Today was another longer walking day - 24.3 km from Belorado to San Juan de Ortega. Today was an interesting day.. For most of the morning, we walked through a small village every 2-3 km.. For the rest of the day, we walked through a seemingly endless 12 km stretch without villages, through forest.. We walked on a wide dirt path with walls of trees on either side.. It was lovely, but became a bit monotonous, especially as we became more tired.. There was an interesting stop on the way, to see a memorial from the Spanish Civil War, and a place where a mass grave from the war was discovered just 4 years ago. Pretty sobering stop..
We finally arrived at our destination of San Juan de Ortega in the late afternoon, hoping that there would still be room in the 64 bed albergue, and there was.. San Juan - population 19 - has a 64-bed albergue.. It´s part of the monastery complex..
I did something today for the first time this trip, and likely not the last.. I went to mass.. It was at 6pm, and was a really interesting experience.. It was in Spanish, so I didn´t know what all of the words were, but I understood the flow of the service.. Opening praises, prayers, scripture readings, eucharist, prayers, benediction. It was a pilgrim´s mass.. For the benediction, we went to stand by the crypt of San Juan de Ortega, and the priest handed out the closing scripture and benediction in various languages.. It was nice to follow in English, and the words around pilgrimage and prayers for safe travels were especially moving for me.. I think after 12 solid days of walking, this was what I needed.. It was a half-hour in length, and there were about 25 of us there..
After mass, we went to the bar for supper.. The bar is also part of the monastery complex.. Simple, but good food (cheese omelet, salad and bread), and hilarious servers, one of whom had also been the scripture reader at mass..
One other higlight from today.. At breakfast, I ordered our usual.. Two slices of Spanish tortilla, one black coffee, one coffee with milk, one orange juice. I ordered, as I usually try to, in Spanish.. This morning, the server said to me, in English, ¨Where are you from?¨I replied that I was from Canada, and she said, in Spanish, that my Spanish was very good.. I never would have thought that.. But, I guess when you order the same thing every day, you start to improve eventually.. I´m enjoying learning Spanish words, and feel more comfortable with the language now.. (p.s. I´ve also been speaking lots of French!)
Overall, this was a good day for me..
Blessings to you all,
susan
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