Today was day 19 of the Camino. Our destination was El Burgo Ranero (11.2 miles). It was cold and windy throughout the day. I would have preferred to stay in bed. I dedicated my walk and prayers this day to my ex-parishioners from Good Shepherd (Brownsville), Our Lady of Sorrows (McAllen), Holy Spirit (McAllen), St. Theresa (San Benito) and St. Pius X (Weslaco).
My sister Janice was unable to walk with us today. She picked up some food poison from somewhere and spent the day with David our guide until she was able to check into the hotel and rest. She didn't sleep much the night before so she needed the day to let her body to heal.
Peter, Fr. Benjamin and I started the walk from the front door of our hotel. All three of us were moving somewhat slow due to our aches, pains and the cold climate. As we walked through Sahagún (our starting point) we saw this image of St. James the Pilgrim and used it as a stop to take a photo. We don't have to look to hard to find a place to rest our feet, even if it is at the beginning of our walk :)
You've probably enlarged the picture by now and see that I have a lot of gray hairs in my beard. For those of you reading this blog that don't have any gray hair, just wait because they're coming.
As we left the city of Sahagún, we saw this beautiful old entrance gate to the city named after, San Benito.
We continued down the Camino and
saw much of the scenery that we have seen for the past five days; fields and more fields.
Finally, after 8 miles of walking, we reached a town to have lunch in at around 12 noon. I had preferred to eat a Spanish tortilla (potatoes & egg similar to an omelette) but the "bar" we stopped at did not have any. I settled for a ham and cheese sandwich that was mostly bread. After lunch, as we were leaving that town, we stopped at another "bar" so Fr. Benjamin could buy ice cream (only someone from Chicago would get ice cream on a cold day) and guess what? Not only did they have the tortilla I had wanted but they were also playing country music. We definitely picked the wrong place to eat at.
We continued our journey toward El Burgo Ranero. We passed several ponds with croaking frogs and figured out why they named the town, El Burgo Ranero. We were hoping (at least I was), for some fried frog legs for dinner but ended up being served chicken.
The Camino continues to remind me of the many blessings I have been given and how good and loving God is. Many of my blessings have been the wonderful people I have met over the years from my different parish assignments. I'm thankful for the many ways they have taught me to love and serve. May they be blessed and their lives be filled with God's grace, peace and love!
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