15 May 2008

First a correction to our last post. Foncabadón was not our destination point since it was just about 6 kms away.

This morning we got us a bit later than usual because last evening we were asked to do a reading at Vespers at 7:00 p.m. The Monks did the ceremony in Gregorian chant and at the appropriate time, a reading was done in Spanish, English, French and German. The reason we were asked was that we could not get in to the Albergue run by the Confraternity of St.James, a British based organization. The hospitaliero came to find us at the refugio where we had checked in and, trying to be nice to us, offered Bernie the reading part and Bernie immediately said "Danielle can do the French reading" and so it was. All our friends were at that Albergue and made sure they attended Vespers to hear us read. Not one of them understand French but they all said both of us had read well. So much for that compliment. We then went out to dinner with everyone. Here I am back to why we got up late. When we came back to our place, all lights were out and we could not get ourselves ready for the next day. At 4:00 am, some of the guests started to get up and pack and they were out by 4:30. Can´t understand that because it is really dark at that time.

We set out around 7:30, in the rain, and we were in Foncebadón in a little over an hour. It was definitely not the highest point. We kept climbing pretty much all day, in the pouring rain and on trails that were getting quite muddy, slippery and rather dangerous at times. There were times when we would opt to take the road instead but reverting back to the Camino when it seemed that the road route appeared much longer. We finally got to the place where there is a huge rock cairn at the food of a large metal cross. It is here that people finally deposit the rock or rocks they have brought from home and over the years, it has grown to be a huge pile. Most people have written something on their stone and for some of them, it is a very profound and religious experience. They see it as leaving their troubles behind. Amanda and Stephanie, our friends from Australia, had brought a stone for their life long friend who had just died of breast cancer. For them, it was emotional. Leaving the rock cairn, we continued to climb and it continued to pour. Reaching a town called Riejo de Ambrós, we stepped into the only cafe so far which was packed with people in wet clothing. It was virtually impossible to get anything ordered. We sat at a table at which Amanda and Stephanie had been eating and when they left, a British couple joined us. He had been a Vicar at St James parish in England. They had just ordered a taxi to get down the mountain, about 12 kms to Ponferrada, the temptation was too great and we accepted. Once there, we checked into a little Hostal near the downtown (Bernie had to shave with cold water two mornings in a row, enough already). Since it was still quite rainy, we did not get much of a chance to see the place except for the huge Templar fortress. It was a huge job trying to find a place for dinner since a lot of the bars that do serve meal do lunch but not dinner and the restaurant don´t serve dinner till 9 o clock. By the time we had dinner in the dining room of the Hotel Madrid (a grand hotel in its time), neither of us were in much of a mood to eat. It was quite funny to see the waiter with a crisp white tea towel around his arm, a nice bread basket and tongs place our bread squarely on the tablecloth, no plate no nothing. This town was quite interesting and we would have needed another day to see properly. See you tomorrow.