Stay in Portomarin

Church of San Nicolas.......photo courtesy of http://www.pbase.com-lillirod-profile/

Written on June 22, 2009.

Wow...slept in until 8 a.m. Went downstairs for coffee and toast...this is living! Soon we realize that several pilgrims we know are now arriving from the albergue they stayed at 5 k behind us. Lisa, Ron, and Pamela, arrive. We spend time with them. We visit for a while. I love sharing what we have seen and experienced since the last time we were together.

Several pilgrims are going to the cash machines in Portomarin. There is a big rush to get money before we move on. There are not that many places to get cash. We all seem to be getting the maximum amount and out of the three machines in town, two are out of money.

There is definitely an energy of excitement as we all know that we are less than 100k to Santiago. Lisa and Pam continue on, Ron looks for an albergue here in Portamarin. Vern and I head to the cyber cafe. We are grateful for our decision to rest today. Before we go to the cyber cafe we see the family with the toddler. When Vern asked the father how they made it through the stream with the granite long stepping stones he said that two other pilgrims helped him carry the trailer through the stream.

We took a long nap. I kept checking to see if the church of San Nicolas was open. It was open around 6 p.m. I went right over to get my stamp, but instead a group of young men were chanting. The door was open, several pilgrims were inside. so we entered quietly. After several minutes the men started singing...it was one of those unplanned,beautiful, moments that can only happen when I slow down long enough to be present.

After the men finished singing and chanting I noticed that a few people were walking down the middle of the church to the back. I followed them and received a stamp for my pilgrim passport.

As we started thinking about dinner we saw a pilgrim we had met a few days before. He asked us to join him. Tom from San Francisco. He started out walking in the first few days, but had trouble with his ankles and decided to continue on with a bicycle. He has a great sense of humor and we always enjoy running into him. We hear about him from time to time from others who let us know anytime they meet other Americans on the Camino.