Day 9 - Viana - Wednesday, 29 April 2009

Los Arcos -> Viana = 19.5K (617.8K to go!)

I start my day feeding ducks outside the albergue. They seem to enjoy the cookies I share with them.

I continue to walk with Rese, though we spend the first few hours walking alone and later join forces again when we meet at a cemetery. We both take photos. Carved into the archway is this: “I was what you are. You will be what I am.”

From Sansol there is quite a panoramic view of Torres del Rio where there is an interesting octagonal church which is associated with the 12th Century Knights Templar.

We walk through a gorge which the guidebook calls: “Mule Killer Gulch” (Barranco Mataburros)- not exactly an optimistic name and as one might expect, the walk is quite challenging.

Logrono is only about 9K further (hidden by an odd mountain described as “flan-shaped”) but we elect to stop for the day in Viana, the last town in Navarre. It is a gem of stately old architecture. We wander around taking photos and watching people. I introduce Rese to chocolate con churros. (An addiction for many people!) It is a bitter, liquid hot chocolate drink best taken with fried dough (churros). This is a fine snack and is sometimes offered for breakfest and at fiestas.

I especially like the albergue’s courtyard with the panoramic views. I spend time there writing in my journal and soaking up the sun.

My knee is still troubling me. My CS friends back in the USA (Judy and Deanie) kindly shared these helpful thoughts (Truths to cling to) with me (thank goodness for e-mail). I mentally worked with these thoughts today as I walked:

You live in the Spirit. You love in the Spirit. You walk in the Spirit.

Heb 4:12
For the word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

S&H 423:8
The Christian Scientist, understanding scientifically that all is Mind, commences with mental causation, the truth of being, to destroy the error. This corrective is an alternative, reaching to every part of the human system. According to Scripture, it searches "the joints and marrow," and it restores the harmony of man.

Pan 13:18-21
Sooner or later all shall know Him, recognize the great truth that Spirit is infinite, and find life in Him in whom we do "live, and move, and have our being" — life in Life, all in All.

“I Refused to Put Pain in my Backpack” (The title of a CS article by Katie S. Brown)! I like this idea. I must be careful about the ideas I allow into my own thoughts, just as I am careful about what I put in my backpack.