Hospital de Orbigo to Astorga: September 20, 2014: Day 14

Today it is not suppose to rain and the high should be around 70.  It seems like it will be a good day for walking since the land is fairly flat and it should be cooler again.

I spent the day walking with Paula and Angie walked ahead of us.  I enjoyed the time.  Like me Paula is on a Spiritual pilgrimage.  This is not true of most of the pilgrims we have met.  We spent the day talking of our lives and intentions for the Camino.

Along the way in the middle of nowhere we came to a stand with fruits, vegetables, juices, nuts and lemonade.  The man, David, had been a pilgrim and since then he now runs this stand to provide refreshments for pilgrims along the way.  He has some covered benches for shade.  Coming upon his stand at the top of the hill is like finding an oasis. He had a donation box for us to contribute to for the food that we enjoyed.

Talking with David was a spiritual encounter.  He said that the camino is not about us as individuals.  It is about our relationships and what we do with the blessings we receive.  He gives to us so that we might give to others.  Sound familiar huh?  Come to think of it he looked a lot like Jesus.  He said his work, our work is a work of the heart. When stopping for lunch one woman said it was the highlight of her Camino experience so far.

We checked into a Municipal Albergay in Astorga, another beautiful city on a hill.  The facility holds about 150 people.  We were lucky enough to get a room with only 4 bunks.  I took a long nap when we arrived.  It was the best nap I have had I a long time.  This is not the best facility we have been in but it is functional and the location is great.

The city reminds me of Burgos with the beautiful squares.  After getting some things for breakfast and lunch at the supermarket we went to the square to find something for dinner.  We met up with Paula and a woman from Sweden and all had dinner and wine.  The woman from Sweden is stopping for a few days because of problems with her knees. We all ran into our friends from Australia ( the woman with the hurt foot who has had to go to the hospital. They are not going to be able to walk anymore but are planning to bus between towns so hopefully we will see each other again.  We were having so much fun chatting that we did not make it back to the albergay until 9:45 and found our roommates already in bed with the lights out.  We had to creep around in the dark to get ready for bed.

Lessons learned: If we have ears to hear and eyes to receive we will do  messengers along the way.