Azura to Lavacolla

Hostal San Paio where we stayed in Lavacolla.....photo courtesy of http://www.ourcamino.com/

Written on June 25, 2009......19 miles.

We carefully made our way down the five flights of stairs and quickly got on the Camino. Once we were about four miles away we looked back to see a thin strip of light caused by the sun rising over Azura.

We walked ten miles before the nearest village. We entered a bar in Salcedo. There was a large screen and on it was a video of the Camino from St. Jean Pied de Port to Finisterre. It was a great video and brought back so many memories of many of the villages and waymarkers along the way.

Each Providence seems to have its own way of letting you know where to proceed on the Camino. One waymarker that is pretty consistent, though, is the yellow arrow. The arrow may be painted on the sidewalk, walls, rocks, back of stop signs, back of any sign, the middle of the road, or just about anywhere. The yellow painted arrow has been such a comfort to me every time I saw it. No matter where I was I knew I was headed to Santiago. Sometimes the yellow arrow would be painted on trees in the middle of forests. So many times I blessed the people that made the effort and took the time to paint the yellow arrow and to put any kind of waymarker on ¨the way¨ for us.

At the Salcedo bar we met a father and son from the United States. The father from Tennessee and the son living in Colorado. We had a great visit with them.

Just a little farther down the road two women peregrinos on horses went by and then tied their horses in a field to go to a bar and take a break.

Many woodland trails today. Also, more bikes today than we have seen on any other part of the Camino.

At one point I saw a young man sitting on the side of the road looking confused...looked about 15. I asked him in Spanish if he was ok. He said yes....I moved on. Further down the road he started to walk by me. He recognized me and starting walking with me. We walked many miles together. We had fun sharing words and phrases...another language lesson.

Right before Lavacolla we saw the three young people from Spain...they were listening to Spanish rap. I used my walking stick as a guitar...we had alot of fun..we told each other that we will meet in Santiago. A great day of walking and sharing our Camino stories with others as we get closer to Santiago.

Used our ponchos briefly today.