Portugués Camino Day13: Suzanne, Sixty & Slackpacking into Armenteira

DAY 13 PONTEVEDRA – ARMENTEIRA 8.67 miles, 19,651 steps.

After 13 days on Camino, it’s almost time for a zero day. 

We knew today had the potential to be a long walk when we checked out early, early as in well before the cafés in this sleepy city opened. So, we walked and walked until we found an open café. On the menu was Tostada, which looked like Tortilla in my pre-coffee haze (both start with T and end with an A).  The thing is, Tostada is a slice of toasted bread and a tin of pureed tomato, and another of olive oil. Oh, I remember this, I think… good, just not very filling, no protein. Having repeatedly learned, that when the Camino provides…accept it, She may not offer again, we sat down for Suzanne’s birthday café con leche and croissant, and my Tostada.  OK, so it wasn’t such a bad decision because another open café, The Camino did not provide until well after the first of the two hard climbs, and no top o’ the hill pop-up cafés popped up either.

On this village road a gate opens up and a small heard of sheep pour out. The shepherd leads the ram, and the rest follow down the street and to a field.

As we were enjoying second breakfast, this time a proper breakfast of Spanish tortilla and another birthday croissant, Suzanne saw something about a third-party technology outage hitting the US, and when we tried to pay, the credit card connection failed. We are thankful that when leaving Pontevedra , we had stopped by the ATM and stocked up on cash. Good call.  

Suzy Slackpacker

Suzy Slackpacker and the Church of the Pilgrim Virgin. This scallop shaped church It is dedicated to the Virgin who, according to tradition, guided pilgrims along the Camino.

Today Suzanne’s backpack will magically appear at tonight’s hotel, and all she will carry is her purse and a “60” badge. I thought people would notice it and wish her well, but pilgrims were in a hurry, and didn’t say much as they charged on by. This is the march of those last 100k pilgrims and it continued for about two busy miles until the turn off to the Variante Espiritual, or Spiritual Variant. While the Spiritual Variant is not the Camino of old, it is recognized by The Catholic Church as an official Complemetario route. It concludes with a boat ride, which Suzanne is looking forward to and I’m excited to follow the same water route as the body of St. James on its way to Santiago.

This skeleton is today’s Hórreo

The Variante Espiritual – Quiet returns to the Camino

Quiet and peaceful The Way becomes after the turn off for the Spiritual Variant.  Earlier, I wrote today had the potential to be a long walk, and a big climb, but that’s really not what the birthday girl wanted. Though it is a quiet walk, it is still a sizeable walk, with our steepest, longest climb, and it’s a HOT day. It’s been days since we were near the ocean, and Suzanne’s gills are starting to dry out. She is longing for the nice pool in the photos of tonight’s hotel. With tomorrow’s forecast of rain and the realization that the only pool time will be setting at the 4-star hotel we’re walking towards, we opt to yellow blaze. It happened this way: we walked 5 miles, we waited for a bus that never came, we called Carlos the taxi (who didn’t speak English but Suzanne knew enough Spanish to infer that he was busy for the next 2 hours), we went grocery shopping, and when we had resigned ourselves to the long uphill climb and an evening dip in the pool, a “wait, is that a functioning taxi?” appeared. So yellow blaze it was up the big hill, but not all the way to our hotel, that would be wrong. Instead, he dropped us at edge of another eucalyptus forest.

A sunny day on the Spiritual Variant

The dirt logging road we are now on accompanies our walk with a soundtrack of happy birds singing so loud its hard not to notice. We are headed toward the village of Armenteira, and listening to the birdsong I am drawn to the legend that surrounds the monastery of this village. It was started in the 12c by the Knight Don Ero of Armenteira who was without heirs, and together with his wife they prayed for descendants. In a vision, The Virgin Mary told them their destiny would be “spiritual children” instead. Acting on the vision, he founded this monastery, Santa María de Armenteira, with the help of Saint Bernard of Clairvaux who sent four of his Cistercian monks to staff the monastery. In time Don Ero became its abbot.

Three Hours, Three Centuries

One day the now Abbot Ero took a walk in the surrounding forest and sat listening to the birdsong, perhaps the same melodies that enchant me today. Three hours slipped away unnoticed. He returned to the Monastery to find the door closed and knocked. Greeted by an unfamiliar monk, Ero was ushered inside to discover a brotherhood of unknown faces. Eventually, they sort things out and Ero realizes that during the three hours he was in the forest listening to the birds, three centuries had passed, and he was now meeting his children, his spiritual children as the Virgin has promised.

The Pilgrim’s Mass 

Today, the Monastery of St. María de Armenteira is known for its singing nuns, and the 7pm Pilgrim’s Mass, which will be Suzanne’s first Pilgrim’s Mass. Except for the scripture and benediction, given in every language in attendance, the Mass is sung in Spanish. Suzanne, who has two years of university Spanish follows along with the lament, Psalm 31:

      ¹⁴But I trust in thee, O Lord,
           I say, “Thou art my God.”
      ¹⁵ My times are in thy hand;
           deliver me from the hand of my enemies and persecutors!
      ¹⁶ Let thy face shine on thy servant;
           save me in thy steadfast love!                                                         (Psalm 31, RSV)

There are Italians, Poles, Portuguese, Spaniards, French, and English speakers in attendance. After Mass, we stop off at the only open restaurant in this dot of a town, and I recognize a couple from Mass who are also English speakers walking by. I invite them to join us. They look to be in the same stage of life as we are, but perhaps a few years younger. Jeff and Andrea are delightful dinner companions from Canada, she is a children’s minister, and he a soon to be retired school principal. Their whys for being on Camino are not that different than ours at this stage of life, pondering what is next, and wondering if retirement is even a word for followers of Jesus.

We don’t meet many people of strong faith on this Camino, and it’s is refreshing to openly explore how this walk intersects with, or informs our faith.  It’s too bad, but they are leaving tomorrow while we zero.  They will also be in and out of Santiago before us, younger and faster.

Such an interesting (and cold) pool, see the long ramp to the left. It is better to jump in and get the cold over with then walk down the ramp and feel the shock inch by inch. But Suzanne is enjoying her birthday pool time!

Not a Zero Sums Day

Tomorrow is a zero day, and forecasted to be a rainy one, which leaves me conflicted. On one hand I’d like to explore, or perhaps walk the miles we missed yesterday, but on the other hand I’m not a walking-in-the-rain-just-for-fun guy, so we might just sleep in. I already know what Suzanne will be doing tomorrow: nothing.

Day 13 feet on a shiny shell showing us our way