Dear parents,
It seems we’re getting a taste for doing extra kilometres… Since 1,300 don’t seem enough to us, on every stage we add a few more; today it was 15. The reason? An irrigation channel that had been opened and formed a river where, in theory, there wasn’t one. This forced us to make a detour that delayed our arrival by 3 hours. But do you know the best thing? Not a single complaint was heard, there wasn’t a single long face, nobody gave up. You can be proud of these pilgrims who, with fortitude and without drama, take on the changes of plan that life brings.
There were quite a few notable moments along the route. We passed fields of tomatoes, and at the side of the path we found the odd stray tomato. The pilgrims, naturally, set about picking them up and throwing them at each other, celebrating their own private Tomatina.
Maria Miñana and Martí Ramió invented a game in which they chose a colour and had to eat something from the fields of that shade (flowers, fruit, roots… they very nearly got to stones). We don’t know whether they like risk, whether boredom got the better of them or whether the heat of the day finally melted their brains.
We also witnessed a feat starring Norah, Paula Gomar, Laura Perreau and Lourdes. Faced with a pretty steep descent on the path, and worn out by the mileage, they decided to go down it rolling like croquettes. Whether it was a good idea or not, only time will tell.
In San Pedro de Mérida, our destination today, they welcomed us wonderfully. They made us sandwiches for lunch and a dinner of nibbles, with cured meats so good that we will never again be able to eat the Mercadona ones. Afterwards we celebrated Mass with them, and they gave each of us a holy card of their image of Our Lady. The devotion in this town is incredible! In every street, on every façade, there is an image of Holy Mary or of Our Lord.
To end the day we had a hilarious get-together, which didn’t lack great classics of Spanish music such as “La chica ye-ye”, “Clavelitos”, “Y cómo es él”… The big moment of the evening came from Nacho Campmany, Kyril and Iván, who plucked up the courage and each asked a fair damsel from the town to dance. And the grand finale came from the parishioners here, singing us the jota of San Pedro de Mérida, which goes like this:
“A San Pedro, a San Pedro
Que hay mucho vino
Mucho pan, mucho aceite
Y mucho tocino”
To be honest, with lyrics like these you feel like settling in San Pedro for a good long while.
We’re off to bed now, and with a super prospect: tomorrow, a very short stage of 15 km (let’s see if it’s true, ha ha) and, even better, we’ll wake up at 5! The mayor here, Andrés, will join the expedition, which we’re really excited about. In the afternoon our reinforcements will arrive: 20 more pilgrims coming fresh from Barcelona. We’ll tell you how the merger goes. Good night, family!