I had just sat down on a bench in the cool dark, when a small white tradesman's van drove up and parked in front of the ermita. With a boisterous Hola! and "Here's a tired peregrina" or words to that effect in Spanish, I was introduced to the famous Ernesto, and his helper for the day, a young German girl, Katia. I recognized Ernesto from my guidebook. Did I mention it's excellent! You can find out more about it here:
http://www.jacobeo.net/caminodelnorte.php
It's in Spanish though.
Ernesto doesn't look terribly priestly in his casual attire; when we met he was wearing a T-shirt, a fisherman's vest, sweatpants and birkenstocks. He's very tidy and clean looking. He has beautiful curly white hair and a rather cherubic face. You know he's a fount of kindness the moment you meet him. Before I'd known Ernesto for five minutes, he was affectionately cuffing me round the back of the head as if he was my grandpa. I could see what all the fuss was about.
Katia reminded me of myself a bit, when I was about her age. I was never so adventurous as she is though. After walking the Camino the first time, when she came into contact with Ernesto, she had gone off to the third world and helped out with outreach projects. Now she was back, and had returned to Guemes to help with some building projects. The back of the van was full of all sorts of stuff from the hardware store.
I helped them put away some folding chairs, and then Ernesto asked me if I was planning to stay at the albergue. Would I like a ride the rest of the way?
Would that be alright? I wondered aloud, though I sure didn't want to walk the rest of the way. Did they have enough room for me? Of course they did. Katia and my pack went into the back atop a pile of lumber and rolls of steel sheeting, and I got into the passenger seat.
The road to the albergue was labyrinthine. It would have taken me hours to arrive at the albergue. I thanked God MOST SINCERELY for sending me these two angels.
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