As usual, after arriving in town I made my first stop the local church, in this instance a refuge that held extremely fond memories from my pilgrimage past; memories of arrival and reunion similar to today’s, yes, and yet also memories of bone-deep calm and unadulterated peace – a calm & peace that were provided […]
I then was heading towards the Municipal Albergue to check in (a volunteer in the church had heard the tale of my Walk and given me a church-sponsored “pass” to overnight in the same) when I crossed paths with James from Texas, a fellow pilgrim who invited me over to his pathside table to share […]
Well, it turned out that the Municipal Albergue would not honor the “church pass” I had been given without me producing some sort of official personal identification, which of course, I didn’t have. This somewhat callous rejection from the only hostel in town was highly disturbing to Bosco and the rest of my young friends, […]
And so it was that what had been a relatively arduous and stressful day (both physically & emotionally) had mellowed into a renewed appreciation for my Mission of Peace – a reawakening of True Self that was almost immediately “rewarded” with a showering of unexpected blessings: first, the arrival of Maikel & Maria from Herrerias […]
I woke after a surprisingly restless slumber and headed back out onto The Way. My back was still spasming quite painfully (as it had been since awakening in Pieros a few days prior) and yet I simply kept reminding myself that “It’s only pain” and that every single step was being taken for the world […]
“What is a Wanderer? Bound by no boundaries, contained by no countries, tamed by no time, ever pursued by both pain & purpose; he chooses to walk ever onward and thereby becomes the force of nature’s course.” ~ via Roman Payne “Traveler, put down your stones. Why are you trying to break the window when […]
Fittingly metaphorical (both for this particularly painful day as well as for human history of religion in general) the tiny church in the small town of Linares was simultaneously beautiful to behold and impossible to enter. “The deeper we grow in the Spirit of Christ, the poorer we become, and the more we simultaneously separate […]
The Monumento ao Peregrino at Alto de San Roque is a beautiful sculpture, located along the Camino about a half mail past the small town of Linares. The bronze sculpture, placed on The Way in 1993, was created by Galician sculptor José María Acuña and shows a medieval pilgrim steadfastly advancing along his pilgrimage despite […]
I then arrived in the tiny village of Hospital. Still in a state of high fatigue, low spirits, and steadily shooting pain, I smiled at the thought of resting for longer than awhile in this aptly named hamlet. And yet rest was neither offered nor summoned on that mist-free morning, and so onward I limped […]
And there, on the far outskirts of Hospital, I witnessed Wendy & William (mother & son) petting “Brutus” – possibly the saddest dog I had ever seen. The former pair chatted amicably with me for short while before departing, whereupon the latter decided that I needed to remain, repeatedly using his large morose body to […]
I limped slowly onward, past the small path-side sustenance stop at Alto de Poio (to avoid tempting any fellow pilgrims to impurely give to the pitiable out of pity) and paused briefly at my next Camino crossroads – this one offering a choice between the traditional route that headed up into the mountains and a […]
;
