last night i stayed in an albuerge that was an actual church.  i have stayed right next to churches before-once at eunate where the albuerge was the rector´s house, and in granon, the albuerge was in the same building as the church, but last night i was in the church itself.  the location was san nicolas, a small, no, really, tiny church just outside the small, again, actually tiny town of itero de vega.  there were 12 pilgrims who stayed there, and two of us slept on sleeping mats right on the altar.  the rest of us were in bunks that lined the back wall.  it was a magical night.

let me start by saying that i had chosen to stay there for 2 reasons.  1, lydia mentioned that it was great and 2, it was the closest walk from castrojeriz where i had slept the night before.   on the map, san bol was closer, but i somehow walked right by san bol without noticing it (!).  but i had decided that walking around 10 k yesterday would be just right.  i got there around 10 am, and i saw that the door was open.  i was absolutely delighted to find that this particular albuerge is run by italians.  i have been speaking so much french, and was so happy to find a haven of italians.  they were very nice, but explained that the albuerge wouldn´t actually open until 2:30.  by this time, a pilgrim named angela had also arrived, and was planning to stay there, too.  so we parked ourselves outside and just hung out for a while.  after an hour or so i started thinking about eating (an almost constant state for me on the camino).  i walked the beautiful 2 km next to a winding river into town and found a store and bought angela and i sandwiches and even some cream puffs - a real surprise in this teensy tiny town.  we had our feast then fell asleep on the benches outside the albuerge once more.  all this time, an endless stream of pilgrims were walking by either stopping to chat or just waving and walking on.  when the albuerge opened at 2:30 angela and i had been joined by a spanish couple.  since i had spoken with elena and elisabetta earlier, they asked me to translate for the next pilgrims who came along, and within 20 minutes almost all the 10 beds were full.   it was a magnificent day, with a cheerful wind cooling off the heat of the sun, making the perfect conditions for drying clothes in the sun.  they told me there was a fountain out back where i could wash clothes and i wandered back to find an actual pump!  i pumped water into a tub and washed everything i had!  it was the first time, i admit, that i had washed both my socks AND my pants!  i mean, it is a big commitment to wash them-they HAVE to be dry the next day!  ( i washed my sarong first so that by the time i was ready to wash my pants it was dry enough to wear, for those of you who are curious how that worked!) 

so there i found myself with clean clothes and freshly showered when dinner was about to be served.  they once again asked me to translate-  before dinner, they have a tradition of washing feet.  this comes directly from jesus washing the feet of the disciples, and they perform this as a symbolic recreation and do it to care for the pilgrims and to give them (us) strength to reach santiago.  they said each of our names, then repeated a short ´prayer´ about giving us the strength, then another hospitalero dried our feet.  we went around the circle and at the end, elizabetta asked if anyone would like to sing.  no one said anything so i said i would sing.  i sang álle aleluia´and everyone joined in the alleluias.  she and one of the other hospitaleros sang a song that she said we will hear at the mass in santiago.  dinner was still 5 minutes away, so she asked for more songs so i sang ´use me´.   it was so beautiful to be on the altar of a church built around 1200 singing michael and rickíe´s song that i sing with my agape community every sunday and wednesday.  afterwards, some of the other pilgrims told me they thought the song was beautiful.  catalina, a young woman from romania asked me for the words, and said that the people who wrote it must be very very special people.  we then sat down to an absolutely delicious meal that was served ´family style´since i am learning that all of us on the camino are family, so how else would we eat?!?!!!  our table was lit with many candles, since there is no electricity in the church.  it was just beautiful.  after dinner, we pulled all the benches outside together into a little square and all talked and laughed.  i remember noticing in the moment that i was laughing alot.  i brought out my magical mirror box from dalana, and we all chose pieces of paper to read.  when my prayer class was having a picnic after visiting the self realization center about a month before i left i shared with them that i was going to do this camino, and i was trying to think of a way of bringing all of them with me.  dalana interùpted me and said that she knew how-when she had just been at the self realization shop she said that spirit had told her to buy a small box covered in mirrors.  she said she hesitated because she didn´t think she needed the box, but then she listened to spirit and just bought it anyway.  she said now she knew why she had bought it-it was for me to take on the trip, and everyone there could write a message, a prayer, an intention, whatever they wanted to on a napkin and put it in the box.  that way, it wieghs almost nothing!  it was such a loving, spontaneous, beautiful gift, i was very moved, as i am every time i take it out on this trip which is almost every day.  now i was bringing it out almost like after dinner mints-i told everyone the story of dalana and my friends, and told them they could all pick one.  then we went around the circle and i translated into italian, while another woman translated into german.  i have done this many times with french people, too.  everyone loved thier message, and one of the hospitaleros didn´t want to give his back.  he showed me an angel card someone had given him 2 years ago that he keeps in his wallet.  i told him that he could keep his, if he put it with the other, which he did.  so one of my friend´s messages-´gratitude´is in franco´s wallet!  the rest are back in the mirrored box, til the next time they come out   it was a night of warmth, love, and lots and lots of laughter. 

franco also took care of my very first blister.  it is kind of gross so i won´t go into details, but suffice it to say, i felt it was an act of extreme kindness on his part to deal with it with such compassion.  he even checked it this morning before i set out.  that was definitely going above and beyond. 

i can´t say exactly when it happened, but that group really came together in a special way.  we started as strangers, but left as friends, even family, or camino community.  in the morning, only a few people left before 8 am (usually everyone is gone by 8), and the rest of us stayed at the table, lit by candles again, full of baskets of bread, jams, coffee, tea and pitchers of hot milk.  finally i was one of the last ones to pry myself away, just after catalina and her boyfriend alex.  after much hugging, we straggled off towards the ancient bridge that crossed the creek, and i saw catalina, just ahead of me, turn around, her face wet with tears.  that was all it took, and i too started to cry.  i turned around and called out to elena that catalina and i were both crying to leave them, but the tears were from love, not sadness.

later as i was singing how can i serve today sweet spirit, i really thought about the words ´speak in ways that i can understand´.  all of a sudden it hit me-i have been praying to feel something from my ancestors on this trip, and last night had been papa!  my italian grandfather who i loved with all my heart.  as a little girl, papa was just everything to me-time spent with him seemed like the best way to spend time.  and we had so much fun, even if it was just in the simplest things.  maybe you were lucky enough to have a grandfather like papa-did you ever play the game where one of you would lay your hand on the dinner table after dinner was over and then the other one would cover it, then the other, then you slide the first one out from under and put it on top, then the other, and on and on until you were both laughing and your hands were all intertwined and sliding over each other?  i can just see and feel my papa´s big, brown hands covering and playing with mine.   i felt so loved by papa, so adored, just for being me.  that was how the italians at san nicolas made me feel.  and, every time that we visited or we left papa, he would cry.  the tears would just flow, just like they did for me as i left the albuerge.  so thank you elena and elizabetta, franco, bruno and rodolfo.  and thank you, papa, for all the laughter, and all the love.  i know you are with me today, and always.
peace and blessings-
a