Sunday, June 7, 2009

Step by Step, in so many ways

Hello to all,
We´ve finished another incredible day on the Camino. Celeste and I discussed how irrational and illogical our days are. In what other instance would we willingly put on dirty socks, wet shoes, a 20 pound pack, and walk out into the rain? Yet having a group that is so supportive and compassionate makes the decision to walk another day easy and natural.

I´d like to describe an incident that happened just this past hour. The twelve of us sat down for an early dinner at a restaurant, where the waiter spoke no English, and gruffly told us that if we ate off each other´s plate, we´d be charged twice the price. However, with Michael´s excellent translations, and our willingness to eat what was put in front of us, in an hour the waiter was smiling and showing off his 2 month old son to us. Kerry played with his beautiful brown-eyed daughter, and complimented him on his children. By the end of the meal, he asked us to come back for breakfast, and gave us all a hefty discount. It´s a profound lesson that attitudes about Americans will be changed slowly and surely, dinner by dinner. I´m again so proud of our group- not only are we representatives of Furman, but of America.

Two more days until we reach Santiago- we are all feeling the pull of our destination. We´ll see what happens when we get there. Love to all, Emma

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