Sunday, May 27, 201
1:06 PM Arizona, 10:06 PM Spain
It was a long day and it hard to remember all of what happened. We were out of the Albergue by 8 AM and I say to Lisa what will we do until 2:59 PM when our bus leaves. She says we have to be at the bus station by 10:50 AM; I’m confused. We check the tickets and sure enough it says 10:50 AM but then I look at the day. The tickets are for Monday not Sunday! We head to the bus station to find it locked up tight. I suggest we get some breakfast then come back and see what we can do about the ticket. We have breakfast in a small café where Lisa checks her Camino map book and we talk about what to do. Two other pilgrim couples come in just as we finish eating; we both use the bathroom then head to the bus station. We are worried about what will happen when we reach the bus station. Lisa is concerned that she is running out of time and really does not what to spend another day here.
We arrive to find the station is still closed but not the gates the buses use to get in and out. I think we can probably get one of the drivers to help us out if the station does not open. Lisa asks around and finds out the station will open in about 10 minutes. Once the station opens the same fellow we dealt with yesterday tells us that there is no bus to Sarria today at all! Our options are now to wait until tomorrow or start walking. We get a refund on our tickets and will begin to walk to Ponferrada where we will get the bus to Sarria; no problem. Lisa looks for her map and cannot find it, nor can she find her Camino “Passport.” She must have left it at the café and we hurry back there. The waitress indicates she did not see anything on the table but the newspaper we were looking at. I suggest that one of the other pilgrims must have picked it up and maybe took it to the Albergue we stayed at. On the way to the Albergue I recognize one of the couples from the café. They tell Lisa that the other couple picked up her “passport” and are taking it with them in hopes of catching up with her. They had assumed we had left town after breakfast which of course we had not. Lisa is very upset as this “passport” has memories attached to each stamp from every town we have stayed in. Also without it she cannot get her certificate of completion when we reach Santiago, she must start a new one which will hopefully show she has completed at least 100 Km.
We begin our hike in hopes going at least 23Km, but the path is mostly up, and rough as we are in the mountains again. Other pilgrims pass us like we are standing still which is very frustrating. My ankle is giving me problems and Lisa’s feet are getting blisters and the surgery is hurting. We are quite a pair for sure hobbling along like some old couple however; many much older pass us by. We enter Ganso and come up on the Bar El Cowboy. Here in the middle of northwest Spain is a cowboy bar decorated with Wild West paraphilia. We do manage to make it to Rabanal del Camion and the Albergue La Senda. We made it 17 Km then call it a day, but Lisa goes on a hunt for the couple who have her passport while I settle in. She returns empty handed and despondent that the “passport” is gone forever. While I’m cooking up some dinner Lisa chats with two German women. The kitchen is upstairs along with the dining room, bathroom and a couple of bedrooms. All the rooms are quite small and we are in a room downstairs. My bed is right next to the door but once I’m asleep all is well.
I don’t believe that Lisa’s “passport” is gone, but that it will show up either along the trail, at the office in Santiago, or will be mailed to her. My belief is that she was given a message to trust but cannot which I truly do understand. I work very hard at getting out of the way and letting God take care to things. At this point one is my daughter, which is really, really hard to turn over and trust all will be well. It is really easy for me to tell Lisa to let go of the things she cannot control when I am still attempting to control things I cannot.
Buen Camino!
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