Rabanal del Camino to Acebo Distance 16.5 km (10.2 mi / 11.1). to go224.9 km

I've known for awhile that today would be special. Up until now the challenge has been primarily physical, with a few emotions thrown in for good measure. 

Because I had a relatively pedestrian day yesterday I was able to dispatch my "evening activities" all in good time. Video chat with my love before she left for The Girl Friend weekend in Wisconsin, blog, fight with picture upload/download, etc. By 6:30 it was time to eat (rice with squid, everything else had vegetables).

I honestly don't know which part of this was the squid. The green piece (upper right) appeared to be an oversized green bean, one singular piece appeared to be a mushroom, a couple very small segments were apparently onions (couldn't taste them, they were only in there for flavor) or all of the black coating on the rice (ink de squid?). Taste-wise it was a large plate full of rice. Unfortunately, I picked rice pudding for dessert!

Completely free of time obligations I chose to go to bed early. I might just as well stayed up and watched Pawn Stars with Spanish-dubbed voices. I could not sleep! Period! I had some Bollywood Indian music playing on the radio quite low (it was very good) but it failed to distract my mind from what lie ahead today.

My theory was that, because of horror stories about bus loads of tourists clogging the landscape at Cruz de Ferro, Betty would bring a slow drizzle down, causing them to want to stay on the bus, or arrive later in the morning. This would give us time together for the business at hand. In keeping with this train of thought, I tied my raincoat atop my pack instead of in it.

The skies were quite overcast, although she held off on the drizzle. I quickly walked the first 5 km, then stopped briefly for desayuno (I think that is breakfast). Seeing nothing that looked both solid and appetizing, I settled for the usual coffee Americana and a picture of this guy:

I was soon on my way again, not knowing how long the weather and tour buses would hold back.

The ascent was not as long or steep as I had expected and I soon caught my first glimpse of La Cruz de Ferro.

As I drew closer it became obvious that this was a special place, with a hushed reverence in the voices of those who were there (well, most of them anyway. See below).

La Cruz de Ferro is a large iron cross mounted atop a 7 meter pole at the high spot of the Camino (elevation 1530 meters or about 5,020 feet). It is surrounded by a large pile of rocks, stones and other momentos brought by peregrinos over the last 35 years to this sight. The (usually) stone is to symbolize a burden or challenge that you carry in life. By bringing it with you and adding it to the pile, you lay down your burden and allow others to help you carry it, thereby freeing your hands to help others in their challenges.

Many of the rocks have writing on them, many remain anonymous. All represent someone who has searched within, over the last 300 miles and found that they can let go of whatever it is with which they've been burdened. Many have lost a loved one, suffer from a disease or sickness, addiction, or whatever else they carry.

I brought three items from home and, in addition, collected a (very) small bouquet of flowers as I approached La Cruz. I did a video as I laid the items next to the flowers, then forgot to take a still shot!

This has been very personal for me. For 3.5 years I have missed my wonderful wife of 39 years, the mother of my five incredible children. I have tried to assure that she will be remembered as the loving, caring, giving person she was and be sure that her 11 grandchildren (a few of whom never rocked in her favorite rocker with her or attended a tea party) will know that she never shied away from helping, supporting or loving anyone. She gave a smile to everyone she met and, along with it, a piece of the purest heart I've ever witnessed. Even in death she was, I'm convinced, instrumental in bringing Alicia and I together at our high school reunion. She knew full well what I needed to smile again, and she found the perfect person to give me the ability to breathe, to smile and to fully live again. Likewise, she knew what, deep down inside, Alicia was missing from her life. She could see the wonderous capacity for love that could be used to welcome children and grandchildren into her life. She knew Alicia needed someone she could trust, someone she could believe in and someone who had the patience to extract that love from years of hiding. My lovely wonderful Betty has given her blessing to our moving forward with our lives, not without her, but within her protection. 

Alicia is my love, my life, so accepting of Betty that she had me leave a special gift for Betty at La Cruz de Ferro also. We are committed to each other and love each other completely. And to show her pleasure, Betty gave us a gift, so that there could be no doubt.

As I slowly, reluctantly, began down the path west of La Cruz, the sun emerged and my shadow returned for the first time in nearly a week! 

She didn't need to make it drizzle so that we could have time together atop the Camino. She swept the clouds from the sky and "rained" down bright sunshine on all.

I stayed at La Cruz for about 45 minutes, wandering around, looking at several displays. As I had climbed toward the top I had passed a young Spanish woman, and she in turn passed me every time I stopped. I arrived first and had already placed my artifacts by the time she arrived. In our passing, we had already discovered that the language barrier was substantial. But she did indicate to me that she would take my picture, so I indicated that I would also take her picture. I went back up to the top and posed for this picture:

I then went down, swapped phones and had her climb to the top so I could return the favor. After snapping a shot (hey, let's call these pictures snapshots!) I walked back up to her and offered to take a closeup so she could be identified in the picture. As we stood there momentarily, I heard this winey little voice, yelling above the silence, "could you two move? I came to take a picture of the cross and I want you two to move." This lady was yelling from 30 yards away, breaking any pretense of respect or reverence for this place and what it represented. I guess there's one in every crowd.

The Spanish woman was named Rebecca. We passed each other several times on the downhill stretch also.

We descended some, then walked alongside the road until we came to Manjarin which was little more than a souvenir shop that sold a few edibles.

I stopped and purchased a couple of small items, then ordered a Coca-cola. As I sat and drank the coke a young couple came in (or "under", we were outside under a canopy). The young man said he was glad to finally see some "legitimate mountains", referring to the snow capped peaks to the south that had appeared when the clouds had been swept away. He was from Finland and admitted they had no such thing, but his partner was from Slovenia and, apparently, they do!

A short time later we reached one of those sightings you only see on the Camino. A flat spot, atop a mountain, where sits a mobile food truck. I bought a banana and sat at a table, where I was soon joined by a woman from Vancouver, Washington. I told her we were neighbors, that I was from Idaho, and the lady behind me asked where in Idaho. Turned out she is from McCall. I apparently have slipped back into a group of people from the states!

Eventually the trail climbed a bit, then started a steep and serious descent. With loose rock and mud, this was not an easy 3 + kilometers. We did however discover this charming little town, literally tucked into the side of the mountain.

Alicia had scored another home run and reserved a room in this really nice spot, Acebo, complete with a balcony that extended out over the street below. 

As I was checking in, a gray haired gentleman came over and asked me how many miles I cover in a day, saying he had seen me on the trail several times so he thought I was doing well. He was on a bike.

His name was Ken, and along with (presumably) his wife and Peter (his son?), they had come here from Atlanta, Georgia to ride the Camino. He showed me his bike, which has a battery powered "assist" on it to help power up the steepest hills. He appeared to be an accomplished cyclist as he said he had ridden coast to coast in the U.S. twice and had covered about 600 miles of that on the Interstate Highways!

It had been a day short on distance, yet long on significance. I settled in for lunch and got another Spanish surprise. I found a hamburger on the menu but, when it arrived, there was no bun! It did however come with four slices of the typical hard Spanish bread (pan) with a thin Salsa-type mix spread on top of it. I think I'm going to come back and open a Denny's!

Keep your elbow bent my wife and enjoy the weekend with the girls. I'm resting and ready to tackle the final 150 miles of El Camino de Santiago!