Yoga For The Soul/ Another Camino Adventure

If you have ever taken yoga then you know that it is a STRETCH. I mean you stretch in ways that you never ever thought of stretching. LATER you feel good. You are proud of yourself. But during the practice you are generally wondering how you got there and what you are doing? Those was our day on this “ Hop-Skip-Jump” Camino.

Our 5:55 a.m. train left at 6:03. Our connecting train to Valenca left at 6:10. Do the numbers and it is easy to see that we missed the second train. We were able to board and connect to Valenca via another train. GREAT NEWS!!! This train was extremely nice but it stopped at every quaint, picturesque train station between the two destinations. It took us past the THUNDEROUS breaking waves of the Portuguese coastline. It, also, took us until 10:30 a.m. to arrive. Much, much, much too late to begin our 12 mile trek. To say that two A type personalities were stretched mightily is an understatement. It was the only sensible decision to prolong the beginning of the hike but we wrestled with it for a while  Then we just realized that this is going to be a very different Camino and we were going to enjoy it as God leads us  WHAT A YOGA STRETCH OF THE SOUL!

One of the amazing parts of Camino are the fascinating and helpful people you meet along the way An executive on the third train taught Ernest the intricacies of the Portuguese train schedule. ( Very helpful) At this connection we had two minutes to disembark and board a different train. Another passenger guided us to the exact train to board  ( Whew!) When we arrived in Valenca, Antonio, a Portuguese who lives in New York overheard us and started giving us “things not to miss in Valenca!”  The conversation turned toward aging parents in Portugal and God. He confessed that he had just realized that after 17 years in New York he needs to come home to help his parents. It was a poignant moment. We encouraged him in this loving decision  He seemed relieved.  We also met Joe, a peregrine from Baltimore, who had his passport pickpocketed in Lisbon  He was having to retrace the route to the nearest American embassy

We would not have wanted to miss Valenca.  It was stunningly beautiful, warm in hospitality and tradition. It is here that we came upon our first yellow arrows that mark the Way to Santiago. You will often see pilgrim pictures with their shadows Why we take them is they indicate sunshine..good weather for hiking. We often take them beside the yellow arrow markers

We hiked back to the train station where we hailed a taxi to Porrino. Checked  into the hotel and looked at our guidebooks again to plot our way

This is FAR from a typical Camino but we are having so much fun!

Buen Camino