The walk to Portomarin
introduced us to a lot of new people. This is probably because this is where many pilgrims choose to start their Camino. We met Helen and her best friend at
the start of the day’s walk. We chatted for a bit by the side of the trail. They quite enjoyed the fact that we were twins and seemed fascinated that we were doing this walk together. 
Almost since the start of today's walk, Anj and I have been trying to reserve beds for the night but couldn’t reach any of the albergues we dialed. So, after lunch, she walked ahead of me so she can get to Portomarin earlier to reserve beds for us. Thankfully, as I was walking, I received a return call from a hospitalier who assured me that she has beds for us for the night. That relaxed me a bit but I didn’t know how to get this message to Anj. Since she didn’t have a Spanish SIM, I couldn't call her and the only way I could get to her was to run.
Enter the 2 ladies I refer to as my trail angels on
this leg of the camino. I was walking as fast as I could to catch up with Anj when these 2 pilgrims greeted me 'Buen Camino!' I don't really know what made me think I could ask this favor of them, but I just felt I could. In a combination of English and broken Spanish, I
explained to them that I wanted to tell my sister we had beds for the night so she can
relax and enjoy the walk but I couldn’t walk fast enough to reach her. These
wonderful women, walked faster, reached her and waited for me by a wayside to
tell me that they were able to deliver my message. That was a relief! At least a huge weight have been taken off my shoulders and I can go back to enjoying the walk again. God bless their hearts!
Before you get to the stairs
of Portomarin, there is about a 300 meter long concrete bridge that you have to
cross with quite view way down below. From the bridge, you can see remnants of
the old town of Portomarin before it was relocated, partially submerged in
water to make way for a reservoir. The view is actually fantastic but Helen has
acrophobia and her feet simply wouldn’t move forward. That's where I found her, at the edge of the bridge, unable to take a step. So, I asked how I could help her. I walked with her as slowly as
she needed to go with me on the railing side to shield her view, and tried to distract her with stories of the people I’ve met
on the Camino. Luckily, when we crossed the bridge, their van was waiting for her to bring her the rest of the way into town. She was so grateful for something that didn’t cost me anything. She
called me her angel. I was just glad for the opportunity to pay a kind act forward.
So, I said she was welcome and that that’s what pilgrims do on the Camino, we
support and help each other out. The we said our goodbyes as I headed up the stairs to look for the albergue where my sister was waiting for me.
After cleaning up, we set off for the supermarket to get tomorrow's supplies before heading to the church. As we were walking up the street to the church, the wonderful aroma of freshly baked bread caught our attention. Unfortunately, the aroma and one huge piece of sourdough loaf was all they had left. Despite knowing that we would never be able to finish that bread for dinner, we bought it and continued on our way to the church. Just couldn't resist the temptation. So of course, after dinner we had more than half a loaf left and not much space to put it in. We just sliced it and left it on the dining table-cum-common area to share with other pilgrims.
We were downstairs clearing up our dinner and offering bread to whoever passed by when a trio of pilgrims came out of the dorms and stayed to chat. I remember it was a husband and wife and their close friend. They were heading out to dinner but rain was in the forecast for the evening so they were taking their time. The wife asked their friend, who was standing near the door if the stars were out as this is a good indicator that the rain was over. Their friend opened the door to look out briefly, came back and with flourish said, "Why do you need stars? There's one standing right here!" I swear that made my night. And it still makes me smile every time I think about it.
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