We are Mighty, and God is Good

Today we took another short day with Emilio and Katie, from Zariquigui to Puente la Reina, only 13 km.

We tackled Alto de Perdón first thing, and it was much easier than I remember. Of course, back in 2013 it was raining and the path was more of a river than a road.

Today it was cool and dry, and the path was firm and hardly muddy at all. The descent on the other side was still difficult – large rocks and gravel the size of baseballs made for slow going.

We had hoped to make an 11:30 Mass in Uterga at the little church of the Assumption, but the schedule had been changed, and it wasn’t going to start for another hour. So after spending some time in the church, we kept going.

We had planned to take the detour to see the beautiful little church of Our Lady of Eunate, but we found out it was going to be closed by the time we would arrive, so we skipped it. A sad thing, as last time this has been one of the great early highlights of my Camino.

Instead, Providence smiled on us, and we arrived in front of the church of San Juan Bautista in Obanos just as the sacristans had arrived to open it up for some tidying.

This is an amazingly beautiful church. After stamping our credentials, sacristans allowed us to examine their reliquary of the skull of San Guillermo. The Saint features prominently in the annual mystery play the town puts on.

This was an indescribably moving experience, to touch the skull of a saint. San Guillermo, pray for us!

We stayed a while in prayer before walking on to Puente la Reina and finding our albergue on the other side.

We are now all showered. I wrote some postcards. I think we’re going to head back into town soon for dinner, some exploration of the town, and (hopefully) Mass.