After three hard days, today we were rewarded with a 25 km stage that was a piece of cake. A festive mood reigned, and the walkie-talkies we have at the front and at the back of the pack were buzzing with the jokes of various characters, among whom Nacho Campmany stood out. Here’s a challenge for you: guess who goes by the nickname “Bolanegra”…
Now that we’re past the halfway point of this pilgrimage, our sherpa Jose Gomar has been relieved of his duties to make way for Álvaro Peregrín. Jose is now free to walk at any point in the pack, but the amazing thing is that his sherpa instinct hasn’t left him: at any moment, and without looking at the GPS, he can guess exactly our average speed and the number of kilometres we’ve done.
When we got to Daimiel we were able to spend an hour and a half at some municipal swimming pools that were paradise: one had a fountain in the middle with a jet of water that fell on our overheated heads and brought us back to life. Good background music was playing, and a few people had the idea of improvising a zumba/aqua aerobics session that delighted pilgrims and locals alike.
At lunch we had a double pudding: on the one hand, homemade rosquillas brought by Carmina, Andreu’s mother, who came to visit us with two more of her children and their grandfather. On the other, all sorts of pastries given to us by Don Raúl, a priest and friend of Fr Toni. Thank you so much to our sweet suppliers! It’s lucky we burn all the energy that goes in, because a lot goes in…
We celebrated Mass at the parish of Santa María la Mayor, a beautiful Baroque church dedicated to Our Lady of the Crosses. The parish priest, Don Valentín, welcomed us with endless warmth; afterwards we invited him to dinner with us and it was a brilliant time. At the end of Mass, the parishioners brought us some little ice creams to top off our happiness.
Today Fr Ferran spoke to us, in connection with the plagues of Egypt, about one of the great plagues of our time: hypersexualisation. He made us realise what a gift it is to look after purity: here, in these days of living so closely together, we are so happy precisely because we all look at each other with clean eyes, because there are no crude jokes, because we are able to see the deep worth of the other person and not just their looks. If only we could pass on this way of living to every setting we move in.
Late in the day, at dinner, we celebrated the birthday of Antonio, our favourite absent-minded genius, with Coca-Cola, Fanta and Oreo biscuits for pudding. All in all, today has been a perfect day.
Tomorrow we’re off to Ciudad Real: we’ll tell you all about the capital of these lands!
Good night, parents!