Ain’t No Mountain High Enough…Yet

The picture is of our topographical map of our journey today. You see that we had quite a ascent. Let us both tell you about our day.

Jan:

This was my absolutely favorite day so far.  Rabanal was the quaintest  village and we woke up to snow.  Here we go again…layer after layer after layer. I felt like the Pillsbury dough boy but I was warm. Well, I had lost one glove and Ernest refused to let me suffer for my own mistake. I wore one of his gloves and he wore one  sock and one glove. I married a wonderful,generous,kind man.

Folks, I am a bit “athletic” but I have never been a serious hiker unlike Ernest. I just kept stopping and exclaiming,”Ernest, look at this! Have you ever seen such majesty?”  I was,overwhelmed by God’s creation. The snow capped mountains surrounded us. It was literally breathtaking. I still am amazed as I write of it. The ascent was really pretty easy. The altitude affected us but we stopped frequently to gaze at His splendor and that helped our breathing. Then, before, I seemed to know it we were approaching THE CROSS. As a pilgrim you are supposed to bring a rock from your home and “lay a burden down.” Ernest and I had both brought rocks and we couldn’t wait to get there.

It is a lovely spot.  We put our packs on picnic table and gathered our stones. As we approached the cross Ernest used ITunes and played Kristen DeMarco’s song. It is Well Witn My Soul!  We laid our rocks among the millions and I burst into tears and sobbed. What an opportunity! After our usual lunch of peanuts, an orange and a protein bar we donned our packs and yelled “Buen Camino” to three approaching pilgrims. As soon as we spoke the girl yelled out, ” Jan and Ernest from California….no, Georgia. ” it was Sara whom we had met the first night in Fromista! We hugged and laughed and hugged again. Her two walking companions were from Japan and Peru. God calls every nationality.

We also became friends with Daniel, a Canadian studying to be a Friar and Jeanene, a tattoo artist from Majorca.

The descent was brutal. Literally brutal. The path is ancient and filled with large rocks that you can slip upon easily. We hiked 14 miles and seven and a half hours. The descent was by far the worse. But, we made it and we are staying in the most lovely Casa Rural.

This has been a challenge but everyday Ernest says to me,” Sunshine, life may not ever get better than this!”

Ernest:

What glorious views we had today as we crossed the highest mountain on our hike-over 5,000 feet. We probably climbed 3,000 feet today for over 4 hours. Beautiful pathways as we ascended- but then the descent- down washed out paths with zillions of rocks and you can see from the topo- very steep downward. A beautiful challenging day.