villafranca del bierzo

hello
it is saturday in spain, in villafranca to be exact. it might be in the region of galecia, if not it is very close. i know that every day i say it was a beautiful day, but it is the truth. i have not had to walk in rain since the first day in spain. everyday has been sunny, with bright, light blue skies and sometimes clouds. i have a new family. we are 4 usually and sometimes five. there is paul from poland ( 18) jessica from PA (28) darin from Canada (40 something) and me. i have been thinking of what brings us together and it is english of course, and the fact that we all like to walk alone, and they are all very funny and we are all interested in spirituality. Darin is a buddist, paul is a gracious catholic and jessica is an earnist christian, maybe catholic. jessica said to me early on, "i keep asking god what he is waiting for. i want him to talk to me. i only have ( ) days left! what is he waiting for." she looks like a gymnist, short strong and when she walks she plants her feet! bam bam bam. her blond ponytail swings back and forth. and where is god! the fifth person is christine who is austrian but has lived in america for 15 years. she is here celebrating her 50th birthday. she now practices native american rites. we have dinner most nights, and talk and laugh.
i last left you in leon. saying i love leon. i was a tourist that day, staying in a hotel, going to museums, watching tv! leon has the most beautiful cathedral i have ever seen. it is one of the most beautiful things i have seen, right next to coral reefs, the grand canyon and the met opera. it has so many stained glass windows, it is like being inside a kalidiscope. there is also another old monestary, san isodora that has frescos, 800 years old and fresh as new.
i walked out of leon, to the small albergue, tio pepe. i stood and watched the storks again in the morning sun, and christine and i met. she too loves the storks. we walked out on town together and there was a flasher in his doorway. i,because i can´t really focus that well and am naive, thought he was just getting his paper (as if there is home delivery of paper in a town of 63 people) but christine saw it all. poor flashers. i see nothing. how frustrating for them.
i walked to astorga, foncebadon and then on to panferrada. there were rolling hills, more grapes, mountains. all of this leads up to beautiful, green galicia and the very celtic o cebriero. yesterday afternoon there was a wedding procession through the town plaza, beautiful people in formal dress followed by the most interesting bag pipe music. it wasn´t like the typical sound, it had a definite galician sound. i love that music. this morning while paul and i were walking out of the town, the bride and groom were walking down the street with their friends on the way to their hotel. it was about 7 am. they looked as beautiful as last night. what is the secret..why don´t the spanish need sleep?
i am less than 200 km from santiago and then will be walking to the ocean, another 99km. all of us have made a pledge on my hiking pole to jump into the ocean, even if we aren´t together. Darin will have to do it in nova scotia, he isn´t going to finesterre.
mary
ps massimo and antonio sent me a text saying they are close to santigo. great news.