Weather

Fromista to Carrion (Friday, June 11th) Rain, rain go away, come again, another day. One foot in front of another all day long. All I can see again is out of the front of my little Conestoga wagon view. It is getting very old. I had to get a new poncho in Fromista yesterday. I´m no longer highlighter pink. Now I am olive drab with a large red scallop shell (sort of like Shell Oil) on my back. I feel like a plastic turtle. The road from Fromista is flat and fairly uninteresting. The path is nice and flat, and they are making improvements to it. I later find that my new poncho, even though it is heavier, already has cuts on it, I think from the twenty thousand (okay, that´s a slight exaggeration) concrete bollards I walked by on the path. Across this section, they find it necessary to mark every drive and to keep vehicles off of the path by placing concrete stanchions along it. Every time I pass between the poles, they hit my poncho and ... scratch... oh well. We´ll see how many ponchos it takes to make a Camino!


There is a lot of public art along the Camino about Santiago and perigrinos. I stop to take pictures of some of it. Perhaps it is the rain, or maybe just boredom with the drizzly, steady rain, but I also make a pitstop at every opportunity today. I try to stop in the little local churches whenever they are open. You wouldn´t believe the art treasures of altar pieces that are in the smallest of churches, but this day, none are open, which I guess is good, since I don´t feel much like delaying beyond the stops I have to make. I arrive in Carrion (yes, it sounds like dead meat, but I don´t know what it really means).

Stella is a kilometer or two ahead of me coming into this town for a change. I finally see the donkey we have been following (we always see the droppings, but never the donkey) as I pass Alburgue Santa Clara on my way to finding our Alburgue. I find Stella waiting at Iglesia de Santa Maria, next to our alburgue, which doesn´t open for another hour or more. There is a homeless man under the same shelter. He is just getting settled in, out of the rain, getting a can of dog food out for his dog.

We go find something to eat somewhere and come back. As we walk around town, we see some 'a caballo' pilrims for the first time - those who are completing the pilgrimage on horseback. There are two fine looking men in long leather dusters who could be father and son or perhaps brothers, on very nice quarterhorses. It must cost a lot of money to do the Camino this way because of having to board the horses as well. It is obvious that they have made pre-arrangements, because they are met by someone with a horsetrailer who comes and waters the horses and puts feed bags on them while the gentlemen take their own break (hence the riderless horses in the picture). The trail is also somewhat different in places, too. Those who ride bicycles also have a different trail in some parts. I suspect the two men riding horses will not be staying in a hostel tonight, but rather a more upscale accommodation! We also meet some 'a bici' peregrinos!

We eventually get settled. Nothing gets dry that I wash on this damp rainy day, but I end up having a nice conversation with a group of young people we have been traveling with from Chicago. There is a alburgue meeting at 6 pm. We haven´t had one of these before, but like good little pilgrims, Stella and I showup, not sure what to expect. It is grace. The three sisters, and perhaps an oblate who is multilingual, have a time of sharing and singing. One plays guitar and another a drum. They end up giving us a blessing by making the sign of the cross on our foreheads and by giving us a little paper, 6-pointed star (Compostella) that they have colored with crayons ("it weighs nothing in your backpacks") for us to take with us. People have a chance to share what the Camino has been like for them so far. Tears are in many eyes with the blessing and the grace of the moment. Remember what I wrote earlier about sometimes, when I've had a chance to get to walk and talk with some of the other pilgrims who have bugged me for some reason, I get to see them in a wholly (holy?) different light? Well, one of the guys who always sort of acts flashy, shallow and smart-alecky actually says something very nice and meaningful. I don't know if it is just 'of the moment,' but it forces me to reevaluate my superficial judgment of him and open the door wider, to allow for the possibility that he is not who I have perceived him to be! Oh, if I only had these moments more often, and hung on to them, I would be such a better person instead of being just as shallow as I have chalked him up to be! So, more grace with the realization.


We have dinner with Charley from Scotland and Karin from Sweden at a little restaurant a block from the alburgue. Then, we go to a service in the church next door. Within the church is a nativity tableau that is lighted and moves. It is really interesting and quite involved. Different parts of it light up at different times.