God has sent aid to me in the form of two feisty German women. Ushie and Elke are walking with us now. For some weird reason, in these last hundred kilometers there are less albergues, private hotels and hostels, and fewer bars than just about anywhere on the camino, in spite of the increased numbers of peregrinos. People are forced to rush early to get a bed or they are turned away and must travel further. Elke says maybe that is part of the camino-- to make the "pilgers" suffer more. Anyway, she and Ushie have a special book of information on private habitaciones and they have been booking ahead. They are helping Truus and me to do the same. Otherwise, I think I would be in misery! Tonight we are in a very nice private double room with a giant window and a great view. Four days to Santiago!
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Always darkest just before the dawn, eh? I recall the high premium scripture seems to place on finishing well. You are finishing well, Bev, despite the hardships being encountered near the end!
ReplyDeleteThe shoes in the window speak volumes! My bet the older looking, homemade wooden structures in the first picture, are individual sleepers – can hardly wait to hear the real deal. Google says it was in the high 60s to low 70s on the trail – seems wonderful. By the way, I just checked my astrological tables and discovered that Ushie and Elke are not real humans; they are in fact, angels of protection sent from on high. Tomorrow night, June 26th is the full moon and I am overjoyed they found you in time. Speaking of the full moon, I must leave you with an important quote from Mahatma Gandhi, "When I admire the wonder of a sunset or the beauty of the moon, my soul expands in worship of the Creator". GO-GIRL-GO! No, he did not say GO-GIRL-GO, but if he were here, I am certain that he would have.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations, Bev, on being so close to Santiago. I just returned from my coast-to-coast walk across England and it's thrilling to see that you are now completing your camino. I hope that when you return, you will tell us what the journey has meant to you. Again, congratulations on being so close.
ReplyDeleteGeorge, good to hear you are back from your coast-to-coast walk. I hope you have blogged about it. I'll be very interested to hear your adventures.
ReplyDeleteJim, I met a wonderful pastor the other day. I'll tell you his story when I get back.
Rog, the little houses are not for sleeping. Here is the story about how I found out what they were. I was walking for a while with an Italian man named Vincenzo. My guess is he was around 70 years old. As we passed one of the structures, he said,"do you know what is inside those?" I told him no. I had a theory that they were some kind of private mausoleums for the family since they bury their dead above ground in the churchyards here. Vincenzo said, "inside is mice."
"Pardone? Mice? Little animals?" I asked, putting my fingers together in a small circle.
"Yes! Yes! Mice!" He nodded excitedly.
I was trying to imagine why anyone would want to put up mice in their own little houses, and suspecting a translation issue, when we came up close to the little house and I could see it was filled with corn on cobs. Maize! They were corn cribs! They were drying out corn for their chickens and other animals and perhaps to grind for their own use. So remember the Spanish and Italian word for corn: mice!
Let's be honest, probably plenty of furry mice sleeping among the corn mice, so you are probably correct on both fronts. What a cute story! I am so impressed that you have made it mom! I didn't know I could be prouder to be your daughter than I already was, but you just keep amazing me. Way to go Baba!
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