6-4-10 Vauvert to Gallargues-le-Montueux day 61

6-4-10 Vauvert to Gallargues-le-Montueux day 61
I knew I had to get out of the school room before 9am so that made me not do the usual slow start..i got out of there and stopped at the bar from last night to have a morning coffee than into the church... I stayed a little longer perhaps even than necessary.. I saw some man whip in who looked to be a pilgrim as well. I went on my way and followed the now fairly easy to find markers of my walkers path...as last time.. it started out along the road leading out of town and then turned into the countryside more..today I would be a lot more vigilant about fallowing markers also the occasional town distance markers meant for us walkers seemed accurate and no broken signs with important info missing, like some from the day before... I knew it would be a short day... only 12 to 13 kms..but I needed a half day... this time I had enough water and weather was again warming up, so it felt good to drink.. the trail forked, I followed sings to Gallargus, apparently there was other towns one could go through instead of this one for the pilgrimage route, but I stuck to the town names I had on my list. The path then seemed to end on a very busy highway...i realized it continued on the other side...after a giant mote...so I crossed the crazy street..had to walk along it for a bit till I found a road the led me back to the continuation of the trail... as I joined it.. I saw a man on the other side of the highway with a bicycle and a lot of gear and he seemed confused by the trail as well I tried to flag him in case it would help but I did not think he saw me. I continued walking..now going back into the countryside... I found a spot of shade and rested ..sure enough the man on bike came along.. he had figured it out... he was obviously a pilgrim he had a perfussion of shells in necklace form and on his bike bags etc... he was short, Mediterranean looking, pony tail and black cap... he spoke english and sat next to me and rested... he said he'd gotten lost twice today, I told him about my experience yesterday... then we got to talking about our origins... he was greek, he had started from Mt Athos his home about 14 months ago.. he had traveled through 10 countries already, he was greek orthodox christian. Apparently he had walked till Rome..but in Rome he got mugged in the middle of the day and was in hospital and respite etc for three weeks... he lost his money and phone etc..but it sounds like he found some patron to take care of him. He showed me a certificate he'd gotten in rome showing his proof of pilgrim and of course credentials... he gifted me one of his shell pendants... and a short while later when I had told him I was buddhist a little bead bracelet that could be a mala in a pinch... he said he had been a greek orthdox monk up till about five years ago, then he fell in love with a canadian woman and left everything...but she moved back to canada leaving him heart broken and of course without his carrier... he said he is over it now but thinks he cant give his heart like that again.. this was the second time he'd done the pilgrimage the first time was just the spanish part... he spoke italian and french very well and of course english...he had taught himself most of it... he said he so loved the french language that he'd become fluent in it.. he insisted when we got up to go again that he carry my big bag on his bike as well... and he would push it as we walked.. the terrain here was such riding it,would have been difficult anyway.. at ditches we had to carry the bike across etc... he said he had developed a blood stone in his leg, I am not sure what it is, but he had to take injection in his stomach daily? Anyway that is why after rome he switched from walking to riding... he said the first time he had a pack close to 30 kg and would walk on a good day close to 60kms... I could not imagine... this time it sounded like he was taking it slower... and his route through italy involved some bike rides in the alps..which sounds impressive... when we came into Gallargues-le-Montueux, it was lunch time and I offered to buy him a coke at a bar there... we had gone to the Mairie, which I finally figured out thanks to him, was the town hall, he spoke french for us which is always helpful because at first the cop at the door made it seem like we were in the wrong place but the ladies inside welcomed us in because they knew who we were..pilgrims.. so I was told after the stamped out credentials that the lady who runs the pilgrims place would come at five o'clock it was around 1pm...i had no problems waiting in the bar till then. He insisted we should try and get some food... but the restaurants here close at 2pm for afternoon break we had started to look too late.. he seemed frustrated.. then he tried to have me share a hotel room with him because it was his birthday and the info on the pilgrimage here was that it was just an old school room...having had last nights experience I thought how bad could it be? We went walking to look for other food options because even though I did not feel hungry again I knew that I should just eat anyway... he then left me on a park bench in he shade to wait while he checked out the hotel situation... the bench was next to a circus which was not open yet..but they were grazing a little pony and a llama outside... I whiled away some time playing on my lap top...then it seemed my greek friend was not returning ..perhaps my lack of enthusiasm to share a hotel room had caused him to loose interest in my company. So I headed back up to the bar... I saw a young man waiting out in the sun where the pilgrims lady was suppose to come... he still had two hours....apparently he had already waited one, he made the fact that she would come less certain.. he said he had been told in the Mairie office that he needed to call her... he had but she did not answer...so he would wait here till five, and if she did not show, then he'd try the camp ground... I went to the bar and found there was some pay-per-use wifi I could access so I played again with lap top and hydrated..to make up for all those days I did not... then I too joined the young man outside the door.. he had light luggage... and seemed like he was more experienced hiker and pilgrim. This was true... He was from Rome Italy and he had done the pilgrimage before.. this time he only had 15 days so he was doing only a part of the french section... he seemed like a really nice guy and I asked him questions about the pilgrimage in spain.. the greek man had made it sound very competitive and had said he chose to spend most nights outside because you had to call ahead each day to guarantee a bed. I got the sense that without a(mobile) cell phone I would be screwed. But this man made it sound much more manageable... he said the spanish part was really easy... the markings were everywhere to follow the trail...the villages lived for the pilgrims...and you met lots of cool people..the greek man warned me of 100 plus people in a dorm and worry of being robbed.. also apparently your credentials were your most valuable asset so dont ever let them out of your sight... they were the key in the door.. the italian man agreed with this piece.. he said especially the last 100kms you had to make sure to get them stamped twice a day since if you did not.. all the other stamps did not count because apparently some people started taking buses and that meant they were cheating and to avoid that they had the two stamp per day policy now... he had taught himself french, english and some spanish on the last pilgrimage...i was impressed meeting these self taught language geniuses... the woman did eventually come... she was very bubbly and very nice... and spoke really fast french so that even my new friend had problems following her..but he'd been here three times already so he more or less knew the procedure... the dorm room was actually quite nice and so was the kitchen... we got our orientation, explanation about the keys and where to leave them the next day.. even which restaurant was better and where to buy grocery food..my friend acted as translator... she helped also in explaining the next leg of the journey apparently you walk a lot and then take a bus or a train for the rest.. this surprised me but apparently this was common practice for this stretch since it was so long and no real possibility of break in between.. after she left we went looking for the restaurant.. the owners were there but not open till seven so we got reservations, pilgrims get special discount in some places like here... then we stopped at the little market and picked up some snacks and beer to wait out the dinner..when we returned a new pilgrim had arrived a friendly wiry french man that had already met the italian at another point.. so they knew each other.. he spoke no english... I went and showered and soaked my laundry then joined them for some beer and my delicious snack a small can of lentils.. I am worried about protein... then we went up to the restaurant leaving the french man behind who would cook his own dinner... the restaurateur was really friendly we got our food..the italian got his steak... I got some sort of salad with a giant cheese thing in dough crust baked... almost too much cheese if that is possible.. after dinner we both headed back to the room... the french man had a bead strung necklace looking like a mala so I asked him if it was a buddhist mala.. yes he too was a tibetan buddhist man on catholic pilgrimage... we laughed at each other... later I saw him pull out his prayers and I pulled out my lap top with mine... we laughed at each other again...even without language we had some sort of camaraderie... I would stay up a while longer speaking with the young italian...we had decided to walk together the next day...he pretty much knew this route so I had a guide...he talked about about his world view and me a bit about mine.. he looked a lot younger than his 30, but I found he seemed very wise and had a good perspective on life.. he considered himself christian but like many the hierarchy of the Vatican bothered him.. he felt true saints were not being recognized by the church if it was not politically of benefit. He too had read all of Carlos Castaneda and was quite into the teachings with-in it. And also had Paulo Coehlo's Alchemist and the pilgrimage book he had written.. my friend had found his first copy of the alchemist on his first pilgrimage.. .he talked about that too about how in the beginning he know nothing...and how other pilgrims had helped him...and even eventually taught him proficiency in both english and french.. he said the Camino provides you as you need when you need it, and not before... i felt, I had already experienced a little of that...so I got it..he also talked about how basically following a spiritual path was simple for him, he knew what was right action and what was wrong, he could feel it in his gut.. but he had a choice... if he chose wrong action he would have to face the consequences.. he said as long as your okay with living with the consequences of what ever action you take...than that is okay...but if you try to cheat or act unethical and then get upset that you now face the consequences then that is not real maturity..ethics is a very strong beginning component on the buddhist path...of course it is there through out...but ethics has to be there from the beginning because it can help stabilize your mind which in turn helps with the deeper practices of meditation later... so often when taking your refuge vows to become buddhist they come with the five precepts... in tibetan buddhism the way I was taught you can initially take only one of the precepts.. 'dont kill' and as you build confidence you can renew your vows and take on more.. anyway point is I love talking to people who are figuring out their own spiritual path like this young italian has...because the basic strain of common sense that is the better qualities of the different religions can be arrived at with-out being told what to do... like in this case.. he figured out for himself...that it has made him a stronger person to live in line with his values.. I had agreed to get up early because I wanted to walk with him...in part to see if i could walk longer and a bit faster and also since the thing with finding a bus at a certain point was confusing to me...so I got my stuff ready at night... and went to bed... around 10.30.
there were sheets on our mattresses but perhaps because it was also a school connected building the mattress itself had plastic cover which made things quite hot at night... but I slept fair...