This would be one of my hardest days, it sure did start off beautiful though. Carlos urged us to sleep in, not to wake up early but to be out by eight so we could see the pretty sunset. He supplied toast and a coffee that was instant...I skipped the breakfast knowing I would get a cafe con leche enroute. I gave these two wonderful hospillarios a huge hug, I adored them both and it is hosts like this that make the Camino so special. My clothes smell clean for the first time, thank you Carlos! I was off in the dark and enjoyed the sunrise behind me.
There has been talk on the forums about a sweet lady who chases pilgrims in the morning offering them pancakes (for donation of course), I have said since I first heard of her that I want to be chased by the pancake lady. I'm not certain where exactly she is but I know it is near the end...
I've been thinking all day that I might have missed my pancake moment. The town past the one I stayed in was very small filled with beautiful old stones homes and gorgeous flowers . The sun was just coming up and I took the marked path from the sweet street to the woods and saw a lady opening her upstairs window. Behind me as I approached the woods I heard," AMERIA", which sounded like a females name...they said it about three times. Fifteen minutes later I was processing this some and wonder if it was the pancake lady trying to get my attention with my American patch (AMERIA).
This day would start simply beautiful but would end on hard pavement and might be chalked up as my most difficult day to date. I went thru the town of Ponferrada with a gorgeous Templar castle, I'd walk a little with Squiddly Diddly... we just kind of run into each other often but only walk about fifteen minutes together. Ponferreda is pretty touristy due to the castle, I went into it today as it was free. I read somewhere that someone suggested just walking on by it, but I ventured up the touristy hill and went to the bank machine as I was getting semi low on cash. I put my debit card in the machine and heard it clearly DROP to the floor once in the machine. I did not know what the prompt on the machine said but went inside to tell them. A nice guy was trying to help me outcast the machine and urged me to then go in when we could not get it out. The teller opened the machine, pulled out the tray that collects cards and my card was not there. I panicked and told them I heard it drop to the floor, they opened the machine and did not see it. I think the lady was giving up looking for it and about to try to convince me that the nice man outside might have taken it when I came inside , I knew this was not the case as I clearly heard the abnormal sound of my card falling to the ground inside the machine. Thank God an American named George who was fluent in Spanish walked in, he was like my rock hecwascsteady and calm in conversation and I was just starting to blubber away at the thought of losing my debit card and all it involved to get a new one. I think since George was fluent and slightly resembled a Spaniard they kept looking... An hour later they found my card.
I would forever today...a funny moment would happen when I saw four turkeys caged in a front yard in a town, I found myself talking to them telling them they were pretty and taking their picture I then turned around to a Middle aged over weight Spanish guy staring at me like I was crazy.
I had hopes to go further ... But stopped in a town called Cacabelos, there waiting for a car to drive them to a restaurant affiliated with our auberge was Father and Tom, seems Mary had gone ahead and that they actually had lost each other the day before when she passed the planned Acebo stop and they went on one more stop to my original destination that I wanted prior to my fall. We were scattered over three consecutive towns, tonight we were separated in two but a good hour and a half separated us from Mary.
I chose a shower as they were getting ready to go to dinner, and I walked over a bridge and had a pizza surrounded by locals watching a soccer game. I would sleep well tonight and looked forward to a new refreshing day...this was a hard one emotionally and I have lost my confidence in my walk since my fall. My ankle is swollen and hurts but I am so fortunate I think it has had no effect on me.
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