Wednesday, May 18, 2011

Tuesday, May 17 Alberque San Miguel - again







"Have you got your teeth?"

We have come to realize that our morning farewell needs to be refined. Buen camino, bon route, bonne courage are just not helpful enough. Today we had so many pilgrims return to collect things they had left behind or thought they left behind. Now we need to say that "If you can't see that first yellow arrow, check! Do you have your contacts in, do you have your glasses?" Or better still "Do you have your teeth?" Seriously we had one dear confused gentleman who had to bicycle back to us and said he had forgotten his teeth!

We also have to give some cautionary reminders to pay attention to their body and health along the trail. Many pilgrims who arrived were quite shaken after witnessing a fallen pilgrim receiving CPR from the EMT medics. Sadly their rescue attempts were unsuccessful. He was a 76 year old Danish pilgrim.

We had a great treat this Tuesday as one of our Wainwright Coast to Coast hiking buddies, who is now walking the Camino, came and stayed with us. We greeted Joan and her walking companions with a chilled glass of Rose. We also had 'the priesthood' stay with us. This was a group of young novitiates who were walking the Camino with their mentor, Father Carlos. At first their intention was to do their own thing but then we encouraged them to join us all for dinner and we think they really enjoyed interacting with everyone. I had them share saying the pilgrim's blessing with me - I'd say the verse in English and then one would repeat it in Spanish. The other night I had done the same thing with a young Korean girl translating the blessing to Korean.

We are meeting pilgrims from many countries, South Korea, Slovenia and Slovakia, Italy, Hungary, Finland, Latvia, France, Spain, US, Germany, Belgium, Holland, Brazil - well you get the idea. My Spanish and French is just basic enough to get us through what we need.

3 comments:

  1. Great to catch up on your experiences at San Miguel. Both you and Dayton are doing a great job offering a clean and welcoming place to stay for all those pilgrims coming down the camino. I wish we could be there with you.

    Courage,
    John and Robin

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  2. and and john thompsonMay 19, 2011 at 2:39 PM

    Karen and Dayton

    So pleased to follow you along from our retreat in Bayfield -- what are the numbers of folks you put up with each evening? Before we set out on our next job, we are going to have to swap recipes.

    Ana and John

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  3. Hi Folks
    Really enjoyed the last 3 blogs and picture all the happenings in my mind. I'm sure we'll hear more indepth about the "steal guy".

    You two are amazing.

    Cheers and love.
    John and Linda

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