Day 33 Barbadelo to Hospital Alta Da Cruz
30k – 714 to date
Today was a testing day and to be in the town of Hospital is aptly named. One of the great things about this adventure is the tests we place upon our physical and mental capacity. When I look at the guide book and see 30k, I think that kind of day is very attainable and not that serious of a test. Problem is this is not walking on the track or the flat roads of Dimmitt, it is a challenge to traverse the landscape as God made it. He made this landscape with a lots of ups and the related downs and the related ups and the related downs. Oops sorry, got a little carried away.
As with this entire journey, the test we have traversing this trail is similar to our lives, we have a lot of ups and then downs. But the thing I am finding out over here is that God will give me the ability to climb that first hill and to also climb the last hill. He won’t promise my feet won’t get sore, but he helps me find a way to get from my daily starting point to my projected finishing point. I really haven’t thought about it that much before, but he does that in life too, he always helps get me to where I need to be, sometimes with sore feet, but he gets me there!
Today was another beautiful weather day, the fog you have seen in previous day’s pictures hung around during the morning till about 11am, then started burning off. It got a little hot about noon, but then we started back upwards after Portomarin and the breeze cooled everything down. The trails today were magical, for lack of a better description. A lot had massive tree coverings, much of the area was moss or ivey covered and some had fern ground coverings, effectively giving a sense of walking through one of those magical forests you see in a movie.
This morning’s start was a time I wish I had a recorder going. After about 1k, I went by a farm and the rooster crowed, that caused the next rooster to crow, then the cow in the barn mooed and finally a duck up above somewhere started quacking. That is what you get to wake up to in this rural part of the country. If we were on the high priced tourist bus, going to see Churches and museums, we would never hear those sounds or smell the barnyard scents. This adventure puts one in touch with the essence of life, not just the high points.
Midway today, we went through a town named Portomarin, in 1956 the town was moved due to the building of a dam and river. We entered the town on a high bridge that overlooked the river and gave a fantastic view of a lot of the ruins in the river and river walls. I know the camera catches a glimpse of what I see, but I wish you could see the full panorama of those ruins, it was great to stand there and see. Also, there were many comments by the pilgrims that walking over a long bridge that high was a little disconcerting, which it was when you are not expecting it. I and several others were staying a good arms length from the edge.
Tonight I am staying at the municipal hostel, which is quite nice and has only 32 beds. The town is described as a tiny hamlet and it is, it has three businesses, this hostel, a hotel/bar and a John Deere equipment dealer. They probably had 12 tractors in their storage yard, but the tractors were all small. This town is probably smaller than the town I stayed in that had a population of 13. The record for the smallest populated town so far, with any Camino services, is Morgade, with a population of 4, which I walked through today, but has a hotel that will sleep 6 people. I bet all 4 people work in the hotel, that is how this trail has an economic impact on keeping some of the small towns alive.
Appreciating every day of this adventure!
Psalm 54:4