The Cell Phone From Heaven and the Angel From Bulgaria

 Tuesday 24 Sept  Mollinseca to Villafranca del Bierzo    31 km

We had a morning routine that went something like this: Nick wakes up to his alarm at 5 am, usually one of the first people awake, and then silently begins getting himself ready, moving quietly in and out of the room so as not to disturb the other pilgrims still sleeping. Judy would wake around 5:30 and start with the same procedure, both with red headlamps so the light is not bright. I usually came out of whatever  crazy dream I was having around 6, and quickly pulled on some clothes and start my process of packing. The big time waster for me is getting my feet ready, covering five blisters and carefully wrapping a little toe that has split down the middle. If Mary Lou is still asleep I wake her at 6:30, and because she sleeps in her next day walking clothes it takes her the least time to get ready. Target time is 7:00 am generally, though sometimes we make it out a bit earlier. If there is a coffee shop open, we stop for one, if not we wait till the next town. And so it goes. 

I hadn't really told anyone but the Dr in Leon had told me to rest for a few days because of the groin injury. That was not really possible without skipping even more sections, so I arrived at a compromise and started sending my back pack ahead to the next stop, carrying only a day pack with food and water. It seemed to work fine and the others followed suit, as we all had our injuries. The night before we would select an Albergue from the guidebook, I would call them and between their broken English and my broken Spanish we would end up with " resevarios por Quattro persona por manyana". However, for today's destination we were not able to reach them by phone, so we sent our packs there anyway, and would simply pick them up and move on to another Albergue. Standard practice.

It was dark, somewhat cool and overcast as we left Mollinseca, a little worse for the wear from yesterday's descent from hell. It usually takes an hour or so of walking to work through the pain, but since the quickest pace is first thing in the morning you tend to fight through it. A good 10 km or so of the walk today would be getting into, through and out of Ponferreda which means more pounding on the knees and feet from the asphalt and concrete surface.

After working our way through the city entrance we crossed a medieval bridge and ended up smack dab in front of a huge castle, which was built by the Knights Templar in the 13 th century. It was the latest fort built on the same site over previously destroyed forts built by the Visigoths, Romans, and pre Romans. Tough 1000 years or so to be  alive. The fort was huge and oddly appealing, but unfortunately was not open until later that morning. Some day we will have to go back and spend time here as there was much to see. 

Once we got outside the city the landscape changed significantly, running through a series of small towns with roadways lined by orchards of various kinds, a variety of crops and an extensive irrigation system both along the right of way and perpendicular through the fields. I am guessing there is no issue with water supply as there are mountain ranges on either side and the cool air would send much precipitation. We rolled along stopping for a cafe con leche and washroom break at a roadside cafe in Fuentas Nuevas, then at a Super Mercado in the next village Camponaraya to stock up on bars and batteries. A little further down the road we stopped again, this time for a cash recharge at the ATM, and a respite.

And that is when I realized my iPhone was missing. After uttering the Fbomb for the second time on the trip, I did a complete search of my pouch, backpack and pants pockets, and it was no where to be found. The girls double checked everything, and there was only one conclusion, it was left behind at either the grocery store or the last town cafe. I wasn't about to give up on a $600 piece of equipment without checking, so with little hope I started walking back to check the grocery store, then would taxi back to the other town while the gang waited. About 300 m down the sidewalk I kicked something on the sidewalk and there went my cell phone flying face up across the concrete. What..... Yes. There it was, in a place I am assuming it was dropped 15 minutes before ( or was it???), completely undamaged and working like a charm. So 5 min later when they saw me walking back, only Judy wasn't surprised because she had prayed to Saint Anthony to help me find my phone. I said to Judy " tell Saint Anthony thanks, but what do you think he would say to an unlimited data plan for the rest of the walk". Hey, I wasn't trying to be greedy or unthankful, just expedient.

For the third time that day I tried to get a reservation at the albergue we had sent our packs to that morning. The first two times I had talked to them I was told they were closed. Thinking they meant that it was closed until the afternoon like many are, I called back a third time. OK. This time I got the message ...doesn't matter what language I am told to F..... and stop calling ....I get the message. The albergue was just plain closed, as in not open for business, and they were really annoyed I took so long to figure it out. Well pardon my spanish. That meant we were still three to four hours away from Villafranca, didn't have a reservation for a place to stay, and no clue as to where our bags were. But we did not panic, at that point.

The day that had started overcast and cool, had turned into the usual clear hot sky that takes its toll minute by minute. We trooped on another 6 km to Cacabelos, then a further 3.5 to Valtuille, which took us to almost 4 in the afternoon. Totally spent with another hour and a half to go, no idea where our bags were and no surety that we would have a place to stay in Villafranca, we stopped into a small albergue for a drink and hopefully some information on how to move forward. After waiting for 10  minutes for the lady to check in two pilgrims there wasn't much hope of help, and our spirits were dashed even further when she could not understand what we are asking. Then she made the call upstairs....to be clear I mean to the second floor not the big guy in the sky, although.... 

Downstairs came a young lady who spoke fluent english, to whom we proceeded to explain our problem. "OK, I'll give them a call and get this straightened out", on her phone I might ad as mine was out of power. So in two short minutes she found out that the albergue was in fact closed for renovations, the company had sent our backpacks on to Vina Femita albergue where she made  reservations for the four of us, and called a taxi to take us the final 5 km, all done in fluent Spanish. Come to find out our "angel", as I called her, had come to the albergue three months ago from Bulgaria, not speaking a word of Spanish. She loved it so much that she decided to stay and had no intentions of leaving in the near future. Well, lucky for us, and for that matter the host of pilgrims who will follow. 

The four very happy pilgrims arrived at the albergue only to find that the Dooley family by chance had been registered at the same place, which made the kids Tom and Maya very excited. We made arrangements for a pilgrim dinner at the restaurant across the street, and settled in for an hour of learning much more about this unique and amazing family that had become our friends. I will report more on that tomorrow.