We arrived in to Grimaldo before lunch and head to the albergue where we are greeted by two women.
'Limpios' says the first lady as she loads blankets in to the washing machine.
'Chinchi's' says the second woman as she mimes picking bugs off her skin.
'No, no, limpios' says the first as she leads us to what she tells us is the cleanest room.
The second lady is still saying 'chinchi's' and picking at the invisible bugs on her arms.
This is repeated several times, always with big smiles on their faces. The first lady, who still insists that everything is clean, shows us to our room and then adds;
'Don't touch the blankets. I have not washed the chinchi's yet. They will be good. Limpios."
At this point we were laughing. Is the albergue limpio or are there chinchi's? Clean, or bed bugs? It is 20km to the next town. I feel good but I know 20 more km is too much for me today. So we stay. We'll know if the albergue is limpios or a host for chinchi's by morning. This is truly embracing the camino life!
At 6:30 a.m. the next morning I leaped from my bed and started to get ready to leave for Galisteo. I was so happy it was morning, laying awake most of the night sure I was crawling with bugs, listening to happy party voices from a village party for the first half of the night and then intermittent snoring the remainder of the night. Add to the mix a bed that was more like a hammock than a bed. (But it was free!) So when I leaped from bed it was because I was SO HAPPY that the miserable night was over! It was okay to move around as everyone would now be rising for the day.
I also felt happy because I'd received an email, during the night, from a friend who is fighting cancer. Finally a bit of hope. She tells me that when she is in remission she would like to go on a walk (or some other adventure) with me.
I hadn't slept, I was sure I was covered in bed bug bites (I'm not)...really, the worst night of 'sleep' I've had since...I don't know when. But I am happy. I realized that it is a tragedy to waste this day (or any day) wishing for another day to come.
In the cafe, my fellow peligrinos, who have also had a miserable night in uncomfortable beds that smell of insecticide, are not smiling. Everyone is tired. A little, shall we say, grumpy? I am still happy but have a feeling my good mood is not appreciated. I can hear my daughter's voice, a memory of many mornings, when she will say, (or her look will say) 'take it down a notch Mom'. I occasionally get this same look from Stacy.
As we head off for Galisteo I am trying to 'take it down a notch', but I am still so happy about my friend and everything around me is beautiful (it really was). And I am exhausted. When I am exhausted I become ridiculous. I laugh at everything.
Somewhere along the road to Galisteo I drop my i-Pod and the screen smashes. Stacy looks at my smashed i-Pod and then at me and says 'if you say anything positive about this I am going to smash you over the head with my walking stick!'
And thus the realization! I am completely annoying in the morning. My kids tell me this but that is only 7 opinions, hardly what one would call solid evidence.
And so I am trying to not be so happy in the morning. I hold off telling Stacy my 'profound thoughts about the Camino' until we've been walking at least 3 hours. It doesn't work very well, but I'm trying.
We "morning people" just have to put up with the rest of the World, Juli. I learned that a long time ago. Stay Happy! Morning People are much nicer than the other kind who get out of the wrong side of the bed. Your companions should appreciate that. If not, simply walk on smiling at the world around you until the mood of others catches up.
ReplyDeleteGlad to hear this is going well for you and look forward to the opportunity of walking with you, now that you have really caught "the bug" (not the biting ones) but the one that finds pleasure in movement in the great outdoors!