June 1 to June 2 - Sunday to Monday What a Pleasant Surprise

June 1 to June 2 - Sunday to Monday

What a Pleasant Surprise

Yesterday afternoon one of the pilgrims announced that he wanted to make dinner for us, meaning the hospitaleros. Isn't that sweet. I believe he is French. He made my favorite kind of ensalada mixta (with corn and tuna) I have not seen corn on an ensalada mixta since I arrived here. I guess it is more common in Northern Spain. He also made pasta. He had coke, wine, and water. It was quite a feast. We were joined by two other French guys and a fellow from Estonia. Thankfully, because he was French, dinner was at 8:30 pm. I used to think all Europeans ate dinner after 9:30, which almost caused me to go hungry in Saint Jean Pied de Port. I think it is only the Spanish who eat dinner in, what I consider to be, the middle of the night. Anyway, the dinner was lovely with lots of different languages flying around in true pilgrim style. They even cleaned up and did the dishes! I felt so pampered. 

I got to bed and to sleep by 10:30 pm. Up again at 6:30 am to get breakfast ready. The first step in that process is making the coffee and drinking a cup myself. lol, then there's lots if activity and energy as the pilgrims are waking up and getting fueled for a new day. Multiple languages flying around the room. I got lots of hugs and kisses and heartfelt thanks, as did José Luis and Merixa.  

Yesterday as we were finishing up breakfast, a homeless man knocked on the window and asked for food. So Merixa and I grabbed some meat and cheese and bread that pilgrims had left behind and gave it to him. He was very thankful too. My friend Daniel says "Love everyone and feed the hungry. " I'm trying to live by that. 

The experience being a hospitalera, here in the center of a bigger city, is different than the little pueblo of Bercianos. There are more homeless and hungry people. Today Merixa came in and said there was a little fellow at the door who wanted something to eat. I said fine, we can do that, he also wanted some juice. Then he asked for money and I said, "no." After we gave him the food, José Luis gave him 16€ to get a bus ticket. In the meantime, another homeless person came and had a credential. José Luis determined that he wasn't really a pilgrim, but gave him a bed, by himself, separated from the other pilgrims because if concern about theft. 

The atmosphere here is very different from last year. It's not better or worse, just different. But I digress. After the pilgrims left this morning we did our cleaning and then drove to the Supermercado to stock up on food and supplies for the week. I got cornflakes and double stuffed Oreos. ; ). Oh, and raspberry jam. That is a fruit, right. J/K. I also got some donut peaches, melon, lettuce, and tomatoes. This evening I'm sitting at the desk dining on Brie, pan and strawberries. I feel so continental. lol

After the market, we put away the groceries, had a bite to eat and prepared to greet the pilgrims. We've had some really nice people come thru and three really good looking guys on bikes. The bike riders tend to be younger and in much better shape. They don't look all that bad in Spandex. Today's three were handsome as well. Two of them were brothers. So that was a pleasant interlude. Sigh. 

Then a pleasant young fellow from England came in and we chatted for a while. I hadn't realized how much I missed conversing in English. Of course, as we discussed, I don't speak English I speak American. He said, "Yes, we are divided by a common language." lol this morning one of the pilgrims asked if Canada was part of the United States. I said, "Oh Lord, don't let them hear you say that." They seemed to get a little peeved when people say that. And they are supposed to be the "nice" ones. Go figure. I wouldn't mind if people thought I was from Canada or that California was part of Canada. In fact, when John and I were in Spain in 2006, America wasn't too popular here because of the train station bombings. So when people thought we were from Australia, we didn't disabuse them of the idea.   

Well, enough of my ramblings. I'm going to go see if I can get a picture of the bicyclists to send you and share my good fortune. It's not quite like feeding the hungry, but close.