The Road Less Taken...

Saturday, May 26 - Day 2 - Triacastella to Sarria

Today was day 2 of our trip.  We stayed last night in "casa rural" -- basically a farm house.  In our case both the house and the barn were completely renovated into lovely rooms and apartments, including a fabulous dining room and a wonderful reading room/salon.

We had breakfast at 7:00 am -- the traditional Spanish breakfast of cafe and hot milk served separately for us to mix as desired, orange juice, coffee cake, and toast. We had one other local specialty, the lovely soft cow's cheese from O 'Cebreiro served with honey.  The bus took us in Triacastella to begin our hike.  The majority of the group took the short (11.6 miles) route to Sarria but David Hoekema, Cynthia Slagter and I chose to take a longer alternate route (16 miles) to visit one of the oldest and largest monasteries in Spain, the Benedictine monastery in Samos.  More on that in a minute..

Our colleagues got to Sarria a couple of hours before us, due to our longer hike and monastery tour.   The hiking was pleasant, about 55 degrees and mostly cloudy, with some wind, and about 20 minutes of rain for us as we got to Sarria. But the sun was out again by the time we left the Tourism Information  Office.  The balance of the day was pretty typical, lunch about 3, then shower and rest.  Group meeting and devotions at 7 and then dinner/tapas/whatever.

But, back to the road less travelled.  By taking the alternate longer route to Samos, we also met far fewer people and far fewer peregrinos.  That leads me to today's reflection on todary's theme -- the interesting individuals we have met so far. Yesterday, Roy and Cynthia and I were walking through Fonfria and an elderly woman stopped us and offered a crepe with sugar sprinkled on top.  Cynthia said the Asturian word for crepes and the woman, who had probably hoped for a Euro from each of us, engaged Cynthia in a vigorous conversation about her family, etc.  We also met a woman yesterday on the path who was walking her dogs and gave u advice about the best path to take when there a couple of choices.

On the Samos path, we probably  met only 8 other pilgrims the entire day.  We left Triacastela following a young Italian as we hiked along the road.  It turns out he was not a pilgrim, but only out for a walk exploring the neighborhood.   We crossed paths repeatedly with 3 young women from Germany who had just started their Camino that day.  

We met three interesting monks at the monastery.  The older monk who was managing the admissions tickets and the gift shop.   He had a great sense of humor and repeatedly teased David about trying to cheat the monks by taking the wrong change from the counter.  The tall, taciturn young man (probably Italian) who gave us the tour in both English and Spanish, whose most memorable characteristics were his "fabulous shoes" (per Cynthia).  I guess monks get to live it up a little.  And then there was the third monk who was busy sweeping the grass from the sidewalk, in his full cassock.  

Not only have we met interesting people along the way, the pilgrims have stories, too. In most cases a brief "Hola" (hello) followed by "Buen Camino" (good Camino) comprises the conversation.  Sometimes however, there is less of a language barrier and more story to tell.   On the way to Portomarin today. we met Kathy, the Canadian from Calgary who nationality was given away as soon as she said the word "sorry."  She was hiking the Camino with her husband and daughter.  Later Roy and I talked with Jake, a young Irish student was hiking the Camino from the beginning.  He talked rather freely with us about the loneliness of having no one to talk to in his own language.  He said that we were the first English-speakers he had encountered in four days.  After him, Roy and I met Veronica, an Austrian woman who lives in Germany and is a math and music teacher.  When Roy asked why she was hiking, she shared that her oldest daughter had been killed in a traffic accident four years ago and this was in her memory.  Rolf, a tall, brisk-walking German, was on his 3rd Camino and he didn't really say why he was walking, and didn't spend much time talking with us, he was on a mission of his own.

These are only a few of the people we have met, but it's clear that the Camino is more than just a hike through the countryside of northern Spain, it's a chance to encounter people, and connect with just a few of them, in ways that I had never imagined before today.