Monday, October 20, 2008

Thanks Everyone....



Thank you, all of you who sent me birthday wishes...it was really sweet and super welcomed this morning as I'm sitting here in a public library in Ponte de Lima, Portugal.



I've been in Portugal for two days now and am so far enjoying this country quite a bit, despite having absolutely no way to communicate with any ease at all. I keep finding myself slipping into Spanish, which people don't fully seem to mind, but I would much rather garble Portuguese. And yes, it's similiar...but it's not similiar in the way that say American and British English is similiar, you know? They are entirely different languages and my comprehension level has dropped down to nearly nil.

I will say though, that I find it a lovely language to listen to...softer than Spanish in many ways. But... I just don't think I'm gonna get much of anywhere with it in the short time that I'll be here.

In case you're curious -- I had a wonderful birthday - it was full of magic and grace and fun.

It didn't start out that way as I had to leave very early from the alburgue in Pontevedra to catch the train to Tui. There was only one leaving that morning (a Saturday) at 7:00am. The woman at the ticket booth was only mildly helpful that early in the morning, but I got my ticket and then immediately screwed up by getting it validated in the machine. But instead of punching my ticket, the machine sucked it up, leaving me standing there, with that "well that was stupid" look on my face.

Then I realized I was in Spain, not in France and that perhaps you didn't validate your ticket that way. Regardless, I had 4 minutes to catch my train and I needed to purchase another ticket. So I went back to the lady, explained what I did...she actually rolled her eyes at my stupidity, as if it would cost her an extra 3.15€, and slipped me another ticket just as the train was being called. I made it.

Had to transfer in Redondela, where another non-helpful attendant told me to listen to the announcement instead of just telling me what track I needed to be on. I tried to explain that I couldn't always understand the announcement, but that wasn't really his concern. Thankfully, there was a nice guy standing there and let me know where I needed to be, as he was heading the same direction.

I made it to Tui (it's funny...what would've taken me three days walking took me about 25 minutes by train) just as the sun was rising and, shaking off the whole train experience, got a tea, found out where downtown was and headed off.



There's a bridge, called the Puente International, that separates Spain and Portugal. It's not overtly flashly or symbolic, but it had a fine footpath and as I walked across the Minho River, the Cathedrals on either side of the water chimed out the hour. On the Spain side, it was turning ten o:clock, and where I was heading, the bells tolled out the earlier hour of 9. It was good I was gaining and hour, as I was getting a pretty late start and still had 20 kilometers to walk.

I made my way easily through the city of Valenca and suddenly I was back in the lovely eucalyptus trees, heading further south.

I don't have a lot of time left on the computer, but I can tell you that I received a Mars bar from a group of British Columbians I ran into.








Two lovely men, a retired opera singer from Hamburg and his Galician partner, are in the habit of inviting pilgrims into their home for refreshments and I was the lucky recipient that day. Sitting by their pool, overlooking the Minho valley and having Nestea and German cookies.




I arrived at the alburgue in San Roque around 5:00, and was greeted by three Brazilian pilgrims who had just cooked a meal and invited me to join them. The food was good and ample and although they didn't speak English (Jose spoke very little), we had a lovely time. Later, I was talking to their friend Valter and he was asking me where I was born...I told him that I was born on "this day" near San Francisco and his face lit up and he grabbed my hand and led me back into the dining room where he excitedly told Jose, and his wife Maria, that it was my birthday. Whereupon they leaped up and sang me the most rousing version of Happy Birthday I've ever heard...with clapping! Then they all hugged me and it was all very festive and sweet.



Turns out we were the only four people in the alburgue that night, so we got to spread out. And there was a nice courtyard and a lovely night sky for me to sleep under the stars. So...in all, it was a truly lovely way to begin my forty-third year.

And now I'm here, taking a kind of undeserved rest day...but this town has a great deal of historical signifigance and I wanted to take some time to enjoy it. Also, there is a three-star hotel here that offers pension prices to pilgrims and I wanted to take advantage of that.

Plus, tomorrow's stage is a full 33 kilometers. That's a very long day on the road, and I wanted to be rested for it as I'll likley be walking nearly ten hours tomorrow.

So...there you go. That's the news...I'll try to talk to you again in a couple of days when I reach the great city of Porto.

Much love, thanks again for all your birthday wishes, I'm sure they helped make that day really special for me.

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