The ups and downs on the camino.

Ok, I´ll pick up where I had to stop the other night. The hospitalero was on live chat himself and I was keeping him from his fun. He got impatient and told me my time was up. And he was anxiously waiting for me to finish. I felt his eyes at me and he was not happy. That day I made it to Caldadilla de la Cueza, making the walking distance 32.7 km for the day. I was on a mission to make up one last day for the schedule so that I will make it to Santiago by the 26th as planned. And there are not many options for accomodations, so the intervals get to be long. That last part killed my leg. Yesterday morning we walked together, Lauren, Sylvia and I to Sahagun, where I was thinking about staying over. The other two felt fine and were walking on. So we had our lunch and then we went to the pharmacy together. I had told them about the bug problem I had picked up in Castrojeriz, but which I found out about in Fromista. My bed in Castrojerix had been infested with bugs and they had gotten into my sleeping bag as well as bitten me. I felt horribe and was full of bites all over my body. It was the hospitalero in Fromista who informed me that what I thought were insect bites were actually bed bugs. She told me to go to a pharmacy to get products to fix it. This was my first opportunity, two days later. I had not slept very well these last two nights as I was obsessed with these bugs. So we headed into the pharmacy and my two Spanish speaking American friends helped my get my supplies. I was relieved to say it the least. The best part was when the pharmacist answered one of my questions and said the bugs would be killed instantly when I sprayed my bug spray on my bag. Back on the street we said our goodbyes and I sat down, wondering what to do next. After a moment I knew that I was not ready to go to the albergue, because for the most part I felt great and would prefer to keep walking. It was just my leg that was giving me grief. I decided to go to the town square to look for an internet cafe, thinking a little time there would help me. But, no such thing. So I kept walking and within a couple of minutes found myself back at the camino route. Right away I saw the entrance to the second albergue, Hospederia Madres Benedictinas Conventa de Santa Cruz. Without thinking I went over and rang the door bell. A sweet lady in her fifties opened the door and invited me in. She started spaking spanish, asking if I was sleeping there. I said I do not speak spanish, but managed to expain to her that I did not know, but that I thought about maybe waking some more. She uderstood a little English and got what I was saying (I was using body language to explain too). She told me to take off my back pack and come with her. Something had happened to me as I walked through the front door. The place and the woman exuded love and tranquility and I was overcome with emotion. The lady told me to come with her and led me to the court yard, and told me to sit down. She proceeded to offer me tea and brought almonds for me to snack on. She looked at me and said I loooked sad, and she pointed to her face showing tears coming down. Before I knew it tears were rolling down my face and I could not stop them. The nun (I believe she is a nun) came back and saw my tears. She told me that the tears were good. "Cry!", she said. "It is good for you. This is the camino. It moves from your feet up to your heart and then to your head". She kept coming and going, tending to my well-being, stroking my head and kissing my forehead. I had explained to her that my foot was sore and I had shown her the tape, so she told me that I need to talk to my foot; to ask it to work with me. She went away and came back with a statute of what I believe was St.James. She held it by my foot and told me to pray to St.James for help. Again she walked away and came back with a book in her hand; about the camino with maps and practical information. There are two albergues you can make today, but first you must rest, she said, and pointed to the two locations in the book. Then she pointed to her watch and said:"In Spain it is Siesta now and we relax. Maybe later you walk, hmmm." I nodded. She left again and reurned within a couple of minutes. She told me to follow her again and led me to one of the bedrooms, where my stuff was placed already. "You rest for a bit", she said and left. I thanked her and laid down. The bed had a wool blanket on it and I was gratful that I could rest and be warm without having to deal with a sleeping bag full of bugs. For the last two nights the thought of these pesky little things had kept me awake for much of the night so I was sleep deprived. As I settled in I kept crying, not knowing why, I just cried. Even writing about it brings me to tears. WHY? I let the tears roll freely and after a while I relaxed and closed my eyes. i did not sleep the whole time, but by the time I was ready to open my eyes again it was four pm. I had been there for four hours. I knew I needed to keep walking so I put my boots on and got ready. By the way, while I was resting the nun came by and put another blanket on me. The loving care was truly amazing! While I was getting ready the nun came by and introduced me to another hopitalero. She explained to him that I was walking on. We talked a tiny bit and he asked about the weight of my back pack. I told him it was 9kgs, and he pointed his finger, "No,no", he said, "6kgs max". I can´t argue with him, nor am I willing to shed any more of my stuff. So, I´ll just carry on. They walked me to the door and said goodbye with hugs and kisses. Again I was overcome with emotion. I slowly started to walk away, but stopped once they had closed the door and took a picture of the door, just to remember. Then I was on my way again. My foot was aching,but I slowly made it to Bercianos del Real Camino parish hostel, 9.3km away, where I arrived shortly after 6pm. My lucky stars were with me and I ended up in a room by myself , where I was able to take care of my bug problem in peace and quiet. It was a quiet evening for me and despite the communal dinner, it was one spent in solitude. I needed that. My prayers had been answered.