In honor of this most magical of places (one of the very few refuges I have encountered in my life where I felt truly & fully At HOME), I decide to empty my satchel of several stones I had collected along The Way, tossing them reverently into Le Par Chemin’s Peace-full courtyard, in the hopes […]
I enjoyed several more breakfasts that morning; sitting down and breaking bread anew each time another group of pilgrims awoke and began prepping for their next day’s next adventure. Frederic had already offered to have me stay an extra day at the hostel – ostensibly to be able to meet back up with my dear […]
Enjoy yet another lovely repast with Muriel after she awakes from a sound slumber, and then enjoy a relaxing morning of cleaning threefold – sweeping away the accumulated dirt & dust from the entire dining room/patio area, polishing off my Heart by saving a few snails who had errantly wandered away from homes lusher & […]
That day’s next group of pilgrims steadily arrives – first Michael (a young man from Nashville with whom I relaxed for a bit; witnessing my Walk and chatting of “home”), then Nathalie (who had told me to stop over at Le Par Chemin just a few days previous) & Maude (a 3rd World front-line humanitarian […]
I decide to Joy-fully serve this Joy-full place by engaging in a 2+ hour stint of weed-eating (pausing every now & then during the same to see if I could spot Mike & Cindy on the Road). Samuel from Switzerland and Nicole & Mary Jo sauntered in shortly thereafter, and Le Par Chemin’s latest “Pilgrim […]
Head to bed and gaze for awhile in reverent silence down upon a common Camino sighting – several pilgrims gathered together late into the evening in a warm huddle of humble & open-hearted sharing … “Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned to the same fork are automatically tuned to […]
Up after very little sleep last night (a combination of several vivacious late-night chats entertained by fellow pilgrims, some lovely less-than-quiet guitar strummings by hospitalero Remi, a subtle cacophony of rumbled snorings from already asleep pilgrims at the far end of the hostel, and a community cat who decided to wail his general displeasures well […]
Fellow pilgrims Maude & Nathalie come in to breakfast as I am finishing my preparations for departure, and they both sit for awhile and soak up my Walking HOME book. This was a nice moment indeed, as these were the two members of yesterday’s “pilgrim family” with whom I had felt most likely to Connect […]
While the decision to leave that morning was clearly the Correct one (I was not in any debilitating pain, the skies were wet & gray but in no way dangerously ominous, there was no more immediate need of my assistance in the hostel’s yard and gardens, and there was no current pilgrim resident who was […]
Head into the church in Espalais proper, and enjoy the solace gently held by its empty room and radiated by its Christmas-tree-light-adorned altar … “And after saying farewell to them, he went up on the mountain to pray.” ~ unknown (Mark 6:46) “I am a reflection of Light and Love; a condensed facet of the […]
Flow smoothly thereafter up and into the neighboring town of Auvillar, where Frederic surprises me with another meet & greet. It turns out that fellow pilgrim Michael had forgotten his shoes at the hostel that morning, and Frederic thought I might be willing to carry them in my bag, on the highly probable chance that […]
;
