The Parable of the Workers

We've had a couple of relatively easy days on the Camino, mileage and weather wise.  We trudged into Triacastela and landed in an albergue that was actually quite nice. 

A fellow pilgrim, Jessica, who has been coincidentally with us from the start, and who taught at Westlake High and now lives in Valencia (small world, yes) and I decided to go grocery shopping; Jessica volunteered to cook.  Poking around the market, we decided on pork chops as they were on special, but we didn't see any in the meat case so we asked for them, whereupon the lady helping us walked in to the meat locker, pulled out a half a pig, and proceeded to slice off five chops for us.  Cost: EUR 4.24.  Wow.  Jessica did a fantastic job with the chops, mashed potatoes, and sautéed piquillo peppers, and we enjoyed a nice home cooked meal.

Sleep was elusive that night for most of us in the albergue, even after a serenade by the local bagpipe band to put us to bed.  The once again fatal combination of Snoring Middle-Aged Europeans who Smell and Don't Know How to Turn Off Their Phones coupled with a top bunk and no guardrail a meant that Brian slept about two hours, max.  

The road out of Triacastela the next took us through fantastic scenery, the weather had cleared, and Alex was back on the trail with us.  I knew of a fantastic albergue in Barbadelo, on the far side of Sarria, so I reserved spots there for the group.  I knew they would enjoy the pool.  And they did.  Unfortunately, we did not have enough people in our group for three full rooms, so Alex and I were in a room split with, you guessed it, Snoring Middle-Aged Europeans who Smell and Don't Know How to Turn Off Their Phones.  And I was in a top bunk again.  So I got another two hours of sleep.  Alex slept 30 minutes.  

Sarria bears mentioning because it's a sizeable town of 10,000 or so and is the jumping off point for those pilgrims who only intend to do the minimum 100 kilometers, or 4 days of walking, to get their certificate.  Indeed, the Way has become very crowded, and it's disconcerting to see pilgrims with little tiny string backpacks, new equipment, and clean fancy clothes go prancing past you, or worse, be walking six across, yelling and laughing loudly, unaware that you're contemplating a meditative journey and are trying to get by them.

I warned the kids that this would be the case, nonetheless, they struggled with it today.  So we talked about the Parable of the Workers, where a landowner hires people At the first hour of the day and agrees to pay them a full days wage then continues to hire people up till the 11th hour but also pays them a full days wage.  This is of course a parable about salvation, but it applies to those "newbie" pilgrims, who have just as much right to their Camino as us "veterans" do, even if they annoy the living tar out of us sometimes.

So, we were glad to get to Potomarin, whereupon Alex and I made directly for the one hotel in town: I have to sleep more than two hours tonight.  And I went ahead and booked out lodging into Santiago, given that many places were already full when we got in to town at 12:30.  I encouraged the kids to do the same, which they thankfully did.

Portomarin is interesting because it was originally built on the banks of the river Mino.  The river was dammed (not damned) in 1964 and a reservoir was created.  The town was completely dismantled and moved 300 feet up the mountain and reassembled so as not to be submerged.  The last time I walked over the very scary bridge into town, the reservoir was empty; there was only 300 feet of ravine under me.  This time the reservoir is very full.  The bridge is still very scary.

We also talked as a group tonight about the end of the Camino, and how the kids should re-integrate into their life in the States.  I also thanked them for making one of my life dreams come true: to walk the Camino in Spain, leading a group of young people.  If I've helped them in some way from this experience, then I've had a good Camino.  

Tomorrow we walk to Palas de Rei, then it's three quick days to Santiago.  I'm hopeful that God will let us have a good last few walking days and will be working on out hearts and minds as we walk.  I've started saying goodbye to many Camino friends, but we've exchanged emails and Facebook requests, and made plans to visit and keep in touch.  I know we will, and that also is a Camino miracle.