July 20 (posts get a little out of order due to transitory nature of weefee)

today I am alternating grieving the loss of our BELOVED Rusty, with celebrating the unconditional love he brought to us and chanting “Acail” to assist with his safe passage. We were so lucky to have had Rusty, the embassador and propogator of so much love.  Every person whoever met him received his unconditional love.

ok, the mailman would not agree. But that’s because Rusty was a fierce protector, especially of me. Rusty protected me from every perceived threat (including the mailman, the bunnies in the yard, etc). He followed me around, always within striking distance, just in case; slept with me every night, sometimes prohibiting others (i.e. Otis, Jay, etc) to come in the bed. When I broke my leg, Rusty was right there licking my face, and trying to prevent others from approaching me. I am missing him so much!

He was our first doggie and he will always have a piece of my heart.

Thank you Rusty, for bringing us so much LOVE and joy.

Short story: OMG There was nowhere in the whole town for me to sleep since the Albergue had turned into a summer camp. So two girls (16ish) slept in one bed so I could have a BOTTOM bunk!!!! The kindness of strangers, and they speak not a word of English and I not a word of Spanish.

Left early for that town, 730am (which is late on The Camino) and had the most glorious 3 hours of hiking not one person in sight just a whole bunch of cows, with big, pointy horns, who looked at me with great suspicion until I started chanting “omg namo guru dev name” and then they were like “oh, she’s cool let her pass” (either that or she’s nuts let her pass)

Ok, so finally arrived at Penalba de Santiago (passed thru San Cristobal de Valdueza with the 1000 year old enemy destroying tree that bus loads of tourists come to see; Google it). Everyone says “no English” but then, of course, they speak fantastic English once they hear how really bad i communicate in Spanish. They all tell me where The Cave is (2 km up hill) and say the very few personas sleep there but, “yeah sure, you can if you want.” Remember, this whole adventure is about The Cave.

Ok, I get to the cave via a stunningly beautiful path; most beautiful 45 min hike I have had since “the back 40” for those of you who know what that means. And THE cave is, well, it looks like a cave. But inside there is an alter and a statue of the Saint Gennadius (really, Google this, it’s interesting) and a bunch of birds and a floor that says “come sit and meditate.” And so meditate I did! And WHOOOOOSH, I feel the energy. CRAZY powerful, although it may have just been the Kundalini mediation I was doing. My hands felt “turned on” (I am actually level one Reiki trained) and I asked the universe to heal my heart. Ok, I’m not getting into anymore of the “crazy” details but it was powerful. And then, it was over, time for me to leave. And leave I did, I was so energized I actually ran/bounded back to Penalba.

From Penalba I got a ride to San Pedro, home to the ruins of a 9th century monastery where they actually turned me away for some unknown reason.

And then …. I was stranded in San Pedro, 20 km from the nearest Albergue and The Road. However, I was afraid to walk on the road since it was by a narrow, twisty, mountain road where cars scream by, seemingly going way too fast to avoid a pilgrim (remember, I am WAY off the safety of The Camino). The mountain road I had been told to take was destroyed in a recent forest fire so walking the road was the only choice.

So I did what any sane almost 60 year old woman who has just had a transformative cave experience would do. I sat down and cried and cried and cried. I alternated crying with the realization that I could just sleep there if I needed to. I had plenty of food and water and everything I need to sleep outside. And I would think about how beautiful the stars would be and how wonderful it would be to just sleep there. And then I would cry some more. I am not really sure what I was crying about but it probably had more to do with the cave than the situation at hand.  I just felt emotion POURING out of me.

Eventually a truck came by and I begged the driver to take me to Ponferrada (of course, I cant actually beg since he speaks no English and I no Spanish, so I just cry) but he lets me know that I need to be patient and eventually someone who is going to Pontferrada will drive by. So after a bunch more crying and steeling myself to spend the night …… someone does come along and not only takes me to Pontferrada, but drops me right at the Albergue (which was a total surprise since he actually spoke NO English so I had no idea where we were going) where all my Camino friends “coincidently” happened to be all outside, ready to greet me. And there was this amazing outdoor Pilgrim mass happening (with free Sangria?!?!?). It was a wild “home coming.” And a BIG lesson: don’t worry so much; everything takes care of itself, if you just give it half a chance. I wonder how many times I will have to learn that lesson before it sticks.

That’s what faith is.

Today’s travels took me over a mountain (1515 meters) with a human sundial and some sort of meaningful cross (sorry, they are really all blending into just one meaningful cross), I have the first of several oddly “coincidental experiences (my mother used to say “no such thing as coincident). First, I am thinking to my self “dang, I should have stopped in that pat town and purchased a banana” and two seconds later I round a curve and there is a cart laden with bananas and very appripo Buddhist sayings! (See picture). Then I move on to the next curve and find  a rather Buddhist looking “pilgrim refuge” with coffee! Picture is of the refuge, not the coffee. While drinking said coffee, a random man named Jorge (story behind that name that I won’t get into here, but suffice it to say that the only Jorge’s I have know were angels) appearsnout of nowhere and insists that I must go to the Valley of Silence and a special cave in the Valley of Silence. And so …. this is where I am off to now (not without giving Jay directions to call for help if I don’t contact him by Monday noon).  I have finished stage one of this “detour” and am in a 1300 year old town (not a typo) that happens to have the best wee fee I have had on the trip. I don’t actually know where I am going except that I have written directions and I have now learned that it is typical to spend the night in the cave (“no one goes to the cave and not spend the night”) so it seems that this adventure will take a little longer than I originally thought. So I don’t know when I will report in again, but google Valley of Silence and cave and see what you can learn, it will be more than I know.  I am just going on “faith.”

woke in Paradise with the sun, walked a mere 26 km to arrive at Gregorian chanting at 1000 year old monestary with attached Albergue. The chanting was OK but the Albergue, run by British volunteers was simply amazing!! They had a “proper English garden” that they let me camp in!! And proper English tea for breakfast with toast and jam!! The tea pot even had a tea cozy!