Camino Via de la Plata, VdlP: April 23 Merida to Alcuescar (Stage 10)

We started out early as did our French compatriots that shared the baths with us yesterday. It was a pleasent walk through a national park that was full of spring flowers. It is always interesting to start out in the dark. You feel like a detective trying to get clues to discover your destination. The added benefit is to see the sun rise and the fields light up with color. The only confusing time is when you are a few kilometers out of town, and you come across lots of arrows of different colors pointing in different directions. Fortunately, a man stopped his car and pointed out the right way. Tonight we are bedded down in the Residencia for handicap men, a monastery. It opened at 1200 for checking in. Their is no charge, you donate what you want. I have always wondered if some pilgrims don't. A simple evening meal is provided. You have to be prepared for a few rules. The front door is closed between 1430 and 1630. You cannot turn a light on until 0630 and the front door is locked until 0730. No packs on the bed and no boots in the sleeping area. Mass is 1900 and dinner 1930. For those of us that like an early start this is hard. Mass was not obligatory. The Chapel was in the building where those less fortunate lived. As we walked through their living quarters imagining what it would be like living as they did, I thought of the church offering this service of care over the millennium. The service was short and offered communion. The priest had the pilgrams stay behind after the service, divided us into linguistic groups and handed us his blessings on a sheet of paper. There were just three of us in the Ingles group. His blessing were very sensitively written. Very touching, leaving behind an emotional reaction which over the millenium has guided the human spirit to accept our differences and help one another in troubling times. We left at 0720 for Aldea del Cano only 17 k. The alberque has just 9 beds so we called a case rural, which is a very small hotel, and reserved rooms for ourself, the 3 French men and Heather, a woman from Perth, Australia. Our arrival routine is drop our packs, find the nearest bar and have a salad mixta, which is lettuce tomato and egg and tuna and either aspergus olives or peppers, It is always a little different from bar to bar but always delicious.