Pilgrimage on a winding path

Our day started off bright and early with a lovely breakfast at our B&B.  After breakfast, the same van driver from yesterday brought us down into Sarria to begin our Camino. The day was long, hot, and hard, but I think the reviews from the pilgrims in my group are all favorable about the experience so far. Our total distance walked today was about 15 miles.  The scenery is beautiful! We walked through small villages and farm land. Here are some of the cows that shared the way with us today. Dan was stopped by two separate cow traffic jams!  We have each met a few pilgrims that are sharing the journey with us. Claire has definitely made the most new friends so far. More about the fellow pilgrims in posts to come.  After a long day of walking, we arrived our tonight’s B&B. It is a cute little camp and cabin style place. The dinner was good and the wine, laughter, and friends around the table made it a wonderful evening.  Here is our cabin for tonight. The...

This morning we started off with a van ride into the town of Portomarin to begin our walk for the day. We started off a little earlier this morning, thinking it would help us end earlier to have more down time in the afternoon and evening. What we didn’t take into consideration was the fact that more pilgrims, including bus loads of school kids, would also be walking early. It was definitely more crowded on the path.  The scenery was amazing, but it was also a very high incline today. 15 miles was a big day yesterday and we were tired. Today’s walk should have been 12 miles. Many in our group walked all 12, but Eliza decided it was best for her body not to push through. I happily joined her in taking a ride from the cafe where we stopped for lunch to the hotel. We made it 8.5 miles.  Miguel was our driver and also works at the hotel. He is a very funny, cheerful guy and by the time we made it to the hotel Eliza and I were laughing and in good spirits.  The hotel we are st...

Carrie and I met at Wardcliff Elementary School in Okemos, Michigan. We were both in Mrs. Velicer’s third grade class, which is where we became best friends. This picture from an elementary birthday party is fitting as now we are celebrating our 50th birthdays together 😊.  Here we were, 40 years later, walking the Camino. For those of you who heard my eulogy to my mom last month, one of the things I’m grateful for is mom’s intention to maintain lifelong friendships. From mom, I learned how meaningful and life giving it is to stay connected to those dear to us, even when 1,000 miles or more separate us.  Now our husbands and children are also great friends. We count Carrie’s sister, Kristi, and her family as some of our closest friends. Though I don’t often see Carrie’s sister, Mari, she is also very dear to me. Last month Carrie’s mom texted me the loveliest messages of how special her friendship with my mom was. We have a three generation friendship.  I love you, Carrie...

So I accidentally took communion at the cathedral in Santiago today during the Catholic Pilgrim’s mass. Well, let me back up… First, we had a relaxing night and morning in our lovely hotel in Santiago. It was the first morning since we began our pilgrimage that we had some down time. Our two main goals for the morning were to go to the Pilgrim Office  and to attend the Pilgrim’s Mass at the cathedral.  Each day of the Camino we stamped our passports at the stops.  That ‘credential’ is what is reviewed at the Pilgrim’s Office to  certify our pilgrimage so we could receive our Compestela, which are the certificates of completion.  We heard this can be a lengthy process, but thankfully there were not many other pilgrims arriving at the office yesterday morning. Within a few minutes we had our certificates and congratulations from the employee at the Pilgrim’s Office and were on our way to mass.  As you know, my family is not Catholic, but this part of the pilg...