Saturday, April 20, 2024
Today was perhaps the smoothest day of walking that we’ve ever had.
I woke up, and my right knee and right achilles tendon were both pretty tight and a bit sore. They were pretty sore for most of the first half of the day yesterday as well, so this morning I put some of the anti-inflammatory ointment that Betty’s been using for her feet on it. It worked like a charm, and we were able to have a super good day on the trail.
Castrojériz is a really beautiful town, but the walk out of town and up onto the meseta is tough. Ian had the misfortune of inheriting River’s backpack right at the beginning of the climb. It was tough for him, but he did a great job.
I should mention that Ian’s asthma hasn’t been an issue at all since we’ve been on the Camino. He does have occasional attacks, but with a couple of puffs on his inhaler, he’s great. He struggled much more traveling through Europe and staying in houses with animals than he has out in the dust and pollen of the Camino. It’s a massive blessing for us. Just one more way God has opened the way for us.
And while I’m on the subject of the kids, Anahi has found her own little miracle on the Camino. Years ago, I encouraged the kids to study a language on Duolingo as part of their homeschool. Most chose Spanish, but Anahí -- for no apparent reason -- started studying Dutch. We all gave her a bit of a hard time because honestly, when was she ever going to use Dutch? Well, it turns out in the past couple of months she’s actually visited Holland, and also there are a ton of Dutch people on the Camino. Anahí spent a bunch of time walking with some of them today. They are so kind and really complimentary of the Dutch that she knows. It’s not a ton, but she’s really into studying the language now, and each day she improves. She’s even started reading the Book of Mormon in Dutch. It’s awesome to see her walking way ahead of us and just chatting it up with these sweet Dutch ladies.
Kimball came to me today and said that he has been thinking a lot about the upcoming election, in which he will be able to vote. He asked if I’d walk him through politics, so we spent a couple of hours walking and talking through the different parties, candidates, and issues. Our friend Joycelyn walked with us, and she was able to share her viewpoint.
Towards the end of the day it was Ian, Kimball, River, and I -- a bit behind everyone else because of frequent stops with River -- but the day just flew by. It felt like we were doing a kilometer every 5 minutes.
Now we’re at this really nice Albergue in Boadilla del Camino. The hospitalero is a guy named Eduardo, and he seems to be doing really well here.
There is literally nothing else in this town except the hotel/albergue/restaurant, a church, and a few houses. So we couldn’t get our usual dinner, breakfast, and lunch at a supermarket. We just had to pony up and eat the pilgrim’s dinner. It was delicious. We had lentil soup and creamy squash soup for our entrada. Then it was salad and ternera or chicken for the plato fuerte, and we all got ice cream bars for dessert.
The weirdest moment of the night came when he brought out a pitcher of what looked like grape juice. He told me it was zumo (juice), and then left. I smelled it, and it smelled fishy to me, so I asked again “Is this really grape juice?” And he smiled and said yes. I thought “how cool of him to bring grape juice for the kids, and then I tasted a bit of it.
It was most definitely NOT grape juice!
When he came back, I said “Is this grape juice or wine?” To which he responded laughing, “What do you think wine is?”
To which I responded: “But we don’t drink!”
To which he responded by looking sheepish and retiring the wine from the table.
Tonight Nidia came to our room (we have our own room to ourselves), and we played a fun game with her. It was nice to just spend some time laughing and enjoying having “company” over.
Tomorrow we are only going to walk 5km to Frómista so that we can relax and enjoy the Sabbath day, and rest our bodies and minds before we tackle the next week.
This week we covered 138 km, which is 86 miles. We pushed our average per day on the Camino back up to 18k, which is about 11 miles per day. The best thing is that everyone’s bodies are holding up, and we are in good spirits.
As I am lying down in bed, reading my scriptures at the end of the day, I read the following verse from Words of Mormon in The Book of Mormon:
And I do this for a wise purpose; for thus it whispereth me, according to the workings of the Spirit of the Lord which is in me. And now, I do not know all things; but the Lord knoweth all things which are to come; wherefore, he worketh in me to do according to his will.
I can’t think of a better description of this trip. It’s been absolutely amazing, and I’m sure the Lord will continue to show us what His purposes for us are in all of this.
