One Year Ago: a Journey to the Garden
(from my journal)
Ventosa
Annunciation of the Lord
Short, difficult day today. The roads were actually fairly easy, but all of us are still feeling yesterday.
Cliff left first, and he was soon out of sight. Charlie is taking a rest day or two. Ali, Eamon, Patrick, Petra, Viola, & I set off together. Breakfast in Logroño and then a long city slog. Ali stayed behind in the city after breakfast to find a bank, and she told us she would only go as far as Navarrete today.
A Hidden Jewel: the Church of Santiago in Logroño
Breakfast in Logroño
Roadside shrine just west of Logroño
The urban slog gave way to urban parkland and preserve. The Camino then paralleled a highway for a long time, past an enormous black bull statue before it cut across some vineyards to the town of Navarette.
The big bull of La Rioja. Seriously, that thing is like three stories tall.
Approaching Navarrete: La Rioja in a Nutshell
We had lunch there in a funky rock and roll bar, whose logo includes a skeletal peregrino. The light fixtures were guitars, and virtually the entire time we were there, Dylan’s music blared.
Logo of the El Patio del Camino bar in Navarrete
A reporter doing a story for the local paper took photos of us (including a peregrino named John, who had wandered in just as we were packing up).
The photo that appeared in the local paper. Left to right: Patrick, John, Eamon, Viola, Petra, me.
We checked out the stunning Iglesia Parroquial de la Ascunción de Maria. I counted 18 altars and was overwhelmed by a quantity and quality of Baroque gold sculpture that probably must be seen to be comprehended. If anyone were looking for the lost treasure of the Incas, I’d send them there.
Petra and I prayed there awhile; the others had varying levels of interest in the church – I think there may be some numbness setting in.
After Navarette, it was more walking of the frontage road until Ventosa. Only 20km, but we’re all just exhausted. Tomorrow will be a fairly long day – our first 30km day I think.
4:07
Sitting in the tranquil walled garden of the San Saturnino albergue in Ventosa, drinking canned beer from a vending machine with my friends and fellow pilgrims. There are a few conversations in both German and English, but they soon lapse back into silence, leaving the fall of water on stone from the fountain in the corner of the garden as the only sound. It is as it should be. It is good.
This is how God created the world, not for rush, and panic, and stress, but for work, for rest from work, for thanksgiving and for worship. Not for conflict and avarice, but for simple joy.
Tomorrow will be a long day – we’re planning for 30km – so tonight was a pasta dinner and at least two bottles of vino tinto. Bed now, for a 6AM wakeup!
Thought – I have both laughed and cried more in the last few days than I probably have in the last year. We need to live more.
All the photos from day 7.