Friday May 24, 2019

Valença, Portugal, to Porriño, Spain—Day 9; 32.627 steps

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Thursday May 23, 2019

Rubiaes to Valença, Portugal—Day 8; 31,196 steps

Proverbs 8

v. 22, 26, 30-31 The Lord possessed [wisdom] at the beginning of his work…before he made the world or its fields or any of the dust of the earth….  I [wisdom] was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence, rejoicing in his whole world and delighting in mankind.  But in me?  I was having a miserable day and no one was delighting in me.  I didn’t sleep well and everything hurt, including the scrape on my shin I got trying to climb into my bunk which had nothing I could grasp to stay balanced and pull myself up.  And we had how far to go before we stopped?  I was pretty cranky all day.  Was it because this morning I was not listening to the Lord and waiting at his doorway (v. 34)?  Dear Jesus, please forgive me.  Help me to remember you are where I find my life.

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Wednesday May 22, 2019

Ponte de Lima to Rubiaes, Portugal—Day 7; ca. 32,000 steps

Proverbs 7 v. 2-3  Keep my commands and you will live; guard my teachings as the apple of your eye.  Bind them on your fingers; write them on the tablet of your heart.  Our Lord’s commands bring life and it is good to have them close.  But the whole Bible is interwoven with God’s commands.  How can we remember them all?  Jesus made it simple:  “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your soul and with all your strength.  And love your neighbor as much as you love yourself” (Mark 12:30-31).  Just follow these two rules and we will have accomplished all that God requires.  So simple to remember but hard to live out!  Dear Lord, help us to worship you more deeply and to love those you put around us more truly.

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Tuesday May 21, 2019

Ponte de Lima, Portugal—Day 6; 8000 steps

Proverbs 6

v. 16-19  There are six things the Lord hates, seven that are detestable to him: haughty eyes, a lying tongue, hands that shed innocent blood, a heart that devises wicked schemes, feet that are quick to rush into evil, a false witness who pours out lies and a person who stirs up conflict in the community.  I would say other people hate these things too.  Fortunately they’re rarely seen along the Camino.  Pilgrims we have met are polite, helpful and willing to share their cookies or their scoop on albergues.  They speak kindly of one another. They hope to be not troublemakers but peacemakers, not just along the Camino but in the wider world of their everyday lives.  Thank you, Lord, for the good intentions of pilgrims we meet.  May we also be a blessing to them.

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It’s our day off and we slept late—until 7:20 anyway.  Our included buffet breakfast (oh, what a luxury this is for pilgrims!) was a typical European spread with the addition of sauteed eggplant, a big bowl of fresh cherries, a loaf of quince jelly and—oh look!—a tray of pastels de nata.  As we ate, dreadful jazz versions of two Christmas songs played over and over through the sound system.  We went back to our room and opened the balcony door.  The marching music outside started at 8:40.

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Monday May 20, 2019

Lugar do Corgo to Ponte de Lima, Portugal—Day 5; 21,312 steps

Proverbs 5 

v. 11-12, 14a  At the end of your life you will groan, when your flesh and body are spent.  You will say, “How I hated discipline!  How my heart spurned correction!…  And I was soon in serious trouble….”  In a conversation with German Raik I referred to him as a millenial.  “I’m not a millenial,” he said.  “I have focus.  Millenials don’t know what they want.  They don’t have any goals.  I’m not a millenial anymore.”  I can’t speak for other young—or older—people on the Camino but I know many who walk are looking for something, following a call, seeking purpose.  They don’t want their life to drift away unlived.  So they discipline themselves with backpack and early wake-ups and many kilometers underfoot each day, preparing themselves for what they hope the Way will give them.  Dear Lord Jesus, may all these pilgrims meet you, the One who is the Way.

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We heard no sound until we got up at 7 am.  Jacinto put out breakfast at the long table:  rolls, cheese, some kind of salami I didn’t touch, butter, plenty of jam, coffee, tea and Nestle’s chocolate powder for my hot chocolate.  There was no sign of Portuguese Fernanda.  I gave Brazilian Fernanda more painkillers for her walk today. 

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Sunday May 19, 2019

Barcelos to Lugar do Corgo—Day 4; 29,259 steps

Proverbs 4

v. 18, 26-27  The path of the righteous is like the morning sun, shining ever brighter until the full light of day….  Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways.  Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.  Here are verses to bless a pilgrim!  We want to be able to see our path clearly marked, not be wandering back and forth at intersections pushing aside weeds or wondering what that faint marking used to be as we seek an elusive waymark.  The yellow arrows are like the morning sun to us, shining brightly on the path we need to take.  While we are talking we hope that one of our group is giving careful thought to the paths for our feet so that, while we may be dancing, we are not randomly turning right or left from the Way.  Thank you, Lord, for sunny yellow arrows pointing our way.  Help us not to be distracted from our path.

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I woke up in the middle of the night to an odd thumping.  Carpentry?  Someone’s CPAP machine?  Skulduggery in the dark?  I finally decided it was fireworks.  Whatever that soccer game was about, someone was still celebrating.

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Saturday May 18, 2019

Rates to Barcelos, Portugal; 32,320 steps

Proverbs 3 

v. 24  When you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet.  You never know who you’re going to lie down next to in an albergue.  Friday night it was the brokenhearted but talkative Slovenian.  Tonight my top bunk was pushed snuggly against the one next to me, mattresses separated only by a metal rail.  The other bunk’s occupant was a handsome blond-haired blue-eyed Nordic-speaking lad with a friend the next bunk over.  I called them the Norwegians, and they were sleeping peacefully when we came back from dinner.  On the other side of me, though a little apart because of the narrow aisle, was a young German who climbed down the ladder bottom out, clad only in his underwear.  I decided to sleep facing the opposite way of the young gentlemen.  But it’s all good.  Everyone in the albergues has been polite, and three young men in the corner of the room who had claimed lower bunks willingly moved up top to give their space to people who apparently looked even older than us.  The albergues are very interesting, and I am not afraid.  I kiss Maurice good night, climb up to my bunk, stretch out on my thin flowered cotton sheet whose edges I saturated before we left home with cinnamon oil, a purported natural bedbug repellent (just in case), snuggle into my new chartreuse Aegismax sleeping bag, and my sleep is sweet with the Lord.

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Actually Friday night I couldn’t fall asleep.  I lay there in the dark and heard everyone else come in, including the tall silent German and the German girls who seemed to break into giggles at every one of Maurice’s gentle snores, and the arrogant brokenhearted Slovenian who is walking 70 kilometers a day, and I heard them fall asleep.  I didn’t want to put my shorts on and try to climb down the ladder without falling and rummage through my pack in the dark for my magic sleep aid…but I must have slept because at 6:40 Maurice was telling me to get up.

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Too tired to write anyway.

And too much dancing at Fernanda’s house….

Check back in a few days.

Friday May 17, 2019

Lavra to Rates, Portugal—Day 2; 39,331 steps

Proverbs 2 

v. 7  The Lord holds success in store for the upright; he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless.  Success is just what we hope for:  success in getting through each day without harm and success in walking the pilgrim way to Santiago.  Are we upright and blameless enough to claim this promise?  Of course not.  But there is One who is, our perfect Savior Christ Jesus. He lived an upright and blameless life, and we who trust in him have that life credited to us.  Father God, in the holy name of Jesus we boldly ask for success and protection in our pilgrimage.

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Thursday May 16, 2019

Porto to Lavra, Portugal—22,667 steps

Proverbs 1 

v. 10-11   My son, if sinful men entice you, do not give in to them.  If they say, “Come along with us; let’s lie in wait for innocent blood, let’s ambush some harmless soul…”

I decided to read the Bible’s book of Proverbs along the Camino and see what truth God might speak to us through it.  Wisdom speaks in the first chapter, inviting people to come to her for understanding, guidance and instruction in right behavior, all of which begin with “the fear of the Lord” (v. 7).  The verses above made me think of us pilgrims, “harmless souls” walking somewhat unbalanced with our minimal possessions crammed into a backpack, to some extent dependent on the willingness of strangers to provide for our needs.  The great majority of vendors and ordinary people we’ve met along the way are not out to ambush us but are servants at heart, exactly the opposite of the wicked people this chapter warns against.  The local townspeople might like to earn a little money from us but they are not “lying in wait for innocent blood.”  We receive from them lodging, fairly-priced meals, helpful advice, instruction in the language so we can better make our way, friendly greetings and stories that enrich our lives.  We are the beneficiaries of their choices to walk in God’s wisdom, whether they know our Lord or not.  Thank you, Jesus, for your provision along the Camino and through all of life.

We said farewell to Bruno and took the doubledecker bus to Matosinhos, the port of Porto, the end of the line.  We glanced at the fish market and got a couple carimbos for our credencial along our walk out of town.  An elderly woman passing us asked, “A Santiago?”  Si, to Santiago.  “Bom caminho!” she exlaimed heartily.  Why did she seem surprised?  Wait—maybe she thought we were as elderly as she was.  It was spitting rain so we put the raincovers on our packs.  By the time we were really on our way we’d hoisted and strapped on the backpacks four separate times.

A broad sidewalk between the Atlantic and the highway led through the beach town to agreeable boardwalks curving gently over the sand and across the multiflowered dunes.  The boards were pleasantly springy underfoot.  But the wind!  We walked into the wind all day and it was hard going.  It was even harder to try to walk with my poles so Maurice mounted them on my pack under the raincover, which we hardly needed any more because the sun was peeking out.  Past the lighthouse, past the memorial obelisk to King Pedro IV’s liberating invasion in 1832, past the site where the Germans scuttled their U-boat and surrendered to the Purtuguese, past the traditional stone fishermen’s houses and the ancient Roman fish-salting pans cut into the rocky shore—I was feeling the pack on my shoulders and tiring quickly as we leaned into the wind.  This is a low-kilometer day and I’m already worried about tomorrow’s planned twice-as-long walk.

Maurice had reserved us a bungalow in a campground in a tiny fish town along our route.  The bungalow is one among a grove of newish prefab rectangles with rickety decking out front to keep feet above the mud.  Our bungalow has two rooms, one with a bed and one with a pull-out couch, a small refrigerator and four folding contraptions—two wooden tables, one wooden chair and a really disreputable-looking clothes rack, all of which must have had previous lives in other campgrounds.  The stone shower house and lines of sinks arranged in half a cloister flow with copious hot water, though in the shower you have to push in the knob about every seven seconds to keep the water coming.  The toilet stalls have no toilet paper, not even empty holders, something one should note before entering.  Hmm.  A big roll was mounted on the wall opposite the door.  So that’s why it was there.  Well, a lady is always prepared.  

We exploded into our new home, propping the broken door open—hiking poles, laundry rack, broomstick, overturned chair—against the wind to get some fresh air inside.  After lunch on the little deck we set the tables inside to hold our packs.  We had to push the laundry rack against the building to keep it from blowing over but figure at least the laundry should dry in the wind.  After a little rest we went to write and paint in the campground’s nearby sala de convivio (living room) where the wifi is strong and the furniture seems to be poured concrete.

The campground restaurant serves pilgrim meals at the bargain price of about seven euros.  We were seated in a lovely dining room.  Soon our service was taken over by the gracious and friendly Luis, who studied to be an English professor but is currently detoured into waitering at the campground.  He happily taught me another Portuguese phrase I wanted to know.  Our dinner was comprised of soup (homemade and cabbagey, I think typical Portuguese), a bread basket, a main course of roast pork, spaghetti and small salad for Maurice while I picked the fresh and summery dinner salad where the chef was not afraid to use tomatoes and sweet onions, vino tinto and our choice of baked treats from the dessert table.  I selected the pie with nata filling, the same as the little tarts of the previous two days; I don’t think I’m finished trying that yet.  I had heard the food is bettter along the Portuguese Camino than the main Spanish one.  We hope that this dinner, which was not chicken and French fries, is a harbinger of meals to come.

When Maurice agreed to walk the Portugues Camino with me, I was excited to plan and pack.  I remembered our time together, the adventures of different albergues, meeting new people, learning new things, seeing new sights, favorite spots along the way.  Even though at heart this is a walk, I didn’t exactly think about all the walking.  But here we are and I remember now.  You have to keep walking even when the wind is against you and your legs think you’ve done enough for today.  Then you to have to get up and do it again.  I’m a harmless soul indeed, probably elderly, and stiff and sore with unhappy joints.  I am thankful for Wisdom’s provision tonight of safe lodging and hot water and a delicious dinner and a big roll of TP on the wall.

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