Samantha, Peregrina

I meet my daughter, Sam, at the bus station ln Leon.  She has already made her first Camino friend, Paula, a young Italian girl living in Belgium.  Paula has not yet obtained her credencial, so we go together to San Isidore where they are issued, then to the Albergue Santa Maria de Carbajal, where I can introduce Sam: Es mi hija!

Credencials are issued by various Catholic confraternities, and are required to stay at an albergue.  Sellos, or stamps, often beautifully designed, are added to the credencial at each albergue, and also at churches, museums and bars along the way.  When a peregrino reaches Santiago, the credencial is examined by a representative of the Church to determine whether the bearer is qualified to receive the Compostela, the certificate of completion of the Camino, written in Latin. A minimum of two sellos per day are required over the last one hundred kilometers, to verify that the pilgrimage has been undertaken on foot or by bicycle. The peregrino must also declare that the pilgrimage has been undertaken for religious or spiritual reasons. Those declaring athletic or cultural reasons receive a lesser certificate.
The next morning Sam and I visit Leon’s Cathedral, a 13th century wonder of stonework tracery and luminous stained glass in the French gothic style. We wonder at the fact that this cathedral was built in only 25 years, by a town that had at the time only 5,000 inhabitants.

As a result of my decision to backtrack and meet Sam in Leon rather than going forward to Sarria, we are now pressed for time to reach Santiago in time to catch our return flights out of Madrid on September 20. We must make good progress every day, and can afford no rest days. In order to resume where I left off in Rabanal, we take a bus to Astorga. We discover a bus to Rabanal runs just twice a week, on Tuesdays and Fridays at 1:30 in the afternoon, and it is Friday at 12:30. Once again, the Camino provides!

This western part of the province of Leon is called El Bierzo, and it has its own distinctive architecture of stone houses with log beams and overhanging balconies. On the outskirts of town the first floor is for livestock and the family lives on the second floor.

Albergue in Acebo

We stay at the albergue in Acebo and walk through the wonderful towns of Riego de Ambros and Molinaseca, which look much as they must have looked nearly a thousand years ago, when Christian peregrinos first walked the Camino.

In Ponferrada we stop at the 12th century Templar castle.  The Knights Templar were responsible for protecting the Camino in the 12th century until they became too rich and powerful, and were supressed by the pope.

The scallop shell hanging on Sam’s backpack is the symbol of Saint James, worn by almost every Peregrino.  Toni gave it to me when we were in Santiago in 2013, and now I have given it to Sam.

In Cacabelos we have our first taste of pulpo, octopus cooked with garlic. It is rich, tender and sweet, a gustatory treat that does not travel well.  We will be watching for the next pulperia. We split a bottle of the local Mencia wine. The legend is that hundreds of years ago a French peregrino eating cabernet grapes spit out the seeds and brought viniculture to this mountainous country.

When we were young together, I would tease Toni with the saying, ‘happiness isn’t having what you want, it’s wanting what you have.’ In the end it was she who taught me by her capacity for appreciation, and that was part of what I loved in her.

I was a bit apprehensive about Sam joining me on the Camino. Walking seven or eight hours every day, today in a driving rain, is not for everybody. But Sam turns out to have the spirit of a peregrina. She chooses the hillier route over the easier one from Tricastela to Sarria. She wants to visit inside every church on the way.  She buys a second bottle of Mencia vino tinto for the group at the albergue. She is her mother’s daughter.
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