For the past two days, I had been walking with Anne,
an Irish born, Scotland raised, Roman Catholic nun
who was just finishing a long term ministry in El Salvador.
We were approximately the same age,
(OK, I was a bit older if you're going to be sticklers),
the same height
and walked at about the same rate.
We both enjoyed solitude and time for reflection
as much as companionship
and an easy relationship had quickly developed between us.
Even with our previous experience of a detour that didn't work,
we decided to take the time to visit Samos,
reputedly the largest and oldest Benedictine monastery
in the Western Hemisphere.
The 'Samos route' was 6.4K longer than the 'regular' Camino route -
and it made me smile to think that,
at this phase in the Camino,
I would willingly take on extra distance!
(Who was this person?)
The route was primarily through woods -
with no services, no towns and no fountains;
not an unpleasant walk though and the time passed relatively quickly.
Well, that was how I remembered it, anyway -
a quick check in my journal showed something else -
Very tired and sore on arrival. Thank God for drugs!
Take whichever version you prefer...
We settled in to the albergue below the monastery -
and still had time for a tour inside the cloistered area where the monks used to live.
Different Spanish artists over the years have donated their time and talents -
and the resulting efforts have created quite the display -
Not quite sure how the monks live with the results -
but it makes for a vivid impression on visitors.
And this is either very unfortunate figural placement -
or the first recorded instance of clergy/child sexual abuse.
What can I say?
You can take the girl out of the ER
but not the ER out of ...
well, you know.
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