When I tried to get lodging for Burgos, the city where I spent last night, as usual, it was a struggle. Finally, I was able to secure lodging at a hostel, but they only had a private room available. I was desperate enough that I was willing to pay the extra. As I arrived in my room, I didn’t know how to react. After sharing a room with 16 to 26 people every night, to be the only one in my room just seemed really weird. Plus, I had a bathroom all to myself! At the hostels where I had been staying, there would be two toilets and generally two showers for all 16 to 26 people. You just learn to adapt. I’ve learned when the non-peak times are and tried to adjust. I have found that you just get less and less stressed about it.
But last night, I had a bathroom all to myself! When I turned on the water in the shower, I let it run and run and run and run - it was awesome! Then there was nobody to snore in the room, except for me! It was a good night, except for the fact that I was awakened at 4:00 AM with someone desperately pounding on a door down the hallway. For some reason, I felt that was probably not a good situation, especially after the knocking stopped and all I could hear was loud sobbing. My nature is to see if I can help in those situations, so I headed to the door, but was checked that maybe instead I should just pray for them, which I did.
The room was great, except for the location - it was on the east side of the city. This meant that I would have to walk through the majority of the city today. So even though officially the miles walked today was 13, the true miles walked for me today was about 16.
City walking: not my favorite
As I went out into the street early in the morning, I headed west. After just a few blocks, I had my first temptation of the day! I came to the staging area where taxis parked and waited for passengers to come. As I walked by every taxi, it was as if they were saying, “Hey, pilgrim, for 10 bucks, I can save you an hour and a half of walking time.” What a temptation! I came to another taxi. Same song, second verse: “I can save you a lot of time and energy!” My old self would’ve succumbed. My mode was rush, rush, so $10 to save an hour and a half of walking would have been a no-brainer. In fact I would’ve given $20 or $30. Not that there was anything morally wrong with that, but I’m trying to readjust my mind right now.
A pilgrim with a heavy load
This leads me to something they talk about on the Camino. They say the first two weeks, or roughly the first 1/3 of the journey, is to toughen or tone your body. And boy, does it ever do that! After the first two days, every muscle screamed within my body, “Take me home, take me home!” Two days in and my body was begging for not just one rest day, but a rest month! But after two weeks, things are better. I’m not going to lie and say that after an 18-mile day my muscles don’t hurt a little bit, but it’s tolerable. So the first third they say to tone your body.
But the second part of the journey is to tone your mind. Our minds tend to play tricks on us. In fact, the Bible talks a lot about our mind. What we think can affect so much of what we do. So for the next two weeks, pilgrims are encouraged to tone their minds and make sure they are thinking right thoughts - that their minds are going in the right direction. So when I said no to those taxis, I think my mind was being toned right there.
It was not easy, because the walk out of the city was tough. It took about an hour and 40 minutes for me to reach the last building and have the city of Burgos behind me.
Today’s walk seemed that it was just a little bit more of a slog than usual. Maybe it was the fact that over the last two days I walked a lot on asphalt and concrete, but I just seemed to be dragging a little bit more than normal. Even my coffee stop didn’t seem to perk me up that much.
With about an hour and a half left of walking time, I came to what I thought was a little village. I then realized it wasn’t a village, because there were only three or four buildings. One of the buildings was a cute little church. So I pulled out my camera and snapped several pictures. I was ready to move on - that was the old Joe talking to me. But the new Joe, the one who is trying to slow down a little bit, decided to take a moment and go into the church. Out of respect, I pulled off my hat. I put down my trekking poles and took off my backpack. I walked into this little church that was just surreal.
In the church were two ladies; they were nuns. One I would guess as being maybe middle-aged. The other I would guess as being the age of a great-grandmother, but, with her calling, undoubtedly, she was not a grandmother. I was just looking around, and the older lady came walking over to me and we began talking a little bit in Spanish. She asked my name; I told her it was José. And something immediately occurred to me so strongly! What occurred to me was that this lady was a saint - a true saint. The Bible says that we can bear witness with those who are like-minded, or are of a kindred spirit. I just kept thinking of her that she was of a kindred spirit.
She motioned for me to follow her. She took me over to the side of the little church. And she did something that would rate as one of the top two or three moments so far on the Camino. Some of you may chuckle or frown, but you wouldn’t have if you would have been there. She took hold of my arm and began to say a blessing over me. It was a blessing in Spanish, worded so beautifully and so powerfully! She was asking God to bless me on the Camino de Santiago with protection and strength and health. But then she expanded her blessing. She asked a blessing upon me on the Camino of life. Again, she essentially prayed strength, protection, and peace on my life. And yes, this softie began to have water come out of his eyes! It was a very emotional moment. Then she backed up a little bit, and it was like this grandmotherly figure just knew something! She seemed to know that this pilgrim was a bit weary, a little bit smelly, and had been away from his family for a couple of weeks. I think she knew that this sniffling guy needed a hug! That little diminutive woman grabbed me and embraced me, and I embraced her back. More tears flowed. All I could say was “Gracias, gracias, gracias!”
Then I did the dumbest thing ever! It seems I have the ability to take a beautiful moment and say something dumb! But I did the American thing and I asked if I could have a picture with her! She smiled and said, “Of course.” Someone took our picture.
The nun who blessed me. She gave me the necklace which will always remind me of this amazing experience!
I gathered up my belongings and headed out, still struggling to keep my emotions in check. Typically, I would have started listening to music again, but who needs music when you have just been blessed by a saint? For the next hour and a half I couldn’t quit thinking about it. I had been on the receiving end of a blessing!
There is so much power in a blessing! My question to all of us is this: who are we going to bless today? Our blessing may not be a verbal blessing as I received, but maybe it needs to be a practical act of kindness. Maybe, just as a blessing came to me from an unexpected source today that really changed my day, blessing someone else unexpectedly could also change their day!
Thanks for joining me on the Camino today.
Approximate total miles: 560
Approximate miles walked today: 13
Approximate miles remaining: 366