the Pilgrim community

Another elderberry concoction from the priest next door. He picks the wild elderberries and makes jam and a kind of stew from them. I feel like I am growing into the community, but of course in only 2 weeks there is only so much connection you can make with others here, especially given my limited Spanish. My community is the pilgrims. It is amazing how close I can feel to certain pilgrims as they pass thorough. There was a young couple last night from PEI, and I really enjoyed talking to both of them. They cooked for themselves - Dave and I had my lentil soup for lunch, and they had their own lentil soup for dinner, supplemented with sorrel from our garden. They have 2 weeks after the camino to see Europe, and were asking for tips at breakfast.

We have another stay over guest today- A young Irish guy with food poisoning. He is very weak and shivvery, so will see the pharmacia tonight. I gave him some drops of oil of oregano  and a cup of camomile tea- I didn´t know what else to suggest. Hopefully he can be on his way tomorrow. We had another Canadian stay over with tendonitis. He is off this morning, hitching a ride with a Polish group of bus pilgrims.  We also put another young man in the ïnfirmary¨. He begged to stay after we put up the completo sign at 22 pilgrims. He is on a very limited budget, and has been sleeping outside, but it rained off and on yesterday, and one of the other albergues sent him to us as we are donativo. When he sat down to a meal of a tin of sardines, I offered pasta from the cupboard we keep for pilgrims. A very kind ex pat New Zealander who brought up her children in Norway, and is travelling with another Norwegian pilgrim, offered him the last half of her lunch boccadillo (sandwich, which is always on a big baguette). He was grateful, and a very interesting guy.

We have decided once again to close at 20, approximately, as we don´t want to take business from the commercial albergues, but it is always a challenge saying no, and Dave has a big heart, so it is a balancing act.

We are off to Astorga, hopefully, depending on the plumber. We are almost out of toilet paper!

Til tomorrow

Darlene

All is well

Monday Sept 17 in Rabanal

It has gone very well over the past 24 hours. What a relief to have the day under my belt. We just had 14 pilgrims yesterday, so we didn´t need to use the barn, so only had one dorm and one bathroom with 2 showers, 2 toilets, and 3 sinks to clean, plus the floors. Everything has gone so well!

The comments from the pilgrims in the book were terrific. The donations averaged 7 euro, so that is fine. 5 euros per day is apparently our break even point. Some young people are travelling very cheaply, and so choose albergues like ours which are donativo ( by donation), so don´t put much in the box. One young woman arrived last night about 8 pm. She went to the kitchen, checked out the supplies which other pilgrims had left and made herself pasta with tomato paste, adding an onion and some wild rosemary which she had brought with her. We also gave her several compete (sp?) which are special bandaids for blisters. In contrast, another pilgrim made several donations, each time saying he hadn´t put enough in.

I am making lunch for Dave and I each day. Yesterday I found sorrel in our garden, so I added that to the salad. It has a very mild flavour, so was great in the salad. Dinner yesterday evening was sole and gazpacho and chocolate mousse - so good that I may stick with that dessert for the duration of my stay.

Because we only had 12 people by 3 pm, I decided to make scones for tea time. I encountered several challenges. The oven never got about 300¨, so the scones took longer. The flame stayed on, so they were too brown on top and very pale on the bottom. I had no butter or margerine, so I used olive oil. I didñ´t know how old the baking powder was. How fresh was the flour and the oats? What saved them was the chopped dark chocolate and almond bar that I had bought at the museum of chocolate in Astorga. I think they tasted fine, and the pilgrims agreed. We had tea in the garden, and everyone showed up and drank lots of tea, all the scones and some biscuits. I think I´ll do it again  as long as there are no more than 15 pilgrims
- and try some other goodies like oatmeal fudgies.

I slept right through the night for the first time since I left home - I think I am finally over the jet lag, and the next leg of my pilgrimage should go much better. I woke at 6, ready to serve breakfast and see the pilgrims off.

It is very quiet in town today , but who knows what the Camino will bring to us?

Buenos dias!

Darlene