Sunday, September 12, 2010

Puenta la Reina to Villatuerta

Good afternoon everyone,

After about 2 hours of sleep last night--yes only 2--, we embarked this morning on a shorter route towards our next stage.  The albergue, or hostel, that we stayed in last night was pretty loud.  Puenta la Reina is where two of the different Camino routes merge together, so you tend to have a lot of people there.  Well, there were.  The first hotel/hostel that we stopped at was full, and the second one was getting that way quickly.  We got in washed our clothes and went and got something to eat.  I got into bed relatively early, but was unable to get any solid sleep because of how warm it was in the room.  Laying on top of my sleeping bag became cool only at about 4 oclock in the morning because until then I was sweating a lot. 

Because of the lack of sleep, we got off to a later than normal start, but it turned out to be a blessing.  Being Sunday, we needed to find a church in order to get to Mass.  We started walking towards the church in town with the idea that if we couldn´t get to Mass here then we would get on the road and go when we reached the next town.  We checked the horarium at the church and, lo and behold, Mass was starting in about 15 minutes.  I also wanted to get to confession but was not sure if they we being heard before Mass.  I walked into the sacristy and, in broken Spanish, asked the priest if he would mind hearing a confession.  He then responded ¨do you speak English?¨, I replied "yes", and he said "fantastic!".  He was probably in his late seventies and was just wonderful in the Sacrament.  I found out afterwards that he was a Jesuit who had just retired from a mission in India after being there for over 50 years.

We left after mass and began the walk to Villatuerta, a town just outside of Estella--where the next stage is supposed to end--but since we are a day ahead and since we have found that the towns at the end of stages tend to be fuller in regards to other noisy pilgrims, we decided to stop a couple of kilometers short.  It was a pretty demanding day, even though it was not that long compared to the past three.  I have also found that I would rather climb the mountains that we have already climbed than to do any more steep descents.  These have been killer on the knees, and there were a couple trying ones today.  We did stop for lunch in a little town outside of Villatuerta where we spent only 3.5euros for almost a whole loaf of bread, eight slices of cheese,a big bottle of peach nectar, and 12 slices of delicious lunchmeat.  There also was some sort of crazy race going on in the town with things that looked like armored go-carts that were just going off of gravity to get them through the very hilly city. So, that was pretty cool to see.

We made it to Villatuerta not long ago and are staying at an albergue from Heaven.  There is barely anyone else here--so the "avoid the stage city" thing is working so far--and there is an actual washing machine, so all my failed attempts to handwash my clothes are being washed away by the good òl Maytag commercial machine.  I know that doesn´t sound too penetential, but being the Day of Rest. . . .I won´t try to justify anything anymore :-)

It turns out also that there is a guy here from Raleigh who is a Knight of Columbus, and he used to work and live in Charlotte. Small world!  The owners here have also been great since our arrival.  We also met along the way a couple of brothers and a priest from a Benedictine monastery in New Mexico.  Up until today, they, along with the Raleigh fellow, are the only Americans I have met so far.  Everyone else has been from countries all over the world.  

Well, while it is a very demanding journey, I have already received some nice blessings.  Many have been the views of the countryside along the route, some of which I have posted with this post.  I continue to pray for you all and ask for your prayers as well.

Love,
Paul



 

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