Day 6 -Sept 11- Agony and Ecstasy

My Korean roommates were very polite and as quiet as mice as they were arising and packing up their gear and they left at 5AM. They were very fine young men and their parents should be very proud of them. I on the other hand was unable to get going until 7:30 and I was grumpy and billious.This morning I walked off and on with Rolf and two cute Israeli girls named Neta and Ya-a-ra.

That is Neta on the left and Ya-a ra on the right. The girls were very interested in the various forms of Christianity. Being somewhat pedantic AND an EFM graduate, I droned on and on and they pretended to be interested. Soon we encountered the Bigatti sisters in a park and I gave Serena a bandaid for one of her blisters. By late morning I am limping badly because of my blisters and everyone walks on which is fine with me.

The pain in my feet is constant and also intensifies with every step. This is is what one heel looks like.

Sorry for the gross photo. And walking is Agony with a capital A. But the strangest thing happened. I was walking along in agony from my blisters but found that I could compartmentalize the pain and put it inone corner of my mind. So there I am walking along with my compartmentalized pain and I look around and this is what I see.

And suddenly I have an epiphany. Everything I see is mine. It has all been given to me by God. The whole world has been given to me to love and enjoy. I am awestruck. I remember the parable of the prodigal son and suddenly understand what the father meant when he told the older brother that "Everything I have is yours." God has given it all to me.

I am overwhelmed by gratitude for my life, for the love of my family and my friends and for the whole God so loved world. What a moment! For my cursillo buddies, it was truly a close moment, maybe one of the closest ever.

But, literally, there are miles to go before I sleep and so I walk on.

I see this graffiti and go "Wow". It means "The heart knows reasons that reason doesn't know."

Later on I meet up with Rolf, the Bigattis and Israelis and we find the wine fountain.

Yes, it really is a wine fountain. All the youngsters fill a bottle but I declined. Lips that touch liquor will never touch mine.

Later the third Bigatti sister joins us. This is Gaia, who is dressed as a true pilgrim who carries a sack instead of a backpack and wears burlap for shoes.

Later we see a dude with a donkey and Gaia must pet it.

As must the Israelis.

I must have had the setting on fisheye. Notice the beret on the donkey.

This is coming into Villamajor de Montejardin but there are no beds and no room anywhere.  I can barely walk and a kind Spanish caballero takes pity on me and takes me to a bus stop 5k. away where I catch a bus into Los Arcos where I get the last bed in a 36 bed dorm. Co-ed and that means bathrooms and showers too. And the bathroom stalls are in the same room as the showers. Talk about stretching your comfort zone!

Here I reunite with my first roommates Anton and Manuel.

I can't walk anymore so I decide to take the bus into Logroño the next day to rest and heal.