The afternoon unfolded lazily. As soon as I arrived, I was introduced to some of the many volunteers who were also at the albergue that evening. They came from all over the place, Spain, Germany, South America, the next town. Some cooked, some built, some played and sang for us. All of them were in love with the work that was going on under Ernesto's guidance. I was shown to my room, where I found my lovely Barcelonan family from Castro, a German woman named Silke, and lo, and behold, another Canadian, Richard from Montreal. We were informed that later on, we'd have a talk by Ernesto, and then supper. There was lots of time for shower and laundry, and lounging around on the patio, chatting, comparing blisters and guidebooks, and patting the exceptionally large dog. Everything was clean and relaxing. Incredibly, I felt pampered!
By the time we headed upstairs to a lounge for our "conversation" I counted 11 peregrinos. Only Richard had no Spanish to speak of, so I was delegated to be his interpreter. After a lovely song about the Camino by one of the regular volunteers, Ernesto spoke in Spanish; about the meaning of the Camino, its history, and most importantly what it might mean to each of us. He hoped that we would take it home with us, and discover how it might make our lives more meaningful. He spoke of how heartened he was to see that it was possible for young female peregrinas to make these kind of journeys. He also told us about some of the outreach projects with which he has been involved, but never once did he ask for money. We were amazed by his office, in which every wall space was filled, even to the open rafters, with probably millions of slides, carefully labelled, from all over the world.
The Camino, in Cantabria, he told us, was challenging! The key to success would be creativity and imagination! The distances were long, and often the way was not very pleasant. (Tell me about it!), but for those willing to accept the challenge, he suggested, there were treasures of experience to be had. He gave the example of the route of the following day. There were three ways to go; one was short but on pavement, one was on a bike path, and one was longer but travelled by the cliffs. He challenged us, asking what kind of Camino we wanted to have. He also had lots of really useful hints about how to manage the later stages through Cantabria. It made me feel a bit weak, but I knew that I'd continue to avoid highway stages; so that challenge gave me pause for thought.
Dinner was lovely, simple soup and bread, with wine; and fruit for dessert. We had chance to meet some of the other peregrinos. My little tramp was called Ramiro, from Argentina. He had a lovely smile and laughed a lot. There was a quite adorable young couple from Bilbao on a sort of honeymoon, somewhat spoiled by a creeping rash on the young lady's legs. They had been to a doctor, but were thinking about taking the bus for a while, rather than make the condition worse by the stress of hiking. They were very keen on the next province, Asturias, and made me promise to have three things while there. Fabada, a bean stew; sidra; and a meat dish made with a special Asturian cheese, the name of which I didn't catch. They said the name was hard to say, but I could remember it as "ze cheez zat smells like fite" Hard to forget.
Because I was late arriving I'd ended up with the top bunk. But it was lovely and comfortable. As I drifted off, I heard Silke barking, and felt a bit of a tickle in my own throat. I had a feeling those chickens of Castro Urdiales might be coming home to roost.
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