walking and asked about the location of the Plaza Rosas, where the Turismo Office is located.
I made the mistake of asking too many questions and confusing him. Since he understood my request about the Plaza, I thought he would understand my question about the train station.
I merely asked how far it was because I would be going there tomorrow. He directed me to follow him as I walked dutifully behind him. I thought we were still headed to the Plaza Rosas. Wrong! He kept glancing behind to be sure that I was following.
I became concerned because of the many streets we took. He indicated that it wasn’t much further. Just so many meters. I didn’t hear kilometers so I thought all was well. Remember, I am on doctor‘s orders to limit my walking. Asan dutifully took me all the way to the train station, one day early.
He was disappointed that it was closed until 14:00 which is the norm here. I would be leaving on the train mañana at 14:47. Oh well.
One of the agents saw me standing there and was kind enough to step outside. Asan walked off leaving me there to figure out how to get back to the Albergue. No clue!
I inquired about tomorrow's schedule to confirm the time I needed to be there. All good, I have the correct time.
I Ching predicted this would be a journey requiring patience and perseverance.
On the way back I came across a small park where I sat in the sun and ate my lunch of sardines and stale bread. It was so nice there. I stayed for three hours plus writing, with my foot elevated asking it for abuse forgiveness until the wind blew cold.
I went back to the Albergue with no specific plans. I checked at Iglesia Santiago for the Mass time for later that evening. A young woman counted on her fingers until I understood what she was saying ‘diecinueve años treinta.’ 19:30 which is 7:30 by my watch. In Spanish every vowel is pronounced. Saying nineteen is a mouthful.
When I finally understood, her face lit up with achievement, success and a cheer! It’s wonderful to bring such simple joy into another’s life.
I went to my room with the intention to rest my foot after this fiasco of at least four or five miles. That is when I heard another door unlock. I opened my door to find Thomas standing there going into his room.
As agreed, we met for dinner at 7:00. I spent a couple of hours resting my foot while charging my phone and loading photos onto Dropbox for Vicki.
At 7:00 I opened my door and Thomas opened his door and we went to find a place to eat.
Dinner is never served before 8:00. We were hunting “pinchos “ which are like tapas: small individual servings of different foods. I like this option because I consume only the amount of food that I want and I am able to try more things and I don’t have to eat French fries with every meal and......
We had a beautiful evening. It was as if we had known each other for a long time. Very comfortable and easy. His English was quite good and we only had to look up a few words.
He has a good facility with his smart phone and he showed me many things, helping me locate some things.
He encouraged me to get to the hospital and get off the meds so that I can enjoy a glass of wine and begin walking. He said that the way he had come, which is the way that I will be going is quite level. No more big mountains.
He saw that I drank only water and introduced me to nonalcoholic beer which was a nice change and quite good with the food. I had a mushroom Pincho and a tuna steak Pincho. I also shared his green olives that were stuffed with anchovies. Very nice.
After eating we strolled back toward the Albergue and went around back to an historic area and a Monastery that was tucked into the hillside.
It was a beautiful evening. The air was pleasant with a slight breeze. We shared a couple of selfies at the Don Quixote brass statues. He told me that in the Province of La Mancha, south of Madrid there is a Don Quixote Camino that I must do. Sounds like fun to me.
Back at our rooms I offered him some nuts for his journey and he offered me some fresh figs that he picked on his way here. Camino Amigos share simple things as great treasure.
We agreed to meet for breakfast before going our opposite directions. His sister will join him in a week. She is a professional woman and he has visions of her arriving in high heels pulling a suitcase on wheels.
In the morning he knocked as agreed to let me know he was ready to go. He greeted me with a large bottle of lemon flavored water to take with me. I filled my two smaller bottles and left the rest.
We enjoyed a breakfast of coffee and pastries. I decided to try something that I haven’t tried before. It was a wonderful apple custard tart. He had my favorite pastry filled with chocolate. He insisted that I have some. He is so generous cutting more than half from the center-the best part. I refused it and had just a little taste
We took to the streets. He started toward Logroño and I started toward the Centre Salud—- the Health Center to get my foot looked at.
We both thought it would be nice to be going the same direction. Life!
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