9/28 Belorado to Ages

(No) Dust in the Wind (Kansas 1977) today

Our day started out with a text from our friend and fellow pilgrim, Laura, “Hallelujah! No wind!” What a difference a day made – yesterday we were eating dust, bowed over, heading into the wind, and today… a calm that brought new energy to the path. The stillness of the path and the lack of wind made the day good for good conversation.

Having spent our first night in an Albergue last night, we had plenty of time to talk about how well we slept, or didn’t sleep (all countries snore in the same language)! And we had plenty of time to talk about the people and places that have sheltered us. Pete touched on that yesterday, so I won’t elaborate other than to say… there is a Pilgrim’s prayer that Pete asks me to read every morning as we walk – hopefully I will have it memorized one of these mornings! It goes like this:

• O God, Be for us our companion on the walk, our guide at the crossroads, our breath in our weariness, our protection in danger, our albergue (home/refuge) on the Way, our shade in the heat, our light in the darkness, our consolation in our discouragements, and our strength in our intentions.

The albergue we slept in last night did a good job of sheltering us – strong roof, clean beds and showers, and more bunk beds than I have seen since church camp as a kid! Once again, we shared a dinner at the albergue with fellow travelers. We were seated at a table for four – we ate with a Hungarian couple who not only didn’t speak English, they didn’t speak any French, Spanish, or German (the other languages we can kind of say hello in and order food in!). With Pete and I not knowing any Hungarian, the four of us proceeded to type and dictate up a storm on google translate! It turns out we had a lot in common – age, children, grandchildren, hobbies… and by the end of dinner they had invited us to spend the next couple of days with them in a house they had rented! Having already made other arrangements for lodging, we thanked them and closed the evening by typing, “We have enjoyed ourselves very much – thank you. We could be good friends.” We wished each other goodnight and a Buen Camino.

This short time of having dinner with strangers, and the Buen Camino exchange heard and spoken throughout the day, goes back to what I wrote about on my first post… Buen Camino is an inferred blessing… a greeting expressing a desire for whomever we meet along the way to be well, and to be blessed. When the greeting is offered, it doesn’t depend on anything other than an extension of kindness and grace. It doesn’t depend on who the other person is, where they are from, what their opinions or politics may be, what their religion may or not be, who their family may be, or who makes up their family…and the list goes on and on. And while it’s true that we can’t know these things about anyone in a thirty second encounter, it is an attitude that should be extended in every encounter, whether on a pilgrimage, or at home in everyday circumstances. It only depends on my willingness to share a moment of kindness and blessing to all I meet.

There is another prayer for the Camino pilgrim that was written by Robert Corbin Morris, and is what prompted much of our Camino conversation today:

“May I walk this day in the realm of grace, walking with You, my feet firmly on your earth-path, my heart loving all as kindred, my words and deeds alive with justice. May I walk as blessing, meeting blessing at every turn, in every challenge, blessing, in all opposition, blessing, in harm’s way, blessing. May I walk each step in this moment of grace, alert to hear You and awake enough to say a simple Yes.”

And at the end of this hill, we saw a sign and heard some music in the distance – It was Dr. Coffee and his way-station! A fun surprise to be greeted at the end of the hill with the theme song from, “The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly!” We couldn’t resist his coffee, orange juice, watermelon and water! A fun character who blessed us on our way today! We heard a hearty, “Buen Camino,” as we walked away refreshed!

Buen Camino!