Today we were back at it: up at 2 to avoid the sun. The 38 km went by pleasantly, because it was cooler and we had a light, pleasant breeze with us.
These days we are understanding the meaning of the famous saying “Ancha es Castilla”. Very wide and very beautiful, truly. For us, more used to other kinds of landscape, it’s surprising to see the whole horizon, with no mountains: just endless farmland on either side of our path, and alternating strips of green, ochre and brown, with a friendly handful of trees every now and then.
Just think how educated we’ll be when we finish this pilgrimage: we’re learning the origin of sayings, the basics of agriculture, first aid… It never stops.
We arrived very early in Tarazona and, as always, we told everyone we came across about our route. It was lovely to hear a lady say to us: “We were expecting you, the parish priest told us!”.
Sure enough, quite a few people from the village joined us for Eucharistic adoration and the Mass we celebrated in the afternoon.
Don Fabián, the super-friendly parish priest, told us something very true and comforting in his homily: that God writes straight with crooked lines. Just as in the Bible passage about Joseph that we read today: he was sold by his brothers and so had deep wounds in his heart. But precisely because of that he was able to become who he became in Egypt and save his people from famine. So it’s up to us to trust in God and believe that, whatever our story, He will find a way to turn evil into good.
At today’s Mass, Norah sang the whole psalm for us and it was a gift. What a beautiful voice, and what joy when we put our gifts at the service of the Lord!
Don Fabián joined us for dinner and we told him what our walking is like. The high point of the get-together was when we sang “Jesús, ya sabes, soy tu soldado”, a battle song that has many fans among our pilgrims. For pudding we had ice creams, courtesy of the parishioners of St Bartholomew’s. How generous people are!
After praying Compline, we’re off to bed now. Tomorrow will be a great day and, with the recent arrival of the indispensable Nacho Campmany and Fer Marqués, we’re sure the day won’t disappoint. Good night, everyone!