Villafranca and May Day

It’s Friday morning in the very quiet village of Villafranca. I’m taking a rest day here, for a couple different reasons. But first…yesterday. I had a long 19+ mile walk. I walked through every possible situation…urban, suburban, villages, vineyards, highways…I covered it all. Given the hard mountain walk I had before, and the long walk yesterday, any improvement that I had with my leg issue was erased. So, I told myself that I would get to my alberque and just rest. Which is what I did…until I decided to take a walk around town. There was a huge celebration in the village. It was May 1st, May Day for the workers, and also in Spain, a day to celebrate the first day of spring. Lots of revelers with crowns of spring flowers on their heads and lots of singing and laughing. At one point, I heard…”hey…look everyone, it’s Dan from Boston!!” A whole table of Camino friends well into several rounds of drinks. It would have been discourteous to not join them. So…my plans for a restful evening evaporated. It was another magical Camino encounter. I posted a photo below of our table…and this was after the waiter cleared some of the bottles. I also ran into Andres , a friend from Colombia. He is one of the nicest and most faithful persons I’ve met on the Camino. We said goodbye in León, as he was pushing ahead while I was staying an extra day. We saw each other and embraced. I said….”Andre’s, what are you doing here? You are at least one day ahead of me.” He replied in his broken English…”Oh Dan, it is so sad, my foot fingers are all blisters. I had to stop and heal”.

So after catching up and having a few beers and pizza with friends, I got back to my alberque at 9:30, way past my bedtime. Beyond the friends that I knew, as is usually the case, I met more people from all over the world (Gabby from Israel, Dan from Quincy Mass, Hillary and Ian from the UK, Isaiah from Brazil…and on and on).

I also heard from my compatriot Clemens who is catching up with me now that he’s feeling better and on the Camino again. I decided to stay here in Villafranca one more day, to rest my leg and wait for Clemens to arrive. Then, we’ll both get back on the Camino tomorrow.

I was looking forward to a quiet night. There is an adage that says the Camino does not give you what you want, it gives you what you need. Apparently, I needed a night with friends to remind me how lucky I am.