Pontevedra to Armenteira ~24km (25Sept2019)

Today’s walk marks the beginning of the Spiritual Variant of the Camino Portugues. I walked by the sea, over a mountain, through forests of pine, oak, chestnut and eucalyptus, and little coastal towns and mountain villages. Instead of heading directly north towards Santiago, this path turns west towards the coast, which it will follow for three days before heading inland towards the city of Padron. While not as popular as the other route, there is a long tradition of pilgrims walking this way, especially the past couple of centuries. Today’s walk ended next to a monastery that is at least 300 years old. (I didn’t find the exact date, yet did the math from a date inscribed on one of the more “modern” looking interior walls. - I’m sure I could google it, but I haven’t had a good internet connection for the past few days.) The nuns have a blessing of the pilgrims every night at 7pm. They sin through a vesper service and then invite all the pilgrims present to stand in a circle in the front. They then say the blessing in the “big six” Camino languages (Spanish, Portuguese, French, English, German, and Italian) so that each pilgrim might hear it and understand it. Then, a sister and a priest walk around the circle laying their hands on each pilgrim’s head while saying another blessing and then making the sign of the cross on their heads. It was beautiful. They do this Every.Single.Day. yet it felt like this was the first time. Talking with other pilgrims afterward, we commented on how we didn’t feel like numbers or “just another pilgrim.” We felt seen. We felt held. We were encouraged to know that before we arrived today these sisters were praying for us. And after we leave tomorrow they will still be praying for us - and for all the other pilgrims. This evening gives one more example of how our lives belong to a story larger than we could imagine. Wow. Until next time, Ultreia (e suseia) Dan