October 18th, 2015

      The word "turigrino" - "tourgrim" in English  - is now part of the lexicon.
​      The term refers to pilgrims - pergrinos in Spanish - who do the Camino with a tour group.  I saw the word on the back of a  van of a Camino tour company called Viajes Tourigrino - Tourgrims Trips.

   
​   Yesterday we walked about 18 kilometers from Morgade to Gonzar.

.....passing now and then along the way the little pilgrim guy who's the symbol of the Xuntas, as the municipal albergues are called  in Galicia,

....and who people can't resist covering in grafitti.

      Once again we started out before 8 am and walked in the dark by the light of our flashlights.  As our albergue in Morgade had no internet connection we were out on an early-morning WIFI hunt. 
     After walking about 4 ½ kilometers we found some WIFI along the way in a lovely little albergue bar called Mercadoiro,

​…where we had a yummy breakfast of tostadas and slices of almond tart.
        Later out on the terrace the Scoutmaster pow-wowed with some of the pilgrims over the guidebook map, 

...and we met up with some Camino friends, Shirley, Alex, Fery and Saravandin  from Java, Indonesia,

​….who had started walking the Camino the day before, the day we met them, in Sarria.
      Throughout the day we met up with our four Indonesian friends from time to time along the Camino, and a few kilometers before we reached Gonzar, our common destination,  I was walking and talking with a couple of members of the group.  During the course of our conversation I learned that all four worked together for an environmental awareness group in Java, that Alex and Shirley were married and that Fery and Saravandin were Catholic priests. 
     We arrived together at Gonzar where we all stayed the charming albergue Casa Garcia,.
    with its lovely courtyard,   

....and stone dorm rooms.

Shirley and Saravandin.

    In  moment of unmindfulness , also known as Camino Brain,  I left my watch and my little Spanish-English dictionary in my pants pocket when I handed our clothes over to the laundry service.  The kind hospitaliera retrieved my things from my pocket before they hit the dryer, but not befor they cycled through the washer.  My dictionary was kaput, but my $9 Walmart watchwatch, miraculously, still works like new.  I must have good Camino watch Karma.
​   As the following day would be Sunday, Fathers Fery and Saravandin hoped to be able to find a way to say a Mass in the albergue.
    Since I had the most Spanish among us I volunteered to ask the hospitaliera if we could use a spot in the albergue for Mass.
     The same kind young hospitaliera who saved my watch from the dryer was totally receptive to the idea of a Mass in the albergue and told me we could use the dining room.   I then went around the albergue announcing in English and Spanish that there would be a Mass the following morning in the dining room.
    And so this morning, Sunday morning, at 7:30 am a dozen pilgrims of a variety of nationalities gathered in the albergue dining room for a Mass part in English, part in Indonesian,  celebrated with the simplest of elements on a wooden table.

     And I though to myself, Maybe this is how the first Christians worshiped together..  Maybe this is how it was meant to be.