Day 23 Heading home

Before catching the 11am train to Barcelona, Dave and I took Joe and most of his kids to a farewell breakfast AND birthday breakfast for Hannah at Valor in Campello, the best churro and chocolate place this side of the Andes. We were facing the waves, right on the beach as the sun was overtaking the water on the horizon. Good times with the fam!! I really do love this place where I spent my formative years.

After an uneventful 5 hour train ride through the eastern border of Spain, we arrived in Barcelona. We killed a little time visiting la Sagrada Familia cathedral, then to Yolanda's house for dinner and a quick night of sleep before our flight back to Knoxville.

For those who don't know, Yolanda is like a second mother to all the Platt kids. She was 17 when she met my mother in Barcelona back in the early 50's and they lived together for years and have been best friends ever since. Yolanda is, like my mother, a ball of loving energy. I could write paragraphs of her accomplishments (such as founding the Spanish national Alzheimer's foundation 30+ years ago, which now has hundreds of chapters around the country)! It is always a joy to spend time with her and it was especially good to have her speak several hours of words of wisdom into David's life...I could tell he was soaking it all in.

I am writing this on Tuesday morning, day 24 of this amazing journey with Dave. We are headed home!!

Day 22 - Alicante, primo and paella

Sunday morning church in Campello was like going back in time to a small church where everyone knew each other. My brother Joe shared the message that morning. David was invited to play in the band along with his two cousins who play the violin. Joe shared some great words to encourage us in the faith. We had pollo asado for lunch (rotisserie chicken), which is always good in Spain...I think they add wine and other goodness to it).

In the afternoon my cousin Jose Maria Platillero came to visit with me. He has taken over his father, my uncle José's, family printing business, which was started by my grandfather. It is really tough to run a business in Spain with all of the laws and regulations that make it very difficult to keep good people. I really enjoyed time with my cousin as I feel we are kindred spirits.

For dinner, David and I took all of the teenagers to Campello where we went for a long walk along the beach and then had a paella made for us at a restaurant there.  It is such a blessing to get to know these wonderful children as they are each beginning to reach adulthood.

After sharing lots of stories from growing up and talking a bit about their future and God's plans for their lives, we headed home after midnight. A wonderful way to end our last full day in Alicante, a land I love.

Day 21 - Alicante with best friend from youth

This morning was great because we got to be incorporated into a "regular day at the Plats". We watched several games that Johnny's team played (local tournament), and then a friendly scrimmage that Caleb's team played. Joe had video camera in hand and coaching from the side more than the coach! :-)

In between that, Sarah and Hanna were shuttled to some sort of dog training seminar/lesson in Campello.

The afternoon mellowed out until around 6:30 pm when my very best friend from middle school and early teen years, Oswaldo (chichi as we called him) came by with his sister Maruja and her husband Vicente. We ended up going out to dinner with their kids and then back to Maruja's house for dessert. There is deep joy in knowing someone who knew you "back then"...to help remember the stories and make sense of the past. David was able to REALLY practice his Spanish tonight...and he did very well hanging out with my friends young adult children. It was a night remember! Thank you, Chichi, Maruja, Vicente and your great kids.

Day 20 Alicante day 2 / Guadalest

Isabel and I were in charge of breakfast this morning so we made French omelette and pan con tomate, on old family favorite.

Later in the morning Joe, Caleb, Dave and I drove to Alicante. Our first stop was to look for a place to rent scooters for Dave and I to go on some excursions. The laws have changed since I was last here and they required an international license, so we weren't able to do that. We then did a few other errands and stopped by my Spanish grandfathers old place downtown which was now just a small plot of land amongst other buildings. I have some pictures below showing the area. It is just a few blocks away from the port, making it an excellent location.

After a nice lunch on the explanade, we dropped Joe and Caleb off at Rio Vida and headed towards Guadalest, a tiny mountain pueblo an hour north that we always enjoy visiting. We did a little shopping, took some pictures, and had one of the best Sangria's of my life. 

We headed back around 7pm and watched Caleb's last hour of a soccer scrimmage. He did great playing left fullback. We were amazed at the skill level of the 15-year-old Spanish teams. 

When we got home, Sarah had prepared an amazing Paella for about 20 people. This was Joe's monthly men's group meeting night, so we got to meet them and enjoy a very lively discussion about how God intersects our lives.

Day 19 Alicante!!

After an early alarm clock, we caught the bus to the Santiagor de Compostela airport and took a Ryanair flight directly to Alicante, the city where I was raised through my teenage years, to visit my brother Joe and his family. 

After an uneventful flight we met Joe and his son Johnny at the airport. It was good to see them.

Dave and I are both excited to kick back and take a few days off and enjoy Joe and Cindy and their awesome kiddos.

Day 18 El Camino WE MADE IT!

With sore feet and searing pain in my shins, we made it to the cathedral of Santiago...I have never been so happy to plop down knowing we were finished!

Today's walk of almost 20km was one of the shortest but toughest because it was mostly paved roads and the last 4km were through city streets..tough after being in such rural areas all week. Most people walking were focused on finishing so we only really spent time with a couple of older ladies from Denmark that we had met earlier in the week.

At 7:30 we attended mass at the main cathedral, then met our friends from Casa Domingo for dinner and birthday celebration for Jose. We spent several hours singing songs and talking about El Camino. We definitely made some new friends!!

As we wrap up this leg of the trip, we spent some time discussing lessons we learned from the road.

- Once you start down the path, stay the course.

- If you leave something important behind, you go back and get it. Mistakes happen...Deal with them.

- Our bodies are tougher than we think. We can tolerate more pain than we think.

- People are interesting. Listen. Reach out. Discover.

- Listening to other opinions is good, but you don't have to take their advice.

- Everything we do has a risk associated with it. Consider the risk.

PS: yes, there is a picture of David putting a flower in a horse terd...

Day 17 El Camino - Getting closer

Walking El Camino has been a great experience. There is the physical exertion required, the interesting people you meet, the beautiful Spanish countryside and the rural communities that take you back time to a simpler way of living. Today was a summary of all those things!

Breaking the 40km mark brought in a second wind of energy, but it was still slow going getting in 20km today at my much slower pace since the shin splints...nevertheless, after several long pit stops, we made it to Arco Do Pino, less than 20km from our final destination, El Catedral de Santiago de Compostela.

As we were entering the town, a car pulled over and a guy handed us a brochure for a "casa rural"...a private residence that rented rooms. Since we had stayed at a "Pension" the night before, we decided this would be good, especially after staying in Gonzalos grandfather's mill a few nights before, and enjoyed the homey atmosphere. We are here now and not at all disappointed. The owners grandmother left them this house which they have fixed up very nicely. We got a huge room with 3 beds and a great view to the countryside.

As far as the walk today, it started with just Dave and I strolling along some rural paths and him practicing his guitar. Within an hour we started seeing more people, a number whom we already new. In terms of new people, we walked with an older couple, Frederick and his wife from Germany for a bit while he took many photos and complained about how Charles Degaulle took all the credit for saving France from the Germans when it was the Americans who saved them.

A little bit later on we stopped for a light lunch and met a group of middle age women of Asian descent but from Canada. Several of them were lawyers and one of them had their daughter who had also just graduated college like Dave.

The clouds started rolling in and we started getting a light drizzle and the trail was more sparse than normal. We did come across two young ladies who were from Germany and had been hiking the northern route of the trail, which had just intersected with our French way. They said they seldomly saw anyone on the trail for many many hours and we were the first ones they spoke with after 10 days of being on the trail. Anna and Julia were best friends who had just graduated college although they were in their mid-and late 20s. We discussed politics , sports and general life events. After walking together for about an hour we decided to have some coffee and stopped at a small local bar. When I asked David to do all the ordering in Spanish I suggested that he play a song for a discount. The bartender actually took us up on it and David played for the entire bar. People broke out their camera phones and videotaped it. He sang a couple of songs after enthusiastic encouragement from the small crowd. It was a blast and we got a huge free croissant!

Back to the casa rural, we asked for a recommendation for dinner and they sent us to a very local home cooking style place. We were shocked and so excited to see our good friend José sitting at a table near the entrance. We hugged and discussed plans to attend his birthday party tomorrow. He and us were so excited to see each other again.

Almost 11:30 now...better get to sleep for our big last push! Thanks for reading along!