As you travel the path of the Camino you are reminded repeatedly that the journey consists of three sequential challenges:  the first third physical,  the second third mental, and the final third spiritual.    Today I completed the 11th stage, of a 33 stage journey so the physical challenge is behind me.   I feel surprisingly good, and I am stretching out the daily walking distances to the 27-28 km range.

In Saturday we transitioned out of the Navarre region and into La Rioja region of Spain. “La Rioja” is derived from the rich red clay soil which dominates the topography.  The Camino passed through numerous orchards, vineyards and rectangular carpets of yellow flowers as we made our way to Logroño.

Approaching the industrial suburbs of Logroño we were hit with yet another rain squall, so I was pretty well soaked when I finally rang to doorbell of the St. Peter’s Donativo.  “Donativo’s” are typically the oldest form of pilgrim housing on the Camino, always  connected to a cathedral or monastery, where payment is by donation and communal meals and prayers are part of the experience. Roberto and Elsa were our gracious hosts and dinner was a pure vegetatian affair of salad, Lentil soup and red wine.  Around our table were multiple nationalities,  including 4 guys from Israel.  We sang an ancient pilgrim chant in Latin before dinner, and then after dinner Roberto led us down a secret passageway into the Cathedral where we recited a prayer in English, a psalm in Hebrew, a reading in German and a final prayer in Spanish.  After the prayer readings we were allowed to wander the ancient 12th century cathedral of St. Peter’s  and I took this photo of Christ bearing his cross, as his piercing silent gaze was so evocative.

On Saturday we walked to the town of Najera in glorious afternoon sunshine,  and as you can see we were rewarded with a spectacular sunset behind the monastery.  The plaza was jammed with Spaniards enjoying their evening, mingling with friends  all seemingly sporting fashionable down jackets!  I managed to secure the last entry ticket to the monastery for the evening and took this photo of the burial crypt which housed the ancient royalty of La Rioja from the 14th and 15th century.

Well I have had many magical nights on this Camino, but the most special night of them all was in the tiny medieval village of Granon, at the Donativo of St. Jean of Bautista.  This place had the ambiance of a mountain ski chalet complete with an old wood stove inserted into a gothic fireplace.  Our spanish hosts put us all to work on dinner preparations, chopping vegetables with Pavarotti playing in the background.  I taught two fellow Americans and a bouyant Italian girl  named Perla how to play cribbage which was basically a comical red wine induced trainwreck!  There were four Spanish hosts at St. Jean,  all volunteers enjoying themselves as much as their guests were (that’s me and Beatrice, a Madridnello in the photo).  Dinner was an incredible vegetarian feast, and after dinner we engaged in a team dishwashing drill followed by a candlelit prayer readings in the monastic sanctuary.  The last photo is a close up of one relief panel from the Altar piece – just another priceless sample of Spanish religious art on the Camino.

One final photo before I hit the road this morning.  For the past two days I have been walking with Richie and Rosa.   I met these two last week at a hostel in  Sansol.  Richie stumbled into our hostel at 8:30 pm after walking 10 km barefoot, and 6 KMs of that in the wrong direction!   The first words out of his German mouth were “ &$cking $&it  I need a beer”  so I bought him a cold one and a hilarious night ensued.  Richie is a former German footballer on the fast track to superstardom before a broken arm, then broken hand derailed his career.  Rosa is a zookeeper at the Copenhagen Zoo, and we have thoroughly enjoyed each other each other’s company and taste in music over the past two days.

Woke up to a brilliant sunrise this morning and it’s time to roll.  I miss all of you!