la meseta

June 21 We have left the foothills to the Pyrenees and are now in the rolling wheatfields. Mostly green now with poppies everywhere. Today we went into a 12th century church that had the usual golden statues and paintings and also a rooster that was in a special cage crowing. Apparently a pilgrim had committed a sin on the way to Santiago, and the priest was at dinner when he was asked whether or not to pardon the man from hanging. not wanting to stop and think about it, he replied if the rooster crowed before he got hanged, then he was pardoned.

And so, I guess that St. James intervened, the rooster crowed, pardon was granted, and a rooster has lived in the church ever since as a symbol of God´s pardoning grace.

The days now have a rhythm. Wake at 6:30 by music, breakfast and walk by sevenish.
after walking about 24 kilometers, we stop at a refugio and get a bed, have a shower, wash the clothes we wore that day and hang them on the line to dry. we go into town to find something for breakfast and lunch for the next day if there won´t be towns to stop in. We get a discounted homecooked meal for pereginos




Carla