Today is day 20 of the Camino. Our destination was Mansillas de las Mulas (11.2 miles). The weather was cold again today. The strong winds made it even colder.
My sister Janice was feeling better today (Thank God) so all four of us walked. The only town inbetween El Burgo Ranero and Mansillas de las Mulas was Reliegos. It took us 2 1/2 hours to arrive there. See the map below. We took the gray dot route.
I thought we were never going to arrive at Reliegos. I felt like the energizer bunny, "we kept on going and going."
I walked with Fr. Benjamin today. During the first part of our walk we discussed certain things about the liturgy. Talking seemed to make the walk go by faster and took my mind off of the cold.
We saw more pilgrims on the Camino today than we had seen the previous day. I only recognized one couple from the day before. It's was nice to see young love enjoying each other's company as they walked along holding each other's hand.
When we arrived at Reliegos we met up with David. The three of us went to a local "bar" and ordered Spanish Tortilla. (I was hungry because the breakfast at the hotel only included a piece of bread with tea or coffee). The woman working behind the counter at the "bar had made the tortilla. We told her that she was a great cook because the tortilla was one of the best we had eaten thus far in Spain. Peter and Janice arrived at the "bar" about 20 minutes after us. Since we had finished eating, we only visited with them for a few minutes before we took off to continue our walk. As we were leaving we had out pilgrim passports stamped.
A pilgrim passport is given to each pilgrim at his or her starting point of walking the Camino. Each day the pilgrim is to collect 2-3 stamps from different proprietors along the way--hotels, churches, bars, albergues, etc. Most proprietors usually are happy to stamp the pilgrims passport, but once in a while you find a grumpy person. Below is a picture of my passport.
The last 3 1/2 miles of the walk, Padre Benjamin and I walked separately. We wanted quiet time so that we could pray and be present to God in silence.
Once we arrived to Mansillas de las Mulas, David brought all of us by car to Leon for the next three nights. We've changed our free day schedule to take place tomorrow instead of in Astorga. The reason being is that David needed to drive to Madrid tonight in order to pick up Sr. Leota Roesch who will be flying into Madrid early tomorrow morning. Sr. Leota will join our group tomorrow afternoon and begin walking with us on the 22nd.
I dedicated my prayers and walk this day to my relatives. The surnames of my parents families are: Seitz and Walsh (my dad's relatives) and McMahon and Winters (my mom's relatives). I wanted to pray for the needs of my Aunts and Uncles and all my cousins. I thanked God for their lives and for the gift they are to me. Although we don't see or talk to each other that often we always know that we're only a phone call away.
This was our day today. Please continue to pray for us as we do for all of you. Please continue to keep Fr. Larry Klein, Mari Caballero, Alice Gonzalez and Daisy Gonzalez-Dickson in your prayers as well.
Good night and Buen Camino!
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