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Tuesday 28 September 2010

El Boracho and the Mexican

Spain Day 3 . Puente de la Reina - Villamajor de Montjardin

km- 32

Left as the sun rose over the old stone ´queens bridge´. Soon got hot though and by 10am was stood by a fountain in a small village called Lorca with my arms up to the elbows in chilled spring water and my face under the tap....only got a few strange looks but i think on the whole this is acceptable ´pilgrim´ (peregrino) behavior.Stocked up on picnic items which generally involves baguette of bread, some style of cheese or ham or cheese with ham or just cheese and went in search of the perfect picnic spot. This came in the shape of the fuente del vino which is , believe it or not, a fountain where red wine flows from the tap on the left and water from the tap on the right. The tap on the right looked fairly unused. This wine has been supplied free from the attached bodega for many years to fortify the weary peregrino. Of course these days with the advent of takeaway plastic bottles the generosity can get a bit abused. But it is a foolhardy peregrino who throws away his water to exchange for wine on this hot and dusty road. Indeed there were plenty such types about. I decided to have my picnic here and enjoy the comings and goings and drinkings. After awhile a couple of Spanish guys arrived, the hairy one i couldn´t understand and his very hospitable friend. They had a drink and a chat then continued on. However 5 minutes later they returned and decided this was as good a place as any to hang out for a while in the shade. Soon some more spanish guys arrived whom they may or may not have known but in any case they all decided to phone home and get wives and family to log onto the internet webcam that was just above us. Something of a wine fiesta followed, all of which was captured live by families across Spain and the jovial spanish guy decided he was going to ditch his pals and continue on with me. I, however decided to hit the Camino again before the chance of getting to the next village was completely lost forever in a Rioja haze. One last hill through the vineyards and i came upon the church in the small village of Montjardin. This was a very welcoming place run by donations and a couple of wacky sisters, with a circle of matresses on a raised plinth and washing lines hung between the church belltower and the nave. Later the spanish guy arrived accompanying an also slightly drunk guy from mexico, sadly they continued on as they were a little too raucous for the sisters to cope with but they have since become fondly known to me as ´Él Boracho and the Mexican´ and will always bring a smile to my day. The night was spent with a light hearted young guy from Austria and Veronica, from Poland with her parents who spoke no Spanish or English but were lovely to converse with in improvised sign language. One of the sisters gave us all a blessing in the church where i completely fluffed the Lords Prayer when she put me on the spot - i haven´t said it since school! Still, it could have been worse, at first she wanted me to recite it in Spanish! We spent the evening chatting in various languages and sharing food and polish tea by candlelight......very authentic pilgrim stuff indeed.

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