2012-10-07 Sunday

2012-10-07 Sunday

Ribadiso de Baixo / O Pedrouzo

Camino Day 30. Today's segment is 22Km. 

Nancy, Terry and I met for breakfast at 0730 as usual and hit the road at 0810, and 30 minutes we reached Arzua, 3 Km away, where Günther and Jeovan were waiting for us. Adele stayed behind, she got up late for breakfast. 

The six of us walked, sometimes in pairs, sometimes alone. Along the way we met some of our Camino friends. One of them is Yvonne, from California, whom we first met 3 days ago. It was a great day for walking, not hot, not cold either, a bit overcast, with the sun appearing on and off. 

I was chatting with Yvonne, during our first stop for coffee, and asked what were her plans after reaching Compostela on Monday, she said that on Tuesday, she was planning to catch a bus to Finisterre, where she would drop the ashes she brought along the Camino in the sea, she will then attend the Pilgrim's Mass on Wednesday at noon. I did not ask who's ashes they were, and she did not volunteer.

We arrived at O Pedrouzo at 1445, after walking walking 22 Km in 5.5 hrs with 3 rest stops. We showered, left our dirty clothes to be laundered, and then Terry, Nancy, Paulo, Jeovan, and I went out for lunch at a nearby restaurant. Gunther prefers to have his larger meal for dinner, and Alene is staying at the municipal albergue, on the other side of town. We had an excellent Sunday lunch. We had just finished desert and coffee when I saw Yvonne seating alone, at the other end of the room. I went there and invited her to join us at our table for after meal "chupitos." 

My appetizer. The broth was fantastic

We chatted for a while, enjoying our "orujo de yervas", and when we were leaving the restaurant, she told Nancy if she could help her with her knee. They sat at two chairs at the sidewalk, and Yvonne started to massage Nancy's knee. I asked if she was a physical therapist and she said no, she was a healer, a Shaman. She started to chant in some strange language as she massaged Nancy's knee. Jeovan was next, I had walked along with him for the last part of today's segment, and he was complaining of severe knee pain.

I went next, asking for help with my left knee. She massaged my left knee a bit, but then said that my biggest problem was not with my knee, but with my spleen, that I had emotional issues to resolve, and emotional issues affect the spleen. She then touched my left ribs, over the spleen, and did her chanting. I asked what language was that, and she said Mongolian. After she finished my treatment she told Terry to sit down at the chair, she needed to work on his left shoulder. Paulo asked her how did she know that, and she replied that she was a "human MRI" and could feel people's physical or emotional pains. She then proceeded to work on Terry's left shoulder. That was another Camino magical moment.

Terry and Nancy said that they were tired and not hungry, and did not want to go out in the evening to eat. Paulo and went out to meet Gunther at the restaurant where he was having dinner with his German friend, Dieter (I think?) the senior gentleman he met on his first day on the Camino. Paulo and I ordered some appetizers and wine, Jeonan arrived a few minutes later, and we all stayed there chatting and enjoying our drinks. Dieter asked us if he could join our group tomorrow, for our last day on the Camino. We said off course, he was welcome to join us. 

Our destination tomorrow? Santiago de Compostela!