Well this is the weekend for The Gathering of the American Pilgrims on the Camino. Last year I went to my first Gathering in Santa Barbara, California this year it is in Belleville, Illinois. I ended up in the emergency room last Friday , then stayed in the hospital until Monday afternoon so they could do tests. I went home Monday afternoon, packed on Tuesday and took a 6:45 am flight To Saint Louis, Missouri, by way of Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Wednesday. It seemed longer than most flights. I think, just maybe, I was tired. When I got off the plane in Saint Louis an airplane employee asked me I I needed a wheel chair. lol So I must have looked pretty awful. I took the Metro Link right out of the airport across the river to Belleville. A couple of nice Pilgrims picked me up at the Metro station and took me to the site of The Gathering, then invited me to join them for dinner. Two other pilgrims joined us for dinner. After dinner I came back to th hotel to watch the first few innings of the Dodger game on mlb.tv. They won. Go Dodgers. I got to sleep about 11 pm and was startled awake out of a comatose sleep by someone knocking on the door and saying something about a tornado. My brain was not awake yet. I thought, tornado? We don’t have tornados. Then my brain woke up enough to realize I was not in California. Again I heard “tornado” and “get downstairs.” I still had trouble processing this information until it realized where it was waking up. Then as the knocking continued I heard, “There is a tornado warning and you need to get downstairs. I was like, YIKES! I scrambled out of my room in my pajamas after grabbing my iPhone and Buddha Bear. ,Apparently there had been a siren which did not wake me up. I was thinking, last week we had an earthquake at home and tornado this week I’m in a tornado. How exciting.” I spent about forty five minutes in the men’s room chatting with old and new Camino friends and one dog, who was very friendly and licked my face. I think he was trying to comfort me. By the time it was all over, the hotel breakfast was all set up, so I just stayed there in my jammies, ate yogurt and waffles, drank coffee and visited with some more old and new friends. I spent the day taking pictures and enjoying the company of some really delightful people. I also got to listen to a great number of great presentations. We had another tornado warning in the evening, just after dinner. we had to all go stand in a hallway behind the dining. the wine was past around and everyone chatted until we got the all clear notice. The rest of the week end was packed with amazing speakers, entertainment (including a fantastic flamenco guitarist on Thursday night who had played for President Obama at the White House. Friday night we were treated to 5X5 pilgrim’s story, some very funny and others truly touching. Following the 5x5 there was a viewing of the documentary “Walking the Camino: Six Ways to Santiago. I had seen it at the Newport Film Festival, but thoroughly enjoyed it once again. A favorite presentation was Camino Dulces (Sweets) which included generous samples and recipes. Yosmar and Wanda worked very hard preparing these Camino yummies. Saturday evening I attended the Shell Ceremony, where the pilgrims who are doing their first Camino this year are presented with a scallop shell for their back packs in a very touching ceremony. I ran around hugging them afterwards and chatting about when they were starting their Caminos and answering questions. It was great fun. After the shell ceremony and dinner we had a Cabaret where t Pilgrims shred their talents with us. I was astounded by the incredible talent these pilgrims had. There was great gospel music, a native american flute, a funny skit and video, readings of poetry and lots of singing. It was very entertaining. Oh yeah, I also won three raffle prizes! That never, ever happens. By Sunday I was like the walking dead I was so exhausted. I took the MetroLink back to the airport and had an uneventful flight home. I am so grateful I was able to participate in this wondrous week end. Now I’m getting packed and ready to leave in a week for Spain and a stroll down the Via de la Plate (the Silver Camino) from Seville to Santiago. Lots more on that in the next month or two. Stay tuned.
Posted on: Wed, 09 Apr 2014 04:47:20 +0000
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