Having done two hard days walking up from the coast, today is reserved for Santo Toribio and Potes ... a leisurely breakfast, with a new challenge ... making porridge in a microwave ... an abomination for one who previously avoided such new-fangled contraptions ... the first heresy of the day ... and it's ok ... anyway, there is no conventional cooker in this strange kitchen, with lots of empty cupboards, one plate, no spoons ... a washing machine to freely use ... empty refrigerator ... the whole albergue showing familiar signs of a facility designed by bureaucrats and funded with external capital and local revenue ... meaning that without a pilgrim hospitalero such as Mikhail, there is no soul or commonsense simplicity ... Sandra and her colleague at the very helpful pilgrim centre and tourist office regretfully decline the photo opportunity ... rules ... and efficiently book in pilgrims between 10 am and 2pm, 4pm and 7pm ... and pass on the info for the three stages to Riano ... a good chance to improve the Spanish... the hostel itself centrally located beneath the main square ... 70 beds in eight dormitories ... only one pilgrim so far today ...
Light rain lingers long enough for a rainbow before we set off up to Santo Toribio ... easy for seasoned climbers ... silently and mostly separately ...
Two coachloads already at the monastery provide a busy background ... in the church the holy relic ... a splinter of the cross, embedded into a golden treasure, protected by iron bars ... maybe more sophisticated technology too ... no resonance for this heretical pilgrim, pondering the provenance of this elaborate story ... a long climb up to hermitage sites, with awe inspiring views, resonates more ... down to the restored hermitage of San Miguel, with a small wooden statue of the warrior saint ... locked ... on a Sunday ... never mind, it's a good spot for a picnic in warm sunshine ... sympathetic Spaniard suggests some people have lost respect for the one true faith and its forms ... it took a while ... considering the history of torture, burnings, war ... violence in the name of Love ... feeling lucky to be heretical in the modern age ... safer ...
David is on the bus ... having shared an afternoon table in the pretty, busy, Potes ... he expresses atheism, yet models love ... babies being thrown out with the bathwater ...
Glad that you are enjoying the area - tried the ropas viejias yet?
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