[Gocamino] Day 13 -- Salamanca still -- We may have a plan :-)

[claire]

Greetings,

Rain, wind and cold came in yesterday. Right now it is raining quite a bit. Suddenly the Camino feel changes tempo, from sunny and warm to an automnal touch.

Paul & I went for a coffee on Plaza Mayor this morning and a thought came to me. Do you ever feel that a thought really happens to pass by and you catch it, but it has not really originated within yourself? Well, it was the case then.

>From Salamanca to Santiago, there are about 20 days of walking. Walking in the sun, or at least, under a clouded sky with no rain, is one thing. Twenty days in bad weather, the prospect suddenly becomes less inviting. Twenty days also means getting back to Grilly somewhere around mid-November... Then, a month later, a flight back to wonderful Puerto Rico.

The idea: We walk for four days to Zamora (great reputation of beauty, fabulous churches, etc), then take a bus to Ourense, from where we will be walking the last 100 ks to Santiago (about 6 days walk). Very important to walk the last 100 ks. In fact, these are the only kilometers that count somehow in the eyes of the Pilgrims´ Office in Santiago. This would mean that we would be able to close our Via de La Plata chapter. It will be a truncated Camino, but something with which we can live. And, somehow, the grace that I have been praying for for many weeks now, i.e. the grace to walk to Santiago, would be granted -- not quite the way I had thought, but a way which feels me with joy nevertheless.

The final test, however, will come tomorrow when we start walking. Paul will need to rest even more now than before, and resting under the rain is not as convenient than on a more clement day... Otherwise, I found a raincoat with a space in the back for my backpack, so I am equipped for ten days of cold rain... If Paul´s ankle cannot make it, we´ll then take a train to Madrid and fly back to Geneva.

Other news: Paul & I have just finished a tour entitled "Vita Ignatii", or a 45 mn tour of what used to be a Jesuit college built in 1614 (?) or was it 1714 ??? One learns interesting tidbits in a tour. For instance, when a student received his doctorate (we are talking 17th-18th c here), he had to throw a party, have a corrida, and with a mixture of the toro´s blood + olive oil + red pepper, his name then could be written on the wall of the University. A doctorate then cost 200 ducats, the equivalent of a professor´s year pay. I also found out that Rubens made the most complete set of scenes of the life of Ignatius of Loyola...

That´s about it for now.

Sending you our warmest wishes from Salamanca,

Paul and Claire :-)



Welcome the present moment as if you had invited it. 
Why? Because it is all we ever have.
~Pema Chodron

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