i have a plan

i will tell you about it eventually, not today.
it’s a loose plan at this stage, it might change or not happen, we’ll see.

but first a couple of things i need to add about yesterday:

1 there may have been another culprit for the snoring in terradillos, who is not embarrased to admit, that his snoring is highly competitive. and according to his own admission in a comment on ‘con qué soñaré’, he is able to time-travel. so it seems possible, that he beamed to terradillos, spent the night together with us in the room, and my suspicion cast on hugo de payens was entirely misplaced. fernando, welcome to the competition! and with regards to stoicism, i mainly base my thoughts on the books by massimo pigliucci.

2 the entire song structure of ‘blinding ornaments’ by vulkan:

4× 6/5/6/6 instrumental intro
4× 6/5/6/6 drums & vocal hymn added
4× 6/5/6/6 verses 1 & 2
2× 6/6/6/6 pre-chorus
4× 6/5/6/6 chorus
2× 6/5/6/6 violin solo
2× 6/6/6/6 outro

now, if any of you want to come together for a jam session, we have a first song we can attempt to play.

3 about last night:
what a nice afternoon / evening that was at the parroquial albergue de bercianos del real camino! i already told you about the courteous welcome, inclusive of joao carrying our backpacks up to the dormitories - the kingly service hasn’t changed since the time of the ‘real’ travellers.
that wasn’t all, at all. there was the general atmosphere, by now everybody knows everybody else, either directly or by stories making the rounds. apparently, i’m now also known on the camino.
people meet up again, have conversations, hang out together. paul with myrto, i meet ann (the ann from hilary & ann from wexford in ireland, that paul, yannick and i had dinner with in terradillos) and have another nice chat, hilary is fast asleep in bed, and so on and so forth.
then there is the preparation of the cena, todos juntos, three courses, including una ensalada, a lentil and vegetable stew with tasty chunks of chorizo, a second version without chorizo, and a fruit salad - hopefully, for the vegetarians - without ming’s fingertips. remember ming, that you are hereforth excluded from cutting fruit, or even better from touching sharp implements!
the cena commences with another speech by joao in el idioma del camino. joao, the hospitalero from brazil. ready to eat? no, there is a whole song and dance (without the dancing bit), before we can start to dig in. it involves a rap song blessing of the food, clapping into hands, onto tables, chanting, cheering,…
then we start.
four tables with about 10-12 persons each, so it seems we are close to capacity for the albergue.
there is bread, water and wine, and chatter, laughter, many eat seconds, the food has to be finished.
we finish.
when finished, we collect the dishes, make short work of washing up, and - after a short interlude - we all meet up in the tiny chapel, seated closely together.
we medidate & reflect on our caminos, music in the background (don’t worry - no prog rock here), eyes closed, focus inwards.
the pilgrims’ candle goes around, everybody speaks a few words in their mothertongue. nobody understands each other, but everybody understands each other. tears, consolations, hugs.
and then we learn to hug correctly. joao will forgive me for publishing the procedure, but i think its good to spread this as far as possible. at least i will go for more hugs in the future.
the correct abrazo peregriño works like this: find a pilgrim, any will do. look them in the eyes as you get closer, spread your arms wide, the left higher, the right lower, line up your heart with the other’s heart, your soul with the other’s soul, close your arms around both, the hearts and the souls, hold tight, try to feel the other heart beating, the other soul ‘breathing’ - (?) what is it that souls do (?) - wait for harmony, synchrony. enjoy.
then do it again with as many pilgrims as you are able to find.
add on top the sunset from the western outskirts of bercianos metropolis and you are ready for anything, or at least for the next hiking day, or bed.

which finally brings me to today: first of all, no special snoring report, all good in the dormitories.

i get up and going towards 6:30. joao is up already, i reconfirm that i have the procedure of the abrazo peregriño down fully, we talk for a minute, i show him my stamp collection, makes him smile, and i go.

what a lovely walk today. more or less in a straight line towards mansilla de las mulas. i see many faces from last night and the days before, we refrain from having more hugs in order to get to breakfast faster. i have barbara & mateo in sight for most of the morning, and we end up having our breakfast break at the same café in burgo de ranero. i’m introduced to the character of eta beta - more later!

a spanish couple speak to me and show me my blog on their phones - fernando de aranjuez put them on to it. gracias!

more photos of cigüeñas on church towers, i meet melody & evelin again - the childhood friends that now live thousands of kilometers apart, but walk the camino together, i see sydney from los angeles, isabel from sydney, later i bump into connie & dani from fredericia, who know melody & evelin from roncesvalles. in a café run by a samurai from belgium. confused yet?

we speak about bands, about the one i was in from age 20, the first gig with seven self-composed songs after a mere seven weeks together, when we could barely hold our instruments the correct way. we speak about unlikely embarrassments (una otra palabra en castellano con ü: vergüenza), like singing karaoke in an israeli kibbuz, about connie’s brother’s band sergeant pepper, also inofficially known as ‘the bald beatles’. sorry connie, the story was too good to not use!

let me finish today with two cartoon characters:

1 calimero, the small, black chicken dude amongst all the yellow ones and his adventures with pricilla, his girlfriend. myrto, look it up, it is a lot of fun! hypothetically, what adventures would calimero have walking the camino?

2 eta beta: that one is intended for me. it is this character, that pulls out unexpected things from his backpack, one after the other, and it doesn’t ever end, there is always more. since i am carrying my stamp collection and a few other things, i can go with that, mateo!

ciao from another unlikely location that can be used to write my notes. good news, all t-shirts, undies, pairs of socks are clean, dry and have been returned to their rightful owners, or their rucksacks.

hasta mañana. the topic freedom hasn’t been forgotten - it will follow in due course, over the next few days, or after.