Day 37 and 38: A hot, hot day and joining Camino Frances

Our morning began very early.  Since more and more young people have been joining us, the morning noise level has risen.  We were packed up and ready to go by just before 7:00.  The monastery has a large courtyard and the kitchens, study areas, and rooms for pilgrims all open onto the courtyard.  As we prepared to leave, the Latvian kids we had met yesterday invited us to share prayers with them.  As I have written before, outside of services in Catholic churches, Pete and I praying before meals or doing devotions trailside have been the only overt signs of orthodox or traditional religion we have seen (but how traditional are Christian devotions that begin with the Shema ?).   So we eagerly joined them.  I asked them what their tradition was for group prayers, and one of the girls said that one starts, and then they simply go around the circle.  I told them our convention was to hold hands--so we did.  The three girls were accompanied by a large (6ft 4, maybe) guy named Ovais (I'm spelling phonetically here).  I was next to him, his hand engulfed mine, and we started.  My my friends, there are few things sweeter to hear than heartfelt prayers in both Latvian and English for safety, strength, healing for injuries, and hopes for arrival in Santiago after so many days.  As anybody that knows me could predict, I wept unashamedly (I was not alone here).  This was the Church at its best: saying thank you for simple gifts in more than one language, but one heart and one voice.
That turned out to be the high point of the 37th day.  The sky was clear, and the temperature started rising by around 10.  It was fortunate we started so early.  We knocked off nearly half the days walk while it was still below 30C.  The morning walk was also done on some beautiful lanes, as the day wore on we got dumped onto asphalt roads.  Shade became scarce and the asphalt softened in the heat.  In short, it was miserable.  I simply had to sit and rest several times because I was becoming nauseated with the exertion in the heat.  Luckily we got to our destination, Arzura, by about 2:30.  I don't think I could have gone much further. 
In Arzura, the ruta del Norte joins the far more popular Camino Frances (if you see The Way with Martin Sheen, it is on Camino Frances).  Pete and I were simply stunned by all the pilgrims.  There was a municipal albergue with over 60 beds and 4 private albergue.  We had been told that albergue Ultreia was nice so we headed there (10€ vs 5€ in the public one).  The albergue was very clean and new.  It was also very hot.  It filled with boisterous young people.  For them Camino is a holiday.  Their joy keeps them up late at night (now 9:30 is late for an old peregrino).  It is a warm restless night.  
The very early morning brought cooling rain, and by the time we left, overcast skies and very high humidity.  Since we have joined Camino Frances, it looks like morning rush hour.  There are folks by the dozens.  Bicyclist ring their bells, shout 'buen camino' and blow through.  The quiet contemplation is over.  We are in a crowd, an excited crowd, all marching onward together to Santiago.  This morning we meet two American college students from Huston.  I walk for 30 minutes with Daniel.  He graduated with a degree in physics from Stephen F. Austin, and three days later he and a buddy were in Madrid, then Barcelona, and then 800K of Camino Frances.  After Santiago he was headed to Pamploma to dodge some bulls in early July, then onto Rome and Amsterdam.  He was a young man with a healthy appetite for life--interesting, witty, and self assured.  We broke up at the cafe for morning coffee.  I invited an Australian couple I'd spoken with as Daniel and I walked to join Pete and I for coffee.  They were 68 and had started in Ste. John Pied au Port in France (the traditional start for Camino Frances).  They started out as naive as Pete and I about the physical rigors of Camino, but had adapted quite handomely.  They regretted the crowds of the last 5 days.  They said the first weeks were simply lovely--quiet and serene. We hope to greet them in the square in Santiago.
We moved on through small villages and on country lanes.  The eucalyptus groves were old and the trees tall: fine, fine walking amongst a happy throng. As the day heats up we are blessed with a fountain and a shrine.  I drink and cool myself with the waters.  I share prayers with Mark R, Sandy, Fred, Dustin, and Teddy D, and Teresa N--the last prayers from home.  Thank you all for the privilege, may the funds you donated send others on their own journeys of devotion.
We walked on with whole families spending holiday on Camino, and large groups of high school students happily shouting what I can only assume were Spanish versions of the bravado of youth.   All these people all with their various reason, all with their own stories, some of which we get to hear if we sit at a fountain or cafe together. All of these people steaming to Santiago de Compostela.  Some, like a 31 year old Japanese woman we lunched with, came, like me to answer questions about what was next in their lives.  Some like the Latvians, come filled with religious devotion.  Some come filled with joy to be on holiday with friends.  All now here streaming to Santiago--I truly was glad when they said unto me let us go to the house of the Lord.   Tomorrow we arrive, but for today, to feast on these shining faces, expectant and so alive in the hot Spanish sun is enough.  Buen Camino.