Day 15/ Sept 26 el Camino/Palas de Rei to Melide

We arrived in Melide an hour earlier than expected with a gentleman taxi driver. Very kind and courteous. We picked up WiFi in the hotel cafe and ate too much toast and sweet rolls then the owner graciously got us checked into our rooms two hours early with free beverage and more bread.

Chris arrived about 11:30 with a short Camino walk today. The three of us then went out for a walk on the Camino that runs through the city then found paella, toured a couple of churches and walked a bit. It is disorienting being in a city with traffic, trucks and many peregrino walking through the city as three camino paths converge here before going on to Santiago. Again we have simple and lovely accommodations with husband and wife owners who are very attentive. Our room is a lovely respite from the outside busy activity.

We are all exhausted from being on wifi trying to book accommodations ahead. This is still high season here if just a bit lighter. It is hard to think. Chris and Di are resting in bed at 6:50. The good news is we are booked ahead through October 4th when we move to Madrid. Our only booking now is taxi and we were also able to book a tour to Finesterre.

Chris did meet up with Martha and Pedro from Merrit Island, Florida and enjoyed walking with them this morning. Pedro is origionally from Peru.

Besides eating too much bread, we enjoyed paella, vino blanco, hot chocolate that is like pudding, maybe all of that is having some effect on our brain as well.

The photos are from San Pedro church. You can see how the statues are dressed in real fabric clothing. The Sorrowful mother was the most heart touching as her expression captured the sorrow, loss, and mourning of a mother and all who loose a loved one. I lit a votive candle for all who mourn. Di shared with me that after our mothers death, she found in a box of sympathy cards and notes to our grandmother Regina, our dad’s mother, who received them at the time of our grandfather Adolph’s sudden death by heart attack, a note from dad’s Uncle Osias in Canada. The note told our dad, age 19, that he was now the man of the family, he had his mom and 5 siblings to care for. He put down his violin, never to be picked up again, and which he had played since a young boy classically and now fiddling for dances, and helped with the farm, started working for the Soo Line railroad, and then went off to war. He and his mother and all the siblings were present at Adolph’s heart attack with Regina holding him in her arms. All of us siblings know this grief story but hearing of this note confirming our father’s decision to set aside the violin sheds new light on this old story for this grief counselor reflecting on close to 30 years walking with others in grief.