May 16 (My Birthday)

Day 3

Santarem

Today is going to be a hard day emotionally for me. It’s my 59th birthday and the 1 year anniversary of my brother’s passing. He was 59 last year.  I was born in 1959. That’s a lot of 59’s! I’m sure it means something. I’m hoping it means that as I carry Ronnie with me in thought and prayer all day I can rejoice in his life and release the pain I’ve had with his blaring absence in our family. He was one of a kind.  I pray for peace  for our families especially my sister in law Judi, daughters Jerraca and Amber.  None of us can believe he’s gone.  We are all hoping he’s serenading mom and dad in heaven playing his guitar and singing his favorite songs. 

        I wake up at 5am... an hour before our agreed wake up time because the snoring is outrageous. We only had 8 people in our bunk room but 3 were snorers and I didn’t sleep at all. I had crawled up into my bunk without earplugs.  A mistake I won’t make again. I’m regretting I never designed the “Sno-no-Mo” I wrote about on my last Camino. I sure could have used 3 last night!

     One by one everyone slowly rises and begins the mechanics of folding sleeping bags and loading up backpacks. Lorenz from Hungary is the first to head out at 6:30am and he wears a darling little straw hat. Everyone has their personal touch to their daily wear. Wearing the same clothes every other day gets boring. Miriam from France and Richard from Norway will walk with us today and Michael is having feet problems.  He will take today off and move forward to scout a place for us tonight. Miriam is adorable and 46 yrs old. We’ve learned we have several things in common, ie  the love for orange, her mom passed away with Alzheimer’s and she’s used Vic’s Vapor Rub on her feet for 4 years!!! I love her accent and she’s quite fluent in English. I see God working already. We were meant to meet each other.  Richard from Lithuania is 29 yrs old. He moved with his family to Norway when he was 9.  He’s full of questions about America and shares stories of his countries.  Both speak several languages and Greg and I pitifully try our Spanish and very limited Portuguese. As we get ready to leave the Alburgue, the cute older couple from The Netherlands leave just ahead of us. The gentleman carries a Netherlands flag hanging out the back of his backpack. They are darling. 

    We grab a cafe and end up not having breakfast.  The next town is 7 miles away. Finally we are not walking in industrial areas. The walk is reminiscent of the Camino Francis with countryside farms and vineyards. Huge tractors fly by us on these narrow dirt roads and an occasional car flies by at wharp speed. These people are fast drivers! The first village we come to is Reguengo. We were hoping for breakfast but the only one we find serves beer and pastries. There is no grocery store in town so we move onward. Today it is very hot and as the day progresses become uncomfortable. We see huge storks sitting atop very tall palm trees. Gorgeous colorful flowers fill the side roads and red poppies are growing in clumps all throughout the landscape. Migrant workers are planting rows and rows of tomatoes plants.

     Our next stop is a larger village called Vallada. It has a grocery store where Greg buys picnic lunch food.  Two old Portuguese ladies are selling fresh fruits on the side of the road and we buy fresh bananas, strawberries and a small Cantaloupe for Richard to taste. He’s never had Cantaloupe.  One of the old ladies has a white t-shirt on that says “Whoop Ass” on the pocket.  I comment on it and she proudly turns around to show me the back which is covered in a screen print of “Canned Whoop Ass”.  We all laugh as it just doesn’t seem to fit her at all. 

    Valada has a recreational lake and when Richard sees it he excitedly strips down to his undies and dives in. Miriam and I can’t believe our eyes and just watch him. He’s like a child swimming in the fresh cool water while Greg is getting our picnic food.  After picnic Richards runs into the store to buy water and surprises us all with peach popsicles that are delicious. As we walk out of town they each take a turn singing me happy birthday in their given language as I videotape them. Greg’s sings the final birthday song to me in Spanish and it’s all just so sweet. This has been my gift of the day and I realize again it’s the simple things that mean the most in life. 

     The next 16k (10 miles) we walk a white crushed shell/dirt road along fields of vineyards, tomatoes, big old stone homes and farms with huge farm equipment.  It gets hotter each footstep we take and we can see our destination off in the distance high on a hill. It reminds me of the Italian hilltop towns and after 20miles of walking in heat I’m not looking forward to climbing. Richard reminds me “it is what it is” and we trudge forward to reach Saravem by 6:00pm. It’s been a long, scorching day and my feet are literally killing me. 

         We arrive at our Albergue and Michael has done an awesome job picking it out. It’s lovely with a nice coutyard and large lemon tree loaded with lemons for the picking. We all shower, hand wash clothes and pick out bunks before walking around the corner for dinner where we eat appetizers of cheese, olives, shrimp spread and bread. Greg and I share a meal of Baked Cod and potatoes. 

      As I go to sleep tonight I thank God for the beautiful day he has given me. I was dreading today but know God answered my prayers for peace. I survived it with a little help from “new friends” and Greg’s support with understanding. I feel comfort that Ronnie is in heaven and is traveling my journey with me.  God is good. 

       

      

       

     

White road vineyards, flowers

I look to u

Blessings

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