Waking Up

Like magi on their way to Bethlehem, angels are waking us up and telling us to get on widdit.
The sun is out again, the lockdown is slowly easing.  We in Castilla y Leon are still in "phase one," life is is still pretty strict -- we're not supposed to cross the county line. Still, people are outside, smiling.  A few of us are freshening-up the yarn-bombing project in the plaza mayor, planting and trimming trees, installing a handrail up to the top of the bodega hill. The wildflowers this year are stupendous. The trail around the bodegas is overgrown, there are no pilgrims stomping it flat, no one picking the flowers to make crowns and necklaces. 

No one in Moratinos was infected, far as we know. Glory be. We spend our winters sealed indoors in this little town. When it comes to quarantine, we know our stuff.  Winter just stretched into spring this year, without bars to hang out in, without Holy Week or San Isidro celebrations to mark the movement of time.

The people who run the albergue and the hostel came back. Both are staffed now, all sanitized and ready to greet pilgrims, once the number of infections meets zero and border restrictions ease. We still cannot sit down for a G&T or a glass of wine on a bar terrace in our town. It might be legal for them to open, but it's not worth the extra expense and work, they say. Not yet. 

So we walk over to Casa Barrunta in San Nicolas, where they open up for people they know.  Still only drinks. No chipirones in their ink, no paella. Not yet.

Lots of people think the Camino, and Spanish communities, are "suffering terribly" from the Corona virus outcomes. I am not sure how to feel about that. I see lots of communities all over the world suffering terribly. Are people opening their hearts and wallets to support them? 

Clear back at the start of this pandemic, supporters of Peaceable Projects contacted me with concerns and donations, hoping to uphold the camino they know and love.  I will admit to answering, for the first few weeks, with a "charity begins at home" argument. "Keep your money," I said. "You might need it yourself, in your own neighborhood, before this is all over."

I still feel kinda that way, even though PPI has given grants or in-kind donations to several camino non-profits since the virus shut down the trails:  We:
>  Sent a load of groceries and dog chow up to the locked-down hospi at Manjarin;
>  Bought ten wool army blankets for the albergue at El Acebo, when theirs fell to pieces in the wash;
>Supported a GoFundMes for the Albergue Emaus in Burgos, Egeria House in Santiago, and Albergue Acacio y Orietta; 
> Made a couple of grocery buys for the Marist Fathers in Sahagun, whose income vanished when the Albergue Santa Cruz shut down. The fathers stepped in to run the local food bank and clothing closet for Caritas Catholic Charities... but they don't get paid for that work. They still gotta eat.
> We sent two donations to Albergue Paroquial de Tosantos, where the floors need to be replaced;
>  Coordinated transfer of a scruffy old car from a Palencia non-profit to a hospitalero stranded in the  mountains of Leon;
> Sent a month's worth of support to Albergue Izarra on the Camino del Norte. Santi, the hospi there, sold his car to pay his April bills. Wow.     

We did not send money to everyone who asked. I am glad of that. At least two of those appeals were questionable; if you hear someone complaining about PPI, it may be one of those guys who didn't check out.

We still have lots of money in reserve. I expect to use it up soon, as Reality dawns on the albergues and the Camino opens to Spaniards first, Europe later, and finally people from outside. 

I do NOT recommend anyone walk the Caminos anytime soon, not until the wrinkles are ironed-out.  Not even if you've waited for years, not even if this might be your last chance, not even you.  You will likely be inconvenienced, disappointed, hungry, dirty, and unhappy with the experience.  Don't say you were not warned.

There are tons more things to say, but I will get back to those. People dislike long blog entries, so I won't burden you with more.
Until tomorrow, maybe.