Thursday, April 4, 2024
This morning we had another Camino miracle. Betty was somehow able to walk, and she felt great.
It took us another 2.5 hours to pack, and another family fight and a prayer, and then we were off.
Betty really has had a total transformation in the night. Today she is happy and she found some other pilgrims to walk with (a few really nice Spanish ladies), and she walked like a champ. I had a hard time keeping up with them.
I’m not sure if I mentioned that the kids are all taking turns carrying River’s pack. Kimball does 5k, and the others do 3k each. It’s just too heavy for River to carry.
Today Anahi lucked out because one of the ladies we were walking with offered to carry River’s pack for a bit.
About halfway through the day we stopped in the beautiful little town of Zirauki. It’s one of the most picturesque on the Camino. It’s on a hill, and the streets through town are all a little labyrinth.
At the top of the hill, in the center of town there is a little tunnel you go through, and there is a man there who stamps your pilgrim passport. We had a nice little rest there, but the ladies we were walking with pushed on. They offered to carry River’s pack all the way to Estella, which we weren’t sure if we would reach, but Betty was feeling good, so we accepted their offer. It was a huge blessing for the kids.
In that same little tunnel where the Spanish ladies (Yolanda and Sofía were their names) left us, we met an American family. Their names are Nate and Megan Yoder. He’s a pastor in Germany, and they were here with a 7-year-old son and a teenage daughter. We walked the rest of the day with them. It was such a great blessing for the kids to just talk and laugh with another teenager their age.
We stopped in the town of Lorca to get a bite to eat, and there we met a guy taking care of one of the two bars there. His name is Rubén, and he was pretty nice. We got a bunch of bocadillos for the kids, and then we were on our way.
River was really a stinker today. She didn’t want to walk, and she didn’t want to ride. She just wanted to complain. It was very frustrating for me, but then I try to understand where she is coming from. We do almost nothing that she considers fun on this trip. She mostly just sits on my shoulders and talks and talks and talks to me. So I guess I can cut her some slack.
On that note, I feel much less sore in my back, neck, and shoulders today. I think I’m getting stronger.
Betty’s good spirits lasted the entire day. When we got to the albergue in Estella, she was just chatting and laughing with people. There are a couple of Italians, Jon and Agostino, who made a bunch of pasta for everyone, and we had a good laugh with them.
We also chatted with a Taiwanese woman named Mai. Betty helped her when she fell on the descent into Zubiri a few days ago. This is her third time doing the Camino. When she did it the first time, she was not Christian, and didn’t really believe in God. But she had a powerful spiritual experience in the church in Puente la Reina, and now she is a firm believer. It was a really sweet moment with her.
My evenings never seem to end.
Once we get in, I head to the grocery store for dinner and breakfast and lunch for tomorrow. Then tonight we did laundry, and I had to do a bunch of email and go over our budget and write in my journal and read my scriptures.
Thankfully I’ve got energy and strength for it all.
