The Kindness of Strangers

We began our walk today in a wonderful mood.  The air was crisp and cool and the scenery lush and green. We walked on the path as it went through the countryside to the next town. I thought the yellow arrow was pointing left, so we made a sharp left, walked down the street to the highway and crossed it to continue on the path. We were surprised that there weren't any arrows there to direct us, but continued on regardless. We had probably gone a kilometer when we ran into a man on the path. He didn't speak English but managed to ask us where we were going. Obviously we were pilgrims, and we didn't know we were going the wrong way. He kindly walked with us for about 15 minutes back to the Camino. He pointed us up the very steep hill out of town. He had explained to us that we had been on the cattle road which was an 8 kilometer loop back to the town we had spent the night in. 

The second act of grace for us today occured when we arrived at the Albergue where we had reservations for the night. When we arrived there the owner said that we were supposed to call the day before to confirm the reservation. She had told me that when I had called earlier, but I had totally forgotten. My pack had been delivered there and she helped carry it as she walked us around the block to another Albergue. We got beds in there for the evening, beating most of the other pilgrims straggling in later because they had walked further than us. The whole town was booked for the evening and many pilgrims had to get back on the Camino to go to the next village. I feel like I am being covered by the prayers of so many friends and family. God's grace has been so abundant!