Day 26 - Tuesday November 28, 2006 - walking from Rabanal del Camino to Molinaseca ( 25.5km)

I feel like I walked through four seasons today, but not in any logical order. The day started first with a cold rain as I climbed up the mountain, the same came out at the top and just when I was almost completely dry it started to rain again with a little bit of hail mixed in. To end the day after we emerged from a small forest it felt like spring because the sun came out again. The two catalan pilgrims I was walking with and I stopped under a four enormous trees for a short break and to enjoy the sun. Just as we closed our eyes a cloud came and passed in front of the sun and it was time to walk some more.

It was a bit of challenging walk because in the morning I didn´t feel like walking. After a little while another pilgrim caught up to me and he sang me a Spanish song about Canada. It is called ´La casita de Canada´ and it sounds a bit like a camp song about a having a house in Canada, with nice flowers that the girls like or at least that is what I understood. It is a bit of a call and answer song and the word Canada often gets repeated. When we reached the top of the hill we arrived at the Cruz de Ferro which is a cross surrounded by an enormous pile of stones built up by stones that pilgrims have left. My guide book says the tradition started as a way of asking for safe passage through the mountains, but I think other interpretations can be made. I was told about carrying a stone on my second day, but I was so tired I did not want to pick up a stone at that point. Then after staying at Eunate I was given the gift of a small stone with a yellow arrow painted on it and it wasn´t so difficult to carry. About a day later I picked up another small stone for the pile it had fallen to the bottom of my backpack, but after a little bit of searching I retrieved it and added it to the pile.

Most of the day was spent going downhill on little rocks and finally we arrived in Molinaseca. The albergue was quite interesting in one way because it was designed out of an old church and in another way because of the lively hospitalero Alfredo. He walks the camino every year and runs the albergue with other volunteers. He had posted on the wall a number of newspaper articles about a postcard that was sent to him in 2000 announcing the future, now current pope. With the two catalans we ate rice soup and pan con tomates which is bread with tomatoe squeezed on to it. In North America we eat bread and butter and in Catalan it is bread with tomatoes. It is interesting learning about the differences.