Day 13

This morning we slept in - didn´t wake up till 7.30 - blame it on the wonderful parador beds!  Today our walk was through many little villages.  We stopped for coffee and some breakfast in a bar in Granon....this is also a pattern in our mornings !  The couple who ran the bar were really friendly.  We each had 2 coffees (thery are small) nice fresh bread with cheese and chocolate pannier cookies.  We all used the loo and we were off to the next town.  Weather was to be warmer  but it was still cool  till almost noon - a blessing, then it got hot.   We passed through many little towns - nearly ran out of water.  >We stopped for lunch at a nice albergue  bought some cheese, bread and boiled ham and a treat - potaato chips !1  Off again we had about 4 km to go - to a parish albergue.  This was a new experience - price was by donation and we had to help make dinner and clean up.  Unless you wanted to go to church...then you were excused from clean up.  The dining room was boarding house style - one very long table.  There  were about 25 - 30 pilgrims.  The house was run by volunteers and we asked the two young men how long they had been volunteering - they havd just started today!!  There was one bathroom/shower room for peregrino´s and one for peregrinas. the sleeping room we were in had 15 mats (MATS!) on the floor.  Sort of like the ones you remember from gym class...but not as bouncy!.  The building was a few hundred years old with low crooked ceilings, walls and floors.  At 6 pm a local village senoria came to take us for a tour to an old church built into the side of the hill.  Itwas a climb to get there but worth it. What a feat of engineering - hard to describe how amazing the inside was - we weren´t allowed to take photos. I did get some of the outside. The senoria told us to remember it in our minds and our hearts.  She asked each different nationallity to say a prayer aloud.  I did the english prayer and asked for strenght and health for my friend Nova and rememberance for my friend Mo.  and also to bless me and my pilgrim friends on our journey to Santiago.
Back at the parish we attended church - Joanie outside in her church, Sandy and I upstairs in the church room.  Korean, Japancese Fr4ench, Italian, Spanish and Englilsh  - we all read part of a Psalms and prayers.  The Korean girl sang a pslam.  Then as is the custom at this aburgue we each read aloud a prayer that a previous pilgrim had written. >We left our prayers to be read by newly arriving pilgrims.
All in all, though it was not our accustomed type of accomodation I think we were all feeling glad we had given it our best shot!"
The night was not so pleasant as none of us got a very good sleep......mats were hard and the 8 other people in the room ...men and ladies, were making various noises if you know what I mean!  one guy was eating...making a racket in the middle of the night...and then there were the snorers!