this is my last full day of walking.  my plan is to walk all day, and stop when i get to labacolla.  that is where, traditionally, people would wash themselves before arriving in santiago.  it is only 10 clicks from santiago, a mere 2 and  a half hours of walking.  i am breathing a big sigh as i write this.  i have not allowed myself to imagine arriving too much because i just wasn´t sure i would make it.  now, it is so close.

the night before last i met a lovely young woman named carrie from singapore.  we had a nice chat, and she and 2 english women were saying that they were going to stay in a special casa rural, which is someone´s house that they have made rooms available in (bad sentence, sorry).  anyway, i listened to them, but i was pretty sure that i would be walking about 5 clicks further, so i didn´t pay that much attention.  well, near the end of the day yesterday, i met up with the 2 englishwomen as they were trying to find the casa rural, which the book said was just off the camino.  i was walking with them and we didn´t see it.  we came to a bar, and i said i would help them with spanish (i´ve come a long way, baby!) and ask the bartender about the casa rural.  she said we had passed it, and she tried calling for us, etc. to no avail.  i suggested they call for a taxi to take them, but after all this, one of the women was so tired she said she didn´t wan to go back , just forward.  they got up to leave, and i found myself just sitting in the chair.  ´i think i´m going to go´i heard myself say.  i was amazed, but i knew to follow my instinct.  i got a cab back, and when i got there asked if there was mia amiga carrie´.  the woman said yes, and took me to her room.  i knocked on her door and called her name, and when she came out, we were jumping up and down like we were best friends who hadn´t seen each other in years!  i ended up staying in her room, and it was like a slumber party.  i am tellling you this because i want to share a story she told me.

before carrie left singapore, she prayed a prayer over and over, she said.  it was ´jesus, please walk with me. when the way gets hard, please walk next to me, and help me.´ that was her prayer.  well, she told me that when she came to o´cebreiro, she tried to get a bus because it is so steep, and she had fallen and twisted her ankle.  there were no buses, so she was unsure what to do.  just then a spanish man came up to her that she had met the night before in the albuerge.  he motioned for her to walk with him.  she tried to tell him that she was hurt, and couldn´t walk, but he kept motioning to her, so she followed.  they walked slowly, and he kept making her turn around to look at the view, and pointing out the different birds, telling her their names in spanish, and things like that.  before she knew it, they had made it to the top!  they went to the church there, and then outside to a little sitting area.  he gave her a pretty cross that she put on her necklace-it is very colorful and beautiful.  then she said she was sorry, but she didn´t even know his name, could he please tell her.  he smiled, and looked at her and said, ¨jesus¨ .  she got tears in her eyes, and knew that her prayer had been answered.  the walk was hard, and there was jesus, next to her all the way. 


i know that you walk with me-and this is OUR last full day!

peace and blessings-
a