Cacabelos

Dear Family and Friends
Sometimes when I head out in the morning I wonder if this might just be an ordinary day and really have nothing to report. But it just never seems to happen. Though part of me does not really believe it is just the camino. I wonder if I walked around Vancouver instead of going at lightening speed if many amazing things might just as easily happen at home. Something to think about.
Well, as I walked out of my door, clothes all nicely washed and dried from the very soggy previos day, the first thing I noticed was a woman outside in her beautiful courtyard roasting red peppers over a heater with a grate about 3' in diameter. I stopped to take a picture and wondered what she was making? This was around 7:30 in the morning.
I headed out of town, admiring the grand houses with shuttered windows that lay behind iron fences. The young Italian man I ran across several times since Leon was walking on the other side if the street. He stood out on my mind because he reminded me of my nephew Stewart. After talking from a distance, he came to my aide of the street so we could talk more easily.
I learned he was at school in Milan taking "science materials " which was as he described, is
physics. We took a small road off the main road and walked through gently rolling wine country. David and I got into discussions about quantum physics, Jung and Pauli - oh yes, and cooking. His mother is from the South of Italy and his father from the north, so he has rich influences. The conversation brought is quickly to Ponferrada where we stopped for a hot chocolate. It was so thick and rich, a spoon could almost stand up in it. A Spanish man I met previously told me it was a drink from Madrid, but David told me that his mother (in Milan) taught him how to make it, so perhaps because it is so good, everyone claims it.
The cafe was filled with pilgrims, many I had met before. A Danish fellow came in who was resting I'm Ponferrada for a day because of persistent swelling of one of his shins. He told me he had taken his family to Vancouver, Victoria, revelstoke, Banff, and San Francisco this summer. He was walking the Camino to try to figure out what he wanted to do/work at in his life. David and I parted ways as I decided to wait till 11 o'clock when the Castle opened. I could just imagine my two grandsons walking through a very real life castle. It was very exciting - even for a Nana. This was a castle where the Knights Templar gave safety and refuge to Pilgrims in the Middle Ages heading to Santiago.
Another treasure found in Ponferrada is a small Madonna - Virgin de la Encina which the Knights Templar apparently found in a wooden tree they were cutting down while building the castle. It is now housed in the Basilica in the town square. I went in to see her, and realized that a mass was soon to occur. I sat down in a pew and said a few prayers for family and friends at home who have need of support. There was a very peaceful feel about the church and I hated to leave.
I had spent a good 2 hours waiting for the castle to open
he had taken his