Today is St James Day.
http://www.timeanddate.com/holidays/spain/santiago-apostle
It is also the official opening of the Alberge Alpriate. I will leave today for Santarem and Tomar before I start my journey back home. This is most probably the last blog post.
Yesterday when having coffee at Maria's cafe, she invited me again to come and have supper. "We want to thank you for serving here without getting paid and on your time." What can I say? "Thank you", sometimes sounds so meaningless, fortunately when there is a language barrier "thank you" still has meaning.
Again, no pilgrims arrived. I accept it as part of my journey. Solitude is sometimes the most important part of our journey. It is not solitude that makes us depressed, it is loneliness. If you, however, are not used to solitude, which is part of the inward journey, you will most often feel lonely when by yourself. Silence-meditation is the school of solitude and the road away from loneliness.
This does not mean that I did not experience loneliness. There were times that I missed my family. The challenge is to embrace both solitude and loneliness. The more you venture inwards, the more the balance is restored.
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