Media (16)
Weather, encounters, and a donative evening in Viloria.
June 20: departure at 6:30, evening arrival in Viloria de Rioja.
That day I started walking at 6:30. The plan was to leave early, have breakfast during the walk, then keep walking through the whole morning only, staying still in the afternoon, because from 16:00 heavy rain was expected and I did not want to walk in the rain.
Once there, while I was in a bar together with Francesco and Juan, at a certain point I heard someone shouting from behind: "ooooohohhhhh." I turned around and saw a familiar face: it was the Korean guy I had met in France at the beginning of the Camino, with whom I had spent a beautiful evening together with Thomas and Talia listening to his stories told in a very funny way. We had not heard from each other or seen each other again, and it was beautiful to find him again like that, totally by chance, in the same bar. We took a photo and then said goodbye.
At 12:46 I wrote to Catherine that I had booked the albergue in Viloria de Rioja. She replied at 14:00 saying she had arrived in Santo Domingo and that her feet were destroyed by pain. I asked her if she had news of Giselle and she said the last time she had seen and heard from her was at the restaurant the evening before, when she had offered her dinner for her birthday.
Then she wrote that she was going to have a beer with the Swiss guy we had met the day before. In the evening she told me she was getting bored there because she did not recognize any familiar face, and asked me whether I was alone or with someone I knew. I had also heard from the rest of the Orisson group, and they were all farther behind me. Isabel was in Santo Domingo like Catherine, but they did not know each other, while the rest of the group was even farther behind; same for Chris and Jessica. Catherine had started to lose hope that we could meet again, but in fact it was only a matter of time.
I replied that I was with 3 Chinese and 1 Japanese person and that we were having dinner together at the albergue: that evening we were only the 4 of us in the whole albergue. It was a donative place, and dinner was included: they gave us paella.
A strange but full day: weather plan respected, totally unexpected bar encounter, and then a simple evening.
That day a strong feeling came back to me: you change town every evening, but you always find familiar faces along the way. Some you barely know, others more deeply, yet a sense of home still forms even while you are constantly moving.
On the Camino, even when plans change because of tiredness or pain, connections stay alive: sometimes in person, other times through messages, but the thread does not break.
Accommodation at Albergue Parada Viloria (donative), with included dinner and a very intimate atmosphere.
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Day notes